Torquay in crisis?

[B2TF]

Don't you dare go fucking bust now! Last May was the time to do it.

 

[GEORGE]

Torquay we are all with you today -- Hope it all works out for you.
Remember going down with yourselves a couple of seasons a go and without new owners i'm sure we would be suffering along the same lines as you. Our club is a totally different club to the one that went down and with new owners i'm sure you'll be back in the football league within a couple of years -- You are really missed. But first and foremost get the new owners in start changing the infrastructure within the club and results on and off the pitch will make your club a lot more successful.

Good luck

 

[Harrier94]

So it might not even happen today?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38339945

 

[yellow]

He appears to be just as clueless as the rest of us.

We are sliding towards the end. If York don't beat us tomorrow they should be embarrassed - on-pitch issues have fallen by the wayside.

The ineptitude of the last few months is unbelievably frustrating.

People will ask why fans didn't do anything - and the reason is because we were told we weren't allowed to do anything. The Board have effectively closed the door in the trust's face at every opportunity, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[Raymondo316]

The news Torquay fans didn't want to hear
http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co....is-afternoon/story-29988977-detail/story.html

 

[yellow]

Aaaaaand, that's us done.

Angry at the chairman lying to fans faces at the forum at the start of November. Imagine Boxing Day will be interesting, especially if GI haven't come out with a statement by then.

We have been sold down the river.

 

[B2TF]

Will the new owners give you some proper club colours. Who plays at home in the same kit everybody else plays in away.

 

[Trapdoor]

what does this mean for the gulls?

 

[Gulliball]

Well we are now owned by people who don't have the best interests of the club at heart. Their track record is knocking down the stadium and then not delivering the promised new ground. They are here because they saw the opportunity to make a deal.

Short term, who knows. But ultimately Riviera Stadium Limited have bought us to do a deal on the Plainmoor land. Possibly there might be a Riviera Stadium to replace it, but that's less certain.

 

[yellow]

Rumoured they haven't signed the papers yet. Also being suggested that there were a Chinese consortium interested but needed until Jan 2nd to release the funds. Some staff (inc. Kev Nicholson) are rumoured to have stumped up a high five-figure fee in order to cover the club until this consortium were ready, but it was rejected. Our General Manager offered his resignation once he released the chairman's desire to sell to GI. Staff were willing to go without pay for a month to ensure the club did not end up in GI's hands.

I see no reason to believe this version of events - I for one can definitely no longer trust anything that comes out of the Chairmans mouth.

He, Masters and GI are about the only people happy with this deal - and no wonder, they'll probably make a few million £ when the club goes pop in the next 12 months.

Never did I think I'd feel such anger towards my football club.

 

[yellow]

...And today GI don't turn up to their own press conference.

They are taking the fucking piss, and yet our chairman is absolutely desperate to ensure they are to be the new owners. How much have they paid him?

Fuming.

 

[dog]

Sorry to hear this, though it sounds things may take a turn if GI haven't signed the papers.

 

[yellow]

All done, with a statement from GI on our website.

Devastated.

 

[dog]

Not surprised. So what's the Truro City link?

 

[Indian Dan]

Yeah, Gaming International have closed 3 greyhound tracks - Milton Keynes, Reading, Bristol - all sold for redevelopment. They would have done the same at Swindon dog track but planning permission for a shitload of houses was dependent on them building a new stadium for the dogs and speedway.

Hate to say it guys, but you're fucked.

 

[UTS]

Some striking similarities between Torquay and Bury in my opinion regarding these new owners.

Our chairman is a property developer from Huddersfield. We have enormous debts, all secured against Gigg Lane. Chairman wants to build on Gigg Lane and keeps waving a new stadium idea in the fans faces... a 20,000 (!?) seater stadium compete by 2018... absolute bollocks. We will be bust by then and he will own the land to build flats on.

All the best Torquay but like us it isn't looking great. Just have to hope for the best!

 

[yellow]

So, a quiet Christmas period off the pitch to be honest - GI made their opening statement but thats it. However, there is a meeting at the council on 18th January to discuss the sale of Plainmoor. A lot of our fanbase don't see what is going on as it's all online. GI have people on the forums attempting to divide the fanbase up (we have 3 different boards already). The talk of an ex-chairman returning appears to be Bill Phillips, who oversaw the downfall at the end of the Bristow era - he is a huge shithouse basically.

Dave Phillips (most recent chairman) has apparently also recently signed up to the busiest board and has been banging the drum for the Official Supporters Club saying how it's a damn sight better than the Trust (because it's a club lapdog being run by a Hull City fan..bizarre).

Two top games on the pitch, but off the pitch I feel the outcome of this meeting is one of the biggest events in our history. If the council agree a deal with GI, then it's au revoir.

 

[Harrier94]

Would it be worth your fans starting plans for a pheonix club? Everything looks bleak right now. Obviously hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[The Jovial Forester]

Depressing. Maybe the council will surprise us all and show some sense.

 

[B2TF]

So, a quiet Christmas period off the pitch to be honest - GI made their opening statement but thats it. However, there is a meeting at the council on 18th January to discuss the sale of Plainmoor. A lot of our fanbase don't see what is going on as it's all online. GI have people on the forums attempting to divide the fanbase up (we have 3 different boards already). The talk of an ex-chairman returning appears to be Bill Phillips, who oversaw the downfall at the end of the Bristow era - he is a huge shithouse basically.

Dave Phillips (most recent chairman) has apparently also recently signed up to the busiest board and has been banging the drum for the Official Supporters Club saying how it's a damn sight better than the Trust (because it's a club lapdog being run by a Hull City fan..bizarre).

Two top games on the pitch, but off the pitch I feel the outcome of this meeting is one of the biggest events in our history. If the council agree a deal with GI, then it's au revoir.

Get your ground registered as an Asset of Community Value - GI won't want to touch it then. One of our fans did it with The Shay a few years ago when our council were in talks with a rugby club director who wanted to buy it off them. It didn't take long, wasn't complicated and the bloke fucked off back down south faster than you could say "fuck off you flash, southern c@nt".

This explains the principle and the process: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planninganddevelopment/planningcommunityrighttobid.htm

Good luck to one of our Football League brother clubs.

 

[yellow]

I may be wrong but I have a feeling it already is - this was something the Supporters Trust did a while back. Maybe Gulliball can confirm if I'm correct.

 

[Gulliball]

You are. Plainmoor is listed as an asset of community value, which means they are informed of potential sales and have a chance to bid. There is also a covenant on the land for sporting facilities. Both can be got around though if the new owners and council want it to happen.

 

[B2TF]

You are. Plainmoor is listed as an asset of community value, which means they are informed of potential sales and have a chance to bid. There is also a covenant on the land for sporting facilities. Both can be got around though if the new owners and council want it to happen.

If the interpretations put forward in our case were correct, it also means the council can't sell it for less than it's maximum market value, in every possible market (eg, as retail land, a housing estate, a sports venue etc). In our case, there were covenants in place, but the council was obliged to value the estate as a possible retail park, or a housing estate, even though the covenants restricted it's actual value. They therefore rejected the bid and the guy soon pissed off, in spite of his newly declared love for what is the northern version of real rugby. He was a Spurs fan in any case.

 

[DarkSithLord]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38692064

The Takeover has still to be confirmed by the National League. Hope?

 

[yellow]

Not much. Geoff Harrop returning is not good news - all he wants is Nicholson's job, and I imagine he is now in a position to put pressure on it.

Imagine the league will give it the green light in the coming days, GI will start positively (perhaps the addition of a couple of signings) but for them it is all about the ground. If they get ownership of the land, we're done. Fortunately, it seems a decent % of the council wish for the club to remain at Plainmoor. I just hope they don't give GI ownership as they could run the club into the ground by upping the rent or whatever.

We'll lose at Maidstone, and be in the bottom four soon I imagine. And this year, I have no hope of a great escape.

 

[Tivvyultras]

it could be worse you could have had Jon Clarkson as a director/manager see what did for us

 

[yellow]

Still not been ratified by the National League. Still unbelievably quiet on all fronts. Still an absolute shambles.

 

[yellow]

Another fortnight and still absolutely nothing. I can't remember the last thing our chairman was quoted as saying. Perhaps they think if they stay as quiet as possible then people will stop caring. It's worked over the last five years so surely it'll only take a couple more before all interest is gone.

Basket case.

 

[yellow]

And today's showing on the field was our worst yet.

Regional football (either as TUFC or FC Torquay awaits us).

I am so angry tonight.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Takeover now officially confirmed - http://nonleague.pitchero.com/news/gulls-takover-gets-the-green-light-53778/