What happens next?

Not quite true Rob.

GI were initially just going to close the speedway (26 July 2006 on link), but had to back down in the face of public pressure and promised a new stadium two months BEFORE Chris Roberts ARRIVED at Torquay (9 August 2006 on link below).

Promises from 2006

Morning Militants  ,


And what a pleasure it is to see TFF so busy in recent days as the new Season draws ever nearer. And a special well done to possible TUST member Jerry, who has struggled manfully with very weak material, with which to come up with a number of posts. We should all respect Jerry's right to shun transparency as to whether a TUST membership card lurks inside his wallet, but I'm sure he won't begrudge us a little light hearted speculation on the subject....based on his reticence.

Reading his posts from yesterday, I came very close to convincing myself that there was no way that Jerry could be a TUST member.  TUST needn't be asking the questions, nor need they get back to their membership to report what responses or otherwise, were or were not received to the questions their members were keen to learn about, such as the reasons and significance behind what has been stated to be G.I's past business record. Nope, TUST shouldn't be expected to lift a finger. Leave it to Clarke Osborne to either make a public statement on the matter or not.

Similarly we got just the same line regarding the safeguards that would come into play regarding the transition to a new stadium. No matter how long G.I have now been in charge and no matter that TUST seem to have found out precisely nothing for their members on the issue. Again, it was perfectly fine for TUST to hope someone else would either do the work for them in finding out the info, or someone else would talk about it....as they as sure as hell wouldn't. 'No doubt TUST are waiting for your big announcement of the details' suggests a clearly contented Jerry.


Content with a 'do nothing yourselves but wait and see if someone else will eventually do it for you'  approach from TUST on these important issues surely indicated that Jerry couldn't possibly be shelling out his own money to them in membership fees, while happily accepting such a lackadaisical approach, and the absence of anything resembling pro-activity on these matters from that 'Fans' organisation.

It contrasted starkly with the conversations I've had with rank and file TUST members who, to put it mildly, are frustrated with the TUST's poor showing on these matters, even before it went into it's Summer hibernation.

Turning up hoping to be seen as credible owners of the club, yet with no completed business plan. The prize draw scheme, run in such a way that it barely covered it's costs. The half backed pre-share issue and the costs associated with it......only to be met with the predictable and resounding 'NO' from the Torbay Community. And most recently the ACV fiasco, and were there addition legal costs involved further draining TUST funds in order to establish that that particular dogs breakfast was essentially useless ?

And if that's just a selection of TUST's more recent cockups.....how many more can the actual TUST members themselves, i.e the poor sods whose money has been wasted, think of ?

No, it was evident that Jerry's approach differs significantly from the justifiably narked off rank and file, who exhibit anything but a cosy complacent satisfaction with the TUST's continued inefficiency on such important matters. This then meant that Jerry is either a non TUST member.... or else he is a TUST MILITANT !!   Of course, personally, I hope it's the latter, as it's the Militants who have always, and continue to provide us with some great entertainment; and a level of entertainment which I foresee getting even better during those few short years before we move to our new home at the Osborne Arena 

Jerry 


If your opponents are busily destroying themselves, why interfere ?  They were doing a better job of it than I could, and in any case I always intended turning up for the burial. Just for accuracy, it was a Guardianista plot, and one that eventually rebounded on them, and one I'm sure they'd either go about differently or not at all if they had the chance again.

This is obviously just my personal take on those events, and there will be others who are genuinely convinced that some good came out of it.
My guess as to what probably happened is that a Guardianista TUST member who works within the media, was in a position to pull a few strings and get a favour from a journalist who works on The Guardian's Sunday publication The Observer, to include a few paragraphs attacking the Torquay United owners. Now irrespective of the various inaccuracies pointed out by Forum members at the time, the article, in the very short term, brought about some cheering from a particular small section of the fan base....that's right,you've guess it...our friends the TUST militants. They were always going to be happy to see anything in print that portrayed G.I in a bad light. The inaccuracies, the things attempted to be laid at G.I's door that they obviously weren't responsible for, the lack of balance, naturally none of this mattered to the Militants. To the clubs wider Fanbase however, it didn't go down so well. Learning that TUST members had worked to slag off their club. To learn that Torquay United had been given no opportunity to defend themselves or put their side of the story annoyed the majority, to an extent that I'm certain it did lasting damage to TUST, and also to The Observer in the eyes of many local readers.

It surely smacked more of a favour for a friend of a friend, to slip in a hit piece for, and mostly provided by them. I'd be very suspicious as to how many actual Observer journalistic hours went into researching that piece, particularly by the person whose name it appeared under. The fact that the club wasn't contacted is still scarcely believable as Observer behaviour. Now, knowing how they operate, how much credibility would any of us give to the information contained in any link to The Observer, on any subject, since we were made aware of just how totally one sided and disinterested in accuracy they are prepared to be ?

As some defence to the Guardian/Observer journalist, you have to bear in mind that particular publications readership. Provide a balanced, fair, properly researched story on Torquay United and the Editor is going to reject it. It doesn't pay for the time it would take to prepare, and the national readership don't want to read about Torquay United. It would never see the light of day. But....what Guardian/Observer readers always, always have an insatiable appetite for, is stories portraying the big bad bosses as the really evil guys, treating their workers poorly...and exhibiting the unacceptable face of capitalism.  And that's what got written. It had to cater to the Observers national readership if it was going to get in.


The Telegraph guy....now that really was funny. It was sooo bad....a few lines of gibberish that no one could make head nor tail of. The poor Militants weren't able to take any advantage of it because it just read like drivel. And again nothing more than a favour for a friend. A Guardian journalist, who had more recently got a job with the Telegraph (yes, I did my research at the time). Sort of doing what was asked of him, but not knowing what was really going on, so he dressed it up in such an unfathomable way....that you could read it any way you liked, and take whatever message from it you wanted. It was a classic, and one I wished I'd cut out and kept......but no help to the little band of Guardianista's that were behind the whole thing.

Looked back on now, with the benefit of hindsight, I'd conclude that it was a very quick flash of publicity, that stood up poorly to scrutiny, and which overall left a bad taste in the mouth of most genuine supporters. Not the proudest moment for the Guardianista/Militant wing of TUST.

I did say he wouldn't, Jerry. Oh well, at least we got the Chris Roberts admission. Fascinating and probing take on things by the Herald.

Jon  



While Alpine Joe is aware that the message he brings isn’t a popular one, he does believe that it might help some supporters to take a more realistic view of the situation that faces the club as it ponders the best route for its future, as well as accepting that they need to embrace change should they be willing to pay anything more than lip service to us being a sustainable football league club.

Hopefully it won’t only be me explaining that The Council will keep at least one hand firmly in control of the crown jewels, until and unless we have our own more modern crown jewels that provide a better fit for 21st century requirements. All being well our MP will at some later date help spell this out, when he’s been properly acquainted with the facts, as well of course as the Council. Fans getting their ‘information’ primarily from the more extreme TUST propagandists has proved to be both unhealthy and misleading.


Supporters need to take a more realistic view of the Council’s position. With the new academy buildings, catering for those who enjoy other sports as well as football, they will be participating in providing crown jewels for their electorate and the people of Torbay who enjoy far more sports and activities than just football. And those people, many of them whom currently never attend a Torquay match, do not view Plainmoor as any type of jewel.

Those people who will make everyday use of the wonderful facilities at the Osborne Arena...they will also gain a new jewel that the area did not have before. The council cannot, and will not just consider those who turn up once a fortnight to see a football game. Whether it be to use a gym, retail facilities etc, those people bringing in the cash during the week are also unlikely to care very much about Plainmoor’s current existence, let alone view it as any type of value to them.

It is delusional to think that when the decision is made it will be all about us. It won’t be, it will be about the wider area and community, all the others who will enjoy attending concerts at the new facility, and the floodlit sporting facilities in the evenings etc. Not just our fortnightly football match. However much we might want it to be all about us, it won’t be. We have to let the non footballing community help pay the piper as well, to make some allowance for the tune they want to hear. The Council will insist upon it…..but it doesn’t mean that it’s not to our greater benefit, and to Clarke Osborne’s as well come to that.

In any case, Gulls fans should welcome the wider community subsidising their team and their sport. Take a look around Plainmoor and see the amount of elderly supporters we have. As for youngsters, don’t they all head off to University these days, leaving the area, very often never to come back to live. Many others of the young generation have grown up supporting their favourite Premier League side or foreign team that they follow each week on television, and would never dream of paying to watch non league football up at Plainmoor. And those that come to live in the area, are often already up to retirement age, and with allegiance to the club from the area they left.

We’re not going to have the supporter base to provide the income from a stadium that is primarily designed and positioned for nothing other than a football match once a fortnight. If you’re serious about a future in the football league then I see no option other than creating a situation whereby we bring in money from the wider non-football attending community to contribute to funding it for us. To provide them with the crown jewels that they can also appreciate, value, and enjoy…...because our once a fortnight money won’t be the be all and end all when it comes to decision making, and taking into account what the wider community want, and more importantly are willing to pay for EVERY day of the week just can’t be discounted as unimportant.

Nothing would please me more than to see the Council sell Plainmoor to TUST. And for whatever football club they wish to form and play happily in the lower regional leagues for years to come. But not at the expense of holding Torquay United back and the future that can be ours back in the football league thanks to the available and desperately needed additional revenue streams that can be tapped.

Should this current initiative be rejected, then getting dragged down into a TUST led nightmare scenario whereby we’re both red and dead (as far as ever hoping to be a football league club again) could become a serious possibility.

Moving forward to a carefully planned, successful, and sustainable future, in cooperation with the council, surely has to be the way to go.

Good point, Jerry. It is noted he has taken to hiding subliminal messages since the Chris Roberts admission last night.

TRUE - they never have and never will.

If they do I'll but Jon a curry, if I'm still alive