Chris Roberts

Firstly Jon only a few know all the facts about the time Roberts was here, I’m not one of them and nor are you, I put in my posts what I know to be fact and any other parts are just my own view. Those views are based on looking at all the evidence on the ground and drawing what I feel is the most logical conclusions and I never get them mixed up in my head.

Are you figures correct? Where do you and Barton get this figure of £500.000 that you seem to base everything on. I may be wrong but I seem to remember that when the details of the deal were put in the HE, it said that £300.000 was paid for the first 34% of Batesons shares. I then thought it said £10.000 was to be paid each month for three years? And then a final payment that might as been as much as £200.000?

This would make the second 51% about the same price as the first 34%; you sums have the 51% at a knock down price from the 34%. Do you know the board paid £191.000 for the 51%? Or is that just a guess, as I would have thought Bateson would have been looking for much more than that and may well have got it.

You claim Roberts was only there to own and run the club, strange that we was going to be giving the club to the fans once he had got his Hotel come shopping centre, come stadium, why would he want to do that if the "land" angle was merely his way to raise the capital.

Your are free to agree or disagree with me at anytime, I have my own views and for very good reasons.

Merse, you know I read some of your posts and marvel at what you seem to be able to recall from the past, I have never felt I had a reason to question your honesty, or integrity, but I might be forgiven if I had.

When a man who is only a few years older than me and lived as a young boy only a few streets away from where I lived, can come up with the name of the man who put the gas lights out, while I can’t even remember there being any when I was a young boy in Newton, you have to admire his memory. Still as I said I’m more than happy to trust you are 100% correct and that your memory going back to those days is far better than mine is.

I do have a few problems with something’s you do post and I will cover them in this post before I move onto Roberts. One thing you do so often is to make assumptions abut who I am, go to your label drawer and find one that you think is best suited for me to wear. The problem is you are mostly always wrong and rather than look at what really has been written and all the reasons given for say an objection I may have, you just like to dismiss my views.

It was not long ago you wanted to stick a label on me, one that said I suffered from feeing so self important, why was this? Well I had made a post that I felt there were so many good points of views posted on this forum, ones the club should read, after all we all fans and paying customers and our views should be valued.

What do I get, well firstly a man who must be educated due to the job he does, saying that would be mad as they would be sacking Buckle one week and rehiring him the next. Only I never said the board had to read and then act on the posts, only that there were many good views and also good idea’s posted on the forum.
Then I get you merse claiming I’m suffering from a bout of self importance, you do not know me and such a remark was so way of the mark, but there you go, that is what Merse choose to read into my post, I wonder if some fans felt the famous four were suffering that a few years ago.

Then we come onto the label I get put on me because I live in Torbay, lets be honest you love it when you can find a post that you can reply too, if it means you can try and make out the Torbay people only sit on their asses, do nothing to help themselves, are fully to blame for all the problems that exist where they live and are all small minded and people who do not deserve to have a football club in their town.

You do like to use some big words to get your digs in Merse, maybe you think once a word gets past five letters, that those thick Torbay people will not be able to read it or even understand it, so it won’t matter what long words you use.

You seem to think because you went and lived in London that it made you the smart one, why now you lived with people who made things happen, never sat on their fat asses and waited for others to get things done.

The problem is that is a load of bollocks, the facts are that anything London wants it gets, we here in the West Country pay into the big pot as well, but we get over looked and never see our government spending money on the things we need here. It’s not the people of London who do anything, it’s just the fact they live in the Capital City and all gets done around them.

Maybe its time we in the West Country marched up to London and staged a protest, we could block the streets and disrupted those bus and taxi drivers, surely they would not mind? They would understand we were there trying to force changes, do something to make a real difference, might even think it was about time those lazy buggers down there got of their fat asses and tried to make things change for the better.

But I would be a fool to think that is how they would think, no you can bet they will do nothing but moan because they might just have got inconvenienced for a while during the day. They will get home and switch on the TV, watch the news and moan some more that the police did not beat all the protesters to a pulp, forgetting that they are just fellow human beings who’s only real crime was caring about something.

Caring, what a word and one that does sum me up well, for I care about so many things and the ones I do I will give everything I have too, this forum is a testament to that very statement. Yet it seems if I dare to care about the place I live and what happens to it, I will soon find merse has found yet another label to stick on my head.

Even more assumptions will be made about who I am, it will be claimed I don’t like outsiders, anyone who has to cross over the Penn Inn Roundabout to get to Torbay and have plans to make improvements here, no Dave lives in his little world and really has just become so small minded.

Once again so far of the mark, the thing is I pay my local taxes, I live here, not 250 miles away in some City, I care that whatever is going to be built here in the Bay, will add to it, become something we are proud of, be something that will be of real value for locals and visitors alike. Such things as character and heritage need to be considered, if not then Torbay could so easily be turned into just another concrete jungle and I would hate to see such a beautiful place ruined, because of greed or someone looking just to get rich.

I would love to see great new sporting facilities build for all locals to use here in Torbay, many more decent attractions for our visitors and venues where top groups would give concerts, but it could never be at any cost. I would not care if the money came from a man in London, Hong Kong or Padstow, but then is there really any point trying to make you see that, you might just then not have a label in that drawer of yours that would be suitable for me.



I do not need to travel the world or even go past Penn Inn, to know a conman when I see one; I have lived 54 years and trust me I weigh up people not only quickly but in most case very accurately. There are those who talk and those who can do the walk and it was clear that Roberts was only ever a talker.

I said two things the day he arrived in Torbay, one was that he will never deliver even one thing he is offering, two, he will ruin our club and may take it to a point where it could not be saved.

I’m not looking to score points merse, the fact is I was right on both counts in Roberts case, I never always get everything right but then who does. You failed to listen to my two main concerns about Roberts plans. The first and most important was what was going to happen to TUFC when it moved to the Roberts stadium.

You see you like to go on now about how the current board has worked so hard to increase all its revenue streams and we all know how important they are, but at Roberts stadium we would not have had any.

It would have been a place we went to just to play games, it would not be the home of the club, all food and drink sales would have gone into the stadium company, I would not have been surprised if even a percentage of the ticket money had to go to the stadium, you really do not anything for nothing you know.

With only a few thousand fans only a small part of the stadium would have been open up for our games, it would have been a soulless place with all our fans just in one or two sections. Yet you thought it was a great idea and a super place for a stadium, strange really when you consider all your arguments you made on this forum why the club should never move to Clennon Valley.

What did you say? A ground needs to be in the heart of a community, have pubs and bookmakers nearby, well that sure sounds like the Rec site to me. You only changed your mind on Clennon when Alex Rowe said in the paper it was a good idea and one that would increase the revenue into the club, because at that stadium it would have been a proper home for the club and all earnings from the stadium going into the club.

The Roberts stadium would have seen the club struggle to make ends meet, but then Roberts would have been long gone by then as he would have got a big stake in the company that owned the complex and hotel. Wheels come off things and as TUFC was only the vehicle to get him where he wanted to go, he would not have cared one little bit.

So forgive me for trying to make others aware in the beginning, those who could not see past the shinny stadium, those who took the opportunity to try and rubbish anyone who as was proved could see that little bit further at that time.

I had said a stadium that the club could get decent revenue from and in a place better suited than the Rec site would be welcome, but it was only that one piece of Torquay Roberts and his boys wanted.

I did not think I had belittled the famous four, I just said it was my view they did not play such a big part in Roberts going than they would like to think, such a view is based on knowing the road was up for Roberts, he knew he was not going to get the Rec site and he knew he could not make the next payment to Bateson.

That’s the good thing about living in a free country just, we are free to have our own views and long may that continue.

I said I wonder if some fans felt that, I did not give my own view.

Maybe if one had listened to the real concerns I had from day one and not posted what were rude and over the top personal attacks on me, we would have got rid of Roberts sooner.

Still like I said we all have our own views and take on things, you claim what you like, facts will aways be facts in the end.

Are you telling me you know for a fact that Walker and co were giving money to Roberts to pay his installments to Bateson? I would love to see what you have to prove that FACT, was he not taking it straight out of the club Rob?

Would you like to find and quote a post where I have said the importance of fans views have no importance, is that not something I have been going on for some time about?

Its no good trying to twist what I say and try and make me look bad Rob, I stated that in my view Roberts leaving was not because of what some of the fans did.

Yes it surely would have helped a great deal, but Roberts was on his way out and was going no matter what the result of any vote.

because as I keep saying to you he was on his way out anyway, what part of that statement are you having problems understanding Rob

Not dismissive Rob that is just your take on what I have said, I have said Roberts knew he was not getting the Rec site, was unable to fund the next installment, knew a group of fans had given him a vote of no confidence and had nowhere to go as the dream was over.

The problem I have is one second you tell me its a fact that Walker and co were not prepared to fund the next installment, but could offer no prove if that was true or not, then you changed it to "Those who had previously bought in to his idea - using a pension fund - no longer bought into him."

As I said the fans view played a part in Roberts leaving but he did not leave because of it, without the Rec site everything was dead in the water, now is that a bit clearer for you, or can I expect words put into my mouth again, or twisted by some legal mind