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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 15:31:26 GMT
A slightly shorter diatribe this time  Stewart 1.Comments on the Forums indicated that there were strings attached to the transfer funds being made available, and that Kev decided to forego the signings rather than except the strings. But we can both agree that his preference was to bring in further players. I would guess, and it's no more than a guess, that before G.I's arrival, Kev had a fairly free hand to do as he wanted (on the football side) as regards running things. The previous Board could give him little or nothing in the way of finance, certainly in the latter months, but I doubt Dave Philips & Co poked their noses into his plans too deeply, and if Kev could raise further money from sponsorship etc, could have spent it on the priorities he decided. With a General Manager appearing on the scene, as well as Clarke Osborne taking a close interest, Kev almost had to suddenly adjust to two tiers of management above him, querying and in some cases vetoing his plans. Adjusting to this might not have been an overnight task. While we know that, particularly on the continent, the Coach's role might just be exclusively to coach the players, and a Director of Football, or someone with a similar title, might acquire the players. Perhaps, in the incident under discussion, and during this forthcoming Summer, it'll be Dave Hedges with substantial input as to who is recruited, and I'd expect strong input from the General Manager as well. Kev's influence in certain sphere's may well have been diluted. That's a good thing in many ways, as most of us got the impression he was attempting to do anything and everything before hand. But there might be some overlap, or a while before each is totally clear what everyone else's role is. Kev won't get what he wants every time, and you've probably pinpointed one such occasion. Stewart 2. I agree to some extent, and don't think it's that much of a bad thing if an owner can avoid being totally sucked in by the psyche of his club's fans, and is able to maintain a slightly more detached view of the business without the emotion impacting on decisions to too great an extent. Perhaps, due to the nature of the business he's been in, mainly more long term projects, the interminable delays waiting for local authorities to complete their bureaucratic procedures before then requiring a 5th revision of your plans, that being pushed back 12 months (to be spent in National League South) didn't appear like the end of the world to him ? How disastrous, catastrophic, or cataclysmic is regional football ?.....perhaps we'll be able to get a better idea from observing York City next season ? My personal view was that, having been starved of watching a winning team at any level for so long, that our crowds would hold up reasonably well...as we thrashed every opponent out of sight, week in and week out  . I'm not sure how I'd judge my level of optimism. But it's significantly lower than my levels of pessimism would be if G.I got tired of the hassle and packed up and left. Then I fear we really would be facing a bleak future....if a future at all. |
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Post by stewart on May 2, 2017 16:18:32 GMT
My personal view was that, having been starved of watching a winning team at any level for so long, that our crowds would hold up reasonably well...as we thrashed every opponent out of sight, week in and week out. Do you really believe any of that, given that there would be a reduced budget and consequently poorer players ? |
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Post by Ditmar van Nostrilboy on May 2, 2017 18:33:23 GMT
My personal view was that, having been starved of watching a winning team at any level for so long, that our crowds would hold up reasonably well...as we thrashed every opponent out of sight, week in and week out. Do you really believe any of that, given that there would be a reduced budget and consequently poorer players ? I think a quick glance at our average attendances over the last 20 or so years usually shows a tendency towards higher attendance when we are at the top end compared to struggling at the bottom end, whichever league we may be in. Not very statistically accurate as no account taken of "bigger clubs" and the attendant number of visiting fans that may be present some seasons but not others (last time we were at level 3) or local matches either. One thing that does always stand out is higher attendances for the first and last 2 months of a season compared to the cold and wet weather in the middle of the season... |
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jerry
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Post by jerry on May 2, 2017 18:38:47 GMT
How disastrous, catastrophic, or cataclysmic is regional football ?.....perhaps we'll be able to get a better idea from observing York City next season ? I'm not sure that York would be a fair comparison as the National North is very different from the South. The North has a plethora of well supported sides such as Stockport, FC United, Kidderminster, Halifax, Darlington... not to mention the circus that surrounds Salford City. York may even find that there is an increase in visiting supporters next season. Half of the clubs in that division had average attendances of over 1000, whereas only the top 2 sides managed the same in the South. I get the impression that relegation to the North would feel like less of a drop, with all the familiar names there to greet you, than the plunge into the South to face the likes of East Thurrock and Whitehawk. Then of course York are owned by a relatively wealthy bloke who has pledged to keep them full time with a budget that would have been top 3 this season. I can't imagine Mr. Osborne doing likewise. |
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 19:40:20 GMT
Stewart Poorer players would be an absolute necessity if we wanted to succeed . The present lot, and judging by the F.A Cup campaigns over recent seasons, are hopeless against sides further down the ladder. I think the stats amply illustrate our players are the sort that can get decent results against the top six sides in the National League, but more often than not come off second best against less cultured opponents farther down the pyramid.....so 'poorer' but more effective players for the new situation would have been a 'must' had relegation been our fate. Even more seriously, you have to play to your strengths, and G.I are adept at getting money out of people's pockets once they're in a stadium. Isn't it Poole or somewhere, where they run the show, but don't actually own the stadium. Today's customer satisfaction survey is a case in point, and the info they can glean from knowing when people arrive, which services they value, which they would appreciate improving etc, will all help them cater towards their customers needs. But there's nothing to cater to if the customers don't turn up, and so reducing the budget below what would have ensured us promotion back to the National League straight away, would have not only been a false economy, but got some disastrous (or should that be catastrophic ?) comments on a future customer satisfaction survey. What use would a mid-table National League South side be to G.I ? You would have to believe the 'Running the club down, with the aim of housing' scenario to make any sense of it. Even if we wish to dismiss Osborne's assurance that staying in the National League was 'vital', is there not more evidence that running the club down via relegation...smaller crowds etc....would run counter to actions such as the loan signing of Aaron Racine, and purportedly paying him considerably more than £1K per week to strengthen our defence ? There's no way that G.I could know the guy would last little more than half a game, rather that be the bedrock of our defence and make our back-line impenetrable. Similarly, there are an increasing number of voices surmising that Dave Hedges arrival has coincided with a noticeable improvement, particularly in our away performances. Again, G.I would have been shooting themselves in the foot if the aim was to see us as an underfunded National League South outfit, with the accompanying declining attendances...rubbing their hands while the gradual steps towards closure were realised. All of it supposition, as our 'comfortable' 17th place finish drew us clear of relegation, and for some harder evidence, we'll see what steps are taken towards tackling the forthcoming season....will they up their game and try harder to get us relegated ? Or is keeping us well clear of National League South, so that no one will know what they would or wouldn't do if we were down there the more likely, and making such speculative discussions as these increasingly academic ? Let's see what the Summer brings. Some modest first steps towards eventual sustainable success is my prediction |
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Rob
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Post by Rob on May 2, 2017 21:47:33 GMT
Nothing on how to get a season ticket yet, but a survey that asks if we need a new stadium. Am guessing I won't be the only one who has heard today of a budget reduction for next season. Last I read prior to that were Osborne's comments in the Herald about it being determined from the bottom up. Drove past Abbey Stadium in Swindon yesterday. I'm happy to confirm it wasn't a TUST member, GI Joe or the owner who relayed that information to me. Hopefully what I was told is incorrect.
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on May 2, 2017 22:50:38 GMT
Nothing on how to get a season ticket yet, but a survey that asks if we need a new stadium. Am guessing I won't be the only one who has heard today of a budget reduction for next season. Last I read prior to that were Osborne's comments in the Herald about it being determined from the bottom up. Drove past Abbey Stadium in Swindon yesterday. I'm happy to confirm it wasn't a TUST member, GI Joe or the owner who relayed that information to me. Hopefully what I was told is incorrect. I seem to recall that we got back into the league last time without the Bristow Bench stand so from a football capacity perspective, Plainmoor is perfectly adequate thank you very much for up to league 1/2 level. Another question about having a multi purpose stadium which is fine in principle but surely it is up to the owners to put forward their reasons and merits of this without having recourse to a fans survey. Of course the results of this will be carefully filtered like the fans forum. I see the "critical" online forums get a mention and cannot help but think that the hope must be to prove their collective irrelevance. TUOFC gets a mention too, maybe to put that other critical rival in the shade. Wasn't this survey suppose to be in conjunction with the Herald? |
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Post by rjdgull on May 3, 2017 7:04:45 GMT
Coming back to that capacity question, a new stadium with the ability to grow capacity. Most fans would take a starting point of 6k to take upwards. But what if it is 2k 3k? No business sense in building something that is not needed? To some extent a lower league would suit CO in this respect....
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2017 22:58:07 GMT
12 HAPPY MONTHS
I see that it was 12 months ago (20th December 2016) that rjdgull kicked off the celebrations as we welcomed Clarke Osborne as our saviour and new owner. And even as we take a look around at things one year on, Clarke's resolve to improve the club both on and off the field is undimmed. Whether it be keeping the old stadium in good order by arranging the necessary repairs, or forging ahead with the required steps and financial commitment to provide us with a much needed Reserve team.
On top of all that, in the near future I'm sure we will again be impressed by the further proof that funds for even greater team strengthening are being made available to our Managerial team of Owers & Kuhl. And that's all before we move to our ultra modern Osborne Arena. Of course our current league position is the one fly in the ointment that spoils us enjoying the rosy future laid out before us. Let's all hope that the next 12 months sees greater progress out on the pitch to match the fine achievements that Clarke's business skills and wise leadership is bringing us in so much of the rest of the TUFC organisation.
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Dec 20, 2017 23:16:08 GMT
Lifted from elsewhere. £360k owed to GI:-
Riviera Stadium Ltd announced its unaudited abridged accounts on 18 Dec 2017. These are made up to 31 March 2017.
The main announcements are that, of 31 March, the company had debtors amounting to £360,000. It also had creditors amounting to £360,000.
There is detail included in the notes to the financial statements as follows:
5. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES
Included in debtors is an amount of £360,000 which is due from The Torquay United Association Football Club Limited, the company's subsidiary company, and is unsecured.
Included in creditors is an amount of £360,000 which is due to Gaming International Limited, the company's holding company as at 31 March 2017.
6. ULTIMATE CONTROLLING PARTY
At the balance sheet date the company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Gaming International Limited which is registered in England & Wales. Gaming International Limited is controlled by Toklon Limited which was the ultimate holding company as at 31 March 2017.
Gaming International Limited disposed of its shareholding during September 2017. The company is now under the control of Mr C A Osborne.
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Dec 21, 2017 18:29:19 GMT
So in the first quarter, 360k was injected into TUFC from GI via RSL and this was at a time when Nico was told there was no money left to strengthen the squad! What a state the club was in! Wonder how much more money has been pumped in since? Quite clear the TUFC business model is not viable in its current form. Should we be worried that a sizeable debt now exists to RSL?
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Dec 22, 2017 1:02:30 GMT
So in the first quarter, 360k was injected into TUFC from GI via RSL Not necessarily! I would guess that the £360k includes the money lent to the club before the takeover. Some people have been quick to jump to the conclusion that this was written off as part of the takeover, but I very much doubt that. The purchase price was £1. Suggestions that it was effectively a six figure sum are fanciful. The money GI lent to the old board definitely was not consideration for the acquisition. It is possible it was a gift credited to the profit and loss account - but I find that extremely unlikely indeed. |
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Post by rjdgull on Dec 22, 2017 17:11:09 GMT
I would agree with that - was the "loan" reportedly about 120k to the old board? In that case looking at 240k with certain costs no doubt overhanging from the previous regime as they had hit the buffers and were looking at administration otherwise...
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