The future of TUST

I notice the first reason he cites for their resignations is “lack of support from TUFC”. Guessing we shouldn’t be surprised by that, though.

Damn...how did I miss this post! 

That mere fact that I'm a Buddhist negates the the narrow minded bit...I must admit that I did once wear a T shirt with something about xenophobia on it during the transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. Only because the Rhodesians were very xenophobic! Looking at the state of their once stunning country, I suppose you can understand why! 


The miserable old git thing...OK, I'll concede that! 

Left wing militants and in-hoc with our Tory MP as well-that's an interesting political alliance, Alpine.

Quite. He likes to make the odd caricature or two does our Joe.

               




With Wednesday v Middlesbrough on the box, and now being joined by the counter attraction of live coverage of Sticker v Mousehole via Facebook, I asked my co-conspirators if there was a possibility of moving our usual Friday night pub get together forward to Thursday ? Thankfully my request was agreed to, and we threw around observations on some favourite usual subjects: Brexit, global warming, transgenderism (prompted by the employment of a new ‘barmaid’ a couple of months ago) etc, over a couple of pints. It was only when we moved on to other topical news: What’s happened to Khashoggi and who’s behind his death/disappearance, followed by what happened to TUOSC and who’s really responsible for their death/disappearance, that the similarities between the two cases started to become evident.

No confirmation that Khashoggi is actually dead, but an inspection of the Saudi Embassy revealed it to be very clean, without a speck of blood to be seen, and notably no sign or trace of Khashoggi. Enter the TUFC Official Website and still no admission that TUOSC is not alive and breathing somewhere. But click on the Supporters Club link and you’ll notice that room has been hurriedly whitewashed. Neat clean and white….but, tellingly, no evidence of the TUOSC in there either.

‘But surely, being their own Supporters Club, TUFC should have stood up for them and offered protection from interference or bullying?, one of our number naively asked. After some laughter, and being asked if he was suggesting that TUFC should have imposed sanctions against TUST to deter it’s alleged interfering with the Official Supporters Club, our misguided mate had his attention drawn to the profound observation made on the subject by Rob: 'I notice the first reason he cites for their resignations is “lack of support from TUFC”. Guessing we shouldn’t be surprised by that, though'.

With the West dependent on the Saudi’s and so anxious not to displease them, is it any wonder we’re so quick to lower flags to half mast or turn a blind eye to the mass killing of the people of Yemen ? We can perhaps, mildly signal our disapproval, but at the same time be careful not to any imply that we are claiming the leaders of Saudi Arabia are in any way responsible, or gave the orders for Khashoggi to meet a grizzly end.

Evidence that top Saudi rulers issued orders relating to Khashoggi are just not going to come to light. Others lower down might have been careless enough to speculate on their desire to get the electric bonecutters to him, but no need for the rulers to be foolish enough to have that on the record. Look back over the many months of anti TUOSC posts across the forums. And whether you conclude that it be the Militant who actually makes the post expressing his desire that TUOSC suffer a long slow death, or the lack of any TUST member taking issue or disassociating themselves from such divisive remarks towards a fellow Supporters Group that is the most telling, the TUST leadership can sit back and observe, while claiming it’s not actually their fingerprints on the actual post.

‘There never has been any animosity directed at TUOSC by TUST’ claimed one recent contributor. And in the very narrow sense of asking the top table to hold their hands up, then you’ll see that those hands are clean. The barrage of animosity that most of us cannot fail to have read, will of course not have originated by actual TUST officials themselves, but will much more likely be almost entirely Militant generated.







But as we analyse each situation, it’s clear where the influence and power lies. Be it the death of Khashoggi or the death of TUOSC, there will be those taking into account the bigger picture and weighing up the consequences for their own interests.

For the sake of argument and hypothetically speaking, what if Crown Prince Riviera bin Macron and his TUST courtiers have played a part in the strange and as yet not fully explained death of TUOSC. Firstly their reluctance to admit such guilt can hardly be a surprise, but wouldn’t the football club understandably feel it had more to lose than to gain by making an issue out of the crime. The probable official line of turning a blind eye as much as possible is surely also the pragmatic one.

Crown Prince Riviera bin Macron has elbowed his way to the very forefront of the ‘Local Authority’ decision regarding the Osborne Arena’s construction (or otherwise). Wouldn’t it be counter productive to make an issue out of, or hold an enquiry into, the ‘interference’ allegations at this time. Whether or not they hold water, and irrespective of how great a part they may have played (if true) in bringing down TUFC’s own Supporters Club. Annoy TUST and you most probably annoy the Crown Prince. TUFC officials will surely attempt to keep their heads down and hope the whole thing blows over.

Given the crucial stage that we’re approaching as regards the new stadium, the old adage of ‘keeping your friends close, but your enemies even closer’ must resonate with club officials, even as they try to placate an angry or upset Mr.Etherton or disappointed TUOSC members.

Similarly the U.S Administration and British Government will take a longer view as they weigh up the strategic value of throwing their hands up in horror at Khashoggi being bumped off. Even if guilty of the ‘interference’ charges made against them by TUOSC, I would still expect TUST be be given a free pass by the club on this.

The alleged negative involvement in the demise of a fellow Supporters organisation may have blackened TUST’s reputation in the eyes of some, at least until any evidence emerges to either substantiate the claim, or conversely to clear TUST’s name. But I see it doing no substantial harm to the Lib/TUST/Macron opposition alliance, or any lasting damage to the future of TUST.

Alpine - you draw some of your parallels at right angles but your post made me smile if nothing else.

In reply to rjdgull's comment "Pity that is the perception because I don't believe that TUST's preferred end game is community ownership but rather to provide a fail safe in times of stress".
What exactly does that mean? The trust can only exist for one of two reasons; either to facilitate the change in ownership to a community owned club or to exist solely as a protest body. I fail to see what providing a "fail safe in times of stress" actually means.
I guess the retiring TUOSC chairman's accusation of interference from TUST actually refers to the Fanzone. It should be remembered that TUOSC could not have provided this because a condition of its funding meant that only an outside body could run it. Never the less the involvement of TUST with the Fanzone does give the impression of TUST trying to become a supporters club, as does the organisation of legends evenings, which I actually thought was a means of boosting attendance at their AGM.
Under TUST's previous chairmanship they stated that they were not a supporters club and had no intention to provide a social outlet, but of course things change. The undoubted aim of TUST in the past was to obtain ownership of the club but this was not obtainable, so it now looks like TUST is morphing into a supporters club because it can't achieve anything else.
Also I disagree with the statement "We have a split can base like no other..." ; yes the fan base is split, but that isn't unique or unusual. The fan base is a collection of individuals whose common denominator is supporting TUFC but beyond that there is no reason to expect any coming together of minds on any particular subject. That is the same at all clubs. Do not forget that both TUST and TUOSC only ever represented a fraction of supporters.