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Torquay United - worrying times ahead I think


Lanterne Rouge

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42958113

Nothing but trouble on the horizon I fear. I think the owner is hoping they go down to conference south and then fold so he can buy Plainmoor from the council on the cheap and sell it for housing.

I must admit I hadn`t heard that he was the head of some consortium that was looking to build a stadium in Bristol for us and the blue few to share back in 2000 or so. I suppose we should be grateful it never happened as doubtless they would have stolen it off us by now.

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If the Council makes it clear that it will never sell the freehold of Plainmoor to Osborne, given that he was the one who bought Eastville and sold it to Ikea, then Osborne will lose interest, the likelihood is that it will then drift towards administration and then the administrators can sell it cheaply to a Supporters Trust who will take it over and continue to play at Plainmoor.

The best thing the current fans can do is boycott the club with pickets and force it into administration so seeing the back of Osborne as quickly as possible.

 

Edit: he makes the Al Qadis look like model owners!

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Grant Thornton was part of the Stadium Company that took Eastville over and threw out the Gas, so he can't be all bad. He's tried to have a hand in all sorts of stadium projects since then.

I think the local council are saying there has to be a ground fit for league football down there so I don't think he'll get houses on unless he can replace it somewhere else.

 

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1 hour ago, Red Right Hand said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42958113

Nothing but trouble on the horizon I fear. I think the owner is hoping they go down to conference south and then fold so he can buy Plainmoor from the council on the cheap and sell it for housing.

I must admit I hadn`t heard that he was the head of some consortium that was looking to build a stadium in Bristol for us and the blue few to share back in 2000 or so. I suppose we should be grateful it never happened as doubtless they would have stolen it off us by now.

Clarke Osborne a**** and a pathological liar  (well, he was at school, not much changed)

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It’s a bizzare one. 

The Council have the freehold, so I can’t understand the logic of him buying it.

Must be  ‘value’ somewhere but unless the Coucil are willing to link up and provide some land of their time own for free or very cheap, or offer land via a planning agreement with another developer (which would be very complicated as they would want some ‘cut”) can’t see where the £££’s are. Suppose they could allocate a greenfield site or ex minerals or waste land but even that has cost implications for purchase and likely restoration.

Appointed a decent Manager though and it would be great if we could send more players rather than loan them to Torquay’s relegation rivals!

General view down here is the ‘great escape’ is possible but highly unlikely.

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The consortium mentioned in the OP is Gaming International. These are the same people who bought Swindon Speedway track and started turning it into housing before finding a new speedway venue. 

Is it still the intention of one or more individuals that Torquay ground share with Truro City (over 100 miles away) in the near future?

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1 hour ago, 22A said:

The consortium mentioned in the OP is Gaming International. These are the same people who bought Swindon Speedway track and started turning it into housing before finding a new speedway venue. 

Is it still the intention of one or more individuals that Torquay ground share with Truro City (over 100 miles away) in the near future?

It`s Truro that would be sharing with Torquay at Plainmoor but last I heard it depends if they get promoted or not. If they don`t the talk was of them sharing with Bodmin Town until the new Stadium for Cornwall is built (if it ever is).

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2 hours ago, Moor2Sea said:

It’s a bizzare one. 

The Council have the freehold, so I can’t understand the logic of him buying it.

Must be  ‘value’ somewhere but unless the Coucil are willing to link up and provide some land of their time own for free or very cheap, or offer land via a planning agreement with another developer (which would be very complicated as they would want some ‘cut”) can’t see where the £££’s are. Suppose they could allocate a greenfield site or ex minerals or waste land but even that has cost implications for purchase and likely restoration.

Appointed a decent Manager though and it would be great if we could send more players rather than loan them to Torquay’s relegation rivals!

General view down here is the ‘great escape’ is possible but highly unlikely.

I think it could come down to a desire for re-election for many councillors. As we both know all to well the general public in Torbay couldn`t give a flying **** about TUFC and if Osborne plays it right and makes a fuss before the next elections about how they are refusing his generous offer just to keep a mothballed stadium public opinion could well end up forcing their hands.

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16 hours ago, Red Right Hand said:

It`s Truro that would be sharing with Torquay at Plainmoor but last I heard it depends if they get promoted or not. If they don`t the talk was of them sharing with Bodmin Town until the new Stadium for Cornwall is built (if it ever is).

Can't see it happening tbh; they now want £6m of council money and it's in a stupid place; less Stadium for Cornwall more Stadium for Truro that nobody can get to unless they have a helicopter to beat the traffic.

Pete Masters loses his co-chairman this summer when the five years of support promised run out leaving PM funding £250k of losses on his own so I can see him deciding that Torquay is a better bet.

If you remember he "facilitated" the purchase of Torquay so his ambitions maybe lie in that direction; co-owner possibly.

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8 hours ago, Dastardly and Muttley said:

Really? How the hell are they allowed near a football club?

As I posted earlier, ALLEGEDLY any sports venue will do for Osborne and his Gaming International. These are large "brown field" sites so planning permission for housing development etc is easier to obtain.

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On 08/02/2018 at 15:25, slartibartfast said:

Clarke Osborne a**** and a pathological liar  (well, he was at school, not much changed)

Interesting comment. He attended the same local college as me in the late sixties. Didn’t know him well, but let’s just say your remarks don’t greatly surprise me....

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..Anyone who is interested try googling   Gaming International.

not so much the corporate stuff ,but interesting stuff on various forums/blogs etc.:shocking:

Asschat....".we had a ground with TWO stands....then a ground with ONE stand.. then NO ground ,all after GI got involved"

someone else said that they hoped TUFC has good fire insurance cover..Can't think what they mean by that !:fear:

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This is from November 2015 when Gaming International moved in on Swindon Speedway; 

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/80644-swindon-stadium/

(1)I was talking to a group from Swindon (non speedway fans) yesterday who gave me an update regarding the new stadium at Swindon. Apparently the old stadium is about to be demolished but it's not clear when work starts on the replacement one?  (2)There is a restriction that no more than 200 houses can be occupied until a contract is signed to build the new stadium.  (3) Greyhound stadium at Wallyford, near Edinburgh got planning permission on the provision that a number of houses were built first. Houses built, some steel work for stadium goes up, more houses built, no more stadium built, more and more houses built, still no stadium. Every couple of years the guy pops up with "Work to resume on stadium" Still nothing, this has been ongoing for a few years now. By the way no motor sports permitted.

Then on page two of this 77 page thread; (1) Call me a cynic but am I right to say that Clark Osborne has something to do with Blunsden Stadium? I well remember when he placed Cowley in great jeopardy back in 1975 under the banner of Bristol Stadiums Ltd (?) when the site was about to be sold for redevelopment until saved thru' the great efforts of local fans (my uncle was one).  (2) Yes this is the same guy, and the same company under a different guise these days, and the history of Bristol, Milton Keynes, Reading does not bode well for Swindon, I don't understand why PP has not already been granted, they have had long enough to sort it out by now, or is it that Stadia UK have become expert at engineering delays, just so that the houses are built first and there is NO need then to provide a Stadium so they can then demolish a ramshackle Stadium that could well be a Health & Safety risk by that time, and Clark Osborne, Bill Glass and there merry band of asset strippers can have an increased pension pot by then

 

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