TT BLOG
Matty Hayward
@MattyHayward96
THE OSBORNE INTERVIEW
The silence has been broken; the calls for communication and co-operation can cease; Torbay Weekly have pulled off the unthinkable. Finally, this week, we can hear from Angela Rippon about her experience of dancing with the son of Aldershot Town’s manager.
But that’s not the only big interview in our local written media this week. As well as chatting cha-cha-cha with Plymouth’s finest broadcaster, Torbay Weekly have also had exclusive access to the elusive Clarke Osborne. What an opportunity, long overdue, for the newspaper (whose initiative sponsors the club’s away shirt) to get some real answers to some tough questions about the past, present, and future of Torquay United Football Club. Indeed, this article promised that Osborne would speak “candidly” and “openly” about “why he was backing the club, manager Gary Johnson, and the Bay.”
And, in fairness, after 20 (not an exaggeration) paragraphs – largely about Osborne’s adolescent laziness and the fortune that meant he secured his first job at a public company working for his dad’s mate – editor Jim Parker does start to lift the lid. Osborne details the circumstances in which he took over the club, says that Gary Johnson is a “top coach…more than capable of taking Torquay to the Football League…just needs a bit of that luck,” and praises the “very busy” George Edwards and the “brilliant” Mel Hayman.
You’d be forgiven, then, for thinking that everything was going extremely smoothly, and we weren’t eleven points off the top in the sixth tier.
I’ll not reheat the rest of the article – you can read it for yourself – but a brief summary of the TUFC related matters goes like this: CO enjoys building projects, ‘saved’ club from administration, ‘political in-fighting’ thwarted original stadium plans but a new ground and academy still the aim, ‘never give up’, (non-specific) lessons learned after the pandemic, will still be here for as long as people in Torbay care. None of this was particularly new, or inspiring, but it was at least communication that we’d otherwise not seen.
In the midst of this were some comments that seemed less relevant to the matters at hand. There is some irony, for instance, in his remarks about social media. He opines that these days “we don’t respect people, authority, opinions,” that social media is “helping to destroy respect” and that “some appear to spend their time disrespecting the club” online. That’s funny, because every single person that I know who is angry about Torquay United Football Club – its direction, its ownership, its on-pitch performances, its owner’s refusal to make big decisions about the on-pitch performances – would be more than happy to say this to Osborne’s face. Many have said it to George Edwards’ over recent weeks. What’s more, since he took over, an open fans’ forum is the one consistent request that the Trust has made. Torquay fans do not want to be “throwing stones” on the internet: they want to have a reasoned, calm, rational conversation. They still do. The offer remains open; the chair remains empty; respect between fans and ownership continues to be destroyed.
He also bemoans the accusation that he “[closes] down businesses for profit, without any consideration of the facts or the truth.” It would’ve been nice, at this point, for a question to have been asked of the self-professed “petrol head” about his relationships with his fellow petrol lovers at Swindon and Poole Speedway clubs.
In fact, plenty of questions have to be asked about the questions that were asked. Or, more pertinently, those that weren’t. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to feel a tad miffed that so many column inches were spent on Osborne’s family life, education, and the fact that his many businesses are worth “[while smiling] enough”, when none were spent asking any of the following:
Do you agree that the past two-and-a-half seasons have been an abject failure on the pitch? Who is to blame for that, or is it just a relentlessly consistent absence of the “luck” that you speak of? What happened with Poole, Swindon, Bristol Rovers? There are lots of rumours: can you put any of them right today? There are fears that you want to do the same with TUFC as you did to those sports clubs – can you dispel those fears? How advanced are conversations about a new stadium, or the new academy? Do you have detailed plans? Why didn’t you, or someone from the club, attend the TUST fans’ forum? Was someone from the club present discreetly, either online or in person? If not, how were they able to publish a statement within hours of its completion? Do you accept that the club’s response to the fans’ forum, which made some absurd accusations which have since been disproven by TUST releasing the audio of the meeting, was out of order and embarrassing for the club? Would you, or whoever wrote it, like to apologise for that? Would you, or anyone at the club, like to apologise for the repeated failure to meet its stated aims, or for its staggering regression in recent years? Has the playing budget for this season been competitive? Was it last season? What about the budget for backroom staff? Why are you talking to fans now – what’s changed? And why, oh why, do we keep playing goal music?
(Sorry, there had to be some levity)
The final announcement of today came not in the Torbay Weekly, but on the club’s website. There, we learned that there was to be a fans’ forum organised by the club. Hooray! But…questions are to be submitted in advance, via email, and the implication is that a video of the responses will be published. This, of course, gives the club a chance to cherry-pick questions and edit responses in the most charitable possible light. There was no indication of which members of “the board” will be involved.
It’s a real shame. Both the interview and the fans’ forum were real opportunities for genuine transparency. For difficult questions to be asked, and insightful answers to be shared. It feels, instead, like we’ve been taken for mugs again – a complete cop-out by the club and the local press. It all feels so orchestrated, so safe, so veiled. What could’ve been a welcome offer of a handshake is yet another palm to the face from a club whose attitude to its fans is colder than Ebenezer’s freezer.
That said, there is also cause for optimism. This has all been prompted by a trust meeting and the plan for a fairly meek (if, I think, meaningful) protest. This should show, more starkly than ever, that the club’s refusal to (properly) listen doesn’t mean that we are powerless. In fact, it shows that we’re far more powerful than they want us to be.
What is to be done?
It’s all well and good me typing away about how shit it all is, but what can we do? Well, if you haven’t already:
- Join TUST, here. They’re not perfect, but they’re the only legitimate representative body that Torquay fans have, and the more numbers they have the stronger they are. If you’re reading this soon enough, you can attend the AGM (30/11/23 – more details here) and have your voice heard.
- Send your questions to the online fans’ forum. As has been suggested by some on Twitter (currently known as X), copy in the trust. That’ll improve transparency, and we’ll be able to see which questions have been filtered out by the club. Feel free to also tweet your questions to TorquayTalk, and we’ll keep a record too.
- Attend the protest on Saturday, which rightly goes ahead in light of the news. Details are here. The more the merrier.
- Maintain this pressure. It’s vital that the board see us not just a temporary pest, but a permanent, critical friend of the football club. We must be composed and reasonable, but also passionate and forthright.
- (Perhaps controversially) remember who the real target of our ire should be. Gary Johnson is doing an objectively bad job as manager of this football club, and has been doing so for at least a year. He should have been sacked long ago. He warrants criticism. But the future of this football club is not dependent on his sacking: it’s dependent on Clarke Osborne and co. Focus the protestations on them.
- Keep your expectations high. Ours is a modest but proud football club. If anyone tells you that we’re being entitled, or that demanding a place in the Football League and a bit of openness from our owners is outlandish and unreasonable, or that you’re the ‘wrong sort of fan,’ tell them where to go. Our club, and our town, deserve better than this.
COYY – MATTY
TUST REACTION
Whilst TUST welcomes the interview with the football club’s owner Clarke Osborne, having waited so long for this communication, it is disappointed that questions fans would like answers to were not asked.
At the same time the club has bowed to increasing pressure by announcing an online fans’ forum. Although this may be seen as a step forward TUST asks why this cannot be a face to face meeting.
TUST acknowledges that whilst these may be seen as positive developments they do not meet the criteria as set out at the recent Fans’ Forum.
As things stand Saturday’s sit-in protest goes ahead as planned.
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