'Shocked and saddened' - Reaction from former Torquay United chairman David Phillips

Former Torquay United Chairman David Phillips has expressed his shock and sadness at the club’s announcement that it intends to enter administration.

Owner Clarke Osborne informed supporters of his decision on the club website yesterday and also confirmed he would be standing down as Chairman of the Board.

Within a couple of hours, United also confirmed the departure of manager Gary Johnson with immediate effect.

“Things have been building for a few months now but when the news came through yesterday, I was shocked, and feel very sad,” said Phillips.

“People might say it was inevitable but I didn’t think it would happen this way.”

Looking back on the agreement that brought Clarke Osborne and his Gaming International enterprise to Plainmoor in the winter of 2016, Phillips recalls a time when the small consortium he headed had simply run out of the necessary funds to keep the club afloat.

Virtually his entire tenure as chairman was dedicated to finding long-term buyers for the club and Phillips remembers a period of great frustration, as talks often broke down when it came to the point of genuine investment.

His search was carried out in parallel to the efforts of Kelvin Thomas, who had been employed by former owner Thea Bristow to find a buyer. Thomas failed in his quest, leaving Clarke Osborne as the only option.

“When we took over in June 2015, the consortium came down to four of us putting in the money, which was myself, Mervyn Balson, Angela Richards and Harry Kerswell,” said Phillips. “It was never going to be enough to sustain the club, just an interim measure.

“We were a short-term fix. In the time I was there, almost two years, I was spending virtually all my time on the phone to prospective buyers. There was also Kelvin Thomas, who had been appointed by Thea to find a buyer.

“There was a lot of interest in the club but nobody came up with the goods. In the meantime, I was introduced to Clarke Osborne and I said ‘why would you want to buy Torquay United?’ and he replied: ‘it’s a big opportunity to buy a well-known football club’.

“We were short of cash and they [Gaming International] bailed us out to keep the club going. Unless we could pay them back, they would be the new owners and we basically ran out of cash. We were heading to administration ourselves, so the club went to Clarke.

“In my dealings with Clarke, he was always a gentleman and very courteous. He always wanted to stay in the background and left George Edwards to run the show at Plainmoor.

“In hindsight, I still believe it was the right decision. It has taken seven years to get to this stage, which nobody wants, but the club has had some success in that period, with promotion and the play-offs.

“The last 18 months has been doom and gloom, and I personally think the manager should have gone before, but that’s my personal opinion.

“We had so many promises, people talking to us from China, India, America, everywhere, but it was all talk and nobody came up with the money.”

Torquay United now faces the same situation that caused Phillips and his consortium so many sleepless nights in 2015/16. Given the experiences of the Clarke Osborne era, Phillips believes the ultimate aim has to be finding a new owner who is a ‘football person’, someone that loves the game, first and foremost.  

Phillips said: “The point for Torquay United is that we’re not yet in administration, so there is a period now for a prospective buyer to come forward, and there is one who rang me straight after the news broke yesterday. I’ve already informed the administrators of that.

“I know Torquay United Supporters’ Trust (TUST) are interested, and I’m a member of TUST as well. The challenge is having the capital to run the club on a daily basis.

“We are all very wary of another situation like we have now but you can’t expect the Angel Gabriel to come along and save Torquay United. The objective has to be finding a ‘football person’ who is willing to put money into the club.”