Was the Tommo interview broadcast?

[Auntie Merge]

Spot on Mark. Don't sacrifice the club to chase league football, grow and market the club instead.

We need to have some fresh thinking on marketing the club. I live in Chelmsford and they have always got posters in pubs and shops advertising dinner events with guest speakers (they've got Nigel Winterburn next) and they have lots of music nights there - they've had a string of 60s groups play there, not tribute acts the actual bands, they're also running trips to the races. They are doing things to make money.

This.

Re some of the other comments. If I had won the £61 million lottery last Friday, I would have given the club £1 million on the understanding that it remained a fully owned members club, with a few board changes. [I've always said that if I won I would finance a commercial department for three years to make the club properly self-funding].

I really hope the members make the right decision.

[Diggerthedog]

So the Goodwin consortium is a no go, it's Tamplin or carry on as we have been? I don't really care about going up we do it we don't m, would rather see the club exist long term than any short risk/fix.

If you're reading this Mr. Tamplin then make a statement as said above notify your intentions for the short and long term etc etc, if you do not people will assume the worst that you want it as a toy etc etc. Too many clubs have gone tits up after sugar daddy's run off.

[lupins]

Agree completely this is something so easy to do. Make a statement outlining ideas and intention and the vision and I would think it would go a long way to clearing innuendo and misconceptions

[Diggerthedog]

A failed takeover at Torquay but look how transparent they have been about it all.

[dagger4eva]

Didnt learn a great deal from that tbh.

Love to know what "abuse" towards Tamplin and his family theyre going on about.

Disappointed there was no questioning at all on the 3 companies Tamplin had go bust to the total tune of 2.25 million - and if this came up in the club's so called due dilligence checks.

Disappointed Steve wasnt pushed on what means were used to settle the last tax bill.

Love to know what would ever prevent Tamplin buying out the 2 consortium members 6 months down the line, thus effectively restoring position of club being owned by an individual (per his initial bid)

Love to know why Tamplin felt it appropriate to change the name of one of his companies to D&RFC16 a number of weeks ago.

Love to know if it really was a stipulation that his kids team can use the pitch on Sunday mornings.

Love to know why the club appears unwilling to confirm the anonymous 3rd investor was Bennett to the tune of 300k as a loan.

Lots of questions still unanswered. Think the club owes it to the fans to hold a fans forum pronto!!

[Mike the Dagger]

That was all very plausible...

Answers my question on whether we "need" to sell... no. Great, then don't.

Do our fans really now "expect" to be a Football League club?

[lupins]

I agree he did speak well

Expect as a right to be then no of course not but expect we should try and would like then yes

[Mike the Dagger]

TBH I'd rather watch us win a few games here and there.

At the risk of starting the whole "natural level" debate over, we are a Conference level club based on our infrastructure and fan base. if you want to support a "bigger" club there are plenty around to choose from.

[steeevooo]

Does nobody else remember the real, true sense of achievement and pride that was felt when little old, "pub team from Essex" Dagenham & Redbridge managed to beat off all of the other, better-funded clubs to gain promotion into the Football League? Will that same sense of achievement and pride be felt if we bankroll our way back into the League and then flop back out again with a whimper when the money runs dry? Or worse still (yet arguably more likely), bankroll our way to not getting promotion into the League, staying in the same league as we would have done otherwise but instead leaving us reliant on continuing investment. How many years worth of money have Forest Green Rovers (thanks to their bankroller) been spending, yet still find themselves in the same league? (Yes, I know that FGR were initially bankrolled to a much smaller extent to get into the Conference in the first place)

[dagger4eva]

For me, this isn’t even so much about which consortium has put in the best offer BUT whether we want or in fact need someone like Tamplin involved in the club in the 1st place.

Steve has gone from claiming he simply wanted to invest in his boyhood club (original statement) to now just wanting to invest in a local football club.

Steve says everyone is an outsider from the start (Time FM interview) but we have other people with dozens & dozens of years linked to the club willing to get on board and help the club out now.

Tamplin has no previous ties to the club – and neither he or the club seems willing to discuss the 3 previously bust companies, or use of the pitch for his son’s team as a requirement or in fact make any statement of intent known. Instead all we’ve seen so far is a complete PR stunt involving him handing over 5k to charity in his guise as “potential Daggers chairman”.

He would appear to be surrounded by lots of ‘interesting’ people and you daren’t only imagine what it would be like up in the bar before & after a game going by the characters in that wedding video. It would be a cross between TOWIE meets Booze Britain.

Put simply, given the fact Steve says we don’t NEED to sell – I see absolutely no reason we 1) cannot stay as we are (members club) 2) live within our means 3) aspire to re-gain promotion to the Football League in the same fashion we did 10 years ago (refer to point 2).

I do not want to end up with a Hornchurch, Rushden situation and am convinced Tamplins’ involvement would at some point result in this.

[lupins]

I agree totally we don't want a Hornchurch situation which is why transparency is needed

I also agree that by most measures our natural level may be Conference but the fact is we climbed higher so why not again

I don't see the funding proposed as bankrolling more like managing the ship. Both consortiums are offering roughly the same £ just one over a longer period

And I also agree that if we did pump in gazillions and get as far as Burton I wouldn't in my heart of hearts enjoy the journey as much as 2007 but I would still watch and I will still be there in National South

[NBDag]

We may not need to sell, but that doesn't mean it's bad idea to do it. I don't need £10m but if someone was gonna offer it to me, you can be sure as shit that I'm gonna take it and be much better off as a result.

Joking aside- it's all good and well saying we don't want to be a Hornchurch, R&D etc. But being taken over by Tamplin, Goodwin or anyone for that matter does not automatically mean that we will be. This is just a fear and distrust of the unknown. We don't know much about Tamplin's plans for our club and the future. It is just as possible that he could be a good thing for this club as it is possible that he could be a bad thing for this club. However no one will ever trust him unless he actually comes out now and speaks to the fans and has some transparency about the deal and his plans.

It's not that hard for Tamplin to send an open letter to the Post/Recorder and what does he have to lose by doing it? Not much unless he genuinely is trying to use the club as a toy to pass the time. He does have so much to gain though if he can address our concerns with the truth and evidence to back himself up.

[Mike the Dagger]

I also agree that by most measures our natural level may be Conference but the fact is we climbed higher so why not again

Agree with that, but why can't we do that at our own pace when the time/team/structure is right. No shame being a non-league club (and actually it has some benefits.)

I don't see the funding proposed as bankrolling more like managing the ship. Both consortiums are offering roughly the same £ just one over a longer period

According to Tommo the ship doesn't need steadying though... This is the piece that just doesn't fit. Why is now the moment to totally change what the club is all about, unless we really need the cash (or bust)?

If all is fine for the moment, then lets not rush into anything quickly.

[steeevooo]

It's not that hard for Tamplin to send an open letter to the Post/Recorder and what does he have to lose by doing it?

The problem is that Tamplin has had ample opportunity to release a statement - any kind of statement. The Goodwin consortium stated its aims early on in the process, and that would have been a perfectly logical time for Tamplin to give a similar sort of statement. He is evidently aware of the fans distrust in the situation and our fears regarding his bid (hence his initial "retreat" due to "abuse") - again giving a perfect time/opportunity to release a statement and try to allay any fears, reduce the "abuse" he was receiving, and generally try to promote his cause. The fact that he has chosen at no point to make any statement whatsoever speaks volumes of his attitude towards the fans IMO, and any statement that he does release going forwards will surely only be seen as an act that he has been forced into doing as opposed to something that he wanted to do.

[Diggerthedog]

Why not just put all the money in without wanting to own the club? Sponsor through his own company? Why does the investment need him to own the club? I tell you why because he is a business man and a Wannabe celebrity.

It stinks and its a massive gamble if we sell out, but as long as Thommo keeps his job....