We can only extend our best wishes to Torquay United, especially to Jon Gibbes, a lifelong Torquay fan and historian who frequently engages with our page. United, much like our cherished club, boasts a passionate and devoted fan base, one that has remained steadfast through the club’s recent hardships.

As always, it will be the fans who rally and carry forward the legacy of Torquay United, earning themselves a place of honor in the history books many years later.

Yeovil’s rivalry with Torquay goes back over a hundred years, as captured in this photo below of Torquay v Yeovil & Petters United at Plainmoor in 1923. Let’s hope that rivalry is still there in a hundred years time.

We wish them well.

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Pensions aren’t helping

I had a friend at college who became the first Cambridge University graduate to play for Torquay United. Back then it was firmly in the football league. I went to Plainmoor to watch him play. The officials on the turnstiles should then have been accruing a defined benefit pension in The Football League Pension and Life Assurance Scheme (now administered by Broadstone).

Torquay participated in the Football League Scheme – along with Liverpool , Manchester City , Arsenal and other “big” clubs. If so, it should still do so, paying to belong to a pension scheme it cannot afford. Because of the complexity of apportioning contributions, the big clubs pay a defined contribution at  the same per member rate as the small clubs. This is absurd, unfair and should change.

In January, a letter went to the EFL and Premier League to remind them that the scheme existed and offering them a way to stop clubs like Torquay ever having to pay into it again.

The  proposal was for  capital to be put behind the pension to allow the big clubs to pay a one off contribution and sort funding once and for all. It  looks like a good idea but it has so far fallen on deaf ears.

The letter was timely, the BBC report that the Premier League are looking to seal a deal which will secure the English Football League the financial security the base of the pyramid needs.

Premier League clubs will meet on 29 February to have another attempt at agreeing a funding deal for the English Football League (EFL).

Agreement over how the ‘New Deal’ should be financed has proved elusive over the past few months.

Some clubs have felt the ‘bigger’ members of the top flight should pay a greater percentage.

The overall sum, which will be partly tied to future TV revenues, is expected to be around £900m over six years.

There had also been disagreement over financial regulations to be implemented in the Championship.

There is no guarantee of a conclusion to the matter on 29 February and there is potential for a further meeting on 11 March should it be needed.

However, sources at a Premier League shareholders’ meeting in London earlier this month expressed increased confidence over a positive outcome.

News of the short notice nature of the next meeting comes as the government prepares to publish legislation around the installation of an independent football regulator.

MPs had demanded a model be agreed or the top flight risked having a settlement forced on it.

A report by the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Select Committee in June said if no funding plan is reached soon, the government should bring forward a move to set up an independent football regulator (IREF) “to impose a deal”.

The plan for a regulator, recommended by a fan-led review, has been confirmed by the government. It should ensure a fair distribution of money filters down from the Premier League.

If anyone reading this is, or knows a senior executive of a Premier League club who wants to devote a small amount of time to this, can be please be in touch with henry@agewage.com. Help is on hand senior clubs are willing to co-invest in the project.

Now is the time to act on this, the window of negotiation lasts a few weeks, the next big meeting is next week, clubs are in the weeds of it.

So if you can help, help today – anonymity, if requested ,will be respected.

It the proposal succeeds, no member of the lower league family to find themselves unable to meet legacy pension payments.

Indeed – the prospect of never having to pay a penny more into this legacy scheme may be the first step for Torquay United to get back on its feet. It will also make sure that the people on the turnstiles , who I hope are still with us, can enjoy their retirement unworried by the impact of clubs failing.