1,500 DAYS TODAY
since Thistle’s mismanaged Major Works Programme started on 7th January 2016
1,172 DAYS – THREE YEARS + 2 MONTHS + 16 DAYS
since 30th November 2016 when “all of the works to all of the houses in Toryglen will be complete“. Today, Saturday 15th February 2020, still incomplete, work proven to be shoddy and more importantly, dangerous and now possibly hazardous to life and limb
One thousand, five hundred days since Thistle Housing’s “non technical” management signed the Major Works Programme contract with E.ON, a contract with strangely, no penalty 
clauses and no room for manoeuvre for Thistle Housing, agreed by an under achieved, literate but overpaid Thistle management who, quite clearly, lacked the ability to conclude any contract larger than the supply of cat food.
The Major Works, both phases – a required programme forced upon Thistle by the Scottish Government to better the homes of those in Scotland, as Thistle’s ‘Warm Homes’ performance was dreadfully the worst in our country which pretty much aligns with Thistle Housing’s dreich status, according to the Scottish Housing Regulator’s publications, being the worst performing housing association in Scotland.
Thistle Housing Association’s reputation is trash ….and who did that? Then there’s “Team Thistle”.
That must be the reason Thistle’s senior staff have, over the past few days, vandalised social media with their self interested “Team Thistle” comments that all of Thistle’s staff are being retained. It’s actually rather ironic as it was
they who caused all the problems in the first place and over many years. The Regulator has condemned Thistle’s incapable management and unacceptable staff but there’s done so deaf as those who will not hear.
Suffice to say that there are long employed elements within Thistle Fort indulging in selfish hypocrisy, all too keen to gripe, bitch and make profoundly negative comment about certain greedy and manipulative management individuals whose only concern was their salary packages and survival. Grace McColgan has, at last, gone after bleeding Thistle of a year’s sick pay during her convenient ‘illness’. Then again, she was sacrificed to protect he real culprits.
Then there’s the other one. The real culprit as referred to above, the real source of Thistle’s failure now backed up by certain arsewipes who previously wanted her gone. No names, no pack drill but those in Thistle know exactly where the finger points in association with her fragrant pencil jottered pal both in cahoots to save their overpaid jobs after they chucked poor disGrace to the wolves.
They fail to see or recognise that the downfall of Thistle Housing is at the doorstep of incapable management, surly untrained staff and a previous management committee stuffed full of management cronies who simply did their bidding.
A question, however, if anyone can answer it ….this is now a situation whereby Thistle Housing management’s “serious and historic failures” are rewarded with continuation in a new regime: AKA Sanctuary.
Failure pays dividends?
Yes, that’s a good start.
Thistle staff’s deliberate, false and misleading statements have certainly not appeared on 
social media without the knowledge of management. They should certainly be chastised for bringing Thistle Housing Association into disrepute, after all, they are experts at flinging that accusation in the direction of residents. They claim that Thistle now has (or will, perhaps, maybe) a “partnership” with Sanctuary. Let’s be clear on that one. This is no “partnership” and no euphemism for anything else.
It’s a takeover. Plain and simple. It could be nothing else as Thistle is in so much of an incurable poisoned tangle and that all the management and much of the staff have been proven to be inept, too busy interested in themselves and their crony pals, sitting on their well padded rear ends GTF-ing on Facebook, Instagram, fiddling flexitime to benefit themselves rather than attending to the needs of residents many of whom are less well off than they are, the people who actually pay their wages, not to mention the millions of pounds in deficits (probably more to come at the end of Thistle’s financial year in a few weeks at the end of March) plus the millions required to fix the building problems they caused by their lack of technical knowledge and lax behaviour honed over many years. But is there more to this?
But let’s consider the scandal of hundreds of residents forced to live under the threat of asbestos pollution in attics, asbestos which Thistle’s management deliberately attempted to hide from residents and lied when confronted with the evidence.
The Major Works Programme itself was and is a disaster – dangerous chimneys (now apparently fixed but no evidence of proof), dangerous roofs (all of them) whereby tiles have not been correctly affixed with some already having fallen off an narrowly missing residents, water penetration of the cracking roughcast into the Rockwool insulation material such as being denied by untrained Thistle staff to residents who have experienced rainwater coming through ceilings in top and second floor flats, as well as multiple reported incidents of dampness. Water has to go somewhere and, generally, it’s inwards into residents’ homes.
Promises have been made by Thistle to rectify all problems, promises going way, way back to September 2016. Not a single promise has been adhered to. Bob McGuire, a self employed contractor to Savills, now ensconced within Thistle as temporary interim director, has promised much but delivered little, at least, to residents.
Granted, his role is to make Thistle toe the Housing Regulator’s line (that’ll be a first) following a number of increasing damning reports about Thistle’s “serious and historic failures” perpetrated by both its management and most of its staff. They seem to be proud of that. His other remit was to make Thistle Housing as attractive as possible to any potential bidder. He certainly was and is in position to better the lot of residents., unless there is another agenda. Once that is completed shortly, Bob will be off with his loot. Rather a common circumstance in Thistle.
Mr McGuire has promised all sorts of investigations and reports, none of which has come to light hence his promises can only be considered as vacuous and selfishly self serving.
Or is there an excuse for lying to residents that all things would be well, that Thistle would be undertaking the required and very necessary repairs to hundreds of residents’ homes?
All lies. Made up fabrications. The Thistle way.
Thistle were never going to do this, despite so many promises from its ignorant management and the transient hired help, Bob McGuire, in place as a well paid mendacity ridden, here today, gone tomorrow, money grabber with no interest in Toryglen and its residents. Has this been left to the incoming cash rich bidder? In this case, Sanctuary.
Mind you, Sanctuary will undoubtedly be ready to ‘sweeten’ the pot to grab hold of the millions of pounds of equity in property currently held by Thistle, despite it being now temporarily mortgaged to financial pawnbrokers in London at huge cost.
Beware of Sanctuary Bearing Gifts
Sanctuary, “SCOTLAND’S MOST INDEBTED HOUSING ASSOCIATION“
Sanctuary Scotland, located (for now) in leafy (?) Priesthill, a minor part of its English Worcester based master, Sanctuary Group.
If successful in the takeover of Thistle, Sanctuary will bandy about what seems to be like huge gifts. The only thing about that is that there’s little worse than a cheap meal you don’t enjoy.
The possible problem here is that Sanctuary Scotland is part of the UK’s most indebted housing business, having a debt per housing unit of almost £34,000 per home as compared with failed Thistle Housing of around £11,000 per home. Maybe one of the reasons Sanctuary wants Thistle as the capitalisation trick works well with a housing association which is asset/equity rich but, in Thistle’s case, intelligence and cash poor.
Sanctuary is not in the market to portray altruism and generosity. It’s in in for MONEY. No more, no less. Where there’s a buck, there’s an opportunity. Alas, the brain dead in Thistle haven’t the slightest clue that they are being manipulated and really, they neither understand nor care.
Given the palpable corruption in Thistle Housing, given the same corrupt and proven decrepit management remains for some reason that the Scottish Housing Regulator or even Sanctuary might like to explain.
Is there something else to this? Rhetorical comment
A letter is on its way to all 1,700 or so residents of all properties in Toryglen the contents of which are a secret until delivery.
For example, Sanctuary might stick millions of pounds to undo the profound errors of Thistle’s management (who are apparently being retained??? Can anyone explain that one?).
Sanctuary might even, at this stage, as it would look good, proclaim the investment of many millions more to ‘upgrade’ homes in Toryglen.
That would be the required replacement of kitchens and bathrooms and probably also heating systems which will have been written off against Thistle’s accounts after twenty years. That being in 2021 or thereabouts.
Coincidence? Nah. But it’ll look good, so good that those who really have no say but might have a once and once only singular vote to accept Sanctuary, might be swayed.
Those in Sanctuary Scotland may wish to peruse this site which was setup by frustrated and ignored residents almost three years ago to act as an audit trail of events and in an attempt to combat the intransigent Thistle management who had (and still have) unlimited resources to hand, the expenditure of which was no problem to them as it wasn’t their money.
They may also wish to peruse a wee video taken almost three years ago on 22 February 2017. Click here or on the graphic below.
The problems illustrated in the video still exist. In fact, they have got worse as Thistle’s inept management tumbled into darkness and infighting.
If residents hadn’t campaigned to have Thistle’s many wrongs put to rights, nothing but nothing would have been done. The current interest held by Sanctuary Scotland and everything which has led up to this point in time only but vindicates residents’ fears and resultant efforts.
Thistle’s bragging staff might wish to reflect on that. Had they done the right thing and treated residents with respect, none of this would have happened but why should they care as incompetence apparently pays dividends ….so far!
As an aside…
Today, 15th February 2020, is also the 49th anniversary of the inception of decimal currency in the United Kingdom. It was a Monday, it was freezing and it had been snowing heavily.
- A packet of 20 Embassy Regal was 4/3 (that’s four shillings and threepence), in decimal, 22½ new pence, or if you like, £0.22½.
- A pint of decent lager (then Carlsberg) was 2/3 (two shillings and threepence), in decimal, 10½ new pence, £0.10½
- A gallon of petrol was 6/8 (six shillings and eight pence), in decimal, 34 new pence. Worked into litres, that was 7.50 new pence per litre, £0.07½ rather than the £1.20 per litre today.
- Mind you, a salary of £400 per annum then wasn’t unusual.
Things change. Too bad Thistle Housing didn’t.
GrabTheThistle: The Toryglen Residents' Blog 