Torquay United F.C.

"The Gulls" redirects here. For the 2015 Russian film, see The Gulls (film).
Torquay United
Full name Torquay United Football Club
Nickname(s) The Gulls
Founded 1899 (1899)
Ground Plainmoor
Ground Capacity 6,500
Chairman David Phillips
Manager Kevin Nicholson
League National League
2015–16 National League, 18th
Website Club home page

Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth tier of English football, having been relegated from League Two in the 2013–14 season. They are based at Plainmoor and are currently managed by player-manager, Kevin Nicholson.[1]

History

For more details on this topic, see List of Torquay United F.C. seasons.

Formation to World War One

The original Torquay United was formed in 1899 by a group of school-leavers under the guidance of Sergeant-Major Edward Tomney.[2][3] The newly founded club played its inaugural match against an Upton Cricket Club XI on one of Farmer John Wright's fields, which was situated at the top of Penny's Hill, on Teignmouth Road on the site of modern Parkhurst Road.

After a season of friendlies the club joined the East Devon League and moved into the Recreation Ground, their home for the next four years, Plainmoor being occupied by Torquay Athletic Rugby Club at this time in a reversal of the current situation. In 1904 Athletic secured the lease on the Recreation Ground from underneath United and Torquay and District League rivals Ellacombe took over the lease of Plainmoor leaving United homeless for the first time in their existence and facilitating a return to the farmers fields on Teignmouth Road, however the club was on the move again when the fields were sold to be developed into what would later be known as Parkhurst Road. United soon found another home, sharing with Torquay Cricket Club in nearby Cricketfield Road (a site still used for football in the modern day by South Devon League side Upton Athletic) for four years and during that time won their first honour, the Torquay and District League title in 1909.

Following this breakthrough for the club, the club merged with local rivals Ellacombe in 1910, adopted the name Torquay Town and finally moved into Plainmoor where they would remain to the modern day, during this period the ground was shared with the team's remaining local rival Babbacombe. Both sides were playing in the same league, the Plymouth and District League alongside the reserve teams of Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle, Torquay Town would later win the league in the 1911–12 season.

Election to The Football League

Chart of yearly table positions of Torquay United in the Football League.

In 1920 after the resumption of the Football League following World War I, United's local rivals Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City were both elected to the Football League as founder members of the Football League Third Division, this prompted a movement in the town to merge the two remaining teams together and create a new entity capable of competing at this level and being elected into the new league.

Relations between the two Torquay clubs were poor, but in 1921 matters finally came to a head. Torquay Town was desperate to join its local rivals in the league and after many discussions Babbacombe at last agreed to a merger, enabling the new club to become the sole representative of the town and turn professional to further its case for league election, the new team was to be called Torquay United again, reverting to the town's name of circa 1910.

The new club entered the Southern Football League, famous for being the league that Tottenham Hotspur played in when becoming the only non-league team to win the FA Cup, once again playing alongside Plymouth and Exeter's reserve sides and also Boscombe (later to become A.F.C. Bournemouth). Torquay went on to finish in sixth place that season and during the summer break had the audacity to apply for Football League status, but failed to gain a single vote, seeing Boscombe elected to the league instead. From 1923 onwards the league was split into Eastern and Western halves and Torquay United found themselves playing in the Western section.

In 1925, the club battled through five qualifying rounds to reach the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history. Captain Percy Mackrill lead the team through two 1–1 draws before a strong Reading side won the second replay 2–0 at Plainmoor.

In 1927, Torquay finally won their first league title since the Torquay and District League of 1912, winning the western division of the Southern League, United had the same number of points as Bristol City Reserves, but their 3–1 win on the final day of the season helped them to win the league on goal difference. The club then went on to lose the Southern League Championship final against the Eastern Champions Brighton and Hove Albion Reserves 4–0 but it was the start of an upturn in the club's fortunes. Capitalising on this momentum, the club once again applied for league membership and were successful this time, joining the Football League Third Division at the expense of Aberdare Athletic, who dropped out after failing to be re-elected to the league. Finally the town of Torquay had a professional league team and had joined Plymouth and Exeter in the football league at last.

A new wooden grandstand costing £150 was erected at Plainmoor for United's inaugural season in the Football League; it had previously stood at Buckfastleigh Racecourse, but unfortunately in 2011 it was demolished to create a new stand in 2012 to be called Bristow's Bench in memory of the late Paul Bristow.

It was also during this period that United changed its club colours from the early colours of light and dark blue, into black and white stripes which led to the club being dubbed 'the magpies' like their fellow League club Newcastle United

United's first match in the league took place on 27 August 1927, and was aptly against Exeter City at Plainmoor. The side for that first game was: Millsom; Cook, Smith; Wellock, Wragge, Conner, Mackey, Turner, Jones, McGovern, Thomson. A crowd of 11,625 watched a 1–1 draw with Torquay's goal coming from Bert Turner. The team's first season in the league, however, was not a success – they followed up the draw with Exeter with a 9–1 thrashing away at Millwall; and of the 48 games played that first season, Torquay won 8, drew 14 and lost 20 finishing bottom on 30 points, thus having to win re-election to remain in the league.

Throughout the 1930s Torquay struggled against financial problems, such as having to replace the stadium roof when it was blown off in 1930. They also failed to finish higher than 10th in twelve seasons. In the last few seasons before league football was suspended during the Second World War, Torquay struggled in Division Three South, finishing 20th, 20th and 19th out of 22 teams.

Notable Torquay players from the pre-war era include Paignton-born George Stabb, who scored 24 goals during the 1932/33 season, stalwart Albert Hutchinson (84 goals in 338 games from 1930–38) and Dartmouth-born winger Ralph Birkett, who later went on to play with distinction for Arsenal and Middlesbrough and win one full England cap.

In 1939, Torquay qualified for the final of the Third Division South Cup, a competition in which the club had previously lost 1–0 to Exeter City in the 1934 final. However, the 1939 final (which would have been against either Queens Park Rangers or Port Vale) was never played due to the outbreak of World War II.

Webber era

When league football was resumed in 1946, United continued to struggle and finished 19th. However, thanks partly to the goals of their new striker Sammy Collins, the club broke the top ten barrier in 1949 for the very first time, finishing 9th and then 5th in 1950 off the back of Collin's goalscoring antics.

In 1954 United changed their club colours again, the black and white stripes being changed to gold and blue to reflect the resort's 'sun, sand and sea image', colours which the club has maintained to this day.[4][5] With the change of colours came a change in fortunes starting with the club's greatest ever FA Cup moment that very season.

After defeating Cambridge United 4–0 at home and Blyth Spartans 1–3 away, Torquay were drawn against Leeds United, away, in the third round of the Cup. Torquay were not expected to go to Elland Road and get any kind of favourable result, yet they managed to hold the Yorkshire club to a 2–2 draw; the scene was thus set for over 11,000 fans to crowd into Plainmoor on the afternoon of Wednesday 12 January.

Incredibly, with goals from Collins, Harold Dobbie, Ronnie Shaw and captain Don Mills, playing against his old club, Torquay ran out 4–0 winners, to set up a fourth round clash with Huddersfield Town.

The Torquay United versus Huddersfield Town fourth round FA Cup game at Plainmoor will always live on in the memory of those who attended the match on 29 January 1955. Torquay lost 1–0 to the higher-placed Division One club, but the official attendance of 21,908 remains a Club record.

Following their FA Cup heroics, in the 1956/57 season Torquay just missed out on promotion to Division Two on goal difference. The season had begun well – and by April, the possibility of a first promotion to Division Two was the talk of the town. After home wins against Northampton Town, Southampton, Newport County and Queens Park Rangers, United found themselves sitting at the top of the table, with future World Cup winning manager Alf Ramsey's Ipswich Town just one point behind.

A trip to Crystal Palace for the team and over 1,500 Torquay fans travelling on the last day of the season beckoned. Torquay only needed to win the game to be certain of going up, but they managed only a 1–1 draw at Selhurst Park and Ipswich, who won their final match away to Southampton, took the title on goal-average.

United failed to repeat this form the following season and after finishing 22nd in the league and were placed in the new Division Four, created by the deregionalisation of the two third level divisions.

With Eric Webber still in charge, United ended their first season in the League's new basement division in twelfth place; but the next season, the club returned to form, and on 27 April 1960, 8,749 fans saw Torquay United beat Gillingham 2–0 at Plainmoor to return to the Third Division with two games of the season remaining. However, after only two seasons in the Third Division they were again relegated on the last day of the campaign, with a 4–2 away defeat at Barnsley, in May 1962.

Torquay came very close to regaining their Division Three status when they finished sixth in both the 1962/63 and 1963/64 campaigns. In 1963, Webber signed striker Robin Stubbs for a club record fee of £6,000 from Birmingham City; he went on to be the club's top goalscorer at the end of the 1963/64 scoring 24 goals in 34 games in his debut season.

Torquay's FA Cup run of 1964/65 was the highlight of a disappointing mid-table season as United again failed to return to the Third Division. After travelling to Canterbury City in the first round and beating them 6–0, United disposed of Colchester United in the second round 2–0 at Plainmoor. In the third round, Torquay were drawn at home to giants Tottenham Hotspur.

In front of Plainmoor's second ever largest attendance – the official attendance was slightly above 20,000 – the team performed well: Billy Atkinson put United 1–0 up from the penalty spot after Robin Stubbs had been felled; Spurs responded turning on the style to give themselves a 3–1 lead with two goals from Alan Gilzean and one from Maurice Norman; and then, in the last few minutes, it was the turn of record signing Robin Stubbs to net two goals and make it 3–3.

The first attempt at a replay in London was cancelled, with the majority of United's travelling fans having already arrived in the capital. A week later though, in front of 55,000-strong crowd at White Hart Lane, the match went ahead. Jimmy Greaves scored a hat trick as Tottenham showed their class to win 5–1, Stubbs hitting Torquay's lone consolation goal.

After finishing in 12th at the end of the season, Eric Webber was finally sacked after 15 years as manager by new chairman Tony Boyce who felt the club needed refreshing; Boyce and Webber's successor were soon to write their own part of United's history.

O'Farrell era

Webber's replacement was Frank O'Farrell who arrived fresh from winning the Southern League title with Weymouth. In his first season in charge, O'Farrell oversaw Torquay's second promotion when they finished third in Division Four, while England won the World Cup on home soil.

During the following couple of seasons O'Farrell used his connections at West Ham United to bring many ex-Hammers to Plainmoor, John Bond and ex-international Ken Brown being two famous Upton Park names to appear in gold and blue. At the end of their 1966/67 campaign United finished in seventh, and at the end of their 1967/68 season, United came very close to promotion to Division Two, once again.

With Torquay leading the table during Easter 1968, United got their first ever coverage on Match of the Day, beating promotion rivals Bury 3–0 in front of more than 10,000 fans at Plainmoor; however a poor run-in saw United finish fourth, two points behind the promoted duo – Oxford United and Bury with Shrewsbury Town in third place. This period also coincided with the club's fans being voted the 'Best Behaved Supporters in the League'.

The O'Farrell era ended in 1968/69, when he left to manage First Division Leicester City and later Manchester United.

Lower league disappointment

During the following end of season clear-out, star striker Robin Stubbs was sold to Bristol Rovers for £12,000. Another two seasons of indifference in Division Three saw the club finish in mid-table positions, then at the end of the 1971/72 campaign, United found themselves in the relegation zone, and back in the basement division.

This led to a relatively uneventful decade with consistently mid-table finishes. Although in January 1977 Pat Kruse, a centre-half for Torquay, created a world record by scoring an own goal after just six seconds in a league match against Cambridge United at Plainmoor.

O'Farrell made a return to Plainmoor in 1976 when Malcolm Musgrove lost his job after a disappointing FA Cup defeat against non-league outfit Hillingdon Borough. He soon moved upstairs into the position of consultant manager, and ex-Plymouth Argyle promotion winning captain Mike Green was brought in to control first team matters. The end of the 1977/78 season saw the Gulls finish in ninth place, with Willie Brown finishing up as top goalscorer with 12 goals.

Halfway through the campaign, just before Green's arrival, O'Farrell bought local Devon-born striker Colin Lee from Bristol City, who duly scored on his Torquay debut, and went on to score 10 goals in 23 games. His time at Plainmoor was short, for in October of the following season United accepted a £60,000 offer from Tottenham Hotspur for his services. Lee would famously go on to score four goals on his debut for the London club during their 9–0 demolition of Bristol Rovers and would return to United in various capacities in later years ranging from caretaker manager, to director of football and to his present position within the club, that of chief executive.

Mike Green then left the club, to be replaced at the helm, for the third time, by Frank O'Farrell. O'Farrell didn't stay in charge of team matters for long, bringing in ex-Scotland international Bruce Rioch to become player-coach. After a great start to the 1981/82 season, the Gulls soon started to flag, and ended up in fifteenth place.

During the following summer Rioch was named manager, and the following 1982/83 campaign saw United again off to a flying start. They finished twelfth, but reached the fourth round of the FA Cup for the third time, going out of the competition at Plainmoor after a thrilling 2–3 defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday.

During this period, United – as all English clubs were at the time – were struggling with falling attendances and a negative perception of football in the country as a whole, and by the end of the season on 2 May 1984 only 967 spectators watch the 1–0 victory over Chester City at Plainmoor.

Money was tight at the club and the club's board was putting pressure on Rioch to sell Colin Anderson the club's star player at the time to balance the books, following Rioch claiming "a good few for Anderson could well save the club". Anderson's form nosedived, infuriating Rioch – this culminated in Rioch punching the player in the jaw after Anderson nutmegged him during a five-a-side match in training. Faced with the prospect of Anderson going to the PFA over the matter, the club suggested Rioch resign, which he promptly did. Twenty years later, he said, "What I did was inexcusable. It was a period of my career which I deeply regret, but I learned from the experience".[6]

In February 1984 former Chelsea favourite Dave Webb bought the club. Webb brought in ex-Bournemouth players Derek Dawkins and goalkeeper Kenny Allen to strengthen the squad, and also attracted the former internationals Eddie Kelly and Tony Currie to the club, United would go on to finish the season in a strong 9th place.

At the end of the 1984–85 season United finished bottom of Division Four and had to apply for re-election to stay in the Football League for the first time since 1928. To worsen the problems the club was enduring, a 'suspicious' fire destroyed half of the grandstand on 17 May 1985 just six days after the Bradford Stadium fire, destroying a third of the old grandstand. Nobody was hurt, but as a result, the ground's capacity fell to below 5,000.

For the 1985–86 season David Webb became managing director and appointed Stuart Morgan as manager. However, for the second successive year United finished bottom of Division Four, and again had to apply for re-election. The last side to finish bottom of the league two seasons in a row, Workington lost their league place, but Torquay's bid was successful.

The 1986–87 season saw automatic relegation to the GM Vauxhall Conference introduced into Division Four for the first time. With the final game of the season to go, Torquay were third from bottom on 47 points; below them were Burnley on 46 points and Tranmere, also on 47 points but with an inferior goal difference. Lincoln City had 48 points and seemed in least danger.

The final game of the season was against Crewe Alexandra, featuring a young David Platt, at Plainmoor. At half-time Crewe were leading 2–0 and things looked bad for Torquay, two minutes into the second-half Torquay's centre-half, Jim McNichol, scored from a free kick but despite an all-out attack, Torquay seem unable to get the equaliser even hitting the crossbar. Tranmere secured safety by winning their final game on the Friday night. Burnley were winning their game, and while Lincoln were being beaten by Swansea, they would still finish above Torquay by a single point as things stood.

Seven minutes from time a piece of football folklore was created. A Police dog by the name of Bryn appeared to think that Jim McNichol was running to attack his handler, and sank his teeth into the centre-half's thigh. It was during the resultant four minutes of injury time that Paul Dobson scored possibly the most important goal in the club's history, and kept them in the Football League, with Lincoln dropping into the GM Vauxhall Conference.

The start of the 1987/88 season marked the dawn of a new era in Torquay United's history. Cyril Knowles became manager marking a turn for the better in the club's fortunes. The season started with a 6–1 victory over Wrexham at Plainmoor, and ended with Torquay just missing out on automatic promotion, but earning a Play-off place, losing in the Play-off Final to Swansea City after losing 1–2 in Wales, and battling to a 3–3 draw at a rain-soaked Plainmoor, the Swans being promoted on a 5–4 aggregate. Also during this season, Torquay United beat Tottenham Hotspur 1–0 at Plainmoor reviving memories of the great cup tie of 1965, Derek 'The Dude' Dawkins scoring the important goal in the first leg of a League Cup game. The team also reached the southern semi-final of the Football League Trophy. During the season Knowles also introduced a 16-year-old left winger called Lee Sharpe to the team.

In May 1988 Lee Sharpe transferred to Manchester United for £180,000 in one of the biggest transfers of Torquay United's history at that time, he would later go on to represent England on the international stage as well.

Nearly a year later in May 1989, United made their first appearance at Wembley in the final of the Sherpa Van Trophy (the successor to the Freight Rover Trophy). Torquay had disposed of Swansea and Cardiff in the group stages before beating Gillingham, Bristol Rovers, Hereford United and finally Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Southern final to reach the final. A crowd of 46,513 saw Dean Edwards put Torquay 1–0 up against Bolton Wanderers but Bolton won 4–1.

The Bateson era

Mike Bateson took over as Torquay chairman in May 1990, taking over from Lew Pope. The beginning of the 1990/91 season saw Torquay off to a wonderful start – they were unbeaten for 14 games and were clear leaders in November but they faded dramatically, Bateson sacked Smith in April and appointed former United captain and then youth coach John Impey as manager. Impey proceeded to breathe new life into the team, guiding them to 7th place and the play-offs for a second time.

Torquay won promotion again on 31 May 1991, winning a play-off final on the club's second visit to Wembley against higher-placed Blackpool. Goals from Wes Saunders and Dean Edwards earned Torquay a 2–2 draw in normal time. No further goals in extra time resulted in a penalty shoot-out. Successful penalties by Micky Holmes, Wes Saunders, Paul Holmes, Chris Myers and goalkeeper Gareth Howells, combined with Dave Bamber's miss for the opposition, made Torquay winners 5–4 on penalties. The Gulls were promoted to Division Three due to this victory.

However, despite the high profile signing of Justin Fashanu, football's first openly gay footballer, the appointment of Ivan Golac as manager and well publicised visits of Julie Goodyear to the dressing room, United were relegated again after just one season. Golac's time at United was brief and Paul Compton was appointed to replace him in 1992. The introduction of the FA Premier League at the end of the season meant they were relegated from Division Three to Division Three.

Paul Compton invited Neil Warnock to help him as consultant in January 1993, but shortly after this he resigned leaving Warnock in charge. The former Scarborough and Notts County manager guided the club through another close shave with relegation and then left.

His major addition to United's playing staff, player-coach Don O'Riordan, took the senior job. O'Riordan continued to play an important midfield role and he managed, on a tight budget, to guide United to the play-offs again during the 1993/94 season, finishing sixth and once again qualifying for the Play-offs, unfortunately the team missed out on a third trip to Wembley after an ill-tempered Play-off semi-final against Preston North End, 2–0 up after the First Leg, Torquay United lost 4–1 at Deepdale in the final match played on their artificial pitch.

At the end of the 1995/96 season Torquay finished bottom of Division Three after a disastrous campaign and were threatened with relegation to the Football Conference. However, they were saved from relegation when Stevenage Borough's ground was deemed unfit for League football. Eddie May, who had replaced O'Riordan early in the campaign, was dismissed at the end of the season and replaced by Kevin Hodges.

In the 1997/98 season after finishing fifth at the end of the league season, Torquay United were once again in the promotion Play-offs. Had the team won a point in their final game of the season at Leyton Orient, they would have gone up automatically, but they lost the game 2–1. An emphatic 7–2 (on aggregate) victory over Scarborough in the semi-final, including 4 goals from star striker Rodney Jack, resulted in Torquay United's third appearance at Wembley. However, United lost 1–0 to Colchester United in the Wembley final (played on a Friday night due an England game the following day meaning that thousands of fans were unable to get to the game). Kevin Hodges left the club to return to his former club Plymouth Argyle after the season ended, and Wes Saunders (who had previously been caretaker manager for much of the 1991/92 season) returned as manager.

The following season proved to be a massive disappointment, and Torquay only narrowly avoided relegation to the Football Conference. Matters improved in the 1999/2000 season, with a finish of 9th, just three points off the play-offs. However, 2000/01 proved to be a dreadful season, and Saunders was sacked with the club adrift at the bottom of the table. He was replaced by Colin Lee, who improved results and gave the club a chance of survival. On 5 May 2001, the final game of the 2000/2001 season saw United away to Barnet. Before the start of the game Barnet were bottom of the Third Division, one point behind Torquay. The Gulls needed to avoid defeat to keep their League status, Barnet needed to win. Thousands of fans were locked outside the tiny Underhill ground as United stormed to a 3–0 lead, with goals from Kevin Hill, Jason Rees, and David Graham. Barnet fought back to 3–2, but United held on for the win to condemn Barnet to the Football Conference.[7]

Lee left at the end of the season and was replaced by Roy McFarland, who only managed to deliver a mediocre 19th-place finish the following season; McFarland subsequently quit at the end of the season, in protest of Mike Bateson's decision to sack assistant manager David Preece without consulting McFarland, who was replaced by Leroy Rosenior. 2002/03 would see a major improvement over the previous two campaigns and a finish of 9th place, with only a late run of bad results keeping Torquay out of the play-offs. The end of the 2003/2004 season saw United win automatic promotion for the third time in their history, against all odds in a nail-biting finale at Southend. However their stay in the upper echelon of the football pyramid was only to last for one season, as a final day defeat against Colchester United condemned the Gulls to a return to the 4th division of the leagues after narrowly being edged out by Milton Keynes Dons for safety in Football League One. The fact that it was the MK Dons that had stayed up at Torquay's expense saw messages of sympathy from fans of other clubs, mainly out of a dislike for the franchising of football.

In the 2005/2006 FA Cup 3rd round Torquay managed to pull off a 0–0 draw with Premiership strugglers Birmingham City. However they lost the replay at St Andrew's 2–0. Despite this achievement (and the windfall generated by the replay) the club fell into the relegation places of League Two. Former Exeter City manager John Cornforth took over as caretaker manager from Leroy Rosenior and soon after was appointed as manager until the end of the season. The side's form worsened however, and Ian Atkins replaced Cornforth in April. Torquay United's form immediately turned around going on a 4-match unbeaten run, Atkins managed to rescue the side and lift them a comfortable three points from relegation.

Torquay made a decent start to the following season and were in the play-off spots for the first few months of the season, but a run of just 1 point from 9 games saw them crash into another relgation battle. In October 2006, Bateson stepped down as chairman to be replaced by Chris Roberts, who soon afterwards sacked Atkins,[8] replacing him with former Czech international Luboš Kubík.[9] Despite his credentials as a player, there was some concern raised that Kubik had no real history as a coach, and he did little to endear himself to fans by bringing in Richard Hancox as coach. Torquay's dire form continued, and the club crashed to the bottom of the table on Boxing Day; they would ultimately never leave the foot of the table after that. After the worst run of form in the club's history, Kubik eventually quit on 5 February, having won just one of his matches in charge, and Colin Lee was soon after appointed as the new director of football.[10] Keith Curle was appointed as Head Coach on 7 February 2007. Roberts resigned amid growing pressure from supporters and the board of directors, all of whom were unhappy with his conduct as chairman, on 21 February 2007.[11] Local hotel owner Keith Richardson was announced as the new chairman the following day.[12] However, on 7 March 2007 former chairman Mike Bateson was reappointed as chairman, the move following Chris Roberts' company, Torquay United Holdings, inability to meet the next payment to purchase the club from Bateson.[13]

Curle was unable to significantly improve matters, and Torquay United lost their 80-year Football League status on 14 April 2007, following a 1–1 draw at home to Peterborough United. Illustrating just how disastrously wrong the season had gone, 4 of the club's 7 wins and 18 of their 35 points had been earned while Atkins was in charge, and before Roberts took over the club.[14]

The side's post-season soon descended into chaos, as Mike Bateson stepped down as chairman and was replaced by Mervyn Benney, after which Colin Lee was sacked, and Keith Curle was not invited back to coach Torquay United and soon took a coaching job at Crystal Palace instead. Former manager Leroy Rosenior was reappointed, only to be sacked on the same day. Finally, a new consortium headed by Alex Rowe and Kris Boyce, fiscally backed by £15M National Lottery winner and United fan Paul Bristow,[15] bought the club from Bateson. Rowe was installed as the new chairman, and former player Paul Buckle appointed the club's new manager, who set about rebuilding the team for its first season in the Conference Premier.

Two years in the Conference Premier

The Torquay supporters at Wembley Stadium

Torquay United started their first season in the Conference Premier well beating Aldershot Town 3–0 and went unbeaten until losing 3–1 away to Burton Albion in September, this defeat spurred them on though and they won 5 straight games on the trot leading the table by the end of October. Their form in the league dipped through November and December but a 4–1 victory over rivals Yeovil Town in the FA Cup, live on the BBC, gave the club a massive boost. They couldn't take advantage of this and dropped numerous points over the Christmas period including a 4–3 defeat to arch rivals Exeter City. Torquay got their revenge beating Exeter City 1–0 a week later however by the end of January, Torquay were second, three points behind Aldershot Town. An unbeaten February followed but Torquay were now 5 points off Aldershot Town. Away from the league, Torquay were progressing well in the FA Trophy and had reached the semi-finals by the end of the month. March started horribly with Torquay losing their first three league games of the month including a 2–1 defeat at home to leaders Aldershot Town, this caused Torquay to fall 14 points off the top and drop to fourth. On Saturday 15 March 2008 Torquay reached Wembley for the first time in ten years with a 2–1 aggregate win over York City in the semi finals of the FA Trophy.

After finishing 3rd in the Conference Premier Torquay had to play their fiercest rivals Exeter City to determine who would reach the play-off final to play either Cambridge United or Burton Albion. Torquay had to play Exeter City away first with the return leg at Plainmoor. Torquay started the 1st leg poorly and were fortunate when Tim Sills scored just before half-time but Exeter City levelled when Wayne Carlisle equalised and just when the game looked like a draw Chris Zebroski pounced on a poor clearance by Paul Jones to make the final score 2–1 to Torquay. Torquay knew going into the 2nd leg that if they scored one goal Exeter City would need two goals to force extra time and when Kevin Hill scored in the second half in his record equalling appearance the match seemed all over but Exeter City then scored four goals in the space of 18 minutes to dump Torquay out of the play-offs to ensure they had to have another season in the non-league.

On 10 May 2008, Torquay lost 1–0 in the FA Trophy final to Ebbsfleet United at Wembley, with former Gulls striker Chris McPhee scoring the winner just before half-time.[16]

Torquay started their second season in the Conference Premier as badly as the first one had finished, picking up only 5 points from their opening 7 games. The following 3 months however were to be the best in years, as Torquay remained unbeaten from 7 September 2008 to 2 December 2008, setting a 17-game unbeaten record. They reached the FA Cup 3rd round with a 2–0 win over Oxford United at the end of November. The start of 2009 was shaky but on 3 January 2009 Torquay beat Blackpool 1–0 at home in the FA Cup 3rd round to reach the 4th round of the competition for the first time in 19 years where they faced Coventry City. They struggled for goals throughout January and against Coventry City with a sell out crowd of 6,018 they lost a game which they should have won; losing dramatically late on to an 87th-minute goal by Elliot Ward. At the end of the month they lost to Southport 3–0 in the FA Trophy 3rd round.

Torquay United were promoted back to the Football League on 17 May 2009 after a 2–0 victory over Cambridge United in the Conference Premier play-off final at Wembley.

With goals from club captain Chris Hargreaves and leading scorer Tim Sills Torquay triumphed 2–0 over Cambridge in an entertaining match watched by over 35,000 fans. Lee Phillips played for Cambridge that day, and set a record (for a non-league player) of losing at Wembley 3 times in 3 years with 3 different clubs, In 2006/07 season he lost 2–1 to Morecambe in the Play-off Final versus Exeter City, even after putting Exeter 1–0 ahead in the game, then in the 2007/08 season he lost in the FA Trophy final to Ebbsfleet with Torquay United 1–0 thanks to a goal from former Gull, Chris McPhee and then in the 2008/09 season he lost to Torquay United in the Conference Premier Play-off Final.

Return to the Football League (2009–2014)

In their first season back in League Two, Torquay finished the season in 17th place with 57 points; following victories over Cheltenham Town and Stockport County, the club progressed to the third round of the 2009-10 FA Cup, where they lost 1–0 to Brighton & Hove Albion.[17]

The next season, Torquay United reached the fourth round, equalling the club record. On 29 January 2011, they had the possibility of progressing to the fifth round of the FA Cup, but lost 0–1 to Conference Premier leaders Crawley Town. There was added misery for Torquay United fans the next day when the draw for the FA Cup fifth round saw Crawley Town being scheduled to play away to Manchester United. Had Torquay been drawn Manchester United, they would have benefited from the money that such a tie generates.

That same season, Torquay came 7th, guaranteeing a play-off place on the final day of the season on goal difference. They met Shrewsbury Town in the play-off semi-final, progressing to the final thanks to a 2–0 aggregate win. On Saturday 28 May 2011, they lost 1–0 in the final to Stevenage and remained in League Two for the 2011–12 season. Paul Buckle resigned the day after the defeat, and moved to Bristol Rovers, taking assistant manager Shaun North along with several Torquay players with him to the Memorial Stadium.

United enjoyed an even more successful season in 2011–12 under new manager Martin Ling, achieving a record high of second place in League Two. However towards the end of the season their form dipped and, after finishing in sixth place, they had to settle for a play-off tie against Cheltenham Town. They lost the away leg 2–0 then lost the home leg 2–1 (agg. 4–1), ensuring another season in the fourth tier.

Despite Ling announcing that the team were looking for another promotion season, they were stuck in mid-table during the first half of the 2012–13 campaign, before Ling was taken ill in mid-January. A disastrous run of losses under assistant manager Shaun Taylor followed, the club dropping to just outside the relegation zone. That led to Alan Knill being appointed as interim manager for the remainder of the season. Results picked up after this, and a run of three games unbeaten at the end of the season ultimately secured their Football League status with a 19th-place finish. Ling was dismissed at the end of the season, the board noting that results had been unacceptable even before his illness, and Knill's role was made permanent.

On 27 April 2014, Torquay were relegated to the Conference Premier despite beating Mansfield Town 3–1, after both Bristol Rovers and Northampton Town won their games.[18]

Back to the Conference Premier (2014–2015)

Torquay started the 2014–15 season in the Conference Premier poorly losing to Gateshead 1–3 with Ryan Bowman missing a penalty. After that match Torquay had a brilliant unbeaten run, first of all beating Welling United 3–0 then drawing 0–0 with Southport and then with Dartford. Yet another draw came when they drew with Aldershot Town 1–1 at home. That was their last draw for a while as they went on a 6-game unbeaten run. Starting with a 1–3 away win at Lincoln City then playing at home beating Nuneaton Town 4–0, they were 3–0 up after 30 minutes. They then went on to win two away games winning 0–2 in both of them. First winning at Chester, then Grimsby (manager Chris Hargreaves' home town).The next game was a home game that was looking to be a 0–0 draw until the 90th minute when can The Gulls captain Luke Young scored an incredible 35 yard free kick to give Torquay the 3 points. The next game was again at home and Torquay won 2–0 against Dover Athletic but they were hardly the better team as Dover had multiple chances to score multiple goals including missing an open goal. That was the end of Torquay's 10 game unbeaten run when they had a shocking game away to bottom of the table Telford losing 4–3. That started a terrible run of form in the end of September, large amounts of October and some parts of November. They lost 2–1 away to Forest Green Rovers, then won at home to Wrexham 2–1 but that would be their only win in a while. As they lost a televised game to another team in the relegation zone which was Alfreton Town, they lost the game 4–2. They then lost at home to Grimsby 2–3, Lost an F.A Cup qualifier to Aldershot away 2–0 and lost away to Kidderminster Harriers 2–1. Torquay had another televised game being shown and this one was against high flying top of the table Barnet, Torquay were 0–2 up at half time, but straight from kick off Barnet got one back, but then straight from that kick Torquay went up and Louis Briscoe scored on the turn from around 20 yards out two make it 1–3. Later on Barnet scored again but Torquay held on for the win. The next game Torquay weren't so lucky as they were 3–1 up again at home to Forest Green Rovers with 15 minutes to go but ended up drawing the game 3–3. Torquay then played at home to Gateshead. This game was quite odd and interesting, Ryan Bowman scored a penalty in the 8th minute and it stayed like that until the 86th minute when Alex Rodman scored a penalty for Gateshead to equalize. 3 minutes later in the 89th minute Rob Ramshaw headed the ball into the net for Gateshead which looked like the winner but 2 minutes later after 90 + 1 minutes Ryan Bowman Tapped one in from close range to equalise for Torquay. In the last kick of the game Luke Young's free kick was heading in when the keeper made a brilliant save and with Ryan Bowman running in for the rebound a defender came in and cleared the ball away as the full-time whistle went. It ended 2–2.

A New Dawn? (2015–)

Early in 2015, chairwoman Thea Bristow announced that the club was up for sale. After Bristow resigned in March 2015, she agreed transfer of her estimated £1M 80% stake in the club for £1, subject to sale to new locally based owners. It is unclear of the actual amount paid. Ownership of the club eventually moved to a new consortium made up of 10 local business people in June 2015, with the new board consisting of: David Phillips (chairman); mervyn balsam (vice chairman); Harry and Jill Kerswell; Angela Richards; Val Balson. Steve Breed (Chief Executive) were co-opted on to the board. The new board operating on a good but substantially lower budget took decisive action: firstly putting Chris Hargreaves (manager), Lee Hodges (assistant manager) and Kenny Veysey (goalkeeping coach) on gardening leave; disbanding the youth department; and appointing Paul Cox as manager. On 19 September 2015 United received their biggest loss in 20 years when they lost to Bromley 3–7.[19]

On 28 September 2015 it was announced by the club that Kevin Nicholson, former Torquay United player and club legend would be the club's new player-manager. Torquay United Chairman, David Phillips was quoted as saying "We are delighted to have Kevin on board as player-manager. As a player for the club, he displayed outstanding consistency over many years and is quite rightly regarded as a legend here. He ticks all of the boxes".[20]

Following a dramatic upturn in results where Torquay United sustained a meteoric rise from being 12 points from safety, Torquay confirmed their place in the National League with a 2–0 victory over Bromley on 16 April.[21]

Stadium

Main article: Plainmoor
Cricketfield Road, United's home from 1906–10; the ground is currently shared by Upton Athletic FC and Barton Cricket Club[22]

United played their very first game, a friendly, against an Upton Cricket Club XI on one of farmer John Wright's fields, which was situated at the top of Penny's Hill, on Teignmouth Road.

After a season of friendlies the club joined the East Devon League and moved to the Recreation Ground, which was to be their home for the following four years. In 1904 Torquay Athletic Rugby Football Club secured the lease of the Recreation Ground (it remains their home today) and United moved back to the Teignmouth Road site, but again was forced to move when the field was sold to developers to build Parkhurst Road. At the time Torquay Cricket Club were located nearby in Cricketfield Road, and so this site was United's next home.

The club remained in Cricketfield Road for four years. In 1910 United merged with Ellacombe to become Torquay Town. Ellacombe's Plainmoor ground became the home of the new club, and the shared home of local rivals Babbacombe.

Torquay Town and Babbacome finally merged and became Torquay United (again) in 1921. The club has remained at Plainmoor ever since.

Possible move

Following his takeover of the club in October 2006, chairman Chris Roberts went on record stating his desire to move the club to a new multipurpose stadium catering for football, rugby and athletics. Speculation placed the site of the new complex at the Torquay Recreation Ground, currently occupied by Torquay Athletic Rugby Club. Since Roberts' resignation this move has become unlikely, with succeeding chairman Alex Rowe distancing himself from the plans saying that the club and the fans wish to remain at Plainmoor and will build upon the current ground to increase capacity. The club are looking to buy the houses behind the away end and building an extension to the away end and also to acquire the school (Westlands) and build a bigger grandstand to increase the capacity to around 9,000.[23]

However, recently plans for an extended grandstand have been submitted to the council for planning permission, in co-operation with Westlands school.[24] This was approved on 9 June 2011 with the increased cost believed to be approximately £2 million with the new structure to be named "Bristow's Bench" in memory of the late Paul Bristow who essentially underwrote the Gulls' return to the football league. With the Grandstand going under destruction and the new stand not being ready for the 2011/2012 season Plainmoor capacity stood at 4,500 for the 2011/2012 season. It was however ready in time for the start of the 2012/2013 season where it witnessed its first sell out crowd with the visit of Devon neighbours Plymouth Argyle in early September.

Players

As of 29 October 2015.[25]

Current squad

As of 16 February 2016.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 England GK Grant Fisher
3 England DF Dan Butler
4 England MF Josh Rees (on loan from Nottingham Forest)
5 England DF Angus MacDonald (Captain)
6 England DF Exodus Geohaghon
7 England MF Iffy Allen
8 England MF Luke Young
9 England FW John-Prince Rylah
10 England MF Danny Racchi
12 England FW Shaun Harrad
14 England FW Toby Ajala
16 Jamaica MF Courtney Richards
17 England FW Nathan Blissett
No. Position Player
18 England DF Nathan Smith (on loan from Port Vale)
19 England MF Sam Chaney
21 England GK Dan Lavercombe (on loan from Wigan Athletic)
22 England DF Ben Gerring
23 England MF Will Hancox
24 England DF Kevin Nicholson (Player Manager)
25 England MF Aman Verma (on loan from Kidderminster Harriers)
26 United States GK Brendan Moore (on loan from Fleetwood Town)
28 England FW Andre Wright (on loan from West Bromwich Albion)
29 England DF Durrell Berry
30 England FW Sean Finch
31 England GK Scott Corderoy
England MF Amos Kabeya

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
15 England FW Liam Prynn (on loan to A.F.C. St Austell until 30 April 2016)
20 England DF Oneil Odofin (on loan to Billericay Town F.C. until 30 April 2016)

Managers

For more details on this topic, see List of Torquay United F.C. managers.
Years Manager
1921–1924Crad Evans
1924Harry Raymond
1924–1925F.G.B. Mortimer
1925–1929Percy Mackrill
1929–1932Frank Womack
1932–1938Frank Brown
1938–1940Alf Steward
1945–1946Billy Butler
1946–1947Jack Butler
1947–1950Johnny McNeil
1950Bob John
1950–1951Alex Massie
1951–1965Eric Webber
1965–1968Frank O'Farrell
1969–1971Allan Brown
1971–1973Jack Edwards
Years Manager
1973–1976Malcolm Musgrove
1976–1977Frank O'Farrell
1977–1981Mike Green
1981–1982Frank O'Farrell
1982–1984Bruce Rioch
1984–1985David Webb
1985John Sims
1985–1987Stuart Morgan
1987–1989Cyril Knowles
1989–1991Dave Smith
1991John Impey
1991–1992Wes Saunders
1992Ivan Golac
1992–1993Paul Compton
1993Neil Warnock
1993–1995Don O'Riordan
Years Manager
1995–1996Eddie May
1996–1998Kevin Hodges
1998–2001Wes Saunders
2001Colin Lee
2001–2002Roy McFarland
2002–2006Leroy Rosenior
2006John Cornforth
2006Ian Atkins
2006–2007Luboš Kubík
2007Keith Curle
2007–2011Paul Buckle
2011–2013Martin Ling
2013–2014Alan Knill
2014–2015Chris Hargreaves
2015Paul Cox
2015– Kevin Nicholson

Honours

For more details on this topic, see List of Torquay United F.C. seasons.

Notable Purchases

Notable Sales

Notable players

For more details on this topic, see List of Torquay United F.C. records and statistics.

References

  1. ↑ "Club Statement – Player-manager appointed". Torquay United Official Website. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Local Studies: History of Torquay United Torbay Council. 31 December 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  3. ↑ Search for Edward Tomney Painting This is Devon. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  4. ↑ Torquay United – Club History Torquay United F.C. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  5. ↑ Kit History: Torquay United HistoricalFootballKits.co.uk. 18 August 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  6. ↑ Four Four Two Magazine, February 2008
  7. ↑ "Lee has sympathy for Barnet". BBC Sport. 6 May 2001. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
  8. ↑ "Atkins rejects new Torquay role". BBC Sport. 3 December 2006. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
  9. ↑ "Czech star Kubik named Gulls boss". BBC Sport. 27 November 2006. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
  10. ↑ "Lee comes home to Torquay". BBC Devon Sport. 9 February 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
  11. ↑ "Torquay chairman Roberts resigns". BBC Sport. 21 February 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
  12. ↑ "Richardson named Torquay chairman". BBC Sport. 23 February 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
  13. ↑ "Bateson back in Torquay chair". BBC Sport. 8 March 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
  14. ↑ "Torquay lose Football League spot". BBC Sport. 14 April 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
  15. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1290913/Britains-generous-Lotto-millionaire-dies-aged-59.html
  16. ↑ Howard, Tom (10 May 2008). "Ebbsfleet make FA Trophy history". kentnews.co.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
  17. ↑ "FA Cup Third Round: Torquay United 0–1 Brighton". BBC Sport. 2 January 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  18. ↑ Torquay Relegated 2014
  19. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33138251
  20. ↑ "United name club Legend as player-manager...". Torquay United Official Website. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  21. ↑ "Bromley 0–2 Torquay United". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  22. ↑ "Upton and Waldon unite for merger discussions". This is South Devon. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  23. ↑ "Gulls chief cool on new stadium". BBC Sport. 27 February 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
  24. ↑ "Thumbs up for United's £1million-plus grandstand plans". Herald Express. 12 August 2010. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
  25. ↑ http://www.torquayunited.com/team/
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 Bobby Olejnik deal is fourth biggest windfall in Torquay United history, The Herald Express, 22 June 2012

External links

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