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Torquay United
Full name	Torquay United Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Gulls
Founded	1899
Ground	Plainmoor Torquay (Capacity 6,104)
Chairman	Alex Rowe
Manager	Paul Buckle
League	Conference National
2006–07	League Two, 24th (relegated)
Home colours 　 Away colours

Torquay United Football Club, nicknamed the Gulls, is an English association football club based in the seaside resort town of Torquay, Devon. They will begin the 2007-08 season in the Conference National having lost their league status at the end of the 2006-2007 season. Founded in 1899, they joined the Football League in 1927 and spent their entire time in the Football League in the lower divisions. The club plays in a distinctive yellow and navy strip.

Torquay United prided themselves on being one of the few clubs in the lower English football leagues to remain debt-free despite the debacle of the ITV Digital collapse. 'Penny-wise and pound-foolish' was an oft-repeated observation of things at Plainmoor, particularly under the chairmanship of Mike Bateson.

Torquay's traditional rivals are fellow Devon clubs Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City. However the latter has always been the fiercer rivalry as Argyle have tended to be in a higher division throughout their history and so the two teams rarely meet. There is also an element of Argyle fans who admit to a soft spot for the Gulls (much like the larger London teams are always happy for the likes of Barnet, who have never played in the top flight, to have a small degree of success).

Contents 1 History 2 Stadia 2.1 Possible move 3 Players 3.1 Current squad 3.2 Out on loan 4 Managers 5 Honours 5.1 Transfer records 5.2 Notable players 5.3 Notable fans 6 Club information 7 References 8 External links

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

The original Torquay United was formed in 1899 by a group of school-leavers under the guidance of Sergeant-Major Edward Tomney. 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.

Having won their first ever honour in 1909, the Torquay and District League title, the club merged with local rivals Ellacombe in 1910, adopted the name Torquay Town and moved into a new base at Plainmoor, a ground they shared with Babbacombe. Both sides were playing in the same league, the Plymouth and District League, which Torquay Town won in 1911-12.

Relations between the two Torquay clubs were poor, but in 1921 matters finally came to a head. Torquay Town was desperate to join Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle as professional clubs. After many discussions Babbacombe at last agreed to a merger in 1921, enabling the new club to become professional and so the new Torquay United was born.

The new club entered the Western League, also joining the Southern League the following season. United won the western division of the Southern League in the 1926-27 season and gained entry to the Football 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. They gained entry into the Football League at the expense of Aberdare Athletic F.C., who dropped out after failing to be re-elected to the league.

United joined the Third Division South, and their first match on 27 August 1927 was 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, Torquay's goal coming from Bert Turner, but at the end of the season they finished bottom of the league in their first season and had to win re-election.

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.

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. In 1955 United changed their colours. Their old black and white strip (which earned them the name the "Magpies") was changed to gold and blue to reflect the resort's sun, sand and sea image.

With the change of colours came a change in fortunes. In the 1956/57 season Torquay missed out on promotion to Division Two on goal difference. They failed to repeat this form the following season and after finishing in the bottom half of the table were placed in the new Division Four, created by the deregionalisation of the two third level divisions. After a season in Division Four, United claimed promotion for the first time since joining the league, finishing third. However, after only two seasons in the Third Division they were relegated on the last day of the campaign, with a 4-2 away defeat at Barnsley.

In 1963, manager Eric Webber signed striker Robin Stubbs for a club record fee of £6,000 from Birmingham City. It was Stubbs who starred in United's 3-3 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the FA Cup in 1965, a game watched by over 20,000 spectators. United took the lead through a Bill Atkinson penalty, before Spurs went into a 3-1 lead. But two late strikes by Stubbs set up a replay in front of 55,000 people at White Hart Lane which Spurs won 5-1.

When Torquay finished 12th in the 1964/5 season Eric Webber, United's manager for 15 years was sacked. Webber had taken Torquay to their first promotion and to the FA Cup 4th round whilst assembling arguably the best ever Torquay squad.

Webber's replacement was Frank O'Farrell who, in his first season in charge, oversaw Torquay's second promotion when they finished third in Division Four. With Torquay leading the table in 1968, United got their first ever coverage on Match of the Day. This period 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. United were once again relegated to Division Four in the 1971/72 season after three mid table finishes in the Third 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.

Some of the darkest years in Torquay United's history began in the 1983/84 season, by the end of the season on May 2, 1984 only 967 spectators watch the 1-0 victory over Chester City at Plainmoor. 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 further emphasise the problems the club was enduring, a "suspicious" fire destroyed half of the grandstand on May 17, 1985. This together with the away end being turned into a used car lot slashed the capacity of Plainmoor to just 4,999. Manager 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 introduced automatic relegation into the Nationwide Conference for the first time. With the final game of the season to go, Torquay were third from bottom on 47 points, below them was 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. Burnley and Tranmere were both winning their games, 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 from the resultant four minutes of injury time that Paul Dobson scored possibly the most important goal in the clubs 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, and began one of the most successful periods in the Club's history. 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 (over two legs). In between, Torquay United beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at Plainmoor, 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 Freight Rover Trophy.

In May 1988 Lee Sharpe (a former YTS apprentice) transferred to Manchester United for £180,000 in one of the biggest transfers of Torquay United's history at that time. 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.

Mike Bateson took over as Torquay chairman in May 1990. Torquay won promotion again on May 31, 1991, winning a play-off final on the club's second visit to Wembley against higher-placed Blackpool (see here). 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 and the appointment of Ivan Golac, United were relegated again after just one season. The introduction of the FA Premier League at the end of the season meant they were relegated from Division Three, to Division Three.

In the 1993/94 season Torquay finished sixth and once again qualified 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 Nationwide Conference. However, they were saved from relegation when Stevenage Borough's ground was deemed unfit for League football.

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).

On the May 5, 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 Nationwide Conference.^[1]

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 again only to last for one season, as a final day defeat against Colchester United condemned the Gulls to a return to the basement 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 than any particular liking for Torquay.

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 Andrews 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. Against all odds, Atkins managed to rescue the side and lift them a comfortable three points from relegation. However, some poor football and equally poor form in the following season saw Atkins' popularity with the fans soon evaporate.

In October 2006, Bateson stepped down as chairman to be replaced by Chris Roberts, who soon afterwards sacked Atkins,^[2] replacing him with former Czech international Luboš Kubík.^[3] 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. Kubik eventually quit on February 5, and Colin Lee was soon after appointed as the new director of football.^[4] Keith Curle was appointed as Head Coach on February 7, 2007. Roberts resigned amid growing pressure from supporters and the board of directors, all of whom were unhappy with his conduct as chairman, on February 21, 2007.^[5] Local hotel owner Keith Richardson was announced as the new chairman the following day. ^[6] However, on March 7, 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.^[7]

Torquay United lost their 80 year Football League status on April 14, 2007, following a 1-1 draw at home to Peterborough United. ^[8]

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.

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 Keith Richardson distancing himself from the plans.^[9]

As of 28 November 2007.^[10]

No. Position Player 1 GK Simon Rayner 3 DF Kevin Nicholson 4 DF Steve Woods (captain) 5 DF Chris Robertson 6 MF Chris Todd 7 MF Lee Mansell 8 FW Tim Sills 9 FW Elliot Benyon 10 FW Lee Phillips 11 MF Kevin Hill

No. Position Player 12 MF Danny Wring 14 MF Chris Hargreaves 15 FW Tony Bedeau 16 MF Matthew Hockley 18 MF Ishmael Welsh (on loan from Yeovil Town) 19 MF Danny Stevens 20 MF Scott Laird (on loan from Plymouth Argyle) 21 GK Martin Rice 25 DF Mark Ellis (on loan from Bolton Wanderers) 26 FW Chris Zebroski (on loan from Millwall)

No. Position Player 2 DF Paul Hinshelwood (on loan to Tiverton Town) 17 MF Darren Mullings (on loan to Tiverton Town)

As of August 20, 2007. Only competitive matches are counted.

Name	Nat	From	To	Record
				P	W	D	L
Percy Mackrill		1927	March 1929	73	19	17	37
Albert Hoskins		1929	July 1930	57	14	15	28
Frank Womack		July 1930	May 1932	42	9	11	22
Frank Brown		May 1932	May 1938	266	87	60	119
Alf Steward		May 1938	May 1940	45	15	9	21
Billy Butler		August 1945	May 1946	2	0	1	1
Jack Butler		June 1946	May 1947	42	15	12	15
John McNeil		June 1947	March 1950	125	50	33	42
Bob John		March 1950	November 1950	28	7	7	14
Alex Massie		November 1950	September 1951	43	12	8	23
Eric Webber		October 1951	May 1965	676	272	163	241
Frank O'Farrell		May 1965	December 1968	162	76	34	52
Allan Brown		January 1969	October 1971	125	43	42	40
Jack Edwards		October 1971	January 1973	60	15	15	30
Malcolm Musgrove		January 1973	November 1976	168	54	55	59
Frank O'Farrell		November 1976	March 1977	13	4	2	7
Mike Green		March 1977	May 1981	201	75	49	77
Frank O'Farrell		June 1981	June 1982	46	14	13	19
Bruce Rioch		June 1982	January 14, 1984	72	26	15	31
Jimmy Hargreaves		January 16, 1984	February 4, 1984	2	1	0	1
David Webb		February 4, 1984	August 21, 1985	70	19	18	33
John Sims		August 21, 1985	September 1985	3	1	0	2
Stuart Morgan		September 1985	May 21, 1987	96	19	31	46
Cyril Knowles		June 22, 1987	October 1989	120	46	28	46
Dave Smith		October 1989	April 1991	90	34	31	25
John Impey		April 1991	October 8, 1991
Wes Saunders		October 8, 1991	February 1992
Ivan Golac		February 1992	May 1992
Paul Compton		May 1992	March 1993
Neil Warnock		March 1993	May 1993
Don O'Riordan		August 1993	October 1995
Eddie May		November 17, 1995	July 1996	32	3	11	18
Kevin Hodges		August 1996	August 1998	106	38	26	42
Wes Saunders		August 1998	March 28, 2001[11]	149	47	42	60
Colin Lee		March 28, 2001[11][12]	July 2, 2001[13]	9	3	4	2
Roy McFarland		July 20, 2001[14]	April 23, 2002 [15]	50	13	15	22
Leroy Rosenior		May 9, 2002[16]	January 25, 2006[17]	184	59	59	66
John Cornforth		January 26, 2006[18]	April 13, 2006[19]	12	4	3	5
Ian Atkins		April 13, 2006[19]	November 27, 2006[20]	29	9	8	12
Luboš Kubík		November 27, 2006[3]	February 5, 2007[21]	15	2	5	8
Keith Curle		February 8, 2007[22]	May 17, 2007	5	0	1	4
Leroy Rosenior		May 17, 2007[23]	May 17, 2007[24]	0	0	0	0
Paul Buckle		June 2, 2007[25]	Present	13	10	2	1

For more details on this topic, see Torquay United F.C. Seasons.

• League Two (1960's promotions gained in the "Fourth Division" era)
  • Third Place: 1959/60, 1965/66, 2003/04

• Third Division South (Prior to League re-structuring)
  • Runners Up: 1956/1957

• Southern League (Western Section)
  • Winners (1): 1926/27

• Plymouth and District League
  • Winners (1): 1911/12

• Torquay and District League
  • Winners (1): 1908/09

• Sherpa Van Trophy
  • Runners up 1988/89

• Devon Senior Cup
  • Winners (2): 1910/11 and 1921/22

• Devon Bowl/Devon St Luke's Bowl
  • Winners (15): 1934, 1935, 1937, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1955(Shared), 1958, 1961, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1996(Shared), 1998, 2007
  • Runners Up (17): 1923, 1931, 1933, 1938, 1939, 1954, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1974, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003

Record Purchase

• Leon Constantine from Peterborough United for £75,000 December 2004^[26]

Record Sale

• Rodney Jack to Crewe Alexandra for £650,000 May 1998

Other Notable Purchases

• Eifion Williams from Barry Town for £70,000 March 1999 (Previous Club Record)
• Robin Stubbs from Birmingham City for £6,000 1963 (Previous Club Record)

Other Notable Sales

• David Graham to Wigan Athletic for £215,000 August 2004^[27]
• Colin Lee to Tottenham Hotspur for £60,000 1978/79 season (Previous Club Record)
• Lee Sharpe to Manchester United for £180,000 May 1988 (Previous Club Record)
• Matthew Gregg to Crystal Palace for £400,000 October 1998

For more details on this topic, see Torquay United F.C. Records.

• Helen Chamberlain (Sky TV presenter - "Soccer AM")
• Peter Cook Comedian

Club address: Plainmoor Stadium, Plainmoor, Torquay, Devon, TQ1 3PS

Telephone Number: 01803 328 666

Fax Number: 01803 323 976

• Torquay United F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News - Recent results - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats
• Torquay United Official Club Website
• Torquay United Supporters' Trust Official Website
• Torquay United Original Fans Forum

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