After moving back into their original home for a spell, the club moved once again. This time they shared with Torquay Cricket Club in Cricketfield Road. In 1910 the club merged with Ellacombe to form Torquay Town FC and moved into Plainmoor with the team playing in the Plymouth & District League and sharing their home with rivals Babbacombe FC.
After rivals Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle were elected into the newly formed Football League Third Division in 1920, a campaign started up in Torquay for Babbacome and Town to merge to form a club to compete with their neighbours. A year later this happened with the new club reverting to the old name of Torquay United.
The club gained entry into the Western League and then the Southern League a year later. They won the Western Division title in 1926-27 and then gained promotion to the Football League after Aberdare Athletic lost in the re-election battle. A new grandstand was erected to celebrate the achievement, which was purchased from Buckfastleigh Racecourse. The club colours were also changed from light and dark blue to black and white stripes.
Up to World War Two, United struggled on and off the pitch with financial worries and poor results and having to stand for re-election. The goals of Sammy Collins gave the fans some joy in peacetime, and in 1954 the club colours were changed to yellow and blue to reflect the towns image of sun, sand and sea.
After a near miss on promotion the following season, they returned to type and were placed in Division Four when the league was re-organised in 1958. The 1959-60 season saw Torquay's first League promotion as they went up in third place under long serving manager Eric Webber. Sadly they were relegated back to Division Four in May 1962.
The 1986-97 saw automatic relegation to the Conference introduced. In their final game United were losing at home to Crewe with seconds remaining, when they needed a draw to survive. Owing to the volatile nature of the day and previous games, police lined the pitch to keep supporters off.
The new season saw Cyril Knowles appointed as manager to install a brighter future for the club. They missed out on promotion in the playoffs to Swansea City, but beat Tottenham in the first leg of a League Cup tie. Sixteen year old Lee Sharpe was introduced to the team before being sold to Manchester United for £180,000. In May 1989 United played at Wembley for the first time, where they went down 4-1 to Bolton Wanderers in the Football League Trophy.
Webb moved on in May 1990, to be replaced by Mike Bateson who had made his fortune selling double glazing in Devon and who enjoyed playing the ventriloquist to his dummy Algernon. By now Knowles had moved on and Bateson soon sacked his replacement. Former player John Impey took over and led the team to promotion following a Play Off Final victory on penalties over Blackpool at Wembley.
However Impey didn't last long and other managers came and went with regularity as United found themselves back in the bottom tier before missing out in the playoffs under Don O'Riordon. Unfortunately the form didn't last as United survived on a tight budget.
The 1997-98 season ended in defeat at Wembley, when after an emphatic playoff victory over Scarborough, Colchester United beat The Gulls in the final, in spite of the quality of Rodney Jack. Hodges took the Plymouth Argyle managers job, with former player Wes Saunders arriving in his place.
Leeand then Roy McFarland had spells in charge before Leroy Rosenior took over and led the team to automatic promotion at the end of the 2003-04 season. The team's spell in their higher grade lasted just one season and ended in relegation. Rosenior, John Cornforth and then Ian Atkins all had spells in charge the following season as United narrowly avoided relegation once more.
The 2006-07 season was a disaster on and off the pitch. Three managers tried their luck without any success. Keith Curle was in charge of team affairs, with Colin Lee overseeing things as United were relegated to the Conference. Meanwhile off the pitch Bateson sold the club to Chris Roberts consortium, only for him to resign after complaints about his actions.
Knill’s side
was relegated to the Conference in 2013-14, prior to Chris Hargreaves being
appointed as team boss. His side reached the semifinal of the FA Trophy, where
they lost to Wrexham over two legs. A new consortium consisting of ten local businesspeople
acquired the club shortly after.
Paul Cox had a short spell in charge of the team before fans favourite Kevin Nicholson took over. By this time the Conference had been retitled the National League, as the Gulls found themselves in a slump. The club was sold again, this time to Swindon based Gaming International.
Gary Owers could not arrest the slide as the side went down to National League South in 2017-18 Experienced Football League manager Gary Johnson was soon appointed as he quickly arrested the slide, with Torquay winning the South title in 2018-19.
He made astute signings as well as getting the best out of his squad, as Torquay finished runners-up in 2020-21. In the playoffs they defeated Notts County, setting up a final against Hartlepool United at Ashton Gate.
The game will be remembered for years to come as keeper Lucas Covolan equalized in the ninety-fifth minute. However, Hartlepool went on to win on penalties as United remained a non-league club. Worse was to follow in 2022-23 as the team was relegated once again to National League South.
In February 2024 it looked like the club’s future was in severe doubt as severely disliked chairman Clarke Osbourne announced he was intending to put the club into administration. Johnson departed with interim boss Aaron Downes taking control of team affairs.
United were deducted points but managed to escape relegation before a group of local businessmen called the Bryn Consortium purchased the club. They installed Paul Wootton as manager, with Neil Warnock as football advisor.
Torquay United will play in National League South in the 2024-25 season.My visits
Torquay United v Scarborough - Postponed (Friday 22nd February 1991)
For some reason best known to the Football League the computer had decided that Scarborough should travel to its furthest away game in the middle of winter. United decided that Friday night football worked better for them, rather than the traditional Saturday afternoon. They had tried Saturday nights in the past. I had the week off work and got talked into making the journey south.
The idea was to stay over and enjoy some nightlife over the weekend. I assembled at Keith Crowe's Trafalgar Cafe with fellow passengers Kev Laing, Dave Johnson, Gary Sweeting and our driver Andy Taylor. The weather was poor and the forecasts not very promising in Devon, but a phone call down to Torquay told us that the game was definitely on.
We set off in the days before mobile phones and the Internet, having to stop every hundred miles or so to make sure that the continuous driving rain hadn't put pay to the fixture. On we continued. It was still on when we left Gordano services near to Bristol. We found our hotel for the night and were just getting ready to go out when the local news broke it to us that the game was off!
While we weren't impressed, there was an inevitability about the situation. We still went up to the ground and had a beer in the clubhouse, with sympathetic locals. We even asked if there was any chance of playing it the next afternoon at 3pm as the weather was forecast to improve, but it was not possible. Instead we headed down town and had a big night out, even bumping into some of the United players and having a drink with them.
The next morning we decided that we would head home via the First Division clash between Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa and then head to Shepshed, our old favourite of the time for a few pints. On the way we went back up the hill to Plainmoor to have a look around and buy a programme from the postponed game.
Plainmoor was a small venue. The clubhouse end had the small Mini Stand in front of it with bench seating with hard flat standing either side. The old Main Stand ran down two thirds of the right hand touchline with a small terraced paddock in front of it. A covered terrace called the Popular Stand ran a similar distance opposite, with the far end being taken up with a small open terrace, which was primarily used for away supporters.
I wrote to United's Chairman Mike Bateson after the game thanking him for their hospitality and our dismay at the postponement. In a lovely touch he told me to let him know the names of any fans who had made the journey and who would be returning when the match was rescheduled. He promised free admission to the game to them.
Torquay United 2 Scarborough 0 (Saturday 7th May 1994) Division Three (att: 3,470)
Boro were enjoying a big resurgence under new manager Steve Wicks who had taken over around the turn of the year and had led the team away from the threat of relegation to one where the play offs were an outside hope for a short while. Chairman John Russell was also extremely popular at the time, especially after Geoffrey Richmond's reign and a short spell of Dave Simpson. Things were looking up.
The Supporters Club decided to run two coaches down to Devon for the final game of the season with a couple of nights in a hotel thrown in. As a treat I took my Mum and Dad. The weather was glorious as we set off on our mini holiday south. The fans were split among three hotels on arrival. Most of my regular travelling companions were with me at our digs on Avenue Road, and I shared with Carl Ellis.
After a lively Friday night out, while watching out for the concern of Burnley fans visiting before their game at Exeter, we went for a walk early on match day. The plan was to find something to do so that we weren't drinking all day. However, the best laid plans often go wrong, especially when there's plenty of lads away for the weekend. We entered the Bull & Bush mob handed, much to the surprise of the young bar man and didn't leave until the coach arrived to take us to Plainmoor.
There was time for a drink in Boots & Laces bar at the home end, not that we needed any more before we entered the ground at the far end turnstiles.
Plainmoor had changed since my previous call. The Mini Stand had been replaced by a much larger all seated Family Stand. The Popular Stand was in the process of being demolished so was out of bounds. As a consequence, the home fans were also given the open terrace behind the goal. Boro fans were given a couple of blocks of the Main Stand and the terracing in front and to the side. An impressive turn out of around two hundred had made the journey.
Torquay were getting ready for the play offs the following week against Preston, whereas the Seadogs looked like they were already on their holidays. They put in a limp performance with the woeful on loan goalkeeper Simon Sheppard not helping matters. There was only going to be one winner.
At full time the visiting players hung around to applaud us and they threw their shirts into our section. I ended up with Simon Thompson's number three top. We returned to the hotel for a rest for an hour or so before heading out once more. It was another top night out, even if some Seadogs were showing the signs of the day. We went back to our hotel where the kind landlord allowed one or two lads in from another place as their accommodation didn't have a bar and Torquay had a policy of all night clubs closing at 1am.
I was not brilliant the next day and seemed somewhat dehydrated. We all went for a walk down around the harbour and found a pub for lunch. The landlord had put his last barrel on at half price and some of the boys helped him out. He had earned his money, keeping the bar open and then having to get up to cook breakfasts. He deserved all the money he made.
We set off back home at 2pm having had a brilliant time, which everyone enjoyed. It was so good for me to see my Mum and dad have so much fun and see my travelling pals in such good light. We got back in time for a last few drinks in the Trafalgar to round off a fantastic weekend.
A Narrow Escape
The season afterwards I arranged the mini bus to revisit for the away match. It was around late February or early March but I was really suffering with flu and had to stay off work. In the end I handed over responsibility to Crusher and Bunner and I stayed at home.
I got up and went downstairs to watch Football Focus, only for news to break that the match was off. I felt terrible for the lads, as did my Mum who was sat with me. How little I knew.
The boys had also heard the news when near Exeter. They turned around and were considering another game to visit, when someone spotted something in the paper and asked how far they were from Minehead?
The images on this page have been taken from the Internet as I didn't have a camera on either of my visits.
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