Torquay United

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Torquay United
Template: Infobox Football Club / Maintenance / No picture
Basic data
Surname Torquay United
Football Club
Seat Torquay
founding 1899
Website torquayunited.com
First soccer team
Venue Plainmoor , Torquay
Places 6.104
league National League
2019/20 14th place
home
Away

Torquay United (officially: Torquay United Football Club ) - also known as The Gulls - is an English football club from the coastal town of Torquay in Devon . The club has played in the Conference National since the 2019/20 season .

history

Early years

The beginning story of Torquay United is the story of three different teams. Torquay United was founded in 1899 by a group of high school leavers under the guidance of Sergeant Major Edward Tomney. After only friendly games were played in the first year , the club took part in the Devon League from 1900 . In 1909 the championship was won. A year later, the merger took place with the previous local rivals Ellacombe and the club was renamed Torquay Town .

In the same year the club moved into a new stadium. The Plainmoor venue had to be shared with local rivals Babbacombe , who played in the same league, the Plymouth and District League . In 1912 Torquay Town won the championship here.

Professional status

In 1921, after Torquay Town had desperately tried to join Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle as a professional club, it merged with Babbacombe. Under the current name Torquay United, the club was converted into a professional club. A black and white striped jersey was chosen as the jersey, which gave the club the nickname Magpies , which Newcastle United still wears because of its colors.

As a professional club you entered 1921/22 in the Western League and reached fifth place in the first season. The following season they played in the Southern League and finished sixth. 1927 succeeded the first place when you left Bristol City because of the better goal difference, and you were accepted into the Football League .

On August 27, 1927, they played in front of 11,625 spectators in the Plainmoor against Exeter City for the first game in the English professional league system and reached a 1-1 draw. At the end of the season, however, they were in last place, but were re-elected and stayed in the league.

In the 1930s, the club struggled with financial problems, especially when they had to replace the stadium roof that had been destroyed by a storm. Weakened in this way, the team regularly achieved lower positions in the league before World War II restricted or interrupted the game.

Post war era

In the first season after the end of the war, they only reached 19th place. With the commitment of Sammy Collins , who should score a total of 219 goals for the club in his career, there was an upswing in the following years and made middle to top places in the following years.

In 1955 it was decided to change the shirt colors. The old black and white striped jerseys have been replaced by today's colors gold and blue. The new colors should remind of the origin: blue for the sea and gold for sand and sun.

1957 ended the season only because of the worse goal difference as second in the Third Division South . However, the club was transferred to the fourth division in the following season because of the reorganization and deregionalization of the English league system . Although they were promoted immediately, they could only hold the class in the Third Division for two years.

In 1963, the club hired striker Robin Stubbs , who was voted the club's best player of all time by the supporters of Torquays, from Birmingham City for the then club record sum of 6,000 pounds . But it wasn't until the coach in 1965, after one of the club's worst seasons in a long time, had only finished 12th in the fourth division, that Frank O'Farrell , who had been replaced, did things start to improve. The very next year he was promoted to Division Three as third.

In 1968 they narrowly missed promotion to Division Two when they finished fourth in Division Three, from which the top three rise every year. In the same year, the supporters of the club were voted “Best Behaved Supporters In The League”.

After relegation to the Fourth Division in 1972, there was an uneventful period in the club's history. Only Pat Kruse made headlines in 1977 when he hit his own net after 6 seconds and set a world record for the fastest own goal in football history.

At the bottom

In the mid-1980s, the club had a difficult time when they found themselves at the end of the fourth division. On May 2, 1984, a negative record was set when only 967 spectators wanted to see the home game against Chester City . The following year they finished last and had to hope for re-election to stay in the league. Fortunately, you were allowed to stay in the league. Additional problems arose when the main grandstand fell victim to a fire in May and the back straight was sold and turned into a junkyard.

Also in 1986 they were last but re-elected. The following year re-election was abolished and automatic relegation to the Football Conference was introduced. So it came to the decisive game on the final day of the game, when they were one point ahead of Burnley FC and one point behind Lincoln City . Torquay had to face Crewe Alexandra (with the young David Platt ) at home. After it was 0-2 at halftime, Jim McNichol scored the next goal shortly after the restart. Despite a permanent assault, the equalizer (which saved due to the other results) didn't seem to want to fall. However, an anecdote from English football was written five minutes before the end when a police dog named Bryn caught the onrushing McNichol as an attacker and bit his thigh. In the fourth minute of the resulting stoppage time, Paul Dobson scored the most important goal in the club's history to equalize, which meant relegation. Lincoln City, which had almost been saved, had to go to the amateur camp.

Back and forth

In 1988, under the new coach Cyril Knowles , they managed to qualify for the promotion play-offs, but failed in the replay at Swansea City . In the summer, Lee Sharpe , who later u. a. should also play for Sampdoria Genoa , the club towards Manchester United , which brought in one of the highest transfer fees in the club's history at 180,000 pounds.

In 1989 the club played for the first time in history at Wembley when they qualified for the final of the Football League Trophy . However, despite a 1-0 lead in front of 46,500 spectators, the game was lost 4-1 to Bolton Wanderers .

On May 31, 1991 they went back to Wembley. This time it was about the play-off final for promotion to Division Three. A 2: 2 after regular time and no further hits in extra time meant a decision on penalties . With a 5: 4 Torquay managed the promotion.

However, you finished 23rd and penultimate. It was relegated due to the introduction of the Premier League , but remained nominally in Division Three, which was now the fourth division.

In 1994 they failed in the promotion play-offs at Preston North End . Two years later, however, they came in last due to a disastrous season. The relegation to the amateur camp did not take place, however, as the stadium of Stevenage Borough , the champions of the Nationwide Conference, was deemed unsuitable for the professional area.

In 1998 they qualified again for the promotion play-offs, but failed in the final at Wembley with 0-1 to Colchester United . Shortly thereafter, the transfer of Rodney Jack to Crewe Alexandra was announced. The £ 500,000 transfer fee is still a valid club record today. Instead, Chris Waddle gave a short guest appearance when he wanted to end his career at Torquay, but left the club after a few weeks because of the long journey from Yorkshire .

In 2004, the club managed direct promotion, but had to relegate after just one season from Football League One . In the following season, they narrowly escaped relegation to the amateur camp, which they finally had to accept in 2007 as bottom of the Football League Two . In 2009 the club returned to Football League Two .

Known players

Web links