Torquay United F.C.
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| Torquay United | |
Missing image Torquay_United_Football_Club_Logo.png Torquay United logo | |
| Ground | Plainmoor, Torquay |
| Formed | 1899 |
| Elected to league | 1927 |
| Club colours | Yellow |
| Change colours | Sky Blue |
| Head Coach | Leroy Rosenior |
| Nicknames | Gulls |
| Mascot | Gilbert the Gull |
Torquay United Football Club, nicknamed the Gulls, are an English association football team based in Torquay. They currently play in Football League Two, after being recently relegated from Football League One. The club plays in a distinctive yellow and navy strip. Its local rivals are the other two professional Devon clubs, Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle, and Somerset's Yeovil Town. However, local derbies are currently rare because Plymouth, Exeter and Yeovil are in different divisions.
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History
The history of Torquay United is the history of three separate clubs. Torquay United were 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 and adopted the name Torquay Town.
After an uneventful ten years Torquay Town merged with another local rival, Babbacombe, to become Torquay United (again) in 1921. In 1927 they were elected into Division Three (South), but they finished bottom of the league in their first season and were to win re-election.
Throughout the 1930s Torquay struggled against finacial 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 Torquay 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 by finishing 9th. The following season they finished 5th.
In 1955 Torquay United changed their strip colours. Their old black and white strip (which earned them the name the "Magpies") was changed to the current colours of navy and yellow.
With the change of strip came a change in fortunes. In the 1956/57 season Torquay missed out on promotion due to goal difference and ended up second in Division Three. Sadly the change in fortune didn't last and after the next season Torquay were placed in the newly formed Division Four (this was due to the deregionalisation of the leagues.)
After a season in Division Four Torquay United claimed promotion for their very first time, finishing third. However their winning form didn't last and after only two seasons in Third Division they were relegated on the last day of the campaign, with a 4-2 away defeat at Barnsley. Torquay didn't flounder in Division Four and came 6th in each of their first two seasons.
When Torquay finished 12th in the 1964/5 season Eric Webber, Torquay 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.
Replacing Eric Webber 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 at Easter in 1968 Torquay United got their first ever coverage on Match of the Day. However promotion proved elusive as a poor ending run consigned them to another season in Division Three.
After three mid-table seasons and a change of manager Torquay once again got relegated to Division Four in the 1971/72 season. This led to a relatively uneventful decade with consistently mid-table finishes. However during the 1977/78 season a Devon born striker - Colin Lee - was bought from Bristol City.
Torquay won promotion once more in 1991, winning a play-off final at Wembley against higher placed Blackpool. Their trip to the then Division Three did not last long, however the introduction of the FA Premiership at the end of the season meant they were relegated from division three, to division three.
The end of the last season saw them winning automatic promotion 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.
Stadium
The current Torquay United ground is called Plainmoor and has a capacity of 6003. Plainmoor has been the Torquay United home since 1910 and the merging with Ellacombe and was shared with Babbacombe for 11 years until the sides merged.
Plainmoor held a record 21,908 people (before greater safety measures and seating were put in) for a FA Cup Fourth Round defeat against Huddersfield Town in in 1955/56.
Plainmoor suffered a fire in 1985 which reduced its capacity to under 5,000. The fire also destroyed the manager's office and changing rooms which were relocated to a couple of portacabins for a short time.
Current Squad
- Arjan Van Heusden
- Matthew Villis (on loan from Plymouth Argyle)
- Gareth Owen (on loan from Stoke City)
- Lee Cannoville
- Craig Taylor
- Alex Russell
- Tony Beadeau
- Jason Fowler
- Martin Gritton
- Jo Kuffour
- Kevin Hill
- Kain Bond
- -
- Matthew Hockley
- Nick Skinner
- Michael Small
- Brian McGlinchey
- Steve Woods
- Richard Bouton
- Martin Phillips
- Kevin Dearden
- -
- -
- -
- Adebayo Akinfenwa
Recent Events
The Club was relegated back to the Football League Two, after narrowly being edged out by Milton Keynes Dons for safety in league one.
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League competitions |
Cup competitions | |
| FA Premier League | FA Cup | |
| The Football League (Champ, 1, 2) | England (men) | League Cup |
| Football Conference (Nat, N, S) | FA Community Shield | |
| Northern Premier League (Prem, 1) | (women) | Football League Trophy |
| Southern League (Prem, 1W, 1E) | List of clubs | FA Trophy |
| Isthmian League (Prem, 1, 2) | FA Vase | |
| English football league system | Records | FA NLS Cup |
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