Weather permitting, in the light of the heavy downpour of rain that has hit the South West of England, Chris Hargreaves' next two games as Torquay United manager will see come up against the Gulls former management team of Alan Knill and Chris Brass.
In a bizarre set of circumstances, which sees the current Torquay manager face the Gulls' former assistant manager, Brass, and his predecessor in the Plainmoor hot-seat, Knill, in the space of a few days- against Bury and Northampton Town- in what can be best termed as relegation 'six-pointers' in a space of a few days.
The chain of events that has seen this scenario fall into place began in the middle of December when the Shakers approached Brass, then assistant to Knill at Plainmoor, to return to Gigg Lane as the number two of his former team-mate and newly installed manager David Flitcroft.
Brass, whose young family still resided in East Lancashire, opted to return north to work alongside Flitcroft, whilst Knill remained in charge at Plainmoor, following the Gulls' 1-0 victory over Southend United on December 14th.
Then, early in 2014, Knill was dismissed as Torquay manager after a terrible run of results, which culminated in a 2-0 defeat against Plymouth Argyle on New Year's Day.
In choosing Knill's successor, the Gulls' board chose to appoint their former promotion winning captain Hargreaves, who had been working as first-team coach at AFC Bournemouth under Eddie Howe, to replace the former Rotherham, Bury and Scunthorpe manager.
Prior to his appointment at Plainmoor, Hargreaves had held talks with another of his former clubs: Northampton Town, but decided that his immediate future lay with the Gulls.
Northampton then switched their attentions to Chris Wilder, then in charge of Oxford United, and successfully managed to secure his services.
On his arrival at the Sixfields Stadium, Wilder drafted in his old friend Knill- the pair have been close friends since they were young pros together at Southampton- to be his number two.
All this has served to set up a tasty fixture double header, which sees Hargreaves face firstly Brass; and then Knill in two matches that could have a big say in deciding where the Gulls finish in the League Two table come May.
