On the face of it, Torquay United's appointment of Chris Hargreaves as
manager looked like one that had the potential to be a success.
Since his two-and-a-half year playing spell at Plainmoor ended in January
2010 - during which time he captained the Gulls to promotion from the
Conference in 2009 - Hargreaves had spent time coaching Exeter City Under-16's
before moving on to join AFC Bournemouth as a development coach.
Later on he was promoted to the position of first team coach; this
role saw him work under the Cherries' highly promising young manager Eddie Howe, and he held this position that he held prior to his arrival at Plainmoor
as successor to Alan Knill.
Comparisons were made in some quarters to the appointment of Wes Saunders
who, like Hargreaves, also captained the Gulls' to promotion - in 1991 against
Blackpool.
However, whereas Saunders had spent the five years between his retirement as
a player - between 1993 and 1998 - working for his family textile firm,
Hargreaves had proactively been preparing himself for life in the dugout.
The Torquay United side that Hargreaves first took charge of was very
different to the one that he had captained before his departure in January
2010. Upon his return, the Gulls were fighting for their Football League lives
after the momentum created by their promotion back to the league in 2009 had
mostly worn off.
Initially, at least, Hargreaves was able to make the kind of impact as a
manager that he had as a player when he guided the Gulls to two wins in his
first three games in charge: against AFC Wimbledon and Portsmouth - both of
which were away from Plainmoor.
Then, sadly, things started to unravel for Hargreaves. What was
supposed to be his first home match in charge against his former club
Northampton Town - due to take place on January 18th 2014 - didn't happen until February 12th.
This was due to it being postponed following torrential rain, which
caused the Plainmoor pitch to become waterlogged as the club did not have
adequate set of pitch covers.
It enabled the Cobblers, who were also battling against relegation to the
Conference, to regroup.
At the time of their original fixture, Northampton were rooted to the bottom
of the league and were under the caretaker managership of Andy King, following
the sacking of Aidy Boothroyd.
However, by the time the two sides eventually met in February, the Cobblers
had regrouped after the appointment of Chris Wilder, who drafted in Hargreaves'
predecessor, Alan Knill, as his assistant.
In the event, Northampton won 2-1, which started the beginning of a slump
that ultimately proved costly for the Gulls.
Next came the Joss Labadie biting incident when Torquay played Chesterfield
at the B2net Stadium. Evidence emerged that Labadie, who rejoined the Gulls on
a permanent basis - after briefly signing again on loan in January 2014, had
bitten the Spireites' Ollie Banks.
As a punishment, Labadie received a fine and was banned for ten matches,
thus depriving United of a major playing asset at a crucial time of the season.
In addition to this, the Gulls also found goals hard to come by. During the
time between Hargreaves's appointment and the end of the 2013-14 season,
United's top scorer was central defender and Player of the Year Krystian Pearce
with a paltry three goals.
How different it might have been if the Gulls had been able to re-engage the
services of striker John Marquis on loan from Millwall after the turn of the
year.
During Marquis' six-match loan spell from the Lions, he scored three times
in six appearances - during which time United only lost once, away at
Scunthorpe United. This was their best run of form of the campaign.
Despite a late rally, which included wins over Bristol Rovers and
Exeter City, the Gulls were relegated in their penultimate game of the campaign
away at Mansfield Town, which they won 3-1. However, Northampton's victory over
Dagenham & Redbridge on the same day sealed United's fate, as a second spell in the Conference beckoned for the Gulls.
Following the end of what was a disastrous campaign, Hargreaves set about
rebuilding the Gulls' squad ahead of life in the Conference - as long serving
stalwarts such as Lee Mansell and Kevin Nicholson left for pastures new.
Hargreaves also transfer listed a number of players already under contract,
as their wages looked to be too high for a Conference budget.
In came a group of what seemed like younger, hungrier players such as Luke
Young from Plymouth Argyle. The signing of Young proved to be quite a coup for
the Gulls as many observers were highly surprised to see John Sheridan release
the young midfielder who made over 100 appearances for the Pilgrims.
Young won the Gulls’ Player of the Year award for the 2014-15 season and has arguably proved to be
Hargreaves’ best signing.
However, fiscal constraints also meant Hargreaves was forced to bring in
players like Courtney Richards, who joined from Brighton and Hove Albion – but
hadn’t played a senior game of competitive football, and Duane
Ofori-Achaempong, a player who nobody had heard anything about since a spell as
a youth team player at Southend United some five years earlier.
Although, nobody could fault the endeavour of these players, their lack of
experience soon told. After making a promising start, the Gulls - who went on a
six-match winning streak between August and September 2014 – which saw them
mount what looked like a possible promotion challenge - eventually finished the
season in a disappointing 13
th place.
Whilst an immediate return to the Football League was regarded as unlikely
by all but the most optimistic of the Plainmoor faithful, a lower mid-table
finish would have been regarded as an underachievement.
At different points of the season, he was forced to field a number of
non-contract players. Players such as Durrell Berry, James McQuilkin, Olliver
Guegen and Aaron Dawson all appeared on an expenses only basis at different stages of
the season, as contracts carried over from the previous season gave Hargreaves
little room to manoeuvre when it came to signing new players.
At one stage, he was fielding a starting eleven that was earning an average
of £375 per week.
What had seemed like a fresh start was now starting to look like a false dawn, as United
–despite winning at Barnet and Grimsby, and doing the double over Eastleigh – often
came unstuck against lesser, less well-resourced opposition. AFC Telford and
Braintree Town both did the double over the Gulls; Braintree’s twin success
over the Gulls also included a 5-1 win at Plainmoor.
And it is a fresh start that the new consortium wish for, following the
announcement that Hargreaves - who has both the Gulls' relegation from the Football League and their lowest ever league finish on his CV - has now been placed on gardening leave, along with
his backroom staff.
Hopefully the coaching talents of Hargreaves, who recently took steps towards completing his
UEFA Pro Licence, won’t be lost to the game. During his time at Exeter, he
helped to bring through a number of young players, including current Swansea City and
England Under-20 midfielder Matt Grimes.
Perhaps his greatest legacy to the Gulls might prove to be the fact that he
blooded the likes of Levi Ives and Daniel Lavercombe, both of who could yet
earn United some useful transfer fees in the future.
