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 13th 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.
