NICHOLSON'S FIRST ANNIVERSARY FACTS

As today marks the first anniversary of Kevin Nicholson's reign as Torquay United manager, we will now look at a few facts from the past twelve months of his tenure.

• Nicholson's first managerial opponent is now taking up a new career as a Sports Journalist. Barry Smith, who was in charge of Aldershot Town on October 3rd 2015, is now covering his former club Dundee for the Dundee Evening Telegraph.

• His first win in charge came a week later away with a 1-0 victory Southport - courtesy of an early Alex Fisher strike.

• Nathan Blissett, who was a teammate of Nicholson's for a time during his stint with Kidderminster Harriers in the 2014-15 season, is the Gulls' top scorer during his reign at Plainmoor with 11 goals.

• His biggest win in charge remains the Gulls' 4-1 victory over his former side Forest Green Rovers - his first at Plainmoor - on Boxing Day 2015, which provided United with a late, if not unlikely, Christmas present.

• As well as facing two of his former clubs (Forest Green and Kidderminster) as a manager, Nicholson has also come up against an ex-boss (Jim Harvey, FC Halifax) a former teammate (Chris Todd, Eastleigh) and on two occasions he has faced his predecessor (Paul Cox, Barrow).

Transfers in: Aman Verma (Kidderminster Harriers, loan followed by permanent transfer), Ben Gerring (Unattached), Andre Wright (West Bromwich Albion, loan), Sean Finch & Scott Corderoy (Watcombe Wanderers, non-contract), Toby Ajala (Dover Athletic), Nathan Blissett (Bristol Rovers), Shaun Harrad (Worcester City), Josh Rees (Nottingham Forest, loan), Danny Racchi (Unattached), Iffy Allen (Yeovil Town), Brendan Moore (Fleetwood Town, loan followed by permanent transfer), Lathaniel Rowe-Turner (Kidderminster), Sean McGinty & Damon Lathrope (Both Aldershot Town), Dan Sparkes (Braintree Town), Brett Williams (Forest Green Rovers), Giancarlo Gallifuoco (Swansea City), Jamie Reid (Exeter City, loan), Jamie Robba (Unattached), Jamie Chamberlain (Bideford, non-contract), Joe Ward & Chay Scrivens (West Bromwich Albion, loan)

Transfers out: Simon Heslop & Louis Briscoe (Wrexham), James Hurst (Guiseley, undisclosed), Dan Lavercombe (Wigan Athletic, undisclosed - sale and loan back), Tyrone Marsh (Dover Athletic, undisclosed), Shepherd Murombedzi (Hayes & Yeading), Fabien Spiess (Boston United), Alex Fisher (Inverness Caledonian Thistle), Bayan Fenwick, Waide Fairhurst (FC Halifax), Exodus Geohaghon, Oneil Odofin (Corby Town), Liam Prynn (St Austell), Iffy Allen (Aldershot Town), Toby Ajala (Gateshead), Angus MacDonald (Barnsley, undisclosed)

NICHOLSON'S FIRST ANNIVERSARY IN CHARGE AT PLAINMOOR

Whilst Paul Cox never stayed around long enough as Torquay United manager for the Plainmoor faithful to get to know him properly, the same couldn't be said about Kevin Nicholson.

With 312 appearances over seven years between 2007 and 2014, which included a promotion from the Conference in 2009 and a PFA team of the year inclusion in 2012, the Gulls were on familiar terms with Nicholson when he was appointed as Cox's successor.

The seven years at Torquay is the longest spell that Nicholson has spent at a single club during his career - it is worth noting he is still registered as a player at Plainmoor - which has included spells with sides as diverse as Sheffield Wednesday (for whom he made a solitary appearance for in the Premier League), Northampton Town, Notts County, Scarborough, Forest Green Rovers, the Gulls, Kidderminster Harriers and Bath City.

Given that he spent the longest amount of time at Torquay it is perhaps not surprising that Paul Buckle, who he served under for the first four of those seven years, and Martin Ling - who he played under for two.

Both of those two are vastly different characters, but their respective approaches are likely to have shaped Nicholson's outlook on his fledgling managerial career. A manager with Buckle's organisation skills and Ling's gift for man-management would surely go along way in professional football.

In the past year, Nicholson could look at his stint in charge with the Gulls with some sense of pride, after lifting United away from what seemed like a very precarious position - as they were 12 points adrift of safety by mid- February when the prospect of regional non-league football for the first time since 1927 looked like a distinct possibility.

As a backdrop to this, the players were - and still do on occasions - were driving to away games on the Friday as the club could not both afford a coach and overnight hotel for the same trips. There were other times when Nicholson was driving the players in the team mini-bus to certain games.

However, with a nucleus of new signings made in the January transfer window, that danger was soon averted thanks in no small part to a strong defensive record which saw the Gulls go over 400 minutes without conceding. The goals of Nathan Blissett and Shaun Harrad also proved to be crucial as Torquay finished the campaign in 18th place.

This season, at the time of writing, United are 16th in the National League with 13 points - three more than they had at the time of his arrival - as the next task of building a side that could lead the Gulls back into the Football League remains a work in progress.

WAY ENSURES AN UNHAPPY HOME COMING FOR JOHNSON

Gary Johnson's return to Huish Park, the scene of many of his greatest triumphs as Yeovil Town, proved to be an unhappy one as his Cheltenham Town side were defeated by Darren Way's Glovers.

Goals from Otis Khan and Darren Ward gave Yeovil a two-goal cushion before former Torquay United defender Aaron Downes replied for the Robins before Matt Dolan added a third for the Glovers on the stroke of half-time.

In the 57th minute, Billy Waters reduced Cheltenham's arrears to a single goal but an excellent solo goal from leading scorer Tom Eaves in injury time ensured that Way the apprentice would outfox Johnson the master.

It will not be the first time this season that Johnson will face one of his former Huish Park charges as the Robins are due to face a Luton Town side managed by former Glovers' left-back Nathan Jones.

Way and Jones are not the only members of the Yeovil squads that Johnson managed to be taking their first steps in the world of management.

Johnson's son, Lee, is currently managed Bristol City in the Championship following promising spells with Oldham and Barnsley, whilst former Glovers defender Adam Lockwood recently took charge of National League side Guiseley on a permanent basis following a successful caretaker spell.

Further down the pyramid former midfield schemer Gavin Williams is managing Merthyr Town in the Southern League Premier.

ADAMS EXORCISES DEVON DERBY GHOSTS

'Devon is Green and White tonight' declared Plymouth Argyle manager Derek Adams after watching his Pilgrims side defeat Exeter City at St James Park.

First half goals from Graham Carey and Paul Arnold Garita saw Argyle come away from their great rivals with maximum points with their seventh successive win - thus strengthening their position at the top of League Two.

This is in direct contrast to the Grecians who drop back into the bottom two of the division.

Much of the talk in the build-up to the game was surrounding Reuben Reid's transfer to Exeter during the week, but he was restricted to a 26 minute cameo, after coming on a substitute in the 64th minute.

In the corresponding fixture between these two sides last season, the Pilgrims looked to be in the driving seat after Jamille Matt had put them in front on 57 minutes with his third goal in as many games.

However, two late strikes from starlet Ollie Watkins swung the game back in City's favour.

On this occasion, there was to be no fairy tale moment for the Grecians as the Pilgrims resolutely did their job and secured a 2-0 victory and local bragging rights in the process.

REUBEN IS A GRECIAN

After being unable to find a new club over the course of pre-season following his release by Plymouth Argyle, Reuben Reid has signed for Exeter City - giving Saturday's derby between the Pilgrims and the Grecians an extra twist.

Whilst throughout the history of professional football in Britain many players have joined their team's most hated rivals, ranging from Sol Campbell to Nick Barmby to Denis Law, but not many have done so - to the best of your correspondent's knowledge - when the two teams in questions are about to play each other.

Another interesting angle on this deal is that Reid has netted five goals against City for Argyle in the past three seasons - including a hat-trick in 2015, which made him the first player to do so in that fixture since 1929 when Ray Bowden hit a treble for the Pilgrims. He also laid on the assist for Jamille Matt's opener at St James Park last season before Ollie Watkins netted with two stunning strikes to seal a dramatic late win for the Grecians.

The deal is subject to FA and Football League approval, but looks set to completed in time for Saturday and it will be interesting to see if Exeter manager Paul Tisdale includes in his match-day squad.

Once he appears for the Grecians Reid will become the most recent player to join the select band who have played for all three Devon professional sides, as he also had a loan spell with Torquay United earlier in his career.

DEVON FOOTBALL RIVALRIES EXPLAINED

In the build up to this weekend's Devon Expressway derby between Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle, I will now take a closer look at Devon's footballing rivalries.

If you asked me to describe the rivalry to an outsider it would probably go something like this; Torquay United fans dislike both Exeter and Argyle, but hate Exeter more because historically they've played each other more often.

Argyle hate Exeter and see Torquay as sort of country cousin - probably not too different from the way West Ham fans view Leyton Orient for example. Exeter fans hate Argyle with a passion but pretend not to care about Torquay whilst - at the same time - being very bothered about them.

An explanation for this feeling could probably be explained using the relationship between the cities of Plymouth and Exeter. Plymouth of course is Devon's largest city, whereas Exeter is its administrative headquarters.

Also a strong level of competition exists between the cities Rugby Union teams, however in recent years this has cooled as Exeter Chiefs have risen to the Premiership whilst Plymouth Albion have dropped to National League One.

In addition to this, both the cities universities are often competing against each other when university league tables are published.

Torquay, on the other hand, is seen by many as a place to go to for a holiday or a night out, so it doesn't inspire the same level of dislike.

Nevertheless, this rivalry has been in a state of flux since the turn of the century, as both Exeter and Torquay have both had spells in the Conference but have also had spells where they have finished higher in the football pyramid than Argyle.

In the 2011-12 season, the Grecians were playing in a higher league than the Pilgrims whereas Torquay recorded their first league double over Argyle since the 1971-72 campaign.

However, normal service has resumed in recent years with the Pilgrims having finished above Exeter in each of the last three seasons, although in two of the last three seasons the Grecians have completed the double over Argyle.

During this time Torquay have dropped back into the Conference for a second spell and are striving to escape from it.

Relations between the Gulls and the Pilgrims are such that a number of former Greens have swapped Britain's Ocean City for the English Riviera when they have been deemed surplus to requirements at Home Park in recent times.

Around 25 players have made this journey from John Uzzell and John Matthews in 1989 to players like Luke Young and Durrell Berry in more recent times.

In stark contrast, only Darren Rowbotham, Chris Curran, Martin Barlow, Sean McCarthy, Gary Sawyer and Craig Noone - the latter two on loan deals -  are the only players to have travelled up the Devon Expressway in the same time scale. Although Jamie Mackie swapped Red and White for Green in January 2008 before going on to Queens Park Rangers, Nottingham Forest and Scotland.

Nevertheless, it promises to be an interesting afternoon for Argyle midfielder David Fox, who arrived at Home Park in the summer from Crewe Alexandra.

Fox, 32,  is the son of former Grecians manager Peter Fox, who was in charge at St James Park between 1995 and 2000, and was connected with City until the age of 16 when he joined Manchester United.

GULLS PROVIDE WACKER WITH A PERFECT SEND OFF

He may not have received the romantic obituaries that his contemporary Robin Stubbs will probably get when he enters the great 'penalty box in the sky', but Torquay United gave Alan Smith the perfect send off by beating York City at Plainmoor.

After observing one minute's silence for sixties stalwart Smith, who was fondly referred to as 'Wacker' and made 303 appearances for United - including their famous 3-3 FA Cup draw with Tottenham Hotspur in 1965 - the 2016 Gulls under the command of Kevin Nicholson dispatched the Minstermen 2-0 - thanks in no small part to a first half brace from Nathan Blissett.

Smith was also a promotion winner whilst at Plainmoor, as part of Frank O'Farrell's team who finished third in the 1965-66 season. Hopefully several members of the current Torquay side will join him in that select group, but - given the nature of modern football - it's unlikely many of them will join him in the 300 club, although player-manager Kevin Nicholson has made 326 appearances for the Gulls, let alone get close to Kevin Hill's club record of 474.