Once described by one of their former managers as ‘a small club with a big heart’, the Gulls have enjoyed many great highs and some incredible lows during that time and Torquay United: A History in 50 Matches takes a detailed look at some of these events.
From a personal point of view, writing a book on the history of the club which I’ve supported as long as I can remember has been a long held ambition of mine. I also wanted to use a format that hadn’t been used before and a list of 50 matches – which included a description of the context of each game as well as the line-ups and an account of the match itself – became the preferred choice when looking to produce an account of the club’s history.
To add some extra flavour to the story, I approached former
Gulls defender and one-time joint caretaker manager John Uzzell to write the
foreword for it. Not only was John involved in a number of the games featured
as a player, most notably the 1-0 FA Cup win over West Ham United in 1990 which
he makes reference to in the foreword, he also witnessed several of the more
recent games from the Plainmoor Press Box in his latter role as a Sports
Analyst for the Press Association.
The many subjects covered include the club’s election to the
Football League in the 1920s; their halcyon days under Frank O’Farrell in the
1960s, the Bryn the Police Dog assisted ‘great escape’ under Stuart Morgan in
1987, followed by the Cyril Knowles inspired revival and the Wembley
appearances in the 1980s and 1990s. The stories of their automatic promotion
success under the stewardship of Leroy Rosenior, relegation from the Football
League and swift return under Paul Buckle through to the present day under Kevin
Nicholson are also featured.
Whilst certain matches picked themselves – personal favourites
of mine such as the final day decider against Barnet in 2001 and winning
automatic promotion against Southend United in 2004 are two such games – others
required a bit more thought.
There are several matches that failed to make the cut – most
notably from the managerial reigns of Messrs Knowles, Rosenior and Buckle – but
the choice of matches will always be a subjective one.
I have decided to embrace online technology and marketing,
which most fans will feel at home with these days. Copies of the book are currently
available to buy from www.torquayunitedahistoryin50.bigcartel.com
priced at £10.99, plus £2.00 postage and packing.
An abridged version of this article appeared in the Sunday Independent on July 2nd, 2017.
An abridged version of this article appeared in the Sunday Independent on July 2nd, 2017.
