When it was announced that Gary Owers was preferred choice to succeed Kevin Nicholson as Torquay United more than a few eyebrows were raised.
Not least because of the names who had been linked with the position; a list that included names like Ronnie Moore, Mark Yates, Richard Money and Graham Westley - all of whom had a great track record of experience and pedigree in the game.
Owers, by contrast, was into a third season of what was a second spell as Bath City manager in the National League South and the Romans were just a point off the newly expanded top seven play-off zone.
He had previous experience of managing in the National League with Forest Green Rovers between 2005 and 2006 - during which time he helped Rovers to avoid relegation (these were the days before Dale Vince assumed control at the New Lawn and made money freely available) before being sacked early on in the 2006-07 campaign.
In addition to this, he had also held coaching roles with Bristol City and Plymouth Argyle - as first team coach to Derek McInnes and assistant manager to John Sheridan respectively - as well recruitment roles with Scottish Premier League sides Motherwell and Partick Thistle. So, on the face of it, he appeared to possess the three credentials that former chairman Tony Boyce believed that every prospective Torquay United manager should possess: contacts, contacts and contacts.
Nevertheless Owers was unveiled as manager, with his former Bristol City teammate Martin Kuhl named as his assistant, in what was described as a new chapter by general manager Geoff Harrop.
However, there was six-match gap in between Owers taking the reins and Nicholson's dismissal and during this time the Gulls conceded a number of costly late goals. It was trait that continued early into Owers' reign of a brief time in away fixtures against Barrow and Dagenham & Redbridge, which ended in a 1-1 draw and a 1-0 defeat respectively.
These results were then followed by a 4-0 home win over Maidenhead United, their first under Owers, and the corner appeared to be turning for United. This was followed by more promising results, including 1-0 win away at Ebbsfleet United after which Owers made a quote that would later come back to haunt him as declared that 'We're not rubbish anymore.' Although to be fair to Owers, it wasn't a great night of predictions as his opposite number - former United loanee Daryl McMahon - said that the Gulls wouldn't get relegated.
As far as Owers' relationship with the fans was concerned, the high point arguably proved to be a 3-0 home win over Leyton Orient - courtesy of goals from Josh McQuoid, Luke Young and Jamie Reid - during which chants of 'Gary Owers' Yellow Army' could be heard emanating from the Popular Side.
Following in the footsteps of a manager as popular as Kevin Nicholson was always going to be difficult for Owers to win over the fans, and it was an act that was made extra difficult by failing to fulfil the task that he was brought into achieve - to keep United in the National League.
One of United's biggest problems in the 2017-18 campaign was their ability to score goals, as it wasn't until the arrival of loan signings Elliot Romain, from Dagenham and Redbridge, and Rhys Healey, from Cardiff City, who managed goal scoring hauls of four and seven respectively (Healey's tally would see him finish the season as the Gulls' top scorer). Brett Williams also managed four goals after returning to Plainmoor in February 2018, which meant that United's most prolific strikers were players who didn't start the campaign with the club.
Another task facing Owers was the fact that smaller clubs in the National League who were outperforming United were starting to be seen as a more attractive proposition to potential signings.
This was emphasised by the decision of centre back Alex Davey, who was signed on loan from Cheltenham Town, to reject a permanent move to Plainmoor in January 2018 to sign for Boreham Wood.
Relegation to National League South was eventually confirmed for the Gulls with a 1-1 draw away at Hartlepool United in their final away game of the season in a game that Williams missed a penalty early on. It meant that the Gulls would be playing in regional non-league football for the first time since 1927.
This was then followed by a 4-3 defeat in their penultimate home fixture against Guiseley - a number of part-time sides that United have found difficult to overcome since their relegation from the Football League in 2014 - in which Romain missed from the spot early on before the Lions took the lead and went on to win.
Had either of those spot-kicks been converted and had United gone on to win those games in question, then the Gulls would have needed a win in their final game at home to Ebbsfleet to stay up.
However, whether they would have managed to overcome a Fleet side that needed a point to secure a play-off spot is a different matter - the eventual outcome was a 1-1 draw.
Over the course of the season, United used 41 players - a figure that was only bettered by the 1995-96 season (42) and the 2006-07 campaign (43) - which included 16 loan signings, 11 of which were signed by Owers. Aside from Davey, Romain and Healey, only Bristol City starlet Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Aaron Barnes from Charlton Athletic and Colchester United (who loaned him back to the Gulls after he moved to the Weston Community Stadium) proved to be consistent performers. Whether all of the 11 loanees signed by Owers were his number targets remains to be seen - possibly not.
Over the summer, Owers had the opportunity to build a new squad ready to win promotion back to the National League at the first attempt - it was a task that he approached with much vigour and despite losing his assistant Kuhl in pre-season to an academy coaching position at Bisham Abbey.
However, once again United found goals hard to come by as the only managed five in their opening nine matches and had failed to win any of their four away games. Home defeats against Hampton and Richmond and Chippenham Town both saw the team leave the field to chants of 'Owers Out' and in an away match at Gloucester City he had a cup of coffee thrown over him - an act which, regardless of the situation, shouldn't be tolerated.
It was the latter of those two aforementioned home defeats which prompted chairman Clarke Osborne to act, a decision that comes a month after York City, a former Football League contemporary of United's who currently reside in National League North, decided to part company with Owers' former Sunderland teammate Martin Gray.
The decision brings the failure to of a club of the Gulls' stature to retain National League status and potential failure to retain it into sharp focus.
Whoever United appoint as Owers' successor will need to bring some much needed stability to the club, as he will be the Gulls' seventh manager in as many years since Paul Buckle's departure to Bristol Rovers in 2011.
