Like the city of Rome most Torquay United promotion winning sides were not built in a day.
To give you the first of two examples three years passed between the Gulls' final day relegation against Barnet in 2001 to their first automatic promotion in 38 years which was secured with a 2-1 win over Southend United in the last fixture of the 2003-04 season. During this time Roy McFarland in the 2001-02 campaign and then Leroy Rosenior in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons cultivated a side that played a brand of football widely considered to be the most exciting seen at Plainmoor in many a year.
It also took Paul Buckle two years to transform a club that had just been relegated from the Football League for the first time in its history into one that made a swift return by beating Cambridge United 2-0 in the 2009 Conference play-off final. Buckle then needed another two years to turn his Blue Square Premier play-offs into League Two play-off contenders, as United were beaten by Stevenage at Old Trafford in the 2010-11 play-off final at Old Trafford in what proved to be Buckle's final game in charge.
Which is why Gary Johnson needs to be given time as he attempts to turn the 2019-20 Torquay United from National League South champions into would be National League promotion winners.
Johnson performed the footballing equivalent of alchemy when he took a side that was 14th in the National League South at the time of the departure of his predecessor Gary Owers from the Plainmoor hot seat to the league title with three games to spare.
Now after a promising start that saw the Gulls mount a challenge for a second successive promotion, United have now run into one of the icebergs that Johnson has often referred to during his time in charge as they have now lost six straight games in all competitions.
In isolation, the last of those losses to date, which was a 2-1 defeat away to Harrogate Town, is no disaster but after a five-match losing run it feels slightly more painful.
However, there are mitigating circumstances in the form of an injury crisis that has led to Johnson increasing the number of loan players currently at the club to eight: Robbie Cundy, Opi Edwards, Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Saikou Janneh (all Bristol City), Frank Vincent (AFC Bournemouth), Joe Lewis (Swansea City), Ramarni Medford-Smith (Reading) and most recently Amrit Balsan-McNulty (Queens Park Rangers).
Such are the problems facing Johnson that many of the loan players that he has brought in are currently, along with senior pros skipper Asa Hall and left-back Liam Davis.
With a busy festive period approaching, Johnson is now faced with the task of building a bridge over increasingly troubled waters. Nevertheless he has already starting shuffling his pack as Dutch striker Manny Duku has already departed for pastures as he searches for that winning combination that will improve United's fortunes.
