The story of how Torquay United made the most of their bizarre escape from relegation and beyond.
On May 9, 1987, Torquay United drew 2-2 with Crewe Alexandra
to retain their Football League status.
This was no ordinary game as the Gulls went into the game as one of three teams who were in danger being relegated from the first ever to be automatically relegated from the Football League, along with Lincoln City and Burnley.
The final round of Division Four fixtures would also see Burnley play host Leyton Orient whilst Lincoln entertained Swansea City. Such was the level of interest generated in East Lancashire that a crowd of 15,000 poured into Turf Moor causing kick off to be delayed by 15 minutes.
At half-time, the Gulls trailed 2-0 against a Crewe side,
who contained two future England internationals in David Platt and Geoff
Thomas. However, Jim McNichol pulled a goal back in the second half through a
free kick, which proved to be a timely boost as Burnley had taken the lead
against Orient through Neil Grewcock.
Meanwhile at Sincil Bank, Lincoln were losing to Swansea,
thanks to a strike from veteran Scottish midfielder Tommy Hutchinson, which
meant an equaliser was now a necessity for United.
The Gulls then received an unlikely lifeline when a police dog named Bryn broke free from his handler, PC John Harris, and sunk his teeth into McNichol’s leg.
“I was chasing the ball but the dog thought I was running straight at the policeman,” McNichol recalls. “The dog gave me a large bite in the top of my leg, it was a bit of a shock.”
McNichol was soon patched up and carried on and Paul Dobson equalised in the extra time which was added on whilst McNichol received treatment for his bite, which stopped United becoming the first club to be automatically relegated from the Football League, as Lincoln City – who had lost 2-0 Swansea City - went down instead (Burnley had avoided the drop by beating Leyton Orient).
However, far from being a stay of execution for United, it provided them with a shot at redemption as the subsequent seasons saw them enjoy one of the most successful spells in the club’s history.
In the following 1987-88 season, they narrowly missed out on promotion under the late Cyril Knowles; they also managed to beat Tottenham Hotspur, who included the likes of Ray Clemence, Gary Mabbutt, Ossie Ardiles and Chris Waddle amongst their ranks, 1-0 in the Littlewoods Cup with Derek ‘the Dude’ Dawkins scoring the winner.
The campaign was also notable for the emergence of a young Lee Sharpe, and striker Dave Caldwell recalls the way that Knowles helped to toughen up the young Sharpe, which Sharpe also detailed in his 2005 autobiography My Idea of Fun.
Caldwell said: “When Lee Sharpe first arrived at the club he was something of a one-trick pony. He used to go around in circles, but Cyril soon toughened him up.” After making 19 appearances and scoring three goals, Sharpe joined Manchester United for a fee of £185,000 – a record for a teenager at the time.
This was followed up with their first Wembley appearance in 1989 against Bolton Wanderers in the Sherpa Van Trophy final, after beating a Wolverhampton Wanderers side spearheaded by Steve Bull against the odds in the Southern Area final.
Then in the 1989-90 season, they claimed one of the greatest FA Cup scalps in their history when they beat West Ham United in the third round with teenage substitute Paul Hirons netting the game’s decisive goal. Left-back John Uzzell captained the Gulls on that day; an occasion that he remembers vividly.
“That was a great day,” said Uzzell. “I still remember in the changing room before the game Dave Smith (the manager) got everyone in a circle and we started to chant: ‘We can, we will’ as loudly as we could – and then we went out and won 1-0.”
Over a year later, the Gulls won promotion through the Play-offs against Blackpool in 1991 – becoming the first side to win a Football League Play-off final on penalties. For midfielder Chris Myers, who re-joined the Gulls in the summer of 1990 after being released in 1988, winning promotion and scoring one of United’s five successful spot-kicks represented a dream come true.
“To take one of the penalties, the fifth one, was surreal. John Impey (the manager) asked me if I fancied taking one and I said yes, without thinking about what I had just agreed to!” said Myers.
“It seemed like ages to get to my penalty, but I was able to hit it hard into the corner with a little help from the keeper (Steve McIlhargy) who got a hand to it. Another boyhood dream achieved by scoring at Wembley.”
These events were followed by numerous highs and lows in the 1990s and the 2000s, including a return to Wembley in 1998 in the Division Three Play-offs, their final day relegation decider against Barnet in 2001, their first automatic promotion in 38 years under Leroy Rosenior in 2004, as well as their first ever relegation from the Football League in 2007 and subsequent return under Paul Buckle in 2009.
The book is on sale at https://torquayunitedahistoryin50.bigcartel.com/product/after-the-jaws-of-victory
An abridged version of this article appeared in Late Tackle Magazine Issue 97 March/April 2025.
