Pace has long been considered one of the most important assets in modern football, whether it be in attacking transitions, in defensive pressing, in one versus one situations or when manipulating space.
It was an asset that Torquay United utilised fully in their National League South title winning campaign in 2018-19 under Gary Johnson.
The Gulls' side was packed with pacey individuals, including full-backs Ben Wynter and Liam Davis, French winger Kalvin Kalala and the strike pairing of Jamie Reid and Saikou Janneh, who scored 51 goals between them.
Then you also had wide man Opi Edwards in reserve, and that's not to say anything of centre midfielder Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and centre back Kyle Cameron, who both possessed the ability to accelerate quickly when required to.
And it's an approach that current United boss Jimmy Ball has looked to adopt with his recruitment ahead of the 2026-27 campaign. To date, Ball has signed Callum Morton and Isaac Westendorf to play up front and former Forest Green winger Shaun Robertson. While Morton may not be a lightning fast as Westendorf or Robertson, he does possess the ability to run in behind and stretch defences, as evidenced by the goal he scored for Bristol Rovers against Crewe Alexandra which can be found on YouTube.
This was something that the Gulls used to good effect last season following the signing of Deon Moore, a player who may yet still sign a new deal with the club, who demonstrated the ability to run in behind and stretch opposition defences on numerous occasions towards the end of the 2025-26 campaign.
As well as offering United the opportunity to stretch opposition defences, quick players also offer the option of being able to speed the game back up again if your opponents try to slow the game down.
In addition of his attacking plans, Ball hasn't limited himself searching for pace in his defensive players, as shown by the acquisition of left-back Tyler Hill from Spennymoor United.
One thing that will be guaranteed at Plainmoor will be that the Gulls are likely to have speediest team that they have had for a good few years.
