Torquay United Fans Forum

Not on the ferries no, although he used to collect the cables for the higher ferry when he drove for Noss. Gareth is a double amputee now, I go down to see him as much as possible and get him a season ticket every year. Kingswear eh, wrong side of the water

No,Dave that would be Roger,who played for United and was a prolific goalscorer for them. Lots of people got us confused but we weren't related.
I knew Gareth-well if you lived in Kingswear as I did,or Dartmouth you knew everyone.Was your dad on the ferries?

Didn't you play for Rec?

Your name is definitely familiar to me, I think you were mates with my Uncle Gareth (Widdecombe) and my father, Mike Floyd.

I used to watch both but preferred watching the REC at Coronation Park rather than walking up the hill to Longcross and encountering all the Townstal ruffians!

I was always a YMRC follower, Utd were the Devils spawn to me. My Dad and another uncle plus Chinos brother, Uncle Dave all played for Rec. Those were the days.

Southampton Gull wrote: 28 Mar 2017, 09:06 Must be something in the family DNA of the respective families

I remember the game well. Hard fought 3-3 draw. We had to lock ourselves in the away dressing room as the Dartmouth players didn't appear to realise the game was over. Not sure if your uncle was involved in that SG (I couldn't see through the door and we certainly weren't going to open it to find out!)

The result Crystal Palace 1 Torquay United 1 had wider implications than one may think.

It resulted in England winning the World Cup!!!!

Whilst Torquay were being held at Palace, Ipswich Town under manager Alf Ramsey won 2-0 at Southampton, thus pipping Torquay on goal average.

Five years later Ipswich Town were the English Football League Champions, and taking Ipswich from the 3rd tier to be champions of England saw Alf Ramsey appointed manager of England.

The rest, as they say, is history!

merse btpir wrote: 28 Mar 2017, 07:19 I once got sent off ( a very hard thing to 'achieve' in those days) following an altercation with Chino at Longcross in which I came off second best to the 'big lump' ~ I think he followed me too but I wasn't either hanging around or turning around for that matter as self preservation was the optimum aim of the game then!

Must be something in the family DNA of the respective families

Ah!....Bisto...Colin Bettany, Alan Smith, Ernie Pym, George Northcott - and that's just the Reserves!

I attended the Weymouth match as a 15-year-old. There was a very large crowd, mostly to hear updates from Crystal Palace via the PA system. There was very little optimism about the outcome. Although United (no "Gulls" then!) were unbeaten at home that season, our away record was poor - only five wins as I recall. Nevertheless it was a great time to be a supporter. There was no crowd segregation and visitors were welcomed with friendly banter, as were Torquay fans at away matches. Do I miss those days? Not half!

Southampton Gull wrote: 27 Mar 2017, 22:03 If only my Uncle, Pete "Chino" Collins was among the modern generation of local players sticking to playing local football these days.

I once got sent off ( a very hard thing to 'achieve' in those days) following an altercation with Chino at Longcross in which I came off second best to the 'big lump' ~ I think he followed me too but I wasn't either hanging around or turning around for that matter as self preservation was the optimum aim of the game then!

viewing your comments on here about local league players who think they are better than they really are reminds me of my so called holiday in Dartmouth last August. I brought a family of 5 down with me and fully intended to take the boys to see our match at Plainmoor with WBA.
I was disturbed to hear the 15 year old son talking about football on the way down. he is with Gloucester city Academy and was telling me how good he was. his statement was I could walk into the United Team. the manager should put me in if I go. I thought what an arrogant jumped up little ***** you sound son. I doubt you could be worth tying Nicho's boots less playing for united against Premiership stars. I wonder what the players would have thought. i nearly told the manager of Gloucester city that he had a supposed premier league star in his academy. it was made the funnier because we were next to a family from London all West Ham fans and they always had a ball out for a kick about on the grass and the 17 year old girl played for a well known ladies team and she rang rings around him, I did laugh to myself.
the former kit manager of Clevedon Town was telling me how players there were on part time contracts of £500 a week and cared more about their hairdo and what the girls thought of them than practicing football. how times have changed from the days when I also saw 9 to 14 thousand cram into Plainmoor on a Saturday evening. i loved them evening kick offs.

If only my Uncle, Pete "Chino" Collins was among the modern generation of local players sticking to playing local football these days. A few hundred a week for turning out for the Gulls would have solved our scoring problems. There were plenty more like him when I was watching the SDL all those years ago. As you say, local parks players these days are seemingly well below the standards I remember.

I went to take a look at a local player last week, scoring goals for fun but I fancied my chances against the defenders he was up against. No way could I see him succeeding at even a moderately higher level, no first touch, no composure but a sweet left foot.

We were also well worth watching; had the intelligence to switch matches to Saturday nights in order to attract the local football market and Torquay was a vibrant and fun place to be in those days.

How different now with wholesale derision for the club amongst a very different local footballing fraternity in the local leagues; different times, different people and different mentality. Today's Torquay is a run down sad parody of the place that was once rocking and fun to go out in on a Saturday night.

We didn't unfavourably compare the standards of Third Division footballers with First Division ones because we weren't as bloody stupid as those today who do so driven by a modern day mentality that is Sky Sports and Computer Game orientated. We didn't expect to see Bobby Charlton running out at Plainmoor until he was old and knackered and did so for Preston North End.

Most of those who play in the parks and reckon they are better than the pro's on view at Plainmoor today couldn't trap a bag of shopping to be honest and would be better put to use filling one on a Saturday afternoon than making an arse of themselves at KGV or Clennon Valley.

As I said Andrew; different times, different people.

gullpower wrote: 27 Mar 2017, 20:27 My dad and grandad went up on the train to the Crystal Palace game and often spoke about their disappointment.

At the time goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded) was used rather than goal difference. Torquay's goal average after the last game was 1.39 and Ipswich's 1.87! What might have been

Even if goal difference had been used Ipswich would still have gone up. Ipswich's for and against total was 101-54, ours was 89-64. Ipswich had +22 better goal difference then us.