Gary Owers - The Truth!

[merse btpir]

I was sat just along from John Cadigan and the commentator last night.....

You can listen to John on the National Obsession which is featured every week on BTPIR ~ The golden age of Gulls social media thread ~ along with Gulls celebrity fan Charlie Baker; a really good weekly listen on the subject of the National League and plenty on Torquay United of course!
http://thelondonlabia.proboards.com/thr ... cial-media

[brucie]

He actually also compared the team managed under Nicholson to that under Owers last night - and wasn't too complimentary to the former. In fact the commentary team were very good last night.

I cannot for the life of me understand why Harrop watches the games from the family stand which does seem completely absurd to me.

[nickbrod]

I guess he watches from there because that's where the Directors' Box is situated. A long time ago the Directors were situated about half-way in what is now Bristows.
Paul Buckle often sat in the Family Stand to see the game from a different perspective albeit not for the whole of a match.

[westyorkshiregull]

Yes remember the directors box there and also the away dugout on popside. Anyone remember the used car lot on the away end??

[Jerry]

not sure its possible to get 9 points from four games tho is it??

Win three and lose one.

[Southampton Gull]

I cannot for the life of me understand why Harrop watches the games from the family stand which does seem completely absurd to me.

Closer to the buffet

[Glostergull]

Yes remember the directors box there and also the away dugout on popside. Anyone remember the used car lot on the away end??

Don't know about a used car lot. but I do remember the old disabilty cars or plastic chariots behind the goal line in years past. only carried one person and always blue to remind you of the colour of Bathrooms in the 70's. i reckon my mobilty scooter was faster.

[Southampton Gull]

And both more reliable than your Jag

[merse btpir]

Don't know about a used car lot.......

Shortly after I departed the scene; the club (then in the ownership of the David Webb fronted consortium) applied to the council for a trading licence to sell used cars from the site of the levelled Babbacombe End. Whether they did or not I couldn't tell you as I had left the area by then.

[westyorkshiregull]

Interesting merse , I don't know if it was a torquay game or it could even had been watching my brother in the bewley cup ( anyone remember that ) but I have a memory of cars being in the babbacombe end and I'm sure they were for sale...i may be wrong but I do remember that.
Merse did you leave when the Webb regime took over as did you work for club up to that point or leave before.
Would the club gone out of business before Webb took over.

[merse btpir]

Merse did you leave when the Webb regime took over as did you work for club up to that point or leave before. Would the club gone out of business before Webb took over.

It wasn't just David Webb but people behind him....

I left before they came in but I knew they were the people who the shareholding had been sold to and all about them from contacts at AFC Bournemeouth.

To be fait it wasn't primarily because of who they were but what I was told they proposed to do as regards running the club added to the increasing negativity within the Plainmoor board which (in very tough financial times for the whole country let alone the club) was adversely affecting my income and that of the club to which it was linked obviosly.

I've always believed that everything has it's time and that time will one day run out and so mine had at Plainmoor, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world if that time came all over again

[westyorkshiregull]

Thank you merse , really interesting. My time at plainmoor started around 1984 and I remember very well the blue kits which bore no logo and then one appeared halfway through one season. The car sales , well I'm not sure if it was during a game or could have been when I saw by brother play in the bewley cup final but I can remember some cars parked in the babbacombe end. I thought they were for sale.
I met SNW, bixie and i think southyorkshiregull at Halifax. Good fans , knowledgeable and sociable. Thank you guys for allowing me to spend time with you. Very enjoyable and will do it again. I read your posts on your site merse more than I contribute , I like the amount of detail esp with upcoming fixtures and it's a valuable service, one I'm thankful for. Please never be shy in any of your experiences at the club during your years. How did it start , how did it end , the inbetween. How did Tony Boyce feel about the club , how did he feel when he sold it. Why ? Players you came accross. Anything and everything about the 70s and 80s im totally interested in.
I was hoping to put up some match footage from plainmoor from the 1970s and 1980s. I been in 2 way contact now with the South West film and television archive for a few years. Which told all the TSW and Westwood tapes. They unearthed the material for me and it looked like it was going to acquire it through my own expense which I was totally happy with as myself and others would I'm sure get enjoyment from. But all seems to go cold and dead when I told them why I wanted it and wanted to upload for others to enjoy. I'm going to try again with them and as I got so far then hit that stumbling block as they still hold the licence and I need permision to upload. I was honest with them and did not want to do anything wrong.
Gary owers and kurl doing a great job. Professional and know how to set a team up and clearly players have some direction and knowhow of there role.

[arrywithanh]

Nope it isn't. No budget, no backup blah blah, the reasons are still obvious. Obviously being their own man they've backed Gary Owers and now that we're runaway leaders it's all so patently clear!!

Still writing love letters to KN, that's sweet...

[merse btpir]

Please never be shy in any of your experiences at the club during your years. How did it start , how did it end , the inbetween. How did Tony Boyce feel about the club , how did he feel when he sold it. Why ? Players you came accross. Anything and everything about the 70s and 80s im totally interested in.

Over a fairly prolonged period of time there was much to recall and much more I have forgotten to say nothing of things that could not be discussed in the public domain; suffice to say it was a wonderful experience for someone so totally immersed in Torquay United in particular and football in general from the very beginnings of my childhood thanks to my father and uncle.

From training in the evenings with the amateurs and aspiring youth players in the late sixties after a lengthy period as a schoolboy supporter with much more freedom to travel the country and watch games than I would ever allow my own kids. Even being allowed to 'bunk' off school to go with my uncle on the trains to watch midweek games away from home and then being fortunate enough to be a youngster when the club were at their absolute best under Frank O'Farrell was a privilege and ever lasting memory. Five figure crowds packed in under the Saturday night lights ~ what memories!

I was never good enough to even begin to climb the ladder to playing for a living, but lived the dream of being an amateur player with Newton Spurs when they were the nursery club for Torquay United and so trained Tuesday and Thursday evenings on the tarmac behind the newly built Mini Stand, around the cinder track and up and down the terraces; playing in the South Western League, South Devon Premier and Senior Leagues and the County Cups with former pros like Tommy Northcott, Geoff Cox, Dougie Clarke, Bobby Baxter and the great, imperious Don Mills was an education of the highest order and with future pros like Ian Twitchin, Steve Morrall and Pat Roche who went on to play for Man United and Ireland was pretty special too.

Offering to work for the club for nothing in the early seventies led to an offer of employment from Alex Jackson and nine years in the commercial world of football that was an eye opener too and then even going back later as a match official ~ both as one of the then brand new fourth officials for League and League Cup games and reffing and lining in friendlies ~ more or less completed the circle for me and it has been an unforgettable and privileged time.

Meeting and talking with some absolute legends of the game; Bobby Moore, Jimmy Greaves, George Best, Frank O'Farrell, Bruce Rioch, Ron Atkinson, Brian Robson, Brian Clough (only on the phone alas) John Bond, Malcom Allison, Billy Bremner, Alan Ball, Terry Cooper........there are many more who don't immediately come to mind right now; it's been good and what I have been doing in recent years has been very rewarding too helping young players in their quests to get into the professional game and now watching my two sons play all goes to remind me that football is the greatest game in the world and that should never be forgotten!

[westyorkshiregull]

Thank you merse for that insight on being on the inside of torquay united during them days and Indeed as a supporter. Not sure if before your time but my dad told me stories of bunking of school and getting a ride to plainmoor in the sidecar of his brothers sidecar. Always made me smile as it was exciting enough as a kid going school and knowing I could go to a Tuesday night evening game. But to see torquay united instead of school must have been fab.
Interesting to know of commercial side in them days merse? I always buy at least a shirt and jacket every year , I only make 2 or 3 home games with work and my life based in the middle of west Yorkshire. But I struggle to think of how successfull the commercial side is these days.i know they do man of the match things, corporate ECT ECT But what was the commercial side like back then. What did they sell in club shop ? what other revenues back then. Lottery ? I remember back around 1988 you used to be able to buy a ticket for goal time. So if you guess the right goal time or close to it you won some money. Guess the 70s was birth to sponsorship, billboards, club shirts.
Sounds a colourful time merse around those years and what a education in football !!!