Absolutely loving this thread guys, reading tales of good times of yesteryear, would love to read more of this sort of thing, peoples stories and good memories from past eras. It is mind boggling when you see the attendance figures at times from those days and compare it to now. Its great reading these things and then you kind of get a twinge of sadness when you think of where we are now in comparison.
It is difficult to analyse the exact reasons why we have dwindled to such lowly numbers of support over the years. Torbay and south Devons apathy towards our club obviously hasnt always been there, but people are fickle and it seems it didnt take that long for the big crowds to disappear. I am a firm believer that money is a big factor because people round here just will not pay the sort of money it costs to watch our team. I would imagine back in those days football in comparison, same as the cinema or many other forms of entertainment were very cheap and more in line with what people were earning etc. You do only have to hear the scorn and comments from some of the locals though, the belittling, the put-downs, the pessimism and almost dislike of our club/team, the worst part is most of those are born and bred here. You think if only those who think that way had ever been converted and given it a chance and got behind us with the support an area our size could have then the football would likely have been better and the club would quite possibly be much bigger and a lot better off now.
Was it the 1967 season one of those I have heard about over the years when some of our "senior" supporters have declared that we were an absolute "shoe in", "odds on" guarantee, best Torquay side ever, dead cert for promotion and they "blew it", "threw it" and chucked it away on purpose because the board didnt really want them to go up. Apparently thats happened a few times, sometime in the 50's, 1988 and 1998. Dont know about that myself, but you know what some of the pop side cranks are like (my Dad included), although 98 wouldnt surprise me.
Thanks for this by the way, brilliant, been trying to find a proper compehensive list of TUFC players, this is the best I have seen, just enjoyed reading through and reminiscing about a few players. Its amazing how some players who are remembered and thought of so well actually played so few games. Also there are many players from when I was a boy in the late 80's and early 90's who hardly kicked a ball for us who I remember better for some reason than many in recent times who were here longer. Names like Steve Cookson (isnt he Dean Edwards cousin or something like that), Denny Mundee (loan from Bournemouth), Carl "goal a game" Airey, Jason Gummer (89 loanee), Mike Fillery looked decent for 20 mins (91 loanee, had a bust up here apparently), Gary wright (87, got called out of the crowd during the pre match warm up, played due to injuries and set up Caldwells debut overhead kick goal). Plus loads more.
You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
bringbackthecowshed wrote:The pub in St Pauls road was The White Hart. The old Rising Sun in now called DT's. An excellent pub, I always go there when Torquay are featured in a televised game.
Heres one of my early and most dondest memories of watching The Gulls, its from my first full season, Plainmoor had one of the highest attendances I have ever experienced, only about 5000, what a comparison to 20 years previous. I shall never, ever forget this game, I was only 12 and I remember the next week at school all the lads were buzzing and talking about TUFC and singing TUFC songs in the playground. Most of the rest of that season had quite a few lads that went to our games right up until the last day auto promotion loss to Scunthorpe then beating them in the play off semi a week later, then the play off final 2nd leg loss to Swansea. The support from 89-90 onwards after wembley 89 has never quite seemed the same, many I went school with sort of fell away from supporting us, probably how it has happened for many really.
[youtube]bIcGevScqa0[/youtube]
You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
Yes excellent game Chunky and a brilliant atmosphere that season after years of struggle. Those of us of a certain age of course also have our own special schoolboy memories involving the Spurs. 9 January 1965 3rd round of the FA Cup. A crowd of 20,000 saw a Billy Atkinson penalty give Torquay the lead at the Cow Shed end from the penalty spot against a Spurs side comprising all full internationals and including genuine legends like Jimmy Greaves, Alan Gilzean, Alan Mullery, and of course Cyril Knowles. The Spurs gradually got on top and went 3-1 up, but they could not kill Torquay off, and for the last 20 minutes Torquay tore into Spurs. Tommy Northcott hit the bar with a header and Robin Stubbs scored the two flukiest goals he ever scored in his life in the last 5 minutes to secure a 3-3 draw. The restart was delayed for several minutes as most of the crowd at that stage seemed to be on the pitch!
An interesting aspect is that the game kicked off at 2.45 pm .... so that the Spurs could get to the station in time for the train to Paddington. How times have changed!
As well as the large home attendances back in the 60's there were also the away games. Two seasons in a row Torquay took over a 1000 supporters nearly as far as Scotland for the last game of the season. In May 1966 it was Darlington where a crowd of 16,469 saw a 0-0 draw and both clubs were promoted from the old Division 4 (a stunning Robin Stubbs 'goal' was ridiculously ruled out for offside). Twelve months later it was Middlesbrough where we unfortunately got stuffed at Ayrsome Park in front of 27,160. That was actually the penultimate game of the season, but it was the end of our promotion hopes and the following week we went back to Plainmoor and lost to already relegated Swansea Town. There were still 7,500 there mind.
I made both of those journeys as a 14/15 year old. A convoy of Wallace Arnold coaches had to leave Newton Abbot in those pre-motorway days at 8 pm on the Friday evening for the arduous journey through Bristol, Wolverhampton, Leeds, Manchester etc, rather than past them as it would be these days. Then on the return we would get back to Devon on the Sunday morning just as it was getting light.
As this has become an 'Ah yes - I remember' thread, back in the late fifties, I remember a game - I think it was against Gillingham - where we were losing 3 - 0 with about five minutes left and we scored three in those final minutes to make the final score 3 - 3. I was doing a paper round at the time, back in the days of the Daily Sketch and the Eagle comic. This was long before mobile phones, ceefax or any other modern technology of course. The next morning whilst I was collecting my papers for delivery, a chap came in the shop on the way to work, bought a paper, looked at the scores on the back page and said "That's not right - Torquay didn't draw 3 - 3 last night". He had left before the end of the match when the score was 3 - 0. Moral of the tale - never leave before the end of a match.
Now then - this is for those like Stefano with memories like elephants. I seem to remember one hell of a cup match, probably the League Cup, on a horrible wet night against Oxford when they were in a higher league and it finished 3 - 3. But I can't find it in the Torquay United Centenary book. Does anyone else remember this, or am I imagining it ?
Another query. Now this one I do remember ! The F.A. introduced a 'Golden Goal' in extra time in one of the Cup competitions as an experiment - probably the watching-paint-dry trophy. It was an experiment that was soon dropped. We scored a 'golden goal' and that was the end of the match. The chap sat next to me in the Grandstand was still sat there, not realising the game was over ! Am I correct in remembering the goal was scored by Alan Lee who we had on loan and who went on to have a good career as a striker in the top two divisions? And who was the match against - was it West Ham? I think it was the only match we were ever involved in which was decided by the ill fated 'golden goal'.
If my memory serves me right - that game was against Fulham. Alan Lee was a cracking forward - the much maligned Joe Quigley has something of the Alan Lee about him (I think!)
tomogull wrote: I seem to remember one hell of a cup match, probably the League Cup, on a horrible wet night against Oxford when they were in a higher league and it finished 3 - 3. But I can't find it in the Torquay United Centenary book. Does anyone else remember this, or am I imagining it ?
Swindon is near to Oxford Tomo. FA Cup late 70's or early 80's, 3-3 at home but lost replay. I can't remember being there and think it was about the time I was working for 12 months in Belfast, so can't comment on the weather (other than in Belfast where it was generally shit!)
Ah yes - it was Fulham. Cheers BOb. I had forgotten that Keegan was their manager at that time but I think you're right. Yes - you could see Alan Lee's class right from the start and Quigley is a similar type of player.
I have now tracked down the Oxford cup game. It wasn't the League Cup as I thought but an F.A. Cup replay on a January night 1983 (it was a dreadful night) and it wasn't 3 - 3 - we won 2 - 1 with goals from Steve Cooper & Jackie Gallagher. I don't know why that game sticks in the memory particularly, but I know it was a cracking match against higher league opposition ...... even though it was only Oxford ! And on a cold, wet Tuesday night in January, a gate of 6402 .......
Thanks Stefano. It was definltely Oxford on a cold, wet Tuesday night ! The memory played tricks with the score !
Yes that Fulham game, memorable for the fact that it was not long after Al Fayed took over and we beat them on the golden goal after a long dreary game, they stomped our league the season before, they were stomping the division above, it was great to see Keegan walking the touchline, hands shoved in pockets and the crowd singing "Keegan, whats the score", the next season took the England job.
Here's another one from me and its probably no surprise (an obvious one), its another one I look back on with great fondness and reminisce of days like this when our current problems and dark days depress me, it shows our great little club does have its moments and hopefully one day we can have moments like this again.
It had been a decidedly average season in comparison to the previous year, a few key players and real fan favorites from our near promotion winning side had departed, Paul Dobson, Dave Caldwell our top strikers notably. Nobody really gave much of a toss about the Sherpa Van Trophy until we reached the 2 legged southern area final vs Wolves who were div 4 champs the previous season and current runaway leaders of div 3. Plainmoor was well attended but not quite full, a hell of a lot of Wolves fans there though. The atmosphere from TUFC fans was good but calm as if not expecting much. Against the run of play and all the odds we took the lead through the hard working Dean Edwards and held on for most of the match until Steve Bull the countries top scorer from the previous few seasons and a future England player a few months later struck twice in the dying minutes.
All hope for a trip to wembley had gone but against all odds and thanks to a combination of Wolves top defender Floyd Streete being suspended, an early goal again from Edwards, a stunning greatest free kick of all time from the magician Mark Loram, an inspired one off brought out of retirement Kenny Allen performance in goal, a stoic, battling reargaurd defensive shutout. The Gulls reached the Wembly final going through 3-2 on aggregate and were due to meet Bolton Wanderers who had just pipped us to promotion the previous season. Unbelievable!
On to that wonderful day that just went by in a blur. A boiling hot May Sunday morning trudging to Garfield road coach stop with my Dad, Uncle and neighbour (the Wolves fan), decked out all in yellow and blue with my TUFC hat, jumper, wristbands, scarf on and waving my 2 wembley flags (still got it all), already excited and fit to burst in anticipation for the 3 o'clock kick off. Garfield road was a sea of yellow and blue with many supporters primed to make the trip. The atmosphere all the way to London was really positive but just very glad and grateful to be there, Cyril Knowles was a God in our eyes at that moment for how he had turned our club around so much in just two short seasons.
Outside of wembley the atmosphere was electric, and there was a friendly feel to the day with the Bolton and TUFC fans mingling and sharing banter and generally having a laugh.
Inside the ground I was blown away by how many of our fans were there, never seen anything like it before or since, over 20,000 was the figure given, Cyril Knowles later commented it was a shame we didnt see a few more of them on a Saturday afternoon, my sentiments too, but these moments are usually once or twice a lifetime for clubs our size. The time went by in a flash, there was a charity match between former Gulls and Bolton players with a few famous guests intermingled,Torquay legend Robin stubbs pulling on the yellow once more, playing alongside was the great George Best (really strange seeing him in a TUFC kit. Guest of honour Elton John came out (oo er missus) onto the pitch to greet the coaching staff and players, then before long we were underway, the atmosphere was electric and pulsating, never have I ever experienced anything like it. I was surprised by the quality of passing football by both teams on a bigger, top standard pitch, a lot different to what was on show at Plainmoor some weeks, I had often watched us train and practice passing on the deck instead of our more direct long ball game at the Clennon Valley astroturf near my house in the previous weeks, and you could see why it was neccessary on a pitch like wembley, plus it was so damned hot and keeping possesion was vital.
A few close scares for the Gulls defence early on but then, history was made and rapturous unbridled, indescribable joy as from a Loram corner, Elliott flick on, Deano headed in a carbon copy goal of the first against Wolves at Plainmoor and became the first Torquay player to score at wembley, "christ" the release of emotion from the 20,000 plus was like thunder, lightning and an earthquake all at once, again never felt anything like it before or since, despite my view being a bit crap it was one of the greatest moments of my life.
The rest of the game and the day went in a flash, Bolton scored 4 goals, probably 2 more than Torquay really deserved to concede, poor Kenny Allen had been unsighted on a couple of soft hopeful shots and unlucky young pro John Morrison deflected an speculative ball into his own net. Many fans werent too disappointed, realising the score didnt reflect the match, TUFC had gave them moments to be proud of and they enjoyed their historical day out. Even when the coaches rolled back into Garfield Rd late that night and a weird feeling of being back in Paignton after all we had been through that day, the yellow and blue flags were still being waved with pride.
Didnt think we would ever have a day out at wembley again, how wrong I was,but as great as the next 4 visits were, despite the scoreline, none of the other times were as great as that first one, maybe due to the lot less amount of fans in attendance or the kick off times since, but again, it would be incredible to go there one more time at least, keep the faith, keep supporting, keep believing and you never know, one day...... one day!
Oops, silly me, meant to add this earlier, a great video whoever made it, love the music, you will all no doubt know it well. Enjoy this, its brilliant in places. Aaaahhh memories.....
[youtube]RiOh77TiXT4[/youtube]
Last edited by chunkygull on 12 Sep 2015, 01:02, edited 2 times in total.
You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
Yes - I wuz there. The Gulls first ever visit to the hallowed turf and my first visit to Wembley - the Twin Towers then of course. It was certainly a memorable occasion. There was a story, and I'm fairly sure it was true, that after Wolves 2 - 1 win at Plainmoor in the semi final first leg, so cock sure were they that the tie was in the bag, they booked a hotel near Wembley for the team to stay before the final.
Yeah, I remember that story, I'm sure it was even mentioned in the Herald. A lad who lived in our street came to Plainmoor with us sometimes but he was from Wolverhampton, he came to the 1st leg game and was cheering for bloody Wolves, very quiet until Steve Bull snatched the 2 goals at the end. Well cocky all week he was, then kharma waved her magic wand.
You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
Strange how the memory plays tricks. I thought I remembered that Fulham game well. I watched it on the Popsicle with a work colleague Fulham fan. I'd have sworn Scott Partridge got the winner but looks like I've confused that with his late equaliser.
Either way I remember Golden Goal being a slightly surreal way to win or lose any game.
Added in 1 minute 15 seconds:
Popside!!! Curse predictive text.
Yes alan lee i remember that night. Im sure a rumour was he was available for 50k but we didnt go for him. Same story with dean sturridge....and jason roberts. If true, huge mistakes.
One of my favourite games was QPR away in fa cup 99/00. Big nev pulled of countless saves and mick obrien stole us a replay with a superb late free kick. Torquay fans sang for 90 mins it was a great day
DaveysBarTab wrote:Yes alan lee i remember that night. Im sure a rumour was he was available for 50k but we didnt go for him. Same story with dean sturridge....and jason roberts. If true, huge mistakes.
One of my favourite games was QPR away in fa cup 99/00. Big nev pulled of countless saves and mick obrien stole us a replay with a superb late free kick. Torquay fans sang for 90 mins it was a great day
Yep, I remember hearing that, the Roberts one was the worst (price tag 90k I'm sure i heard), we surely would have gone up if we had even kept him on loan, we were flying until then, together with Rodney and the Gibbs/Gurney wing back formation we were awesome. The worst thing was Wolves recalled him, then loaned him straight out again to Bristol City I think and he didnt barely play. I know his transfer fee would have been a lot for us, but anyone could see what an athlete and a player he was, no surprise to see the career he went on to have. Imagine the transfer fee or sell on clauses we would have got.
You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
