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Torquay United FC - History
2006-07 Season
24th, relegated from League Two
League Cup: 1st round; Norwich City h. 0-2
FA Cup: 3rd round; Southampton h. 0-2
JP Trophy: 1st round; Bristol Rovers a. 0-1
Highlight:
1-0 win over Mansfield Town, 16/9/06
Low Spot:
5-0 defeat at Mansfield Town, 30/1/07
Good:
Jamie Ward
Small, nippy striker who looked sharp early on before apparently falling out of favour. Eventually left for Chesterfield and added 3 goals there to the 11 he managed for Torquay.
Lee Mansell
We had Mansell down as one of Oxford's top men last season as they were relegated out of the league and now we are doing the same with him at Torquay.
There might be an alarming theme developing here but we don't think it's Mansell's fault.
In Brief:
A truly ridiculous season on the English Riviera ended in the only way it realistically could with an emphatic relegation. Off field events were truly shambolic but more of that later.
The team actually won their first two games and were 7th after 10 games having only lost once. Then the wheels fell off.
Only 4 points were gained in the next 19 games and there was no coming back from there. The clubs' plight was demonstrated by the fact that even after having 10 points deducted Boston, the team directly above them remained one point better off than the Gulls.
To give a brief idea of the carnage that occurred off the pitch the club began the season with Ian Atkins as manager but he was soon shown the door despite the clubs' decent start. Lubos Kubik was brought in with disastrous consequences, then Keith Curle was given control with Colin Lee brought in as Director of Football, Leroy Rosenior replaced Curle at the end of the season only to be shown the door himself for Paul Buckle to be given the job.
This chaos reflected the goings on at boardroom level. Mike Bateson was chairman last summer and remains so now but in between times various figures have appeared and vanished again in the corridors of Plainmoor including the Frank Spenceresque Chris Roberts, Keith Richardson, Alex Rowe and Mervyn Benney.
Where the club stands now and what direction it will take as it begins life in the Conference is anyones' guess.
Torquay United Football Club was formed in 1899 by former pupils of the Torquay and Torbay Colleges.
The club settled at its current home, Plainmoor, in 1910 but did not become known as Torquay United until 1921, the year the club turned professional.
Torquay United were elected into Division Three South in 1927.
Having landed in Division Four when the north and south divisions merged in 1958 the Gulls won promotion in 1960 into Division Three.
This stay lasted only two seasons but when the club returned to the third division in 1966 they managed to stay in the division for six seasons, their best effort yet.
Since suffering relegation in 1972 Torquay have managed only a couple of one year stays in the third tier of English football.
It could be worse than that.
In 1986 Torquay United finished bottom of the football league but were able to apply successfully for re-election. The following year automatic relegation to the Conference was introduced.
Then in 1996 the club again finished 92nd. This time they were spared relegation because the ground of Conference champions, Stevenage Borough, did not conform to the Football League's entry standards by the required date.
Torquay have had little to enthuse over in the cup competitions, either.
The furthest they have gone in the FA Cup is the fourth round, the last occassion being 1990, and the third round is the best they have managed in the League Cup.
The Gulls did reach the final of the Sherpa Van Trophy in 1989.
Having lost the first leg of the southern final 2-1 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Steve Bull scoring twice, Torquay astonished everybody by winning the return leg at Molyneux 2-0 with goals from Wolverhampton born Dean Edwards and Mark Loram.
In the final, however, they crashed to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Bolton Wanderers
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