Torquay United Fans Forum

Given what had gone before, that season was a line in the sand and everything is now either pre or post Cyril for me!

Brilliantly summarised - I don't think I'll ever see another season like it - and it was my first! Agree about Caldwell - he was like a comic strip hero in his short time here and the best front man we've ever had in my opinion - swashbuckling and fearless!

Ricey seems to have so much more confidence this season!

Really glad to hear Hawley and Ball doing well - reckon they'll do us proud this season when match fit and they gel - and the away support sounds impressive!

So many fantastic memories of that season including some superb goals: Gardiner v Bolton, Alan Pearce v Burnley, Caldwell v Hereford, some fab McNichol free kick pile drivers. Also some classic performances including that home game v Newport (on YouTube for extended nostalgia), Wrexham, the final in the quagmire v Swansea and the epic Scunny clashes. We also tamed Bull and Mutch that year when Wolves visited. If my memory serves me right the pitch was beyond belief at times yet games still went ahead! To think we locked swords and competed with Wolves, Bolton, Cardiff, Swansea - best forget the Scarborough match though! I think there was even an appearance by a member of the crowd ( a former player who was still registered - Gary Wright?? - when someone got injured in the warm up - I believe he even kept his place for the following game??) A fantasy season!

Completely agree with all of the above!

Rice - wouldve been a defeat without
Downes
Ball
Pearce
Cameron - for his part in the spell of lovely football that led to the goal that wasn't in the first half

Rice was really good today - looked safe and composed
Tonge okay - thought he got exposed a couple of times
Pearce - liked a lot but reckon there's the potential for some Aggreyesque gaffes there
Cameron - if more assertive could be dynamite
Chappell - promising
Harding - solid
Ball - reminded me of a more mobile Duane Darby - seemed to fade but robust
Hawley (Karl Hawley , Hawley, Hawley Hawley) will need games on todays evidence, but who wouldn't
Edgey today , but potential is there - Wimbledon are a big, big side and will be competitive based on todays showing

Great, great post - confirms what I feel most reasonable posters were sensing about the set up - has made me feel cautiously optimistic and very positive! Gotta be better than the slow Ling-ering death under the last boss!

Agree - I had a book full of free tickets as a birthday present last season and even though it was costing me nothing I really struggled to motivate myself to go on several occasions - Barnet and Bristol Rovers aside (wasn't able to be at the Aldershot recovery - typical) it came close to making me fall out of love with the club - never thought I'd ever feel that! That Barnet game was like a stolen dirty weekend with an old lover! Haha

Had to be Cyril's season...it made me fall in love with the club!
The great escape against Crewe had hit a note with me and given me a sense of pride in the club, but when my Dad and I rocked up on a barmy Saturday afternoon to see the team destroy Wrexham 6-1, then swiftly beat Spurs 1-0 at Plainmoor, I was sold. Caldwell's scissor kick debut and his swashbuckling style alongside Dobbo's superior finishing and Loram's skill ... First class! Jim Mcnichol's commitment and Lee Sharpe's fledgling talents coupled with swelling crowds and an actual atmosphere in the ground were thrilling to me in my early teens - will never forget that last few matches - the two home games v Scunthorpe and then that unbelievable play off final second leg v Swansea - gutted but hooked forever! It's probably nostalgia, but I've rarely recaptured that excitement of what was, for me, my first full season as a Gull

Easy - Knowles for identifying the core of a decent side from the squad nearly relegated in 87 (McNichol, Kelly, Cole, Impey, Dobson, Dawkins, Loram, McLoughlin) and adding the ingredients of Lloyd, Haslegrave, Caldwell and the emergent Lee Sharpe (who was absolute dynamite in his short time - watch the Newport game on YouTube - pure class)

Do you remember Jurgen Sommer - went on to play for USA and was it Luton or QPR?

Kenny Allen - an almost mythical figure for me - was Uniteds keeper when I started going to Plainmoor and was simultaneously inspired and hopeless. If ever the "keepers are mad" cliche rang true it was with this man

Derek Dawkins - especially in his "Lee Sharpe's minder" phase

Andy Gurney v Exeter City
Alan Pearce V Burnley (?)