Top 100 Torquay United Players

[Plymouth Gull]

Thank you guys for adding some insight into Loram's career - it's the first time I've struggled to find much on the internet! I'm also glad that this thread has seemed to pick up a lot more debate in recent days as there were times where I've wondered if anybody is actually following it! I just hope that some of you aren't disappointed with the rest of the list (which featured a lot of younger people voting hence more recent players scoring more than the older players).

Anyway, moving on to 15th in the list, and it's…



15. Dave Caldwell - 23 points

Time spent at club: 1987-1988, 1989-1990
Gulls Appearances: 41
Gulls Goals: 10

First things first I was expecting Caldwell to have featured more than 41 times for United as he is a name I hear mentioned fairly often when we discuss the great players to have played for our club. Dave began his career in Scotland, before moving into the Football League with Mansfield in 1979, making over 150 appearances for the Stags, scoring close to 60 goals. After a couple of loan spells, Caldwell made a permanent move to Mansfield's rivals Chesterfield, where he made 68 league appearances. After two years at Saltergate, he moved south to Torquay in 1987. He made 24 appearances in his first spell, scoring four, including an overhead on his debut. Wikipedia suggests that Caldwell's discipline was quite poor, as he received 3 red cards resulting in an 8 match ban in the 87/88 season. After just one year at Plainmoor, Caldwell moved to play in Belgium, but made a return to United 18 months later, making another 17 appearances in a loan spell.

Upon that loan ending, Caldwell moved back to England to play for Chesterfield once again, before injury forced retirement from League football. He then played in the Highland League in Scotland before leaving the game in 1999 after being offered a job in a different environment. It is believed that Dave resides in Glasgow, and still does some low level coaching.

[Behind-the-Gulls]

Some people thought that "Lors"was a bit indifferent about his career as a footballer,because of his laid-back approach,occasional off- field misdemeanours and coming home from QPR.I don't think this was a true reflection as he was a good trainer,worked hard on his game and got better and better as a player.If Lors was in our side I always fancied our chances-if he wasn't, I didn't.
Classy left foot,great finisher and good football brain;scored some cracking goals for us;including several important ones in big games.
Always approachable and ready for a bit of banter with the fans;definitely in my top five list.

[stefano]

Thank you guys for adding some insight into Loram's career - it's the first time I've struggled to find much on the internet! I'm also glad that this thread has seemed to pick up a lot more debate in recent days as there were times where I've wondered if anybody is actually following it! I just hope that some of you aren't disappointed with the rest of the list (which featured a lot of younger people voting hence more recent players scoring more than the older players).

Don't worry about it everybody is following the thread. Don't mind in the least a few more recent players featuring (but PLEASE none of the present team!!!) as long as Don Mills and Robin Stubbs are numbers 1 and 2 .....

[Gulliball]

I have a suspicion that Alex Russell will be number one, given the general consensus that he was the best player in our side at the time, and that the majority of posters here will have seen him play.

[stefano]

I have a suspicion that Alex Russell will be number one, given the general consensus that he was the best player in our side at the time, and that the majority of posters here will have seen him play.

He was in my top 10 .... but of course below Don Mills and Robin Stubbs

[tomogull]

He was in my top 10 .... but of course below Don Mills and Robin Stubbs

I'm doing a Wivel - I'm with you, Stefano. Those who think Mark Loram should be higher up the list have to remember that he last played for us in 1993 - 22 years ago. There are several deserving more recent players still to come - Alex Russell has been mentioned, there's also Rodney Jack, Kevin Hill, Tim Sills, Eunan O'Kane, Jason Fowler, Bobby Olejnik, David Graham (don't think he's been mentioned yet) and it wouldn't surprise me to see Rene Howe emerge. So although Mark comes in at no. 18, us - er, um - more mature fans remember him as further up the list than 18.

I was also surprised Dave Caldwell only played 41 games for the Gulls and even more surprised that he only scored 10 goals. But I do remember he saw red regularly ........

[wivelgull]

This of course is the problem with such a list. The Spottymob element (who never experienced anything but the second rate at Plainmoor) would naturally vote for third-raters like Kevin Hill (as much as he is admired for his loyalty). To see -say - a reasonable footballer like Alex Russell (good, but not very good, exceptional or great) coming higher in the list than Mills or Stubbs rather vitiates the value of this exercise.

[tomogull]

This of course is the problem with such a list. The Spottymob element (who never experienced anything but the second rate at Plainmoor) would naturally vote for third-raters like Kevin Hill (as much as he is admired for his loyalty). To see -say - a reasonable footballer like Alex Russell (good, but not very good, exceptional or great) coming higher in the list than Mills or Stubbs rather vitiates the value of this exercise.

You're jumping the gun, Wivel. We don't know that Alex Russell comes higher on the list than Mills or Stubbs and I certainly feel it's very unfair to describe Kevin Hill as a 'third rater'. Of course this thread is personal opinion only and I for one like it a lot, especially as PG 'drip feeds' a player at a time. If it was really, really accurate, then a player who will not be mentioned at all would be included. Ralph Birkett who played for us in the 1930's and went on to play for Newcastle, Middlesbrough (when they were a top flight team), Arsenal and gained an international cap. Even I wasn't old enough to see him play. Although I expect Stefano played against him .......

[Kit_robin]

Remember, wivel, that the title of the thread is 'top 100 tufc players', not 'top 100 most skilful TUFC players'. Because of that, I would say our all time record appearance holder certainly warrants a place high up the list.

And I have seen few better CMs at this club than Alex Russell in the last 30 years. I wouldn't describe him as extraordinary,but he was certainly better than 'good'.

[stefano]

Ralph Birkett who played for us in the 1930's and went on to play for Newcastle, Middlesbrough (when they were a top flight team), Arsenal and gained an international cap. Even I wasn't old enough to see him play. Although I expect Stefano played against him .......

You are a tease Tommo! Although I did play with and against Don Mills; with Alan Welsh, Tony Scott, and Andy Donnelly; and against Doug Clarke. All of them I hope will be featured and if not there should be a Stewards enquiry.

I know Don Mills will be there but the others weren't in my top ten.

But surely they will have to feature after and above some who have already appeared?

[Plymouth Gull]

In 14th place on the list is a man who was one of my heroes from my earlier seasons watching Torquay. I don't think as a youngster I appreciated just how solid a player this man was, and it was great that he stayed at United for a long time, in my opinion anyway. It's…



14. Steve Woods - 24 points

Time spent at club: 2001-2009
Gulls Appearances: 276
Gulls Goals: 11

Stevie Woods began his career in 1994 with Stoke City, making 34 appearances for the club where he stayed until 1999. He made his league debut in 2008, in a 2-1 home defeat to Huddersfield. He was loaned out to Plymouth Argyle at the end of 1997/98 season, making 5 appearances for our Devon rivals. In the summer of 1999 he left Stoke to join Chesterfield, where he made 25 league appearances over two seasons. He was released in 2001, and joined Torquay on a free transfer. His first contract was just a short-term deal, before earning a two year deal under Roy McFarland. Injury affected Woodsy in the 2002/03 campaign, meaning he played just 9 league games for the club. He was given the chance to earn a fresh contract, which he took. Steve played a key, if perhaps underrated, role in the 2003/04 campaign, and the partnership he built with then-captain Craig Taylor remains the strongest defensive pairing I've seen while watching United. Woods was actually an ever-present that season, playing in every league match, which is a sign of his importance in the success.

United suffered an instant return to League 2 after the final day defeat at Colchester in 2005, when just a point would have seen us survive. Woods remained a key player at the club even when Paul Buckle took over as manager in 2007. Woods made 25 appearances in 2007/08 under Buckle, as the club looked to get back into the League at the first attempt. Unfortunately we fell short, Stevie playing a part in the Playoff defeat, and also featuring at Wembley. In his final season at the club, he made over 30 appearances, with the final appearance coming in March, against Rushden.

He left after the promotion in 2009, and had spells with Stalybridge and Northwich.

[tomogull]

You are a tease Tommo! Although I did play with and against Don Mills; with Alan Welsh, Tony Scott, and Andy Donnelly; and against Doug Clarke. All of them I hope will be featured and if not there should be a Stewards enquiry.

I know Don Mills will be there but the others weren't in my top ten.

But surely they will have to feature after and above some who have already appeared?

All good players, Stefano, and worthy to be in the Top 100 but we're up to 24 votes now and I can't see any of them, except for Don Mills of course, getting as many votes as that. If you want a Stewards enquiry, perhaps you should ask the one that Brucie is always falling out with .............

[Gulliball]

Anything up to 30 points is potentially only 3 different people, if they all voted him top. Thats why Stubbs and Mills can still be high up but I think they'll be overcome by sheer weight of numbers. It would be interesting to see the breakdown for each score, if 24 is made from 8, 6, 10 or a heap of 2s and 3s.

[Plymouth Gull]

I was going to do the complete breakdown at the end of the list, Gulli.

[chunkygull]

Dave Caldwell - another one of the superb 87-88 team, our very own version of the crazy gang. Never in our history could there have been in such a short space of time and in only a small amount of games a player who became so popular, revered, worshipped and remembered well for so long. His aggresive combative style, passion and eye for something different mixed in with some skills made the Torquay faithful really take Caldwell to their hearts. Many even liked his trademark spikey mullet (neighbours) hairdo, which was trendy at the time. Notable moments were his overhead kick goal on his debut, his low to the ground diving header winner at Ashton Gate in the cup and giving Coventry a torrid time at Highfield Road highlighted by
smashing an overhead kick against the bar from way out.

He didnt make my top 10, but would have been mighty close, definitely one of my favourites. Paul Dobson got the goals but Caldwell is the one many remember most. Yes, his disciplinary record was appalling but I'm sure teams, fans and referees singled him out for treatment once he had a reputation, therefore making it worse. I remember being at Vetch Field vs Swansea in the play off final first leg, Caldwell came on as sub and I have never seen a Torquay player have opposition fans on his back so much, they were baying for his blood from the start, he only had to go near one of theirs and he was given dogs abuse, being called an animal was the most polite. The referee was swayed and hence Caldwell was booked yet again. I remember a national paper article about a spate of football bad boys with poor disciplinary records and Cadwell was mentioned with the likes of Vinnie Jones and Mark Dennis.

I couldnt quite understand why Caldwell left, it was apparently to do with escaping his 8 match ban, not sure how that worked as he went abroad but the ban didnt apply on his return. I will never forget the shock, excitement and anticipation when his return was announced in the Herald, a picture of him at an airport and the headline read - "THE PRODIGAL RETURNS", indeed.

Caldwells second spell saw a calmer player, a bit modified but with a few new moves and tricks in his repertoire instead, the trademark mullet had gone, almost a Samson effect but he was still better than others we have had. The atmosphere for his second home debut was electric, many had turned up early to catch a glimpse of their hero, out jogged Caldwell on his own for the warm up and up went a deafening Plainmoor roar to greet him. I have never seen that for a player before or since. Even better a few games later when he scored. If only there were players like this in recent times.

Seeing as there have been quite a few of the class of 87/88 lately, here is a clip showing them in their pomp and it highlights why they are well remembered. I still dont know how the hell this lot werent promoted. Check out Dobson's striking best, Sharpes dribbling and pace, Caldwells aggression and tanacity. I watch this occasionally just to remind me of better times. This was a few days after Lee Sharpe got his dream move to Manchester United.

[youtube]-xO5unNLenA[/youtube]

I love that clip. Very short shorts though.

Steve Woods - Brilliant, solid, very reliable, likeable defender. Really rated him, strange how he is much higher than Craig Taylor but well deserved place on the list.