Dave Caldwell: The Talk of the Town

In this superb new feature for the Torbay Weekly, legendary Torquay United correspondent Dave Thomas recalls stories from 50 years in the Plainmoor press box.

As your correspondent walked into the Press Box at Highfield Road, on January 9, 1988, one of the local reporters piped up: “How long before your centre-forward gets sent off then?”

Torquay United were going well in the old Fourth Division under former Spurs and England defender Cyril Knowles, but they were huge underdogs against the FA Cup holders Coventry City.

Dave Caldwell had already been suspended twice that season, once before he’d even made his United debut, and he’d only been at the club for three months.

I replied something along the lines that the Sky Blues might do well not to underestimate our No. 9 – or his team-mates. An occasion like that was tailor-made to bring the best out of him.

He had knocked Bristol City out in the previous round (1-0) at Ashton Gate, with a diving header from Mark Loram’s sumptuous cross (from the left wing with the outside of his right foot).

Caldwell had also scored twice to beat Leyton Orient (2-0) at Brisbane Road eight days before, and United were well in the promotion race.

The record books show that Coventry won 2-0 that day, but the score hardly reflects how well Torquay, and Caldwell, played.

On a sandpit of a pitch, he ran City’s centre-backs Brian Kilcline and John Stone ragged, hit the bar and forced goalie Steve Ogrizovic into a series of saves.

United had their hosts on the rack for long periods, and it took a penalty and a second goal by Cyrille Regis, who may well have handed in the build-up, before Sky Blues fans could breathe a sigh of relief.

When City’s manager John Sillett walked into the press conference and declared that it had been a comfortable win, even the local corps burst out laughing. He wasn’t amused.

Knowles, who had arrived at Plainmoor after Stuart Morgan’s relegation-beating heroics in 1987, turned United from also-rans into one of the most physically committed and hard-to-beat teams that the club has ever fielded.

But every side, no matter how good, needs a figurehead, a standard bearer, a man to get the fans out of their seats. Knowles went for Caldwell.

To say his reputation went before him is an understatement.

Since moving South from his hometown Aberdeen, he’d scored goals for Mansfield and Chesterfield, but both clubs had lost patience with him and his dreadful disciplinary record.

Caldwell initially turned the move down. He thought Knowles was still in charge of Darlington, and there was no way he was going there.

But he relented when he realised that Cyril was at Torquay. That sounded much more fun. He cost United £7,000.

United’s earlier League Cup tie against Spurs – they beat them 1-0 in the first leg at Plainmoor – had helped to pay for the deal.

Knowles welcomed Caldwell to Plainmoor with one of the most remarkable new-signing quotes of all time – “He’ll either be a disaster or the talk of the town,” he said.

Caldwell had exactly the effect that Knowles had hoped for.

With his shoulder-length ‘mullet’ streaming behind him, he beat Hereford (1-0) with an overhead kick on his home debut and proceeded to lead United’s attack with a brand of brawn and talent that galvanised the Plainmoor crowd.

He was sent off three more times, once less than ten minutes into a Sherpa Van Trophy tie at Aldershot (United still won 1-0).

“The game was a lot more physical then. I wouldn’t accept centre-halves kicking me. If they did, there was going to be retaliation,” he said.

“Once I got sent off a couple of times, it just seemed to snowball. I thought I was a marked man – and I was!”

But Knowles had always believed that Caldwell should have played much higher and, especially when he got him properly fit, Caldwell proved it.

Torquay in those days was his kind of town – “We worked hard, and we played hard. I had a fabulous time – and there was no social media!”

After blowing automatic promotion with a 2-1 home defeat to Scunthorpe United on the last day of the regular season, United had to face them in the two-legged Play-Off Semi-Final.

Plainmoor was packed again as Caldwell, who had some previous ‘history’ with the Iron, was carried off after scoring in United’s no-holds-barred 2-1 win at Plainmoor.

Knowles was also dismissed for marching onto the pitch to remonstrate with the referee.

When Caldwell arrived at Torquay Hospital’s A&E for a check-up, he found that two Scunthorpe players were already there, one with a broken rib from a challenge with you-know-who.

He was given a police escort as he warmed up at the second leg at the Old Show Ground, where Knowles sensibly named him on the bench. He did go on as United drew 1-1 (Loram) and went through.

The Gulls, who won at Wolves and did the double over Bolton Wanderers that season, ended up losing 5-4 on aggregate to Swansea City in the Final.

Caldwell scored in the 3-3 second leg draw in a mudbath at Plainmoor, but it wasn’t quite enough.

The FA’s Disciplinary Committee, delayed by a series of United appeals, was waiting for him. They handed him an EIGHT-match ban, taking in previous ‘convictions’.

Knowles decided to cash in when a Belgian club called KVV Overpelt offered £13,000 for him that summer.

What a desperate shame that he wasn’t around as United went to Wembley for the first time the following season for the SVT Final against Bolton.

The old Twin Towers wouldn’t have seen many like him.

But the love-affair between Caldwell and the Gulls wasn’t quite over. He returned to a hero’s welcome 18 months later, and gave West Ham United’s defence a torrid afternoon as United pulled off a 1-0 FA Cup upset.

But, by his own admission and without Knowles’ brand of discipline, he wasn’t quite the force he’d been first time around.

After a short ‘have boots will travel’ spell in South Africa, Chesterfield also re-signed him, a testament to his enduring popularity there.

A knee injury eventually forced his retirement, and he returned to Scotland where he took up non- league coaching, scouting and has become a successful businessman.

Bald-headed these days, he returns to Plainmoor from time to time, drawn back by the memories of a club and a town he fell for during those memorable couple of seasons.

Dave Caldwell may never have realised his true potential, but with him around there was seldom a dull moment.