Torquay United is a ‘special club’ in Neil Warnock’s heart

Neil Warnock says he wants to ‘put something back’ into the Torquay United club which he’s supported ever since he saved the Gulls from Football League relegation more than 30 years ago.

Warnock – at 75 he insists that his retirement from management is definite this time – is part of the six-man Bryn Consortium board, which has finally hauled United out of administration and taken over the club.

He is acting as a ‘football adviser’ and has already played a key role in the pursuit of former Truro City boss Paul Wotton, who played under him at Plymouth Argyle, as Plainmoor’s new manager.

The pair are understood to have been working on player-recruitment plans for several weeks.

“This club and this place is quite special to me and (wife) Sharon,” said Warnock. “Torquay is where we first got together really, and we’ve kept coming back ever since.

“I had a great six months at the club (1993), and we ended up staying in the old Fourth Division.

“I still have a lot of happy memories from all those years ago.

“It’s all about wanting to put something back now, and I think I can help in a few areas.

“There’s the football side, of course, but I think I can also help with things like sponsors, which I’ve done in the past at other clubs.”

Warnock’s sacking at Notts County in 1992 – they’d been relegated from the Premier League, but he’d taken them there against all the odds from what’s now League One – saw him at a low ebb when United chairman Mike Bateson persuaded him to try and dig the Gulls out of relegation trouble.

He pulled off that ‘Great Escape’, before heading off on the most successful career in Football League history.

But he also left behind the basis of the side, including player-manager Don O’Riordan, that reached the Play-Offs 12 months later.

Former Plymouth boss Warnock, still a familiar face as a TV pundit, lives in East Cornwall, which has allowed him to take an increasingly close interest in events at Plainmoor, including watching most of United’s matches at the end of last season.