Torquay United's strange waiting game over the coming weeks

The wagons are loaded and the engines are running, but the ‘New Torquay United’ Show can’t quite hit the road yet.

The positive vibes generated by the installation of Neil Warnock and Paul Wotton at the head of the Gulls’ football operation would normally be the spark for a whole series of similarly upbeat announcements – season tickets on sale, new signings etc etc.

But the legacy of former chairman Clarke Osborne’s decision to put the club into administration will hang over the club for another two or three weeks.

Believe it or not, United did not actually run Tuesday’s press conference, where former boss Warnock confirmed his arrival on the new board as Football Advisor and Wotton spoke of his excitement at becoming manager.

United let everyone know it was happening and the Westcountry sporting press responded, as they always do with never-boring Torquay United.

But the club is still technically under the control of the administrators, and the current Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) remains in place until the end of the month.

So the new owners have signed Wotton to a three-year contract, and he’s already talking to several of the players he wants with him next season.

But the Bryn Consortium can’t yet generate any of the revenue which would help them to pay for that and everything else that needs to happen at this important time of year.

So eager Gulls fans will have to wait until early-June, which is when the new regime will take over for real, before they can start buying season-tickets.

It’s highly unlikely that any of the club’s creditors will object to the CVA, because that’s how they will be paid over the next six months.

But until that’s run its course, those wagons will have to stay where they are and the engines will have to keep ticking over, hopefully not overheating..!