Torquay United is a club reborn

Most people got wet, as the rain which the Met Office had been predicting all afternoon arrived later than forecast.

But more than 1,500 fans still turned up, as they had always planned, to Homers Heath on Friday, the vast majority of them to mark the first game – a friendly between Buckland Athletic and Torquay United – of the Gulls’ new regime, on and off the pitch.

It was a remarkable attendance for a meeting of Western League and National League South clubs.

But then, it probably wasn’t.

The changing of the guard at Plainmoor has galvanised United, building on the surge of support which waved a firm farewell to the previous ownership, helped to sustain the club through the perilous days of administration and cheer it to safety from the unthinkable prospect of relegation to the Southern League last season.

What everyone saw last Friday was a club finally at peace with itself. And long overdue too.

It’s easy to forget how close the administrators were to handing United to a completely different regime.

And if it hadn’t been for the determination of the Bryn Consortium, and realisation of the ‘other’ preferred bidders that they were almost certainly fighting a losing battle with the fans, then who knows where we might be now?

More than 1,300 season tickets have been sold.

The Club Shop, which reopened for business only last Wednesday, has already had to restock, so great has been the demand for replica kit, training gear and accessories.

And United haven’t even released their new Home strip yet!

Supporters have finished sprucing up the inside of Plainmoor. There are plans for more refurbishment at the stadium, and if the new board asked for volunteers to repaint the whole place, there’d probably be scaffolding up and brushes ready faster than a ‘Yellow Army’ chant.

There’s talk of at least 4,000 there when Wayne Rooney brings Plymouth Argyle to TQ1 for the first home friendly on Saturday week (July 27).

Oh, and forget all that ‘Going Part Time’ stuff.

The vast majority of manager Paul Wotton’s new squad have caught the mood and have opted to be, effectively, full-time, even on a much more modest budget than last season’s.

The priority is to build a team to get out of the NL South first, and then think about higher things when that bridge has to be crossed.

United already look as if they’ll be solid and hard to beat, but Wotton and Neil Warnock, who spent most of Friday night smiling for selfies with fans of all ages, are well aware of the need to add a bit more penetration in attack. They’re on the case.

Even with that CVA deal to sustain, which means they have to pay back several hundred thousand quid to various creditors by the end of the year, the Bryn group have been sufficiently encouraged by the revenue so far that Wotton and Warnock can keep looking for a couple more signings without their hands tied behind their backs.

Of course, not a ball has been kicked in anger yet.

United’s new-look squad, especially the less experienced members, must learn to handle the expectation levels which go with playing for Torquay United in the NL South.

Failure is not an option, as too many of last season’s side struggled to grasp.

But you have to go back to 2007, when the new board backed by the late Paul Bristow and his lottery-winning millions took over in the wake of United’s first relegation to the old Conference, to recall such optimism in the air.

More than 4,000 turned up for the opening game of that season, a 0-0 draw against Grays Athletic.

Four momentous years later United fell just short of winning promotion not just back to the Football League but to League One.

No one now is getting ahead of themselves. But at least the dreams are well and truly alive again.