Bryn Consortium refused to take ‘no’ for an answer

Transformation is hardly too big a word to describe the extraordinary difference in mood between April 13 at Bath City and either of Torquay United’s home friendlies against Plymouth Argyle on July 27 and Exeter City three days later.

Never have fans have been so down and desperate as they were after another punchless 0-1 defeat at Twerton Park left the ownerless and managerless Gulls staring Southern League football in the face.

On and off the pitch, United seemed to be a club in freefall.

We still have to thank Aaron Downes and just enough of his players for that nerve-shredding, all-or-nothing 2-1 win at Taunton Town the following Tuesday night.

And also, of course, all those supporters who kept turning up and kept cheering even when all seemed lost.

Let’s face it, without them would that great escape, the surviving of months in administration or anything that’s happened since, have been possible?

But as we soaked up the atmosphere and returned the smiling faces against Plymouth and Exeter recently, it was worth casting our minds back to the Spring.

Because one night, not long before the end of last season, your correspondent had a call from an impeccable source and the voice on the line said: “We’ve lost it. They’ve given it to the other lot.”

Let’s not forget that the administrators called in by former chairman Clarke Osborne initially chose someone else, not the Bryn Consortium, as the preferred bidders to take United over.

Only a handful of people really know who that group was.

But one thing we do know is that, despite that huge setback at the time, Mike Westcott and his friends decided to challenge it.

They knew their bid was a good one, and over the final weeks of last season they set about pressing it home.

We have come to know the names of the Bryn group quite well in recent months, even if co-chairmen Westcott and Mark Bowes-Cavanagh have led the way on the PR front.

But one name who has remained in the background, as he’s been very happy to do, is Marco Floreale.

As the head of local solicitors Wollens’ fairly new Sports Law department, Floreale – he’s a London lad and an Arsenal fan – fought the behind-the-scenes battles which eventually turned the tide in favour of the Bryn Consortium.

So much pressure did he and they exert that Preferred Bidders No.1 were persuaded to withdraw, opening the way for ‘Bryn’ to take their place.

Even then the campaign wasn’t over.

A considerable set of legal and financial hurdles had to be cleared before the new owners were officially installed on May 24, even if they had begun to make key decisions before then.

Among those financial obstacles was the CVA (Company Voluntary Agreement) which forces the Bryn group to repay all creditors within six months, still a major commitment on top of all the other things they’re trying to do.

But if you ask any members of the new board who deserves credit for getting them to where they are now, Floreale will be close to the top of the list.

The progress made in little more than a couple of months has been spectacular.

In fairness, those fans were just waiting to be galvanised, and they sure have been.Despite the delays, season tickets have neared 1,500, followed by buoyant replica kit sales and a queue of volunteers ready to do almost any job asked of them.

Westcott’s chance meeting with Neil Warnock on a Paddington-Westcountry train in March turned into an important ingredient in a heady mix.

New manager Paul Wotton has, in double-quick time, built a horses-for-courses squad tailored for National League South success.

He’s also done it, by the way, within his budget. The vast majority of new players have agreed to go full-time on wages less than many of last season’s squad.

That 6,000 sell-out against Plymouth and another bumper gate against Exeter, to say nothing of bar takings etc, have helped to keep the tills ringing.

No club will tackle the NLS this season in better heart than United, even if those heightened expectations will bring their own pressures.

Plainmoor is once again an uplifting place to be.

But when we think back only three months, you can’t help wondering how different it might all have been. Thank goodness Westcott, Floreale & Co refused to take ‘No’ for an answer.