The Ultimate Torquay United team: Goalkeepers

They say you’ve got to be mad to be a goalkeeper.

That’s always seemed a bit strong, but you definitely can’t be a shrinking violet to play there and Torquay United has been blessed with some great ‘keepers – and even bigger personalities – down the years.

In the 1960s Terry Adlington, John Dunn, Gary McGuire, perhaps the most talented of that era, and Andy Donnelly were big favourites, especially as they all played in winning teams.

McGuire, who’d won the FA Amateur Cup with Walthamstow Avenue, wrote to United manager Frank O’Farrell asking for a trial after returning from a spell playing in Australia.

He looked so good that O’Farrell waited only a fortnight before throwing him into a February home game against Rochdale.

United won 4-0, never looked back and, with McGuire outstanding, went on to clinch promotion.

He held his place at the start of the following season, but O’Farrell often doubted his talented ‘keeper’s dedication and, after a first real dip in form, McGuire left after less than a year and 34 appearances.

But, my goodness, he was good and, eventually becoming a successful banker in the City, he’s followed the Gulls for the rest of his life.

Right up there among the very best have been Mike Mahoney (1970-75), Terry Lee (1975-78), John Turner (1978-84), Vince O’Keefe (1980-82), Graham Horn (1982-83), the irrepressible Kenny Allen (1984-89), Kenny Veysey (1988-98), Gareth Howells (1990-92), Ashley Bayes (1993-96), Andy Marriott (2004-2006) and Kevin Dearden (2001-2005).

Ex-Spurs starlet Lee is often overlooked in these sort of discussions, unfairly so, and to this day an astonishing display in a 2-1 defeat at Darlington in 1976 – the Quakers should have scored at least seven or eight – remains one of the best individual performances I’ve ever seen between the sticks.

A keen cricketer, he died of a heart attack, playing for Barton CC in 1996, at the age of only 43 and he’s still missed by everyone who knew him.

At 6ft 4in tall, topped by a shock of wayward shoulder-length hair, Durham-born Allen was impossible to miss.

He had all the tools to be a top goalkeeper, was aggressive off his line and had enjoyed a well-travelled career, including spells at Hartlepool, Swindon, Bournemouth and in South Africa with Denis Law, Ian St John and Gordon Banks as teammates before he came to Plainmoor.

Ken had quite a short fuse and his concentration could lapse if something distracted him.

On one occasion at Plainmoor he took exception to a remark from the Pop Side and proceeded to run over and argue the point – while the game was still going on.

But he was pretty good value and, memorably, came out of retirement to deputise for the injured Veysey in the 1989 Sherpa Van Trophy Semi-Final upset win over Wolves at Molineux and in the Final against Bolton Wanderers.

Howells will be forever remembered for his crucial role in the 1991 Promotion Play-Off victory over Blackpool when United returned to Wembley only two years after the Bolton defeat.

With the teams level after the first round of the Penalty Shoot-Out, Howells grabbed the ball and drilled home the next spot-kick, while Blackpool were still working out who would take their next one.

When centre-forward Dave Bamber was finally and, it seemed, reluctantly persuaded to step up, his effort was so tired and so wide that Howells hardly bothered to dive before running to celebrate with his ecstatic teammates.

Welshman Marriott had already established himself at Nottingham Forest, Wrexham and Barnsley before he joined United halfway through the 2004-2005 season in League One.

He did his best, unsuccessfully, to save them from relegation, but he was even better the following season when Ian Atkins arrived to pull off yet another Great Escape.

Nowhere was Marriott better than in an heroic display to beat champions-elect Carlisle United 2-1 in front of 13,000 at Brunton Park, clinching safety with one game to spare.

And on one eventful FA Cup replay night at Harrogate Town in November 2005 Marriott more than helped to earn a 0-0 draw, saved two penalties in the shoot-out and then scored the winning spot-kick!

For much of his four years at Plainmoor ex-Spurs, Brentford and Wrexham goalie Dearden, 31 when he signed, had to fight for the starting slot with the much taller Dutchman Arjen Van Heusden.

His bow-legs made him look shorter than he really was, but he was one of the best defensive organisers United have ever had in goal, he was hugely respected by his teammates and, importantly, no Torquay ‘keeper ever distributed the ball better.

Not only could Dearden throw the ball as far as many could kick it and more accurately, but he’d mastered the now-sadly lost art of drop-kicking.

With David Graham, not renowned for his heading, and the rapid but diminutive Jo Kuffour up front, that flatter ball was crucial.

Mahoney may be remembered only by older supporters, but they still rate him among the best ever.

The broad-speaking Bristolian with the massive mop of hair was the real deal.

He often sustained mid-table teams during 167 games here before Newcastle United paid £35,000 for him in 1975 and he went on to become an even bigger hero on Tyneside, rivalling the popularity of centre-forward Malcolm MacDonald, and later during another successful career in the USA.

Durham-born Turner had everything.

An apprenticeship at Derby County under Brian Clough turned him from a boy into a man.

He’d already established a good reputation at Reading, ousting club legend Steve Death for a while, when United bought him to succeed Lee in the summer of 1978.

He was 6ft 1in, agile, brave, a brilliant shot-stopper and he was so positive off his line that on the odd occasion that he misjudged things, he usually got away with it.

Coach John Rudge, an accomplished centre-forward with Carlisle, Torquay, Bristol Rovers and Bournemouth in his day, used to take Turner for extra shooting sessions, which often ended with an exasperated Rudge announcing: “That’s it, I’m done John – I just can’t beat you!”

Chesterfield paid £80,000 for Turner before a second spell back at Plainmoor in the mid-1980s.

During two years and more than 60 games at Peterborough United, Posh fans rated him higher than the man he took over from there, future Arsenal and England keeper David Seaman.

But his career was ended by a badly broken leg sustained near the end of a 1-0 FA Cup win over Leeds in 1986.

The amazing story of Neville Southall’s 18 months at Plainmoor (1998-2000) has become part of club folklore.

The fact that ‘Big Nev’, rated one of the best ‘keepers in the world in his pomp at Everton, even agreed to join United at the age of 40 is still pinch-me stuff.

But despite barely being able to get into the club’s biggest shirt, Southall proceeded to play out of his skin for 61 games, hauling United out of relegation trouble and becoming an instant and enduring hero to Gulls fans.

He easily won that season’s Player Of The Year award.

If he was that good then – his anticipation, positioning and handling enabled him to make even difficult moments look simple – imagine what he must have been like at his peak at Goodison Park?

After he’d carried United to a 0-0 draw in a derby at Home Park, Plymouth Argyle fans – some started the afternoon chucking pasties in his direction – gave him a standing ovation.

That was a compliment by any standards.

Hackney-born Veysey, frustrated by the big names ahead of him at Arsenal, had moved to South Devon with his family and was playing for Dawlish when Cyril Knowles snapped him up in 1987 as a potential successor to Allen.

Not only did he take over from Allen, Veysey went on to make 137 appearances over the next dozen years, split by a £110,000 move to Oxford United and shorter spells at Exeter and Plymouth.

He had the desperate misfortune of twice being injured in the build-ups to Wembley trips in the Sherpa Van Trophy in 1989 and the Play-Offs in 1998, but he became United’s goalkeeping coach after he stopped playing and remains one of the club’s best servants.

Bobby Olejnik played ‘only’ one season at Plainmoor (2011-2012), but what an impact he had.

He arrived as a free transfer from Falkirk, where he’d gone for first-team football after failing to break through at Aston Villa.

He left 51 games later for Peterborough United for £175,000 as the League Two PFA All-Star XI goalie, reportedly winning the vote by a mile.

Born in Poland but brought up in Austria, he was his own man, but all the better for it.

Olejnik was never big-headed, but he had great self-belief, was dedicated and deeply impressed his coach Veysey, who knew a thing or two about goalkeeping.

There were days, and there were many of them, when it was almost impossible to imagine anyone scoring against him.

He loved to have a high cross hung over him early in a game, so he could attack the ball and remind the opposing centre-forward who was in charge.

With Olejnik such a dominating figure at the back, Martin Ling’s United (Eunan O’Kane, Kevin Nicholson, Rene Howe, Lee Mansell, Billy Bodin etc) fell just short of automatic promotion and then, with targetman Howe injured, lost to Cheltenham Town in the Play-Offs.

It’s still a bit of a mystery why Olejnik didn’t go on to much greater heights.

He seemed to fall out with manager Darren Ferguson at Peterborough - he was transfer-listed in 2014 after keeping a club record 22 clean-sheets – and then had spells with Scunthorpe, York, Exeter and Mansfield before retiring in 2020 and becoming a personal trainer.

He still played 422 senior career games, but that single season at Plainmoor will live long in the memory.

In recent years Michael Poke and Lucas Covolan have made their mark between the posts.

Poke’s save-of-the-season in the 2009 Play-Off Semi-Final at Histon sent the Gulls to Wembley and promotion back to the Football League.

And who will ever forget Brazilian Covolan’s dramatic headed equaliser in the 2021 National League PO Final against Hartlepool at Bristol, to say nothing of his two saves in the Penalty Shoot-out?

And still United lost!

I think you’ll agree that Plainmoor has been graced by some pretty special ‘keepers over the years, and I’m not relishing having to pick one above all the rest...