Torquay United F.C.
After a season of friendlies the club joined the East Devon League and moved into the Recreation Ground, their home for the next four years.United soon found another home, sharing with Torquay Cricket Club in nearby Cricketfield Road (a site still used for football in the modern day by South Devon League side Upton Athletic F.C.)After many discussions, Babbacombe at last agreed to a merger, enabling the new club to become the sole representative of the town and turn professional to further its case for league election, the new team was to be called Torquay United again.[6] Torquay went on to finish sixth that season and during the summer applied for Football League status, but failed to gain a single vote.Torquay United went on to play Huddersfield Town in the fourth round FA Cup game at Plainmoor.Torquay only needed to win the game to be certain of going up, but they managed only a 1–1 draw at Selhurst Park and Ipswich, who won their final match away to Southampton, took the title.Torquay's FA Cup run of 1964–65 was the highlight of a disappointing mid-table season as United again failed to return to the Third Division.In front of Plainmoor's second ever largest attendance, slightly above 20,000 – the team performed well, in the last few minutes, it was the turn of record signing Robin Stubbs to net two goals and make it 3–3.O'Farrell made a return to Plainmoor in 1977 into the position of consultant manager, with Green taking hold of first team duties, The end of the 1977–78 season saw the Gulls finish in ninth place.O'Farrell didn't stay in charge of team matters for long, bringing in ex-Scotland international Bruce Rioch to become player-coach.During the following summer Rioch was named manager, and the following 1982–83 campaign saw United finish 12th, but reached the fourth round of the FA Cup for the third time, going out of the competition at Plainmoor after a thrilling 3–2 defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday.The 1986–87 season saw the club survive automatic relegation to the Football Conference by drawing their last game with a goal in injury-time, which had been added after a Torquay player was bitten by a police dog.In their first season back in League Two, Torquay finished in 17th place and the club reached the third round of the 2009–10 FA Cup, where they lost 1–0 to Brighton & Hove Albion.United enjoyed an even more successful season in 2011–12 under new manager Martin Ling, achieving a record high of second place in League Two.[37][38] On 13 March 2024, the National League deducted Torquay ten points, dropping the club from 12th to 17th place in the table.[40] On 12 April 2024, Torquay was deducted a further point for fielding a suspended player, dropping the club to 19th with three games to play.[42] On 14 May 2024, Torquay appointed former Truro City boss Paul Wotton as their new manager, working with football advisor Neil Warnock.During an unsuccessful spell on the pitch during the 1980s, during which time the club finished bottom of the Football League system twice, the emblem was switched to a circular design incorporating two palm trees.United based their new image around the town's traditional seaside character and they chose a more distinctive yellow, or gold and blue kit.[45] For the majority of the years since this change the club has worn these colours in varying styles, currently favouring a predominantly yellow shirt with blue trim.[45] United played their first game, a friendly, against an Upton Cricket Club XI on one of farmer John Wright's fields, which was situated at the top of Penny's Hill, on Teignmouth Road.After a season of friendlies the club joined the East Devon League and moved to the Recreation Ground, which was to be their home for the following four years.At the time Torquay Cricket Club were located nearby in Cricketfield Road, and so this site was United's next home.After initially suspecting that this could have been a copycat arson of the Bradford City stadium fire, eventual cause was attributed to an electrical fault, the ground's capacity fell to below 5,000.The old wooden grandstand, initially costing £150 and erected at Plainmoor for United's inaugural season in the Football League stood until 2011.Since Roberts' resignation this move has become unlikely, with succeeding chairman Alex Rowe distancing himself from the plans saying that the club and the fans wish to remain at Plainmoor and will build upon the current ground to increase capacity.It was however ready in time for the start of the 2012–13 season where it witnessed its first sell out crowd with the visit of Devon neighbours Plymouth Argyle in early September.The club's new owners were keen to relocate the stadium facilities and incorporate football into a new multi-use complex in Torbay, developing the existing Plainmoor site for housing.
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