Football Season Guide

Torquay are back in the Conference Premier after their five-year spell in the Football League has been brought to an end. That relegation was the logical outcome after a couple of difficult seasons in which there was steady decline at the club. And having just about escaped the year before, the Gulls were not so lucky this time and a late improvement under the guidance of manager Chris Hargreaves failed to keep them up. It is a disappointing end to the season but they will be determined to come back strong. Hargreaves has shown hunger and good dedication in his first job as a manager and will be motivated to get the team back up. Getting it done in the first season will be a very hard task and he is unlikely to succeed but there is good vibe around the club and the relegation did not seem to hit them as hard as it could have been expected. They still lost a few significant players, most notably Lee Mansell, who decided to join Bristol Rovers, but there has not been a mass exodus. Kevin Nicholson, the much-loved club icon, is another notable departure but Elliott Benyon, Krystian Pearce and Martin Rice are staying on for now.. Moreover, some decent business has been done with the likes of Louis Brisoe, Toby Ajala and Ryan Bowman offering both promise and some decent quality for this level. Torquay have signed a few lesser known young players as well and Hargreaves will hope that his eye for talent is a good one. There is still much uncertainty about how the Gulls will look and therefore they are most likely to settle for a place somewhere in mid-table but far away from relegation trouble.