Peacemaker7

Jason Young rules. I wonder if he knows this.

HD

I suspect not.

HD

Year Two - The Start

Year Two started unspectacularly with three draws and two defeats in the opening five matches, but it was then Scotty's career was to take an unexpected twist as Torquay United came in with a lucrative offer of management.

Naturally he accepted and though the squad was a nice mix of youth and experience he quickly set about discarding the former and augmenting the latter.

HD

Fortunately for Soctty, as it was outside the transfer window, Torquay had eleven players aged 30+. Unfortunately two of them were goalies.

So it was that 6'3", 15st Lee Jones came to play up front in a 2-1 loss at Southend. He was abysmal, grading out at 1 out of 10 on any respected scorecard. He was lucky not to get a 0.

The addition of a handful of free agents to boost the pool allowed Jones to relax on the bench the following week. One of those, Adrian Littlejohn, took his place in the side and scored after forty seconds. When Hereford were reduced to ten men and then nine before half time it seemed that Torquay must win, but somehow the nine men levelled, leaving Scotty puzzled and saddened.

Defeat by the solitary goal at Chesterfield left Torquay in 21st place in League Two with twelve points from twelve games, and just one from three since Black had arrived. A late penalty led to another 1-0 loss, this time at home to Bury, and it was grim fare. Black had to do something, but with his legion of new faces not arriving until January 1st 2007 it was going to be tough to achieve short-term success enough to placate the support.

HD

After hanging on to his job by the skin of his teeth until January, Black saw his transfer moves pour in. Goalkeeper Mark Crossley signed on, along with Vauxhall Motors trio Jason Young, Simon Grayson and Derek Ferguson, Paul Murray of Barnsley, Partick Thistle's Mark Roberts, Eoin Jess and Martin Smith of Northampton, Leo Fortune-West, 'Sir' Les Ferdinand, Jack Lester of Forest, Bobby Petta, Paul Warhurst, former Ayr United greats James Grady and Glynn Hurst, Scott Minto, Fabian Wilnis, Junior Mendes - ex of St Mirren, Ashley Westwood and Riccardo Scimeca from West Brom. £4,000 was shelled out, two on Wilnis and one each on Ferdinand and Scimeca.

Draws in the first two games of the new year were encouraging, but left Torquay still rooted to the foot of the division. Eleven league games without a win is never a good sign, but the signs were more promising now. Then they lost at home to Port Vale.

Oh dear.

HD

After leading 3-0 at half time at Notts County the loss of both goalkeepers to injury and three second half County goals devastated the squad, having looked set to break the long winless run in style.

Torquay sat eight points adrift at the foot of the table and it was not a pretty picture whatsoever. Something had to happen to turn this around, just what that something was, however, was not yet clear to Scotty or his backroom staff.

The deadline day additions of Spanish winger Francisco De Pedro, Jamaican Frank Sinclair and Norther Ireland internation Jim Magilton seemed panic moves, but all three played a part in the streak-killing 1-0 home win over Southend three days later.

HD

That one win became a ten game unbeaten run, featuring seven victories and definite progress up the table. Even the defeat at home to Wycombe that ended the streak was unlucky. Somehow Scotty Black had found that something. Les Ferdinand's thirteen goals in his first thirteen games for the club might have had something to do with it, one suspects.

The Torquay board were concerned at the haemorrhaging of cash though and Black was offered a take-it-or-leave-it 12 month rolling contract to stay beyond the end of the season. After some arguing and demanding a fixed term deal, Scotty signed.

The Gulls displayed true bouncebackability a week after the loss to Wycombe with a fine 3-0 home win over Wrexham, but defeat at a poor Lincoln side a week later was thoroughly disappointing.

With three games left to play Barnet sat bottom on 44 points, with Exeter on 47, Notts County on 48 and Black's Torquay on 49.

Next up was a home game with Mansfield, sitting 6th, and Black took the unfathomable decision to sit Les Ferdinand and start Jason Young, who had to date made three short, unimpressive substitute appearances. The choice, though, paid dividends as the veteran Scot fired a 39th minute equaliser to send the sides in level. Despite a red card for the visitors' Michael Mabs the game ended 1-1.

Two games now stood between Torquay and survival, but unlike the year before at Vauxhall, this time it was Black's men who were the form side looking to pull clear. A win in either of the final two fixtures would probably suffice, but a trip to league leaders Darlington was not the ideal matchup.

Ferdinand returned in place of Young, experiment over, but he couldn't net as Torquay created a number of early openings. Black's side dominated a scoreless first half, but after the interval it was expected that the champions-elect would take advantage of still being in the game. They didn't though, and in the end hung on to deny Torquay the win that would have guaranteed survival.

So it was that Carlisle came to town looking to clinch a playoff place, knowing that Torquay still needed a point to secure their spot in the Football League, though given the goal difference it seemed entirely unfeasible that Black's side could now be relegated.

In the end goals in the second half from Ferdinand and Frank Sinclair, who netted an 85th minute penalty, gave Torquay a comfortable 2-1 win and a nice 19th place finish. Onwards and upwards, eh. Vauxhall Motors were relegated to obscurity on the last day of the season.

HD

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Darlington | | 46 | 22 | 12 | 12 | 77 | 55 | +22 | 78 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Chesterfield | | 46 | 22 | 12 | 12 | 87 | 71 | +16 | 78 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | P | Wycombe | | 46 | 20 | 13 | 13 | 80 | 56 | +24 | 73 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Pl | Oxford | | 46 | 19 | 13 | 14 | 62 | 52 | +10 | 70 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Pl | Port Vale | | 46 | 19 | 12 | 15 | 67 | 57 | +10 | 69 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Pl | Mansfield | | 46 | 19 | 12 | 15 | 64 | 59 | +5 | 69 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Pl | Carlisle | | 46 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 59 | 60 | -1 | 69 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Stockport | | 46 | 19 | 11 | 16 | 59 | 50 | +9 | 68 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Leyton Orient | | 46 | 16 | 18 | 12 | 57 | 54 | +3 | 66 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Bury | | 46 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 55 | 62 | -7 | 66 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Southend | | 46 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 57 | 53 | +4 | 62 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Boston Utd | | 46 | 14 | 19 | 13 | 69 | 71 | -2 | 61 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Rotherham | | 46 | 16 | 13 | 17 | 67 | 69 | -2 | 61 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Wrexham | | 46 | 15 | 14 | 17 | 52 | 54 | -2 | 59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Rochdale | | 46 | 16 | 11 | 19 | 55 | 68 | -13 | 59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Lincoln | | 46 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 60 | 64 | -4 | 58 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Hereford | | 46 | 15 | 12 | 19 | 61 | 75 | -14 | 57 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Cheltenham | | 46 | 16 | 8 | 22 | 56 | 70 | -14 | 56 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | *** | Torquay | | 46 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 51 | 51 | 0 | 54 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Notts Co | | 46 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 57 | 62 | -5 | 54 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Rushden | | 46 | 12 | 18 | 16 | 50 | 57 | -7 | 54 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Bristol Rovers | | 46 | 12 | 18 | 16 | 56 | 64 | -8 | 54 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | R | Exeter | | 46 | 13 | 12 | 21 | 54 | 60 | -6 | 51 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | R | Barnet | | 46 | 13 | 11 | 22 | 50 | 68 | -18 | 50 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

HD

The addition of 25 free agent contracts to an already overflowing wage budget could have crippled Torquay, and it may yet, but the quality added - Andy Cole, Paolo Di Canio, Miroslav Stevic, Ugo Ehiogu, Neil Lennon to name but four - should lead to promotion. It's inevitable. Probably.

Les Ferdinand added Assistant Managerial duties to his playing commitments in return for a generous pay cut of £100 per week to £1000. With finances looking dreadful it was going to take some squirming to fit all the new faces under the board's budget without a tremendously successful season.

Many of the new arrivals were promptly transfer listed as Black looked to recoup a few grand and shave the wages by a similar amount. The good performance of the team at the end of the previous campaign meant there were few qualms about sticking by the majority of the players in situe.

That's not to say that some change wasn't inevitable. James Grady had played OK, but nothing spectacular, he was made available for transfer. There were some queries about the defence, but Frank Sinclair and Riccardo Scimeca were solid in the middle, Paul Hurst had been a sensation for a midget (5'4") at left back and Fabian Wilnis could hardly be faulted for his trobules on the other flank due to injury.

Neil Lennon and Stevic were the main contenders for the DM role, with Stone and Paul Murray - successful last year - manning the midfield. Up front it looked set to be all change as Cole, Di Canio and Ian Moore were clearly the cream of the crop.

Pre-season injuries and announcements of impending retirals dominated the local sports news, but what do you expect from a team bursting from all the veteran leadership?

HD

When I say "but four" i of course mean to say "but five". Dummy.