hector
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Post by hector on Aug 31, 2013 5:58:27 GMT
Not sure if it has been mentioned in match day thread but it is 22 years ago today that he died, so it is somewhat poignant that we are playing Hartlepool, who he was manager of after he left Torquay and was there when he became ill, on the anniversary of his death.
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Aug 31, 2013 7:53:55 GMT
After those dark days in the mid 80s he certainly turned this club around which I will always fondly remember him for. Funny how these things come up.
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Post by hullgull on Aug 31, 2013 8:24:27 GMT
Didn't realise it was so long ago,he will be looking down today with a big smile on his face.......NICE ONE CYRIL......si
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Aug 31, 2013 8:33:39 GMT
Not sure if it has been mentioned in match day thread but it is 22 years ago today that he died, so it is somewhat poignant that we are playing Hartlepool, who he was manager of after he left Torquay and was there when he became ill, on the anniversary of his death. I certainly hadn't realised that. When Cyril left us, we were second from bottom - Hartlepool were bottom. Cyril went there and the next season they were promoted. Darlington, Torquay and Hartlepool were probably the three most hopeless cases in the league at the time and Cyril transformed them all. The more I think about it, I am not sure the club would have survived the period between Webb and Bateson if Cyril had not done what he did for us. We were totally skint when he left. Take out the additional revenue that his success generated and what would have happened? The man is a legend. It would be nice if Torquay and Hartlepool fans could come together to celebrate the great man. |
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Post by milber on Sept 2, 2013 19:07:46 GMT
An absolute legend in Utds history.
provided me with 2 memories that still hold deap in my heart and which I shall take to the grave
1. listening to the Wolves game on club call and slumping to the floor at the final whistle - "my little Torquay were going to Wembley". Back in those pre play off final days that was a massive occasion.
2. looking up at the score board and seeing Bolton Wanderers 0 Torquay united 1. So it didn`t last much longer but the memory has.
Nice one
milber
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petef
Match Room Manager
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Post by petef on Sept 2, 2013 21:41:44 GMT
An absolute legend in Utds history. provided me with 2 memories that still hold deap in my heart and which I shall take to the grave 1. listening to the Wolves game on club call and slumping to the floor at the final whistle - "my little Torquay were going to Wembley". Back in those pre play off final days that was a massive occasion. 2. looking up at the score board and seeing Bolton Wanderers 0 Torquay united 1. So it didn`t last much longer but the memory has. Nice one milber Totally agree Milber a bit of a shame how the relationship ended but that day at Wembley is up there with my all time best days as a TUFC supporter of 45 plus years and will more than likely eclipse anything we happen to achieve in the future. Result apart a truly wonderful occasion for all the fans - think I still have the video somewhere! I just had to have a look on Youtube |
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Post by Swanny on Sept 3, 2013 9:49:29 GMT
It's a shame but if Cyril had stayed longer he could have been our best ever manager. Could someone confirm why he left, was it lack of finances? After years of depression he finally gave us something to cheer and smile about and it's quite staggering the job he did at our club and others. That day at Wembley was such a lift for all supporters as before Cyril came along the club was sure dying a slow death. Look at the state of Plainmoor in the clip above to remind yourself.
It was so tragic when Cyril died at a young age and we are so grafeful to him what he achieved at our club - some of our best memories ever as a Gulls fan.
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Sept 3, 2013 14:29:20 GMT
I think he just saw that there was dimished resources and after a difficult start to the 89/90 season he probably saw the writing on wall and that after a season that we came so bloody close to promotion in '88 and that amazing day at Wembley he felt that he couldn't be sure to pull rabbits out of the hat. There was a slow start to the season but I was still shocked when it was announced that he had left.
He had already resigned once before (in the early part of the 88/89 season) due to the sale of Dave Caldwell IIRC. He was back after a few days, I imagine to the relief of the overwhelming majority of supporters.
I liked his successor Dave Smith and felt he never got a fair deal when he got the chop (although relatively speaking, that was probably one of the most expensively assembled TUFC sides in history). I just wonder how CK would have fared with all that money available - I think he could have propelled us on to greater times. Look at the players that he did bring to the club in those two and a half years and look what they achieved for us.
Cyril was one of the best - as a manager and as a character. He did so much for the club at a time when we were a really ramshackled and it was so sad when he passed away when he did. I still remember the rapturous applause he got when taking his place in the dug-out in front of the Pop Side on what I recall was his last trip to Plainmoor with Hartlepool (I cant be sure though, maybe there was also the 90/91 season). He was told to sit down by the referee during a characteristic vocal outburst - he replied "If it's good enough for Kenny Dalgleish then it's good enough for me"! and the Popside loved it.
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Post by Swanny on Sept 3, 2013 15:26:53 GMT
Thanks for a great explanation, Ohtobeatplainmoor, and it's good to get some clarification. I seem to remember we were around 3/4 of the way down league 2 when Cyril left - we've had a lot worse than that over the years so it was still a great shame he left. It would have been intersting to know how Cyril would have got on managing a top team.
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Sept 3, 2013 21:56:23 GMT
I think that we were light years ahead of the team that he took-on and there was also a bit more expectation which naturally comes after years of doldrums and a short period of sudden success. Those two and a half years were probably one of the best periods of supporting the club that I had experienced. There is some great footage on youtube - I'm not sure who to thank for them all but the win over Newport County in '88 was a great night and a cracking performance. There were many that season and it was such a shame that we couldn't push over the line on that last Saturday against Scunthorpe (or the preceding Saturday against Burnley). In an alternative reality we could have signed Simon Milton when he was available - surely that would have pushed us that little bit further over the line? In the Bateson era of spend, spend, spend that £40k was a David Hodge and an Andy Rowlands combined fee.
The following season was a mixed bag up to the Wolves game, but look at the players he had to replace in the summer of '88 - Caldwell, Dobson, Impey, Sharpe, Gardiner, Kenny Allen.... We didn't do badly with the likes of Paul Holmes, Paul Smith, Sean Joyce, Dean Edwards and Kenny Veysey.
I couldn't make it on Saturday, but I hope that Knowles was remembered, if not officially by the club but by the sets of fans that held him in such esteem.
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Post by westyorkshiregull on Sept 4, 2013 7:34:43 GMT
hiya all , the videos on youtube are ones I posted a few years back. supporting from around 1985 onwards , ive collected anything I can get my hands on. I have an amateur recording of the 1989 Wembley game which when I get time I will post online.... got a few other bits also.
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Aug 31, 2019 12:35:07 GMT
Not sure if it has been mentioned in match day thread but it is 22 years ago today that he died, so it is somewhat poignant that we are playing Hartlepool, who he was manager of after he left Torquay and was there when he became ill, on the anniversary of his death. A timely bump six years on. RIP Cyril. The man who made us feel pride in our football club again after a period when it was very hard to do so. |
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