Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2009 23:35:34 GMT
I’m currently reading a history of the 1970s called “Crisis? What Crisis?” and it’s a reminder of an eventful time in Britain. The 1973-76 period – the strikes, the elections, the end of Wilson – is particularly fascinating and, for somebody of my age, many of the events remain as vivid and compelling as ever.
By contrast I needed to study the Centenary History to remind myself of the ins and outs of Malcolm Musgrove’s time at Plainmoor between January 1973 and November 1976. In many ways, the History’s chapter heading for the 1970s – Mediocre Seasons in the Basement – pretty much sums up my recall of that time (and, wait for it, the next chapter has the cheery title of Some Desperate Days in the Mid 1980s).
When Musgrove arrived at the club I’d just started A levels. By the time he left I was in my final year at university. By 1973, whilst I already knew Torquay United was going to be a lifelong affliction, I was also desperate to leave home and bugger off to university. In a football sense I wanted to watch other teams at other grounds; in Torquay United terms it was going to mean fewer home games and more away matches. Times – and outlooks - were changing.
I’d also reached the Clever Dick phase and fancied myself as a football pundit and perceptive critic. The post-1968 decline at Plainmoor had been a disappointment and I was becoming critical of all things Torquay United, including the board, manager, players, council, Plainmoor residents and half the bloody Popular Side. And, as you’d expect, the Angry Young Man was moved to write letters to newspapers from his lofty perch, one of which – at some forgotten juncture - demanded it was “TIME FOR MUSGROVE TO GO!”
That harsh judgement – which the Herald Express printed – haunted me a few months later when the kind, friendly Malcolm Musgrove bought me a drink in the old social club. Furthermore, all these years later, I’m struck by Merse’s sympathetic memories of Malcolm as a decent bloke with decent values. It just shows that what you think you know can often be a load of old cobblers.
The mid 1970s were difficult days at Plainmoor. The Centenary History’s section on 1974/75 mentions how Tony Boyce "warned the Torbay public that the club could not exist for more than a few months unless help was forthcoming from both the Council and the public”. Apparently a meeting was held at the Town Hall about the future of the club. Does anybody remember this or have press cuttings?
Indeed, financial uncertainty accompanied Malcolm Musgrove’s arrival at the club. Again the Centenary History records how in early 1973 the club was losing £1,000 per week and economy cuts were made which – and I’m not sure of the actual time scale – led to Jack Edwards, Don Mills and Fred Ford leaving the club. The reserve team was scrapped and the arrangement made to farm out players to Dawlish.
And, if the financial difficulties which continued for some years weren’t enough, Merse has already made mention of the character and personality of some of the players at the club in those days who – it might be argued – were not untypical of the whole lower division mentality of that era. Somehow I don’t recall it as being a time of Corinthian values. I never knew enough to name and shame but here’s a team picture from 1976 which may well include some of the men who brought about Malcolm Musgrove’s downfall:
Lastly, points of detail.
Malcolm Musgrove was an ex-West Ham and Orient player who’d been a senior PFA figure before going into coaching, very much as a graduate of the West Ham way of doing things. He’d known O’Farrell from Upton Park and had worked with him at Leicester and Manchester United. After leaving Plainmoor he stayed in football but not as a manager. Musgrove apparently turned down a coaching role at Sunderland to come to Torquay and his first assistant was Mike Hughes (then very highly-rated) who had arrived from Yeovil a few months earlier. Later Hughes was replaced by Lew Chatterley.
Ultimately, it was the FA Cup defeat against Hillingdon Borough which was the final nail. To emphasise Merse’s thoughts, the Centenary History says this: “Rumours of lack of discipline off the pitch involving certain United players were rife, and it became clear these were not without some foundation. Inevitably Musgrove was dismissed having been badly let down by some of his players”.
Malcolm Musgrove was manager for the second half of one season, three full seasons and part of a fifth. Across those five seasons I imagine Mediocre Seasons in the Basement was a suitable chapter heading after all: 18th (1972/73); 16th (1973/74), 14th (1974/75); 9th (1975/76); 16th (1976/77).
By contrast I needed to study the Centenary History to remind myself of the ins and outs of Malcolm Musgrove’s time at Plainmoor between January 1973 and November 1976. In many ways, the History’s chapter heading for the 1970s – Mediocre Seasons in the Basement – pretty much sums up my recall of that time (and, wait for it, the next chapter has the cheery title of Some Desperate Days in the Mid 1980s).
When Musgrove arrived at the club I’d just started A levels. By the time he left I was in my final year at university. By 1973, whilst I already knew Torquay United was going to be a lifelong affliction, I was also desperate to leave home and bugger off to university. In a football sense I wanted to watch other teams at other grounds; in Torquay United terms it was going to mean fewer home games and more away matches. Times – and outlooks - were changing.
I’d also reached the Clever Dick phase and fancied myself as a football pundit and perceptive critic. The post-1968 decline at Plainmoor had been a disappointment and I was becoming critical of all things Torquay United, including the board, manager, players, council, Plainmoor residents and half the bloody Popular Side. And, as you’d expect, the Angry Young Man was moved to write letters to newspapers from his lofty perch, one of which – at some forgotten juncture - demanded it was “TIME FOR MUSGROVE TO GO!”
That harsh judgement – which the Herald Express printed – haunted me a few months later when the kind, friendly Malcolm Musgrove bought me a drink in the old social club. Furthermore, all these years later, I’m struck by Merse’s sympathetic memories of Malcolm as a decent bloke with decent values. It just shows that what you think you know can often be a load of old cobblers.
The mid 1970s were difficult days at Plainmoor. The Centenary History’s section on 1974/75 mentions how Tony Boyce "warned the Torbay public that the club could not exist for more than a few months unless help was forthcoming from both the Council and the public”. Apparently a meeting was held at the Town Hall about the future of the club. Does anybody remember this or have press cuttings?
Indeed, financial uncertainty accompanied Malcolm Musgrove’s arrival at the club. Again the Centenary History records how in early 1973 the club was losing £1,000 per week and economy cuts were made which – and I’m not sure of the actual time scale – led to Jack Edwards, Don Mills and Fred Ford leaving the club. The reserve team was scrapped and the arrangement made to farm out players to Dawlish.
And, if the financial difficulties which continued for some years weren’t enough, Merse has already made mention of the character and personality of some of the players at the club in those days who – it might be argued – were not untypical of the whole lower division mentality of that era. Somehow I don’t recall it as being a time of Corinthian values. I never knew enough to name and shame but here’s a team picture from 1976 which may well include some of the men who brought about Malcolm Musgrove’s downfall:
Lastly, points of detail.
Malcolm Musgrove was an ex-West Ham and Orient player who’d been a senior PFA figure before going into coaching, very much as a graduate of the West Ham way of doing things. He’d known O’Farrell from Upton Park and had worked with him at Leicester and Manchester United. After leaving Plainmoor he stayed in football but not as a manager. Musgrove apparently turned down a coaching role at Sunderland to come to Torquay and his first assistant was Mike Hughes (then very highly-rated) who had arrived from Yeovil a few months earlier. Later Hughes was replaced by Lew Chatterley.
Ultimately, it was the FA Cup defeat against Hillingdon Borough which was the final nail. To emphasise Merse’s thoughts, the Centenary History says this: “Rumours of lack of discipline off the pitch involving certain United players were rife, and it became clear these were not without some foundation. Inevitably Musgrove was dismissed having been badly let down by some of his players”.
Malcolm Musgrove was manager for the second half of one season, three full seasons and part of a fifth. Across those five seasons I imagine Mediocre Seasons in the Basement was a suitable chapter heading after all: 18th (1972/73); 16th (1973/74), 14th (1974/75); 9th (1975/76); 16th (1976/77).