Playing budget slashed by over 50% ....

…. from forty-eight pounds and threepence in 1911/12 to twenty pounds, six shillings and ninepence in 1912/13.



So that explains why the glorious first two seasons of Torquay Town were followed by a period of mediocrity. The expensively- assembled PDL Championship-winning team had used up all of the money put up by the Board when the new Town club was created in 1910 and run the club into debt because gate receipts actually fell significantly in a Championship-winning season.

Plus ça change!

Much as everyone would have liked to press on and win the league again, it was necessary to pull the belt in to ensure survival. Fifteen years after the cuts (less five for the Great War), Torquay had a Football League team. You could argue that some sensible retrenchment had laid the groundwork for that. Had we put all our eggs in the “Let’s hope the crowds shoot up if we keep winning” basket, the great soccer boom in Torquay could have gone bust before the Great War.

Apparently, the solution to financial troubles is to go “hot and strong after good new talent”. Sounds like agood idea.