We’ve ended up with a couple of nice blue shirts over the years, and certainly the newly-unveiled away shirt seems to have been a reasonable hit with the fanbase. Indeed, a similar looking shirt to the one I’ve picked out below, our change strip from 1995-1997 was also included in the TT fan poll. I’ve picked out this one in preference though, primarily due to the more subtle shade of blue. 

Okay, I couldn’t put a list together of Torquay United shirts without including a yellow one. However, 4^th was as high as it was ever going to go… Ignoring the ‘1899’ era, which – spoiler alert – I’ll come to shortly, this one’s probably my favourite classic home shirt, and did end up at the top of the TT poll as well, so clearly there’s a bit of love out there for it.

I missed out on seeing it in the flesh, as my first game was the season after this one was retired (side note: remember when shirts lasted more than one year?!), but it’s been repeated a couple of times since and is one of the quintessential TUFC looks. I much prefer the vertical stripes to horizontal ones, and from a purely selfish yellow-hating point of view the more surface area that white can take up the better, plus the navy trim is more my style than the primary colour nightmare we seem to get more often than not these days. 

In 2010, the club threw a curveball and answered the prayers of emo kids everywhere, by releasing this lovely little black number that matched the colour of our tortured souls. After what felt like a good few years of fairly standard yellow, white and blue, the black kit was a bit of a departure, and although we’ve had a monochrome striped effort since, remains the only matchday shirt perfect for when you’ve got the football at 3 and a My Chemical Romance gig at 8. 

I’m a fairly simple man who can eat meat and drink beer with the best of them, but I’m also very comfortable with having a feminine side (whatever that means in 2023). What I’m trying to tell you, Dear Reader, is that I don’t mind a bit of pink, and nor should you. Promotion should have been the legacy of the 2020-21 season, but the consolation prize was three excellent kits. This one was my favourite. 

I wasn’t sure about including this one in my list at all, let alone putting it right at the top of the pile. Released only as a limited edition anniversary special, for those of us with the blackest of hearts, this was an absolute thing of beauty. Modelled by club legend Olaf Koszela, it sparked a fair bit of praise from all corners of the football world and heralded the start of the ‘1899’ era, which brought with it some seriously nice shirts. Unfortunately, I was not quick enough off the mark to pick one up. My birthday’s in May and I can probably squeeze into a medium if you give me a few weeks to prepare, thanks for asking. 

Season 1993/94 horizontal stripes with a collar, the iconic Mod-Dec Windows sponsors which musters memories of Adrian Foster, Darren Moore, Kevin Hodges and the like. This was the season I first attended Plainmoor so it holds sentiment to me.

Season 1995/96 again, the same colour scheme this time with vertical stripes but resplendent again with a collar, images of players like Rodney Jack, Charlie Oatway, Paul Buckle and Alex Watson.

Season 2020/21 yellow, white and navy complete with tyre tracks that were in fact tiny palm trees (or New Zealand cabbage plants for the pedantic) and a whole conglomerate of players who graced this shirt of Bens Wynter and Whitfield, Joe Lewis, Kyle Cameron, The Lemon, Armani…….that sodding season when not only were our shirts gorgeous but our squad was too and the season we really, really, really should have been promoted automatically. Big budget, big players…….big bloody let down.

2019/20 Torquay United 120th Anniversary shirt, the black one with the gold 1899 and club crest and released after we had found our way back in the big time of National League, a shirt of real beauty although the season itself was curtailed by COVID, the shirt was lauded and bought up far and wide, and XXL sizes too!

Season 2008/09 our play offs promotion season and whilst the equally lovely white away shirt was worn by the likes of Carlisle, Benyon, Sills, Hargreaves, Nicholson, Mansell et al, the yellow City Link Builders Vandanel home shirt saw us through a remarkable, memorable season.