TT BLOG
Clive Hayward – @Byehorse
Clive discusses a great evening at the Princess Theatre
We don’t know yet if the reborn Yellows can do it on a wet Wednesday in Worthing, but they nearly took the roof off the Princess Theatre in Torquay on Friday night.
Our taxi driver wasn’t having his best day. Although he said he’s lived in the Bay for 18 years, we realised a couple of minutes into our cab ride that he was heading for the Babbacombe Theatre instead. That’ll teach us not to ring 211611!
No harm done, and we took our seats in good time, along with almost 1500 others in an audience which was as close to sold out as makes no difference. We all got a leaflet about the TUST’s Community Share Issue (prospectus out next month: you know it makes sense!).
Charlie
I feel as though I’ve now seen Charlie Baker perform more often than Kevin Hill (although Alan Wills & Jules Nixon are comfortably ahead of me), but it was lovely to see him doing what he does best with a Devon crowd cheering his every move.
He is as stoked as we all are that the show is back on the road and you could tell that his routine last night came straight from the heart. Charlie gets us, and we love him for it. He bounced on stage to thunderous renditions of “Yellow Army”. He poked fun at fans and board alike and when a heckler had a pop at his beloved Newton Abbot he gave him the full Tom Lapslie treatment: one minute the lad was giving it the biggun and the next he was quietly calling for his Mum whilst we all got on with the rest of our night. Ashley from the Blue Anchor was treated more gently, getting to lead the “give us a T…” chant.
You can keep your Nou Camp unveils. The new Torquay way is much better.
Charlie introduced new signings Dan Hayfield and Jordan Dyer, the latter fresh from narrowly avoiding destroying Wombley Stadium at the Model Village. The new recruits from Bath are very welcome but they were a warm up act for the man himself: Deano is back! On the day his new player-coach deal was announced Mr Moxey trod the boards to a rapturous reception.
The three signings were then joined by the other 12 members of Paul Wotton’s new squad, some of whom understandably looked sheepish in the limelight and the roar of the crowd.
Win us a few games lads, and you’ll get plenty more of that.
Get us three points at Tonbridge and you’ll be Charlie’s Angels!
Neil
Warnock wandered onto the stage to give us his well-rehearsed career retrospective.
He spoke very fondly of his spell in charge at Plainmoor in the spring of 1993, when he engineered one of our may great escapes. Very occasionally he had to be nudged back on script by his quietly-effective sidekick and Evan Davis lookalike Paul Walker, but with 1600 games in the memory banks he did manage to recall an Autoglass Trophy victory over Plymouth that my brother-in-law and I had both forgotten!
Neil took us through his eight promotions from Scarborough to Cardiff and most places in between. We also got his videoed greatest hits, snarling on the touchline and losing it with hapless centre backs. Graham Poll remains high on his hitlist, whilst he gleefully took advantage of Gary Johnson’s recent fall from grace, affecting to have been horrified when surrounded by photos of the little fella when invited to Plainmoor at the end of last season.
He was big on man-management and urges us- rightly- to be patient with the new squad. He reckons the Popside roar can play a big part next season, and he said he can see the excitement in our new players as they get ready for their big Torquay adventure.
The man has always put bums on seats and doesn’t lack self-confidence. He told stories of sharing a drink with Cloughie in his Notts days, where promotion brought him to national prominence after initial successes at Burton Albion and Scarborough.
He crowed over the night in September 1987 when his North Yorkshire part-timers out-shit-housed Cyril Knowles’ Torquay. “We lost 6 footballs in 20 minutes.” You could tell how much he had loved that. I was there too, and I well remember the joy we felt as the balls sailed over our heads and into the tiny front gardens of Marnham Road whilst we went down to a 1-0 defeat. A young lad called Rodney Jack was still in the Caribbean at that point of course, but he helped us get our own back on another memorable night a decade later!
But for now, Neil is on our side again, and it’s great to have him back.
Both he and Michael Westcott have spoken about their chance encounter on a train which led to Neil’s current involvement. I’m sure that plans are already being made for a reconstruction in the end of season video. Will it be based on Brief Encounter or Murder on the Orient Express? Let’s hope for Silver Streak, Blind Chance or- aiming higher still- Europa!
Sorry: that’s more than enough train movies I’ve never watched.
Helen
They made us wait for Hells Bells, but when she came off the bench to ask Neil a couple of questions it was like she’d never been away. Down to earth and gorgeous in her 1994 home shirt, the rapport between her & Warnock was obvious. She gave us a couple of Soccer AM anecdotes, including the time when Neil blew a friend’s surprise birthday party live on air. It was lovely to see and hear from her again.
All in all, it was a fairly euphoric night. That word again! You can see, feel and- especially now- hear that Torquay fans feel the club is back in good hands.
COYY – CLIVE
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