TT BLOG

Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Clive discusses the Gulls

It’s Sunday night, and believe it or not, I am writing this in the bath. I’ve just got home from umpiring a likely promotion-decider in – get this – Devon League H Division (Central). Played in a great spirit. Both teams gave it their all and newly-merged Torquay and Kingskerswell prevailed by 7 wickets.

It’s an early train to Chesham tomorrow and of course yesterday afternoon was spent at Shiny, Happy Plainmoor. My wife misses me at times like this, although she does hide it very well!

I can’t let yesterday go without reflecting on what a brilliant Saturday it was.

Pre-match arrangements were a little vague, but a couple of the Torquay Talk WhatsApp group had planned to start at The Royal in Babbacombe, so I toddled up there at 1 o’clock. It’s an easy stroll from my house, across Cary Park and then past the takeaways, taxi office and charity shops of Reddenhill Road.

The early morning rain had more or less cleared, but a recent heavy shower meant only a hardy few were in the beer garden overlooking the Downs and the coastal views which are good enough to sell Torbay coach tours by themselves.

Within the pub, I arrived just as Tom Diamond and his crew were drinking up. They kindly allowed the old man to tag along. A quick committee meeting decided it should be next stop Boots and Laces.

Tom’s group were predominantly 20-somethings. He and his mate had travelled down from London Town whilst others were from the Yellows stronghold of Newton Abbot.

Tom is an unfailingly polite man who has recently moved to London and is teaching at an East London comp. His previous gig was in Bath, and I was interested to ask him how he is finding his new environment. He told me the school sets high expectations and gets good exam results, but that pupils sadly have to go through metal detectors to gain access each morning.

I gently take the mickey out of Tom because Torquay United’s current status means he has quite often played against teams on our fixture list and he is very keen on dropping this into chats. On the short walk to Plainmoor he filled me in with more details. He played a couple of years for Welton Rovers in the Western League, after some youth football at Bristol Rovers. He is a centre half. He named Buckland’s ex-Gull Jared Lewington as a particularly difficult opponent.

His London mate was a tall, thin, thirsty chap who appeared to be in his early 20s but must be a bit older. He was doing a spot of football tourism and had borrowed one of our many previous away shirts- the black and white Juventus number. He apparently works for the Foreign Office and someone else told me he has recently spent 3 years in Russia. If you do finish up as the head of MI6 mate, please forgive me for calling you “thirsty.” I don’t mean anything by it, honest!

One day soon, I promise I will write an article without featuring Michael Westcott. He was, of course, in Boots yesterday, along with our impressive young CEO Joe Lovell. Joe said hello as I wandered towards the skittle alley, but I couldn’t shake Michael off for love nor money.

Incredible to relate, he decided to come over for a chat. I think he was bursting to tell someone how many tickets we had sold (3500). Good times. I asked him if he is able to enjoy matchdays? The honest answer is not really. Michael told me he gets nervous because as well as “feeling it” himself, he now bears a huge sense of responsibility for results. I hope that with time this will lessen (and in fact it’s starting to look as if results will look after themselves). Michael was also delighted about the rapid take-off of the Community Share Issue. He just “gets it”, doesn’t he!

Plymouth fans stood shoulder to shoulder with us in our darkest days and I will always give them credit for that. I’m darned, however, if this will stop me laughing at them when they get 2 players sent off in a winnable game at QPR, and I enjoyed ridiculing their high profile manager as we had half an eye on the lunchtime kick off.

I toddled off at about 2.30, but didn’t get to my seat for 20 minutes. The queue for Bristow’s wasn’t long, but I got chatting first to my editor and wannabee agent Dom Roman and then to a guy I met when we were scraping the steps a few weeks ago. He might be called Richard, but my memory for names is worse than Diane Abbot’s head for figures (sorry “Richard!”).

Getting through the turnstiles I was then stopped by my old friend John Lovis. Older supporters will remember John as a club statistician from the 70s and 80s. It was John who wrote the TUFC season summaries for the Rothmans Football Yearbook. We were regular adversaries in the much missed Torbay Quiz League. John bleeds blue and yellow and, like me, he is pinching himself as the Bryn Era gathers pace.

I sit with Stuart and Stuart, father and son. It was great to see them both for the first time this season, along with Mum (whose name I have shamefully also already forgotten). Stuart senior is a Gulls Eye View fan, and he quite rightly pulled my leg about becoming a minor celebrity. He also introduced me to Malcolm, who has about 70 seasons under his belt. It’s always nice to get our senior fans to reminisce, because they of course remember the glory years under first Eric Webber and then Frank O’Farrell.

It’s an open secret that businesses are coming back to Plainmoor and it’s great to see more advertising hoardings in place. That includes a new board on the fence in front of my seat. It is firmly attached. I know this because I gave it a good kicking when celebrating Lirak Hasani’s glorious winner!

After the match, I sought out a few popsiders in The Union (a great place for a cheap pint). Welling is going to be a heavy one. Thanks to a couple of generous railway acquaintances, a few of us are on £6 tickets to London that day (I’m paying £120 tomorrow for Chesham though 😱). This will leave plenty of beer money, which is handy because Google Maps reveals 4 pubs twixt station and ground.