TT BLOG
Luke Hunter
@gullsgullsluke
Luke and the team explore what to expect in the 2025/2026 National League South season.
Luke’s View…
Here we go again, it soon comes around doesn’t it? Another pre-season behind us and the spectre of Enfield on the horizon – there is a sense of familiarity in the air.
This year, my summer thoughts can be broadly categorised across three outlooks:
One – the pressure is on this time. I think last season – rightfully – the entire entity of the club was afforded some slack, especially regarding recruitment – Paul Wotton was effectively building a squad from scratch with four weeks less than everybody else to do it. That is not the case this time around – I expect us to hit the ground running and I think PW is likely echoing those sentiments internally. That pressure is likely pulsing off the field as well – we know the owners (Mark, in particular!) believed it was possible last year and I suspect that belief has transitioned into expectancy. But make no mistake, that pressure is coming from a good place – with a better understanding of football club management, finances and operational delivery it is right that we are pushing ourselves.
Two – it will not be any easier. At the start of summer, I found myself thinking – just for a second – that we might be afforded an ‘easier’ journey through the National League South this season; Boreham and Truro were gone whilst Worthing and Eastbourne look weaker. Alas, Dagenham have somehow ended up with Andy Carroll amongst their ranks and the likes of Chelmsford, Salisbury and AFC Hornchurch have recruited well. I think Totton will step up comfortably as well. Throw in Weston, Maidenhead and Ebbsfleet for good measure and you already have twenty difficult matches. Too many times last season we made it difficult for ourselves – we cannot do that again.
Three – continuity and strength. This is an entirely anecdotal observation but at Clubs where summers of ins-and-outs are commonplace I think the best seasons are found in those occasional campaigns whereby only a few leave and the manager is afforded (or has earnt) the rare opportunity to build from a solid foundation. I like continuity because it provides the players the challenge to better themselves on what has fallen before – what better way to start a season than posing the question of ‘can you go one better?’ In addition, I think the handful of recruitments PW has made are astute – winners, with experience. I also feel like we can only be better for having a full campaign with the likes of Young and Jay. We look strong.
As I said this time last year – and this is the absolute beauty of having an ownership model such as ours – I believe this season will be another step forward across many, many metrics – lets just hope the one we’re all guilty of judging success by is ticked.
For the NINTH season in a row TorquayTalk will be there – independently scribbling, chatting, tweeting (X-ing?) recording, ranting, laughing crying, drinking-on-training – all of this would not be possible without Captain Dom and the team.
That very same team have shared their thoughts pre-season – and as always i’ll be dragging these up again in May…
Thank you to the contributors!
- Andy Charles (AC)
- Chris Wade (CW)
- Clive Hayward (CH)
- Danny Burnell (DB)
- Dominic Roman (DR)
- Jonny Jones (JJ)
- Joe Uglow (JU)
- Harry Salvidge (HS)
- Mark Hirst (MH)
- Matty Hayward (Mha)
- Rachel Malloch (RM)
- Rich Heesem (RH)
- Sam Jones (SJ)
- Steve Harris (SH)
- Thomas Kelly (TK)
WHO IS YOUR TIP FOR PLAYER OF THE SEASON AND WHY?
PREDICTION: JORDAN YOUNG.
JJ: “Worthington – If he performs like he did in Yeovil, I think he’ll be a fan-favourite.”
DR: “Jordan Young – wonderful left foot, wonderful player! Expecting big things from the lad this season as we hopefully push for promotion.”
CH: “Jordan Young. He makes and scores important goals and he’s got a great song, which we sang all the way home from Truro last season.”
SH: “Jordan Dyer – wholehearted performer who will be a threat in both boxes and will chip in with a few more headers from set plays.”
MHa: “Cody Cooke – I think, like last season, he’ll be our first choice striker and score 20+ goals.”
TK: “Cody Cooke. He was unlucky not to win it based on his work rate in the first half of the season and his goal tally in the second half of the season. Should my ambitions be realised this season, the strikers normally take the plaudits and I think Cody is going to play a bit part again for us.”
JU: “Jordan Young, 20 goal season incoming for Youngy”
MH: “Jordan Young, because he’s our matchwinner!”
RM: “Dylan Morgan. He’s looked mighty impressive in pre-season.”
WHO IS YOUR TIP FOR YOUNG (<21) PLAYER OF THE SEASON AND WHY?
PREDICTION: SAM DREYER.
CW: “I think Sonny Blu Lo-Everton. I think he will be a vital cog in the much developed midfield wheel.”
SJ: “We don’t have many under 21, unless I’m mistaken so Im going to go Sam Dreyer as I think he’ll sneak in there (and he’s too good for this League)”
HS: “Sam Dreyer – Could easily be a double swoop of awards for Sam, you just feel he has the confidence to get better again this season.”
JJ: “Dreyer – another big season ahead for our vice captain”
AC: “Sonny Fish. Not much to choose from but hopefully he’ll get some chances (and goals) when back to fitness.”
DR: “Sam Dreyer’s got such great potential, he can get even better in 2025/26.”
WHO IS YOUR TIP FOR TOP GOALSCORER AND WHY?
PREDICTION: CODY COOKE.
DB “Cody Cooke – speaks for itself. He’ll continue to spearhead our attack in commanding fashion.”
CH: “Jordan Young. He’s hard to stop and I would expect him to start most games.”
SH: “Cody Cooke – as good a target man as you are likely find at this level and I believe he will get the same quality of service as last year, if not better.”
MHa: “Cody. More match balls incoming for Bam Bam and Marley”
TK: “He’s in your heeeaaadddd! Cody! Cody! With better support from midfield this season, he should be able to take advantage of the quality we appear to have brought in to add to his impressive goal tally from last season. I think it will be a close run thing with Jordan Young and the great thing about this squad is there are goals everywhere (on paper).”
JU: “Jordan Young, was great last year and this time we have him all season!”
AC: “Jordan Young. Scored plenty of goals for us and Yeovil at this level and there’s plenty more to come.”
MH: “Jordan Young – it was encouraging to see him play more full 90s in the latter part of the season. If that continues, sheer weight of minutes should mean plenty of goals”
WHICH FIXTURE ARE YOU MOST ANTICIPATING AND WHY?
A MIXED BAG!
RM: “Both Bath and Weston Super Mare, primarily because they’re home fixtures where we might see double figures in the away end.”
TK: “From a local perspective, Horsham (a) as it’s only up the road for me, although I’m still getting used to the fact it will be a league fixture, which is no disrespect to them as they are (another) very well run club.”
RH: “Maidstone (a) we need to break the curse and start believing from the outset”
CW: “I love Christmas football. So Weston and Bath should be brilliant.”
SJ: “Enfield at home. I love opening day.”
HS: “Chesham United (h and a) – Personal connection more than anything growing up in Bucks. Hoping Alex Lafleur doesn’t have his shoot boots on this season”
JJ: “Dagenham away – should feel like a proper game at their place.”
DR: “I’ll say 11th October at home against Andy Carroll and the Daggers, if the Geordie is fit!”
WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN THE LEAGUE AND WHY?
TORQUAY UNITED.
DB: “Torquay – think we’ll go one better than last year. Reliant on a fairly thin squad so staying injury free is key.”
CH: “Dagenham. Money to burn.”
SH “I think Torquay United have the potential to win as Paul Wotton’s summer recruitment has seen the Gulls strengthen in the areas that needed strengthening.”
MHa: “Heart says us, head says one of the many teams with bigger budgets than us. Ebbsfleet? Eastbourne?”
TK: “I’ve said on our award winning Gulls Eye View Podcast that we would finish 2nd but deep down, I honestly think this is going to be our year. I think Paul has gone a fantastic job in strengthening the squad in areas we were lacking last season and keeping the core of the squad could play vital in the first few months of the season. With so many of the ex Yeovil NLS winners in the squad, the bond is already there and I trust that Paul will get the best out of the side this season.”
JU: “Has to be us hasn’t it, we’ve improved where we had deficiencies last season and with last season’s squad a year more experienced, I feel we can go that one step further this year.”
MH: “The most consistent team over the last couple of years have been Worthing. They’ve lost good players, but that doesn’t mean they won’t replace them & they recruit well. They are probably going to be underestimated. But if we’re more ruthless than last season, it could easily be us, We need to bury teams when we’re on top though & not sit back. I’m dubious about Dagenham & Redbridge.”
RM: “Torquay United. Nothing else will do.”
RH: “Dagenham and Redbridge”
WHO IS THE NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH DARK HORSE?
AFC HORNCHURCH.
CW: “Chelmsford look to have recruited well, and Weston could be competitive again.”
SJ: “Not sure. I’m going to go Weston, no idea why.”
HS: “Chelmsford – they’ve brought in some good players like Lapslie and Barham and with Dagenham just down the road that will give them more motivation to do well”
JJ: “Hornchurch and Salisbury. Both spending some cash and made some decent signings.”
DR: “Difficult one! Chelmsford should do better this season.”
DB: “Salisbury – seemed to have recruited some well established NLS players.”
CH: “Totton?”
SH: “Hornchurch – they have recruited well and Daryl McMahon has won promotion from this league before with Ebbsfleet.”
MHa: “Totton and Hornchurch have both made some eye-catching signings.”
ARE THERE ANY OTHER NLS PLAYERS YOU’RE EXCITED TO SEE?
TK: “Of course Andy Carroll will garner a lot of attention (when/if) he’s fit for the season. I’m sure Dreyer and Dyer will have him in their pockets when our paths cross! Tom Lapslie I hope manages to have an injury free season at Chelmsford and I think we all wish him all the best apart from the two league games when we face off.”
JU: “Not really, be interesting to see how Andy Carroll gets on but can’t say I’m excited to see him.”
AC: “Excited might be the wrong word but interested to see how Tom Lapslie gets on at Chelmsford and whether Ali Omar has any success at Farnborough.”
MH: “I saw a lad called Ralph Vigrass play a few times for my local side Walton & Hersham, on loan from Dag & Red. He was quality, would love to have seen him at Torquay. Strangely Daggers have loaned him out to Totton & I think he’ll make a big impact there”
RM: “I’d say Andy Carroll versus Sam Dreyer but the striker’s already injured. Still, be interesting to see how he does when recovered. Could be showbiz could be Ross McCormack.”
RH: “Andy Carroll pulling his hammy in the first 2 mins of the game at Plainmoor.”
CW: “Not really.”
SJ: “Andy Carroll. No further comment needed.”
HS: “Matty Taylor at Salisbury – A striker who has had a fantastic record in the football league making the move down to the NLS will be interesting to see how he settles in.”
WHAT WILL TORQUAY UNITED’S FINAL LEAGUE POSITION BE?
AVERAGE PREDICTION: 1.43.
JJ: “First! Why not?”
DR: “1st – feeling optimistic…”
RM: “Play offs spot; hopefully a winning end.”
TK: “1st. Gulls are going up ole ole!”
AC: “Champions”
RM: “Champions, nothing else will do!”
RH: “4th.”
TORQUAYTALK 