NEW GULL PROFILE

Sam Jones – @samuellejones

Sam talks about the newest Gull

By the time this New Gull Profile goes out, Jake Wannell will no longer be the signing we have all been waiting for. You all know exactly who I am referring too, Moore on him later (get it?). After the Yeovil captain announced he was leaving the Glovers, the rumour mill started about whether the veteran defender would come down to the Bay to join his local side. And lo and behold, he did. But who exactly is the new man?

✍️ We are pleased to announce the signing of defender, Jake Wannell.

🏟️ Welcome @JakeWannell3!

MORE ➡️ https://t.co/mvUzY3MU0w #tufc pic.twitter.com/8WozjxNEHZ
— Torquay United FC (@TUFC1899) June 29, 2026

CAREER SUMMARY

Wannell was born in Exeter in 1994 (nobody’s perfect) and joined the Exeter Academy as a youngster. He never made a first team appearance for the Grecians, instead having loans at Dorchester, Chippenham and Poole before being released in 2014. He bounced around the lower league clubs of the Southwest for a bit, with permanent spells at Weymouth, Salisbury and Taunton. It was for Taunton that he really started to make a name for himself as he helped The Peacocks win promotion to the National league South. After three very successful season at Wordsworth Drive, he moved to Huish Park to help the Glovers return to the Promised Land of the National League. And that he did, becoming an integral part of the side that won Promotion in 2024 as well as keeping them in the NL for the next two season. Then, in the summer of 2026, he left Yeovil by mutual consent and came back down to Devon to join the Gulls.

HIGHLIGHTS

Here he is scoring a fine finish for Yeovil in a defeat at Boreham Wood:

And here he is with a stunning finish for Yeovil in a 2-1 defeat at Southend:

TALKING ABOUT JAKE

Jimmy Ball on Jake signing for United – “He’s experienced. Brings know-how. Big, strong, physical, communicator, organiser and a really really good human being.”

WANNELL STATS

DATE OF BIRTH: 3RD JUNE 1994 – 32 YEARS-OLD

BIRTHPLACE: EXETER, ENGLAND

HEIGHT: 1.85M

POSITION: CENTRE-BACK

NL 25-26 STATS: APPEARANCES 40, GOALS 2, ASSISTS 1, YELLOW CARDS 13, RED CARDS 1

MOST LIKELY/LEAST LIKELY

Most Likely To

Be the leader at the heart of the defence. Jake is an experienced leader, and can see him being one of the first names on the team sheet.
Get booked. 13 yellows and one red in 40 games is mightily impressive. Lets hope we have some half decent cover…

Least Likely To

Play every game. Once again, 13 bookings…
Score simple tap ins. It seems to be worldie or bust for our new centre-back.

CONCLUSION

Last season, as it all went wrong, it was clear that we had two main problems: a lack of leadership and a lack of physicality. So far, Jimmy has addressed both of those this summer, with the signing of Jake Wannell being a prime example of that. Jake looks like the sort of player we’ve been missing down the bay for a while, adding to an already very strong leadership core of Dreyer, Worthington and Bernard. The signing does make me worry about the future of Sam Dreyer though, but lets hope we can convince him to stay one more year. Enough about Sam though, welcome to the Bay Jake!