Flock to See Gulls

Here is everything you need to know about the game....

THE Gulls play their football in the Vanarama National League, which is the fifth tier of English football, under the guidance of player-manager Kevin Nicholson. 

THE game kicks off at 3pm. Admission is £10 for adults, £5 for over 65s an under 18s), and free to under sevens.

TORQUAY United were formed in 1899, making the club 117 years old.

IN September 2015, Nicholson became new player-manager after the Gull’s biggest loss in 20 years – a 7-3 defeat at home to Bromley. ‘Nicho’ secured his name as a club legend when a dramatic return of results meant Torquay secured their place in the National League following a 2-0 away win away to Bromley merely weeks after being 12 points from safety. 

ARGYLE'S biggest win against our fellow Devon side was a 6-0 victory (December 26, 1969) whilst our worst result was a 5-2 defeat away from home (December 9, 1939).

WITH a prospective club takeover in the pipeline over the summer, Nicholson managed to secure the spine of his 2015-16 team and a number of additional summer signings, so Torquay are looking to gain promotion this season. They have started off their pre-season friendlies well securing two away wins in two games at Stoke Gabriel and Saltash United. 

NEIL Warnock managed both teams – Torquay United in 1993 and Plymouth Argyle from - 1997. Dave Smith also managed both sides – Argyle from 1984-1988 and United 1989-1991.

TORQUAY first played in black and white kits and, therefore, had the nickname the Magpies. However, when they changed their colours to yellow and blue in 1954, they also changed their nickname to The Gulls. The kit was intended to represent the golden sands and blue sea and sky in Torquay. The black and white kit has once again been taken on by Torquay for their 2016-17 season away games.

THE Gulls’ record transfer fee was £650,000, received from Crewe Alexandra for striker Rodney Jack in July 1998. Perhaps their most notable purchase was Leon Constantine, from Peterborough United, in December 2004. He cost £75,000.

TORQUAY'S joint top goal scorers in their 2015-2016 season were Tyrone Marsh and Nathan Blissett. The latter has signed on for this season’s new campaign. 

TORQUAY'S squad contains three former Argyle players; Durrell Berry, Ben Gerring and Luke Young. Durrell is currently recovering from a broken leg.

THE Pilgrims have come up against the Gulls on 56 separate occasions in league or cup meetings, winning 26 of those fixtures and losing 13 times.

THE last time the two sides met in a league fixture, on January 1, 2014, the match ended in a 2-0 win to Argyle, with Caolan Lavery and Lewis Alessandra scoring for the Greens.

ARGYLE fielded two players that day who may also feature on Saturday (Luke McCormick and Ben Purrington) whilst Torquay have no existing squad members that were around at the time. Durrell Berry and Luke Young were both named on Argyle’s bench for the New Year's Day fixture. 

The last pre-season friendly game between the teams, in July last year, saw Graham Carey score the only goal of the game.  Of the squad for the last friendly game, just six Argyle players remain at Home Park – Luke McCormick, Gary Sawyer, Graham Carey, Jake Jervis, Louis Rooney and Ben Purrington. Torquay have only four remaining players from their match-day squad – Angus MacDonald, Courtney Richards, Sam Chaney and Luke Young.

FORMER Argyle goalkeeper Cory Harvey is currently a trialist at Torquay United. 

COMMENTARY of the game will be broadcast on Argyle Player, with updates via our Twitter page, Twitter.com/Only1Argyle