New Torquay United owners target EFL return
Torquay United began the season with a 2-1 home win over Enfield Town
- Published
Torquay United co-chairman Mark Bowes-Cavanagh says he wants to return the club to the English Football League.
Bowes-Cavanagh is one of the six-man Bryn Consortium that took over in May after they had gone into administration.
The Gulls began their second successive season in National League South with a 2-1 win over Enfield Town on Saturday.
The Torquay-supporting businessmen took over the club after former owner Clarke Osborne stopped funding the Gulls in February.
"My ambition is to leave this club in the Football League and that's where it deserves to be," he told BBC Radio Devon.
"If the team play anything like the energy the supporters and the backroom staff give to this football club then we haven't got anything to worry about.
"It's humbling that we're the custodians of this football club and we hold a lot of responsibility and we won't do anything to not try and get this club to where it needs to be."
Mark Bowes-Cavanagh (left) and Michael Westcott are co-chairmen of Torquay United
Having spent 87 years in the EFL, Torquay were relegated from League Two in 2014 and have been in non-league football since.
They went down to National League South in 2018 but won the sixth-tier title the following season before losing the National League promotion final in 2021 on penalties as they tried to bounce back to the EFL.
Relegation back to the sixth tier came in 2023 and the club staved off a further relegation last season after being docked 10 points for their financial issues.
"It's small steps," Bowes-Cavanagh added.
"I appreciate the fact that we have a football team out there and I appreciate the fact that the fans have got their club back and we've created a sustainable model for this football club and cut the leakage of money out of it.
"But we're deadly serious that we want this club to do very well on the pitch as well.
"Momentum is everything in football, when you're going down like Torquay have over the last few seasons you drop suddenly, but when you start progressing the jumps are fast."