Moxey hails 'night and day' change at Torquay

Dean Moxey has played in the top six tiers of English football during his 21-year career

Veteran Torquay United defender Dean Moxey says the change at the club is "night and day" since new owners took control at Plainmoor.

The Bryn Consortium of local business people took over the club in May after former owner Clarke Osborne had taken Torquay into administration in April.

That followed February's announcement that Osborne could no longer fund the Gulls.

Torquay overcame a 10-point deduction to keep their place in National League South and go into the new season with a new manager in Paul Wotton and a new-look squad.

"The atmosphere around the place is just totally different," Moxey told BBC Radio Devon.

"From the day Clarke left the whole thing just changed around there was so much positivity.

"We stayed in this league and we just want to push on now.

"It's a fresh start for everybody, I think there's only four or five of us still here from last season.

"I think it's a bright future, I've spoken to the owners quite a bit and they're fans, they love this club and they want the best for it and so do we on the pitch."

Moxey, 38, signed a new one-year contract last month that will see the former Exeter City, Crystal Palace, Derby County and Bolton Wanderers defender work as a player-coach at Plainmoor.

It will be his fifth season at the Gulls in a 21-year career that has seen him play more than 650 times.

"The ambition is to win the league, but the best thing is the club's still alive," added Moxey, who was an academy player at Exeter City when the Grecians almost went bust in 2003.

"We want to go and do as well as we can, Paul's ambitious, he's got a great young squad with some experience as well, it's a good mix.

"It's a great bunch of lads, they've worked so hard and we've all worked so hard in pre-season and we just can't wait for the season to start."