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chunkygull wrote:Indeed it is Paul Hirons, nicknamed "The Snake" if memory serves me correctly, due to his swerving, slithering, snaking d ribbling abilities. He often came on as sub and at times looked the business, he could certainly beat players, he didnt last much longer after his big moment though.

To Mr Caldwell again, the 12/13 year old lad part of me has to say it, and also on behalf of a few mates and school mates, THANKYOU for some great memories from that era, its hardly or rarely been equalled.

I told Paul yes the snake that he's been mentioned on the forum and he was chuffed that he's still remembered.

A great memory:



Hirons' goal at 4:08 - great to see Paul Smith skinning the West Ham defence too!

Oh my word, I havent seen that clip for years. I did have it on vhs somewhere. Great memories just really brought back then. I remember just a day or so before the game Lou Macari getting done for some sort of betting scandal (he got loads of comments about losing his bet after the final whistle). Paul Smith, now there was a good winger, he went pelting down the line past the Hammers defenders, there was a group of us who were down near that bottom right corner screaming "go on Smithy" and he just kept going then squared it, someone skewed a shot, enter "the snake".

That sea of flags were given away to fans before the game as they were leftover wembley ones from the 89 Sherpa Van final.

Good old Dave Smith, I liked him, I still consider the 91 play off winning squad to be his team even though he left a few months before.

When you hear the word legend being bandied about, sometimes it is used inappropriately. Yet Dave Caldwell is a truly iconic figure for Torquay even though he only played around 43 league games for us and scored 10 goals (according to wiki). On the surface of it, those stats may confuse those who did not see him play to wonder why he has legendary status.

And therein lies the rub - they wouldn't have seen him play and if they had, there would be no question. Dave Caldwell, Cyril, Loram, Dobson, McNichol et al - real pride was put back into the club after a few awful years (awful years, in fact, that we would probably cut our arms off for now).

There was no money in the club then. Lew Pope wasn't a multi-millionaire. Yet as skint as the club was, it produced that wonderful team, which Dave Caldwell was a big part of. Like Chunkygull, that is probably my favourite ever season of supporting Torquay, even though it ultimately ended in disappointment.

Yes compare that team to what we have now and it is heartbreaking.

Caldwell, Loram, Haselgrave, even the fringe players like Mark Gardener were good. I will never forget Dave Caldwell scoring the late winner at Bristol City in an FA Cup Tie with a diving header from a cross which was barely a foot off the ground. My favourite ever goal.

Caldwell was a legend.

Hi Brucie,

See my post a page before this one. One of us has got muddled memories of that goal!

My recollection is that Loram turned a defender way out on the left flank, gave himself room for a cross and whipped over a pinpoint ball which Caldwell rose to head in. The rest was bedlam (except that I was sat in the main stand with a Bristol work colleague so I had to swallow some of my excitement).

Right, I'll post the pic a third time then! This is on the previous page and this thread - http://www.torquayfans.com/forum/viewto ... f=3&t=8379


Low cross, barely a couple of feet off the ground, incredible diving header.
I have said it before, never can I think of any other Torquay player who played for relatively such a short time and a smallish amount of games been so popular, revered, rated, remembered and well thought of. In less than 50 games over two spells he did more to achieve iconic, legendary status than many other so called legends did in a few hundred games.

I remember when he left fans were clamouring for his return, there were even banners on the popside asking to bring him back which I have never seen at any other time. When he did come back the Herald showed a picture of him at the airport with the headline declaring "The Prodigal Returns!"

Caldwell, Dobson and Loram were idolised by me, my TUFC supporting mates and quite a few of the lads at school. I also have to give mention to Tom Kelly my favorite left back and certainly one of my all time favorite players, Phil Lloyd a great centre half, one of the best I have seen, and "The Dude".

Caldwell was one of the greats at Plainmoor. A born goal scorer with a fiery temper. A real winner in every way. When he was playing he lifted the crowd. Wish we had a striker like him now.

hear hear ,with him in the team we always had a chance and will never forget the Bristol cup tie.Happy days.

chunkygull wrote: Caldwell, Dobson and Loram were idolised by me, my TUFC supporting mates and quite a few of the lads at school. I also have to give mention to Tom Kelly my favorite left back and certainly one of my all time favorite players, Phil Lloyd a great centre half, one of the best I have seen, and "The Dude".

Not only were they very good players, but they were great characters as well. Happy days and as Brucie says, how have we sunk so low in such a relatively short time ? Well, we all know the answer ...... abject management of the club. Full stop.

Hi Chunkygull and Brucie,

That's rose tinted spectacles for you!

Was Davey not sent off once, very early on during a match against Swansea City at the old Vetch Field?
Seem to remember him being shown a red after something like 10 minutes during a vital match.

Any memories DC?

I judge players by the standards of the great teams of the mid/late sixties. Would Mr. Caldwell get a look in there? No. However, he was o.k. Loram, however, is a different kettle of fish: he would definitely have been a regular in the great days.

I went to Vetch field to see the first leg of the 87/ 88 play off final vs Swansea, my first ever away match, my mates Dad was on a club supporters commitee we had in those days and they took a coach up along with the wags and apprentices. I got to bunk off school for the afternoon. Only problem was, me, my mate and his brother were sat in with the Swansea lot, although they were good as gold anf treated us very well. It was a relatively new stand behind the goal, it seemed to be really high and very steep, walking to your seat you felt like you could fall off and take a flier.

Caldwell only came on as sub late in the second half, not sure why he didnt start but I remember he got stretchered off in the first leg of the play off semi vs Scunthorpe after being chopped in the throat. Any way we were 2-0 down when Caldwell came on and the Swansea crowd really gave him some stick, very rare have I heard one of our players get that much from the opposition, calling him an animal and basically all the names under the sun with some real venom, it seems likely that something went down in one of the games against them earlier in the season. We got a goal back and Caldwell took some nasty treatment from the Swans players as well as their fans.

Dave Caldwell certainly didn't take prisoners but I don't know why the Swansea fans had it in for him. I do well remember in the second leg that he took out a Swansea player very early in the game. I'm fairly sure it was Richard Money - I think Davy barged him against a goalpost. I think it happened in the first few minutes of the match - had it happened later, it probably would have been a red card for Mr Caldwell but he got away with it. Of course, he was challenging for the ball and these sort of unfortunate incidents happen ........ Obviously nothing to do with a bit of retribution.