Torquay United Fans Forum

i remember the match at white hart lane when we lost the midweek 2nd leg,the 2,000 gulls fans that night started singing nice one cyril,then all the spurs fans joined in with us and sang it as well

87-88 under cyril was my first proper season, i was gutted when cyril left, but like others have said on here and 87-88 thread he took no nonsense, i cant remember why he left i think it was along the lines of lack of investment from the board and he had taken the team as far as it could go. i was gutted.

i met cyril when i was a young lad on a few occasions, one notably at clennon valley field, he was videoing a torquay united under 12's game that his son was playing in.

myself and a few of my mates kept pestering him and talking to him through the game, we had beaten bolton 2-1 the day before and we had tottenham at home coming up in 3 days time. we were probably annoying as hell, but he was a proper gent and really nice to us.

i remember after he left and returned with hartlepool to plainmoor, the away dugout was by the popside and as cyril walked accross to take his place,the reception he got was bigger and better than any i have seen for a
returning former player or manager.

i was at the game at plainmoor the day he died and it was announced over the tannoy at half time he had sadly passed away. all i could think of was him watching his young lad playing for the under 12's at clennon valley a few years earlier.

Cyril Knowles,great player and great manager at Torquay,where has all the years gone,certainly nice one Cyril,let's do it for him this afternoon.

he sure did.

Oh and he liked a drink or three

A True Legend, great manager and person, was lucky enough to meet him at dawlish warren with his family one sunday, true gent. greatly missed

gullintwoplaces wrote:For me, Cyril was one the best, and most admired, Gulls managers. His signings, his style, his record were all first class. A gentleman who I remember with great affection. Nice one Cyril indeed.

agreed. Good tough football we played under him. The best manger for us. The Tottenham night at Plainmoor beeing my best memory.

For me, Cyril was one the best, and most admired, Gulls managers. His signings, his style, his record were all first class. A gentleman who I remember with great affection. Nice one Cyril indeed.

Great manager, loved his tenure always knew how to get the best from players and was never pushed around, not even by Sir Alex himself allegedly. Never forget that game at Moleniux. Would be nice to hear a chorus of nice one Cyril today.

Not sure if it has been mentioned in match day thread but it is 22 years ago today that he died, so it is somewhat poignant that we are playing Hartlepool, who he was manager of after he left Torquay and was there when he became ill, on the anniversary of his death.