Every Wednesday in the Herald Express, our Torquay United correspondent Richard Hughes takes a sideways look at what's going on in the world of the Gulls. This week, he chats to co-chairman Michael Westcott about his ownership of the club

Michael Westcott has a notebook on his bedside table so that when he wakes up thinking about Torquay United, he can make sure no good ideas are lost.

It has been a surprising year for the co-chairman, who came to the club’s rescue with a group of people who were thrown together by circumstance – but who are now real friends as they all learn their roles in a consortium named after a dog that bit a policeman. It’s what dreams are made of. But after the dream, reality kicks in and the hard word begins.

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Seven months into the Bryn Consortium’s ownership, I spoke to Michael as he was “labouring with Christmas lurgee”. I told him I wanted to do something positive for the first paper of the 2025 – but, to be fair, there isn’t much negativity around these days, especially with Torquay at the top of the National League South table (as I write on New Year’s Eve) and the club in the best place it has been for many, many years.

“We got the keys on May 31, so believe it or not it is coming up to seven months,” said Westcott. “That has gone by in a flash. There has been a lot of change for everybody involved. We have had to go on that journey from fans who stood on the terraces, in some of our cases for 50 years, to now being responsible for the day-to-day running and direction of our beloved football club.

“It has been a fun journey but not without its challenges. We have been on a really steep learning curve and like any organisation or any business you surround yourself with people who are experts in what they do. The biggest challenge for us, from day one, was trying to understand the football side – and that now legendary and very fortunate, almost serendipitous meeting with Neil Warnock on the now famous train journey allowed us to really accelerate our knowledge. Thanks to Neil, that led us to a decision to appoint Paul Wotton, and then let’s not underestimate how difficult the recruitment was.

“Don’t forget, Paul came in nearly four weeks after the season had finished and only then did we start the recruitment process – and we had to recruit a whole squad in about six weeks. I think if you ask anyone in football management how difficult a task that is they would say that it is about as difficult as it comes. And I think as we sit here now, literally at the half-way point of the season, sitting on top of the league, I think that’s ahead of anyone’s expectations.

“I think when we sat down with Paul and Neil at the beginning of the season and said ‘what do we think good looks like as far as the plan is concerned?’ We thought a top-seven finish, and maybe have a go in the play-offs. Given all the challenges that we had in front of us that was what felt like a reasonable goal for us.

“Probably about two months ago, on the back of extraordinary support and all the benefits that have come with that enormous support allowed us to contemplate perhaps recalibrating our goals for the season.

“I think at that point I felt a top-three finish is the new plan – and that led to Paul being able to contemplate bringing additional quality to the squad, which you would have seen with the acquisition of Jordan Young, bringing in Jordan Thomas and Dylan Morgan.

“So if you ask me how we feel at the half-way point, I think we feel satisfied – but across the whole club, as Paul reminded everyone on Boxing Day, we are still far from the finished article on the pitch. And I have just got off the phone with [chief executive officer] Joe Lovell, as we are thinking about the second half of the season, and we have still got lots to do off the field.”

Westcott is an innovator. The business he co-founded, CloserStill, is a leading B2B (business to business) exhibition and events company that operates globally. Westcott and his partners grew that company from its humble beginnings on a pig farm in Warwickshire in 2008 to what it is today.

Now he has a new business challenge. But the people who came together as the Bryn Consortium all have their own skill-sets – and a philosophy that they are the club’s custodians – not its owners.

Communication between the club and fans is such a breath of fresh air – and Westcott is just as happy to talk to me as is happy to stand in Boots & Laces or on the Popside and chat to supporters. The infrastructure of the club has been shaken up, and the buildings have been decorated, improved, and given a makeover.

So what will 2025 bring – after such a dramatic 12 months in the club’s history? “You have got to keep trying new things – new ways to engage supporters with which we can create new revenue streams” Westcott said.

“We are ticking the box for attendances, we are absolutely delighted with where we are with attendances, and we are looking at a potential sell-out for Truro. Averaging 3,400 or whatever we are at the moment was beyond our expectations.

“We are focussing on making Plainmoor a 365-day a year venue for events, and I come from an event background, so that’s probably one area with which I can definitely help.

“A big focus now for us, now we have done the infrastructure, is turning Plainmoor into an event venue – outside of football. And also a big focus on Boots & Laces, we want that to become a real community driver for events and celebrations and community gatherings etc.

“Plainmoor feels much more together and it feels like a club on the up, maybe. People want to be part of something they think is moving forward and I think to a great extent we have been able to inject that energy and momentum into the business.

“And that will lead to success I think. There’s a renewed energy, I think more of a can-do mentality around the club. And our staff, who we inherited, have also had to get used to new ways of thinking and challenging conventional wisdom on how things have been done in the past – and us being able to empower them and enable them to say: yes, we can do these new things”

Everything is changing. Positivity is breeding success – so far at least. Torquay still have half a season to go – before the big New Year’s Day derby against Truro City today – but a top-three finish and promotion is now the major objective for the Bryn Consortium.

It has been a big change for Michael too. “I think it has been a massive adjustment for me personally, and my family, and how I prioritise my time. I have got a notebook on my bedside table because I wake up thinking, ‘I must talk to Joe about that, or I must talk to Paul about that – or I must talk to Neil about this.

"I definitely feel the weight of responsibility and I tend to go to bed thinking about Torquay United and I tend to wake up thinking about Torquay United.”