The Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Shaun Taylor as Head of Coaching for our Academy.
Shaun is well known to the Yellow Army for his time at the Club as assistant to former TUFC manager, Martin Ling.
The Club’s Academy structure is going from strength to strength since being re-formed this year. The process to put all of the necessary pieces of the jigsaw together is continuing, and the passion to build a successful Academy in conjunction with Torquay Academy, is once again alive and well at Plainmoor.
The appointment of Shaun Taylor is another step in aiming to provide everything that Football League clubs offer their players, without the funding that comes from the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) funded by the Premier League.
Taylor will be in charge of conducting coach and player reviews, and integrating a playing philosophy as part of a coaching syllabus. He knows head coach Gary Owers from a spell as his assistant at Forest Green Rovers.
“Shaun will be an integral part of developing young players at the football club,” according to general manager, Geoff Harrop.
“We have an excellent relationship with Torquay Academy, and its principal, Steve Margetts, and on the football side, Chris Hogg. With that in mind, both parties are working very hard to develop young players for the future of Torquay United Football Club.
“It is a long term project, it isn’t something that will suddenly bring out players ready for the 1st team, but it is a great starting point. With all of Shaun’s experience as a player, an assistant manager, and a coach, he will not only enhance the players but also the quality of our coaches.
“He’ll be working in conjunction with the head coach, who is totally behind the youth in terms of bridging the gap between the Academy and the 1st team. He’ll be keeping Gary up-to-date on players that are coming through the system. They know each other from before, so it sets us in good stead.
“There were quite a few people that we interviewed and they were all very good candidates. Fortunately for Shaun we thought he was the way forward for us.”
Taylor is eager to get to work and is happy to be back a Club he has fond memories of.
“I needed a different adventure and I’m looking forward to the opportunity of a fresh challenge,” said Shaun. “I enjoy developing players and making coaches better, and that’s what I am going to be doing.
“I’ll be based at Torquay Academy during the day as part of the Club’s link-up, and then oversee the training of the Academy players on Monday and Saturday evenings.
“I did a very similar job at Exeter City who were linked to Exeter College. I know the college route and I enjoyed developing those boys and we’ll do the same here. I’m going to enjoy building that up for Torquay United.
“The players at Torquay Academy are combining education with their football. Sometimes that can relax players and they can benefit more from that.
“On Saturday’s there is a programme of matches and I’ll be looking to see how our coaches manage on match days.”