In 2005 the club announced plans to build a new 16,000-seater stadium in Truro as a new home for the city's football club. However, the £12m plans were opposed by some residents who live near the proposed site at Treyew Road. In 2006, the club revealed plans for a £7m football training complex. The club wanted to build two new pitches and a club house on land in Kenwyn, Truro with a 60-bed hotel and offices at its present Treyew Road base. However, in 2007, Carrick District Council rejected the plans for the new 16,000-seater stadium, a decision which club chairman Kevin Heaney described as a 'major blow'.
In 2011 Cornwall Council started developing a business plan for the proposed Stadium for Cornwall, which would host both Truro City and the Cornish Pirates rugby union team.
In 2014, the club sold Treyew Road for redevelopment, with the intention of using the money as their share of the development costs for the planned new stadium. The club received three extensions allowing them to stay at the ground following its sale, but in the summer of 2018, the development company announced its plans to begin work on the project immediately, forcing Truro City to find a temporary location. Eventually, the club came to an agreement with divisional rivals Torquay United to undertake a groundshare of their Plainmoor stadium, a ground that was 2 hours away from Truro. This agreement created the quirk of having more than 2,700 away fans than home ones in attendance when Truro hosted Torquay that season.
In October 2018 it was revealed that the deal with Helical Retail, who were going to redevelop the Treyew Road site into a supermarket, was off. In January 2019, Truro returned to Treyew Road, but insisted that their return to the ground did not affect their plans to share the proposed Stadium for Cornwall with rugby union club Cornish Pirates in future. The Pirates bought Truro in March 2019.
In January 2021 it was announced that the club will finally leave their Treyew Road ground and groundshare with Plymouth Parkway F.C. at Bolitho Park, Plymouth, until 2022 when the Stadium for Cornwall is scheduled to be finished.
in March 2023, Truro confirmed the extension of their ground share deal at Plymouth Parkway for the 2023/24 season
Truro City are already the most reputable football club in the county of Cornwall, but despite that title and being founded all the way back in 1889, they still only reside in the 6th tier of the English football pyramid and have never been higher than that! The club now finds itself back in the National League South for the first time in 5 seasons, since their relegation from this division back in the 2018/19 season.
My aim is to do something that has never been done before in English football history – take a team from Cornwall to the English football league. That’s right…never have Cornwall had representation in League Two or above – and in the long term I want to go even better than that and take Truro to the promised land of the Premier League, no matter how long it takes!
It would also be nice to land this club’s first major trophy as well. They’ve never even been past the 2nd round of the FA Cup and the FA Trophy has eluded them thus far as well. However, they did pick up the FA Vase back in the 2006/07 season and that remains their most impressive piece of silverware to date.
The squad I inherit is a small one, but that does not surprise me for this lowly level. On the plus side, we do have some promise amongst the numbers according to my assistant manager’s star ratings, so there could well be something to build on here.
The best player at the club and the man I will have to build the squad around is Tyler Harvey. The playmaking midfielder is a Truro favourite having played more than 140 league games for the club over two spells and he is head and shoulders above most of the other players in the team in terms of ability.
With Harvey likely doing most of the attacking work from central midfield, he will be backed up by the more defensive minded, Adam Porter. The 21 year old is another of the better players in the squad and it does at least mean we will be relatively solid through the middle of the park, assuming these two stay fit.
The defence will have a loanee at the heart of it. Sam Sanders is here for the season from York City who he has played for 33 times at both this level and the level above, so his experience will prove very valuable for us (with this being our first season back up in the National League South), despite only being 21 years of age.
The other thing I was pleased to see is that I already have a decent keeper. Having a good goalkeeper down at this level can be a real gamechanger and makes such a difference so this is a massive plus for us. James Hamon will need some competition for his place as he is the only goalkeeper in the squad, but he will do us just nicely as our number 1 between the sticks.
One area that the club is currently lacking is a development/U18/youth setup. We have an U21s squad with just 1 single player in it and no U18 setup at all…this is something we can hopefully build upon in years to come, but I certainly don’t expect much from our youth intakes for the first couple of seasons at least.
Following our promotion last season, it’s no surprise to see the bookies have us right down the pecking order in terms of favouritism to win the league this season, but a 17th placed predicted finish is better than I thought it would be and again gives us reason to be hopeful of a good season with some additions in the transfer market.
Although that might be easier said than done. We have a measly £200 per week available in the wage budget and no transfer budget to spend. On a positive note, the club does at least have a positive bank balance…for now.
In terms of the board’s expectations, this season they just want us to establish ourselves in the division, which is fair enough. The cups could generate some decent income if we can get through a couple of rounds and that will be the aim there.
The 5 year plan is simply to become a top half side in this division, so very little pressure there. With regards to my own personal target, I’d like us to be challenging for promotion from the division above by then.
The fans are more worried about finishing above our rivals than anything else!!
The atmosphere at the club is very good as I take over, although the managerial support from my players will need to be built as I come in as a complete unknown to them. A good start to the season with some solid wins should hopefully build their faith in my appointment quite quickly.
The first time I’d be in the Truro dugout was in a friendly against Welsh minnows, Ynyshir and it resulted in a resounding victory. A great start and the excitement around the fanbase is clear to see, but it’s only one game, it is only a friendly and our opponents were of extremely small stature.
The bad news to come out of that game is that James Hamon is now going to miss all of our pre season preparation and the first couple of games of the league as well through injury! Not at all ideal!
Talking of being in the dugout, I should probably take the opportunity to properly introduce my managerial profile. I set my coaching badges and previous playing experience to what was recommended for the club I take over (as always). This left me with just a National B License as an ex Sunday league footballer. Plenty of improvement to come over the years and my starting attributes leave plenty to be desired.
Our second friendly saw us in free flowing sensational goalscoring form once again against regional English side, Melksham. Again it was against weaker opposition we were expected to beat, but this is still another very impressive attacking display as we warm up for the season ahead.
Two more friendlies followed and they were simply money spinners. Leyton Orient and QPR are both in leagues above us and we knew we could draw some fans in for these sort of games and when you’ve only got £11k in the bank, anything to help the cash flow is welcome. We didn’t disgrace ourselves in either game.
When I joined the club, the first thing I did was move on most of the backroom staff and I’ll be honest – recruiting new ones has been tough on a shoestring budget. However, I do finally have an Assistant Manager as ex Gillingham, Stevenage and Leyton Orient player Charlie Lee joins the club.
Time to appoint my captain and the man who gets my first ever Truro armband is left back, Connor Roley-Lowe. His attributes are the best fit for a leader in the team so he gets the nod amongst a team that generally lacks leadership all round.
Our final friendly of pre season was a slightly disappointing result if I’m honest. I’d expected us to beat Merthyr quite comfortably, especially after smashing home 15 goals in our first two friendlies against weaker opposition. However, on this occasion we had to settle for a draw despite dominating for large periods of the game.
So here’s the formation I have created throughout our range of friendlies and will likely be kicking off the competitive season with. It’s a bit ‘out there’ for me as I have used an asymmetric system that I don’t normally go for and used roles that I don’t usually go for either….don’t think I’ve ever used a defensive winger before ever! As with all my tactics, every player has personalised player instructions depending on their strengths/weaknesses (ie. If they are a weak crosser then cross less often, if they are a great passer with good vision then take more risks, if they are a good dribbler then dribble more etc etc…).
Just before we kick off the season, I managed to add a couple of loanees to the squad. I only had one recognised keeper in the squad, so I desperately needed to bring another in and the man that will challenge for the position between the sticks is 19 year old Swansea goalie, Ben Hughes. The other area we are low on numbers is on the wings, so the addition of Cardiff’s Morgan Wigley is also very welcome. The youngster has the attributes to break into our first team this year and make a name for himself for sure and it’s really handy he can play down either side.
Our first game of the season will be at home to Maidstone. Not an easy one, but certainly a match we have every reason to think we can get something out of.
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