 In May 1990, after selling his windows company, he became chairman of Torquay United and saw the side promoted to Football League Third Division at the end of the next season, Torquay beating Blackpool on penalties in the Football League Fourth Division play-off final at Wembley Stadium, in doing so becoming the first Football League team to win promotion on penalties.However, they lasted just one season at this level before being relegated, and did not win promotion for 12 years.During those 12 years, they came close to being relegated to the Conference on no less than three occasions (once finishing bottom of the league and only retaining their status because the Conference champions did not meet the Football League requirements for stadium capacity), though on a more positive note they did qualify for the playoffs once (in 1998), losing to Colchester United.