Torquay United prospective new owners make up The Bryn Consortium

Michael Westcott and three of the men who make up The Bryn Consortium, the people talking to Torquay United’s administrators about taking the club on, have today been named as directors of a company called Scoring Goals Limited.

Earlier today, the consortium of Westcott, Mark Bowes-Cavanagh, Thom Allen, Simon Robinson and Rob Hawes were named as the new ‘preferred bidders’ by the club administrators – and the use of the name offers fans a glimpse into Westcott’s history with the football club.

‘Police dog Bryn turned from villain to hero in just a few minutes at Plainmoor - his sharp teeth probably saved the club’. This was the introduction on a double-page spread in the Herald Express on Monday, May 10, 1987, after Torquay United had drawn with Crewe Alexandra to secure their Football League status on a day that a police dog chomped on Jim McNichol’s leg to cause enough injury for Paul Dobson to score his dramatic equaliser.

Read More

• Torquay United ‘preferred bidders' revealed by administrators

• The Torquay United Yellow Army Podcast on why secrecy is a bad thing

The story of Bryn has gone down in the annals of, not just Torquay United’s history, but the history of the game itself. And those words written in the Herald Express that day, introducing the name Bryn to the world, were penned by young reporter Michael Westcott, who was 20 and just starting out on a journey of his own.

While sports reporter Dave Thomas and colleague Jim Parker wrote the front page story, Westcott told the story of the day, the game, the bite and the dog over two pages inside the newspaper. So how fitting, 37 years later, that ‘preferred bidder’ Westcott is leading The Bryn Consortium to save the club again?

These days, Westcott runs a marketing company called CloserStill Media, which claims on its website to be 'proud to run high-quality, industry-specific exhibitions, conferences, publications and communities around the world.

‘We are passionate about facilitating B2B networking, knowledge-sharing and excellence. Our award-winning brands play a vital role in connecting businesses and professionals, fostering growth and innovation.’

A biography of Westcott on the company’s website reads: ‘Michael is one of CloserStill's co-founders when the business started life on a pig farm in 2008 in Warwickshire.

‘In the early years, he directed CloserStill's ever-evolving Healthcare Portfolio and since 2015 has focussed on market strategy for the Group.

‘Michael has been instrumental in our international expansion while leading the corporate development and setting up the M&A function since 2016, overseeing numerous successful acquisitions.’

Those are the kind of skill sets that Torquay might find useful moving forward, if Westcott and his friends get the nod from the administrators to take the club on and shape a new future.

But for now, you won’t be hearing from the man himself now until a deal is done – which may not be far off. According to Companies House, Westcott and three others became directors of Scoring Goals Limited today (May 1), the address of which is now recorded as At Harbourside 67 The Terrace, Torquay. The other directors are Bowes-Cavanagh, Allen and Robinson.

The company was registered by Nuala Thornton in September 2023 with its address then listed in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Thornton, a director of CFS International Formations, remained its only director until today, when she resigned after Westcott and friends were added.

With an ambition to make money out of property, the former owner Clarke Osborne called his Torquay United company Riviera Stadiums Limited. That Westcott and co have named their company Scoring Goals suggests a significantly different ambition entirely.

Get the best stories delivered to your inbox every day. Choose what you love here