Truro City FC ready to bring football home with name change and new coach

Cornwall's biggest football club is ready to bring football home. Truro City Football Club is almost set to return to the city and a new ground after years of sharing in Plymouth and as far afield as Gloucester. Not only is its new 'stadium' at Langarth nearing completion, with a view to welcome its first game when the new season 2024-25 kicks off in August, but the club has also unveiled a new badge and nickname - and a new coach too.

The club said it had decided to upgrade its crest and go even bolder by ditching the name 'White Tigers' and go back to its Cornish roots. In a post on its website and social media, the club said: "The white tiger will no longer feature on any club crest or associated branding and this will also see Truro City drop the White Tigers moniker, given its lack of historical connections with the club and the Duchy as a whole.

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"Truro will readopt its original nickname of the Tinners whilst also using City, to reflect the club’s status as Cornwall’s only city club." A spokesperson at the Tinners said the new updated crest made more of its home city and Cornish heritage remaining subtle.

They said: "We can reveal our new and updated crest ahead of the club’s return to Cornwall in a new playing facility for the 2024-25 season. Subtle changes have been made to the branding which the club have used for the past six years.

"Truro Cathedral is now rendered in black on a white background with the St Piran’s flag sitting below the city’s most prominent landmark. The main aesthetic features of the crest are no longer housed within a shield and they are given greater prominence than seen previously.

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"This new crest is the first of many exciting announcements ahead of Football Coming Home, with season tickets for next season going on sale this Friday, June 7."

Ahead of the new season, Truro City FC have also unveiled John Askey as the club’s new first team manager on a multi-year deal. The 59-year-old has a wealth of managerial experience in both the English Football League and the top two tiers of National League football.

John, who hails from Stoke-on-Trent, enjoyed a successful playing career with Macclesfield Town and after playing for the Silkmen 679 times, he is the club’s all-time leading appearance maker. After hanging up his boots in 2003 he moved into management and he took charge of Macclesfield in the same year.

He said: "It is a new start for the club coming to a new ground. It is exciting times although it will be a challenge, but I am looking forward to the project ahead. We are hoping that everyone in Cornwall can get behind us and we can be successful. That is what it is all about, turning this club into a successful one."

John added: "Truro have done well over the past couple of years but we want to push on now and keep improving. We want conviction and as long the supporters see the players having a go for them, that is all we can expect. If you do that as a player, along with being strong, organised and fit, there is no reason why we can’t compete.

“It will be tough, initially, but we have a lovely ground and the pitch will be fantastic to play on so hopefully we can play some good football and entertain the supporters, by winning games."

The club was promoted to the National League South at the end of the season last year. This year has proved a rather hectic season for the Tinners with City enduring three different ‘home’ venues - none in Cornwall.

They started by sharing facilities with Plymouth Parkway before that agreement ended in February. Home matches were then moved to the home of Taunton Tow, but the wet winter weather saw the side fail to play a home game in Somerset and for the final two months of the season, moved matches to Gloucester City.

Despite the near 400-mile round trip, not withstanding playing eight home matches in 14 days, the side ensured survival at Step Two of the National League System, for 2024-25. And with a new home ground almost ready, City said its long years in limbo away from home are almost over.