The streets of Truro were filled with Cornish folk celebrating the unlikely achievement of Perran Trevelyan and his Truro City heroes winning National League South to reach the English fifth tier for the first time in club history. However, given the club’s lack of finances, surviving in the National League was going to be a massive challenge.
Truro were clearly nowhere near ready for the step up. That was proven by the owner announcing plans to expand the stadium capacity by 1,250, at the cost of £702k that they didn’t have using a £350k grant from the local authority and a £350k loan paid off at £3,700 per month until 2034. That didn’t help an already challenging financial situation, coming into the season with just £50k in the bank balance
A mass of summer departures, including players who wanted too much money or weren’t good enough, left Trevelyan with a minuscule squad. He snapped up one Cornish prospect, bringing in Truro-born goalkeeper Zak Baker on a free from Plymouth. He also promoted several recent academy graduates in right backs Sammy Raybould and Euan Annear, midfielders Alex Noice (noice) and Sam Allen, winger Jonathan Sutton and striker Levi Beeden. Trevelyan stuck with the 4-5-1 approach that worked last season, but adopting a more conservative mindset for some games.
Stepping Up To The National League
Truro, one of six semi-pro teams in the Vanarama National League, were favourites for relegation with 250/1 title odds, shorter than Trevelyan had expected. Relegated Barrow were 5/4 favorites along with Forest Green (9/2), Oldham and Harrogate (11/2), Gateshead (6/1) and AFC Fylde (15/1).
Truro began life in the fifth tier with a tough trip to Solihull Moors and they struggled in a 3-0 defeat. It didn’t get much easier as their first home game was a visit from favourites Barrow but they pulled off a huge shock as, despite trailing after 5 minutes, last season’s star man Jaze Kabia teed up young striker Dominic Johnson-Fisher then headed his side in front. Barrow equalised with a penalty but Kabia snuck in at the backpost to restore the lead and winger Scott Burgess wrapped up a superb win.
Away games looked set to be a struggle as they got dominated at Gateshead and Dagenham & Redbridge then lost 2-1 at Fylde. But another superb home performance saw Kabia lead the way with a hat-trick as they thrashed fellow promoted side South Shields 6-1 and midfielder Tyler Harvey ran the game to sneak a 4-3 win over Southend, before a first home defeat 2-1 to Rochdale.
Burgess racked up a hat-trick of assists to defeat fellow promoted side Dorking 3-2, which saw Truro sitting 16th after 10 games. They got their first away point with a 2-2 at Yeovil, which was also their first draw of the season closely followed by a second with an impressive 1-1 at home to Oldham and another with a 2-2 at Halifax, in which Allen became the club’s youngest scorer aged 17 years 244 days. Truro went 8 games without a win, including a worrying 2-1 defeat at 23rd-place Ebbsfleet in which club legend Stewart Yetton became the league’s oldest goalscorer aged 39 years 105 days, before a vital 2-0 success at home to 21st-place Barnet.
The struggles continued, but Kabia scored the only goal at home to Solihull before getting thumped by title-chasing Gateshead two days later, in which Sutton replaced Allen as the youngest scorer aged 17 years 139 days. But Truro headed into 2025 with a five-point gap to 21st-place Barnet.
Tycoon Takeover Ahead Of Relegation Scrap
Truro’s performances had seen Trevelyan offered job interviews by the likes of Barrow and Harrogate through to Bradford and even Championship Oxford. But the manager remained loyal to his local side, who began the new year with Burgess and Kabia earning a solid 2-2 at home to 4th-place Dagenham.
However, the big news at Truro revolved around rumours of a tycoon looking to take control of the club in early January. Trevelyan ignored it, presuming it would never happen, but a deal was quickly done that saw Indian investor Richard Mukherjee purchase the club. Mukherjee has made bold promises to ensure Truro “become one of the greatest forces in domestic and continental football.” That began by instantly turning the club professional, pumping £1.3m into the club, handing Trevelyan a £338k transfer budget and giving the manager a new contract on £400 per week. Mukherjee also ploughed £650k into improving the youth facilities and increasing the youth level
The new era began with a 3-1 defeat at Southend before a crucial 2-0 win at bottom-side South Shields, which was Truro’s first away win of the season at the 15th attempt. Harvey’s penalty nicked a point at Rochdale and Kabia’s penalty secured a vital 1-0 win over 20th-place Eastleigh, which moved them 6 points above the dropzone. They got dominated at home to leaders Yeovil but Allen and Harvey goals earned a deserved 2-2 at Oldham. However, that suddenly dropped them to just 2 points above the relegation places with 10 games remaining.
Out of nowhere, they finally found some form as Yetton scored the only goal at home to Halifax and at Scunthorpe either side of draws at Woking and at home to Sutton. That lifted Truro to the heady heights of 15th, with 15th to 22nd separated by just 4 points with 7 games remaining. Yetton scored again as Truro drew 2-2 with Ebbsfleet before a crunch game at 21st-place Barnet. Truro got a flying start as Kabia whipped a screamer from 30 yards into the top corner after 23 seconds. Barnet grew into it before Kabia was very harshly sent off after 35 minutes. From then on, Barnet completely dominated, but the brilliance of Dan Lavercombe in goal and some solid defensive work, oddly not reflected in the match ratings, held them to a 1-1.
The defensive resilience was on show again at Forest Green three days later as they held on for another 1-1, aided by the hosts getting a player sent off after 12 minutes and Sutton nicked a point on 75 minutes. That took Truro eight league games unbeaten, of which they’d only won twice, but the streak ended with a 3-2 defeat at home to Harrogate while all their relegation rivals also lost. That left Truro in what was technically a 10-team relegation battle with 15th to 21st split by 9 points. They led Barnet in the final relegation place by 5 points, having played a game more than all their rivals. That gap was reduced to four points as Barnet beat Barrow 3-0 in their game in hand.
Game 1 – Boston United (13th, home): Truro’s first game of the run-in was more or less a must-win given it was followed by an away day and a tough final home game. And the boys delivered as Yetton curled the opener from 20 yards just before halftime, Boston equalised after an hour but midfielder Yassine En-Neyah stepped up with a brilliant strike from the edge of the box in injury time. Elsewhere, Barnet lost 5-2 at Gateshead to drop back into the dropzone and Truro extended the gap to 5 points with two games remaining.
Game 2 – Braintree Town (18th, away): Truro’s abysmal away form continued as they lost 4-1 at Braintree. But, while Barnet beat relegated South Shields, Scunthorpe, Eastleigh and Barrow all lost, which meant Truro miraculously survived with a game to play! They ‘celebrated’ survival by paying homage to 39-year-old club legend Yetton, who’d announced his retirement at the end of the season, in a 2-1 defeat at home to York, who won the league on the final day.
Truro finished in a commendable 18th place on 51 points – only 14 of which were picked up away from home – after 12 wins, a new club record 15 draws and 19 defeats, scoring 68 and conceding 84, which was 12 more than bottom-side Halifax. Burgess had been Truro’s main man, leading the National League with an impressive 19 assists in 41 games.
Promising Times In Truro
Trevelyan was delighted with a successful but seriously challenging season in Truro City’s first campaign in the English fifth tier. They’d just about survived with a squad that was nowhere near the required standard but had little sprinkles of quality.
Kabia again led the way with 21 goals plus 7 assists in 45 games, while Yetton stepped up with 14 goals in 52 games, which is pretty good for a 39-year-old. But their man man was very much Burgess, who led the way with 20 assists and 8 goals in 46 games.
The tycoon takeover definitely boosted Truro’s hopes of progression, but Trevelyan wasn’t getting carried away by the finances he’d have to strengthen his squad. They were highly likely to lose several key players from the previous two seasons, which meant he’d have no choice but to bring in new players and continue to introduce new academy prospects. Speaking of which, the second youth intake delivered another potential star in goalkeeper Sam Mundy.
Could Trevelyan rebuild his Truro squad for a stronger second season in the National League and avoid second season syndrome? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
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