A fairy tale was well and truly coming to life in Cornwall as little Truro City earned their place in the second tier of English football for the first time. The club with comfortably the smallest budget in League One earned automatic promotion with a squad of promising youngsters
The step up to tier two forced the Truro board to expand Truro Sports Hub by 2,962 deats at a cost of £3.5m. The works would take eight months, which forced the club to move to Torquay’s 6,200-capacity Plainmoor until January. But, in all honesty, Trevelyan was pretty sure they’d be better off building a new stadium. The board also invested £1.8m into improving the training facilities, swapped former senior affiliate West Ham for a new one in Sunderland, and handed the manager 100% of transfer revenue for the first time. However, when the new season ticked around, tycoon owner Richard Mukherjee randomly decided to “withdraw his financial backing” while remaining as chairman.
The summer began with two midfield sales as homegrown Antonio Vincent went to Bristol City for £4.5m and Kaelen Thwaite headed back to Australia with Adelaide for £1.3m. Some players wanted ludicrous wage rises so long-serving goalkeeper Tom Wooster, who played 289 league games for the club since the first National League campaign in 2025, joined Watfford on a free and centre back Roger James was one of 11 players to be released.
Trevelyan snapped up 12 players released by big teams led by Spurs left back Stephen Emmanuel, speedy Newcastle winger Jack Bartle, versatile Chelsea right back Charlie Felix and Aston Villa centre back Lawson McNaught. Some much-needed experience arrived in striker Tyrese Campbell from Derby, only for him to twist his ankle in pre-season. Trevelyan also looked to the loan market, bringing in left back Alex Akande from Brighton, China international winger Yang Siyuan and midfielder Harry Sayers from Sunderland and holding midfielder Lucas Menna from Everton.
Trevelyan decided to stick with the 4-3-3 approach, albeit taking a more conservative mindset. Promising 21-year-old goalkeeper Philip Wakefield steps up to replace Wooster with homegrown Drew Meyler coming into the defence and fellow homegrown prospect George Bartley shifting over to the left wing or into midfield to make space for Yang.
Stepping Up To The Championship
The bookies certainly didn’t fancy Truro’s chances, predicting them to finish last with title odds of 300/1 – but based on last season, that means nothing. Fellow promoted side Charlton are also expected to struggle along with Swansea City (150/1) and Luton Town, Oxford United, Plymouth Argyle and Watford (50/1). West Brom are 5/4 favourites for the title along with relegated Wolves (11/8), Burnley and Sheffield United (9/2) and relegated Nottingham Forest and Leeds United (11/2 and 15/2). Truro were now taking on players like Wolves’ Joao Gomes, Burnley’s Joao Rego and Sheff U’s Jamie Donley and their £3.6m annual salary spend was less than half of next-lowest Charlton’s £8.1m and one fifth of second-lowest Swansea’s £16.6m. It paled into insignificance compared to West Brom’s £95.1m – which is 26-times more than Truro’s, and they have four players on over £100k per week and one earning £205k a week compared to Truro’s weekly budget of £99k – Leeds’ £84.5m and Fulham’s £69.6m.
Truro began life in tier two with a tough test at Sheffield United and applied themselves well, scoring twice through midfielder Jordan Foyle and debutant Yang but lost 4-2 with Donley scoring twice. Their first home game was a huge one against relative near neighbours Plymouth and Meyler’s header earned their first point in a game that set a new club record attendance of 6,000. They struggled again on the road with a 3-1 defeat at former affiliate West Ham with Charlie Barton scoring his first of the season. But they finally got going as Barton’s early penalty and goal just after halftime got them firing before Bartle came off the bench to create two Yang tap-ins and wrap up an impressive 4-0 win at home to Swansea.
A much tougher home game followed against Forest, but a solid defensive effort and Wakefield’s six saves earned a good 0-0 before getting thumped 4-0 at Wolves. Campbell had a shocker of a debut with no service in that game but made his home debut against former club Stoke a week later and played slightly better as Bartle’s first goal and a late header by centre back Ben Hall rescued a point. And the same result followed at home to Birmingham, who had Chido Obi-Martin playing up front, thanks to Sayers’ late strike. That was followed by three consecutive away games, for which Mahtal created a more defensive version of the tactic. It worked nicely at Sheffield Wednesday and Coventry as Campbell’s first two goals earned Truro’s first two away points before Mayler, Campbell and midfielder Chinazu Nwosu snapped a six-game winless streak at struggling Watford.
Back at Plainmoor, Truro earned 0-0 draws with Cardiff and Millwall before tough trips to leaders Fulham and Hull ended in 3-1 and 2-1 defeats. That saw Truro drop into the dropzone after 15 games but they clambered out of it thanks to a brilliant Bartle brace downing fellow strugglers Charlton 2-1 away. A tricky December began with Campbell’s goals earning a 2-2 at West Brom then Sayers’ late goal nicked a 1-1 at high-flying Middlesbrough in which Campbell twisted his ankle again.
Without him, they faced three home games in a week that began with another Bartle goal and a massive defensive effort preventing 4th-place Burnely from having a shot on target to secure arguably their biggest scalp yet. They then lost 2-1 to Sheff Wed, who had former Italy international Moise Kean up front, before Menna’s 20-yard volley on 80 minutes downed struggling Leeds. And that upturn in form sent Truro into the new year in 18th place, 5 points clear of the relegation zone and 7 points behind West Brom in 10th.
Minor FA Cup Upset
The new-look Truro Sports Hub was unveiled on 3 January with an expanded capacity of 8,712 thanks to a terracing capacity of 3,500. The first game in it saw managerless Premier League strugglers Brighton come to town in the FA Cup third round and late goals by Bartley and Hall nicked a 3-2 win. And a capacity crowd saw Truro set a new gate receipts record of £220k. They drew 2-2 at home to Hull but lost 1-0 away in another disappointing draw, but their focus was firmly on league matters.
Eyeing Up A Survival Bid
Truro began 2033 with the returning Campbell earning a 1-1 at Cardiff. That was followed by two huge games, starting with entertaining 22nd-place Coventry and playing out a dire 0-0 before Campbell’s 10th goal of the season earned a 1-1 at 23rd-place Millwall. They then faced the top two back-to-back and were really unlucky to lose 2-1 at home to Fulham then got thumped 4-1 at Forest. That tricky run took Truro seven games without a win, but they arrested that trend with a great performance at home to Wolves. Nwosu laid on two Yang first-half goals, Barton added a third and, despite two late Wolves goals, they held on for a huge victory.
Two crunch games followed and Bartley scored the only goal at home to Watford, who Truro leapfrogged into 19th, before Wakefield earned a 0-0 at 17th-place Stoke. Homegrown captain fantastic Sammy Raybould scored the opener in a crucial 2-0 win over Hull, which moved Truro 11 points clear of relegation going into the final 10 games. They stayed there despite getting battered 3-1 at Oxford before Campbell and Barton goals downed 5th-place Luton 2-0 and Campbell bagged a brace in a brilliant 4-2 win at Plymouth – and more or less guaranteed survival.
Truro continued that run of great form with Sayers scoring the only goal at home to Sheff U, who sacked Jack Wilshere as a result. Campbell bagged a brace to earn a 2-2 with former affiliate West Ham then scored early on before Bartley smahsed in a second to defeat 6th-place Middlesbrough 2-0 – which mathematically guaranteed survival with three games to play. The final day teed up an opportunity to relegate Leeds with at least a point at Elland Road. And, in dramatic fashion, they achieved it as Bartley’s 91st-minute equaliser sent Leeds United down to League One!
Truro finished in an impressive 16th place after 14 wins, a league-high 17 draws and 15 defeats, scoring 60 and conceding 67. Campbell proved a superb signing, finishing as the 3rd-top scorer in the league with 21 goals in 35 games, Bartle racked up the 7th-most assists with 11, while Wakefield repaid his manager’s faith with his 12 clean sheets only bettered by West Ham and Middlesbrough’s keepers’ 13.
Celebrating Survival In The Championship
Trevelyan had unwavering trust in his promising youngsters but even he didn’t really expect Truro to survive by 13 points at the expense of sleeping giant Leeds. But it was an old head who was the club’s best performer as Campbell, Truro’s oldest player by eight years, scored a club-high 22 in 37 followed by the impressive Barton (10 goals and 6 assists). Bartle was also excellent with 11 assists, Yang chipped in with 7 goals and 7 assists and Bartley contributed 6 goals and 5 assists.
This summer will mark Trevelyan’s 10th year at his hometown club. Ten years ago as a fledgling Football Manager, he couldn’t even have imagined sitting in the second tier of English football dreaming of pushing towards the upper echelons of the table. But that was now the reality as Truro fans were, very quietly among themselves, beginning to dream of reaching the Premier League.
But could Truro avoid second season syndrome and survive again as massive underdogs in the Championship? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
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