One more Step along the Road

Following their experiment during the 2006 Christmas period, Argyle will be opening a permanent superstore in Drake Circus. Taking the former Calendar Club unit on the upper mall level next to the escalators within the next few weeks, this will be expand Argyle's presence in the city centre beyond the limited selection in Derry's. With such a more permanent setting supporters would hope that it will provide additional services such as match day ticket purchase; more news when Argyle release details.

Mickey Evans's Testimonial Season

Mickey Evans is to have a testimonial season with various events for charity culminatiing hopefully, with a testimonial match at Home Park. Michael made a total of 432 appearances in two stints for the Greens, scoring 81 goals as well as spending time with Bristol Rovers, West Bromwich Albion, Torquay and then premiership side, Southampton. He retired from football last season.

Michael will be supporting the Devon Air Ambulance, the Mustard Tree cancer support unit at Derriford Hospital, the St Vincent de Paul Society, and Friends and Family with further charities hopefully coming.

The first event will be a sporting dinner on 1 December.

A website will be available soon at http://mickeyevanstestimonial.com/
More details to follow once released.

The Small Screen

Sky TV have confirmed their schedule of live football games for the first half of the season. This includes:

Plymouth Argyle v Cardiff City, Saturday 15 September, 17.20 K/O

Full list of televised matches

*Times subject to change

Hasney leaves

Hasney Aljofree completed a transfer to Swindon Town today for a £50,000 3 year contract.

Hasney joined Argyle in 2002 but most recently was dogged with several injuries, not least his trip to Southampton General during the Saints game last September. This has meant he's been kept out of the team and eventual he was usurped from the staring 11 by his replacements.

Hasney now rejoins Paul Sturrock who signed him from Bolton Wanderers in 2000 and we wish him well in his future success.

'Cos you gotta have Faith

...in the curse of Home Park.

Not content with sticking to matches, the power failure curse struck the George Michael concert last night, meaning that the main event started an hour late.

Home Park was rocking to the sound of George Michael last night in the second concert to be held in the stadium. The huge stage dwarfed the grandstand background, taking up nearly all of the Mayflower enclosure and part of the pitch. Though there were fewer people than at Elton John the atmosphere was greater as thousands of people danced and clapped their wasy through Sophie Ellis Bexter and George's sets.

The sound from the stadium could be heard throughout the city and the spectaculat light and visual show that accompanied George were a sight to behold.








So now the new summer use of Home Park has finished there is a lot to do before 4th August - the temporary seating needs to be installed onto the Mayflower terrace, the fences around the pitch re-erected, the pitch needs time to recover from thousands of dancing feet and the miriad of other jobs that need doing before a ball is kicked again.

Please be Seated

It was announced today that the former Mayflower standing enclosure will be seated come next season.

Approximately 3,500 temporary seats will be affixed onto the terracing, bringing the ground capacity to 20,000 and will be unreserved, meaning that supporters who stood together can sit together on a first-come-first-served basis.

Matchday tickets for the Mayflower seating will be a flat rate of £18.00 (adults), £14 (over 65s) and £6 (under 16s) regardless of whether they are purchased in advance on on the day.

In addition, the PA System, which was not working for the last few months of last season, and the tower floodlights will be upgraded.

The new seating will be available from the home friendly verses Bristol Rovers on 4 August.

Let's go Outside...

Tonight's arrangements for George Michael are as follows:

5.00pm - Doors Open
7.00pm - Sophie Ellis Bextor
7.40pm - Interval
8.10pm - George Michael part one
9.15pm - Interval
9.35pm - George Michael part two
10.45pm - Finish

There is NO PARKING at Home Park. Concert goers are advised to use either the George Junction (Roborough) or Coypool (Marsh Mills) park and ride services (£2.50 return fare after 4.00pm) or park in either the Theatre Royal or Western Approach car parks in the city centre and catch a regular service bus to Milehouse.

Following the concert the park and ride buses will depart from the main car park, departure points will be marked for either the George or Coypool.

Travel advice from Plymouth City Council
Travel Advice from Argyle



Your entrance turnstiles are labelled on your ticket, the DEVONPORT stand (blocks 1 - 6) entrances are the ones facing the main car park under the "Plymouth Argyle Welcomes You" sign; the LYNDHURST (blocks 7 - 16) run down the left hand side of the ground, and the BARN PARK (blocks 17 - 23) are around the back - walk past the Lyndhurst to the far end of the ground and turn right. STANDING is on the pitch - you will need to retain your ticket at all times to have access to this area.



Home Park is COMPLETELY No Smoking - this includes in the concourse, toilets, seating and standing areas.

New Kit

I notice that a lot of people are landing here after searching for our new kit.

There has been no confirmation of a release date for our new home or away strip. Keep an eye on the Argyle Superstore or the Official site for launch details.

Fixtures Released

Next season's fixtures for the Coca Cola Championship were released today, find them at:


The Herald
PAFC Official Site
BBC (Full Championship fixtures)

Argyle have been given an away fixture to kick off the season with the joint longest trip to Hull, whilst are home on Boxing Day to QPR.

Download a handy pdf fixtures card

Carling League Cup Round 1

The draw for round one was made today and Argyle face Wycombe Wanderers at home on Tuesday 14 August, 19.45 kick off.

Full round fixtures list from the BBC

A step in the Right Direction

So news that got buried during yesterday's announcement and subsequent reaction about the Mayflower terrace, is that Argyle are looking into improving their training facilities.

As reported in The Herald, the Plymouth Area Civil Service Sports Association Club is currently up for sale. Boasting a vast range of facilities for including social club, function suite, fitness centre, sauna, badminton, basketball, indoor and outdoor Bowls, cricket, darts, 5-a-side football, netball, pool, rounders, rugby, skittles, snooker, 11-a-side football, table tennis and tennis courts, the club is been forced to close this coming September. There have been 20 applicants to buy out the facilities, one of whom is Argyle.

It has been a bugbear of the club that Harper's Park is becoming inadequate for a Championship Club, and the change in location, as well as the potential for something along the lines of a new branch to PAFC ltd (Argyle Leisure maybe), coupled with Home Park's new concert venue status, could bring in new revenue streams. However with the recent collapse in activity on Phase 2, the added burden of the closed terracing, the lack of finance to support the team; could/would anything come of this?

Sit Down, Shut Up

Today the DCMS announced that Argyle had lost its appeal to keep its terracing at Home Park, stating that it must conform to the ground standards for Championship clubs - namely that they are all seater. This decision comes on the back of the announcement that Cardiff City have been granted a reprieve on their terracing sections. Whether this smacks of the DCMS's hypocrisy in action in allowing one rule for one and another rule for the other the current Argyle board's inability to plan ahead and have firm plans for the beginning of phase 2. This is not going to bode well with a lot of Argyle supporters.

The board are now holding emergency discussions about what will happen to the paddock come the start of the new season. Will they install temporary seating or close it permanently? Once again we have to play the waiting game.

BBC News announcement
The Herald announcement

All Aboard for George Michael

As with the Elton John concert, there will be no parking (except disabled persons) at Home Park for the George Michael concert on June 17.

Concert goers are advised to park at either Park and Ride sites (Coypool or The George-quite appropriate-Roborough, or in city centre car parks, and take public transport to Central Park.

Note, there are slight changes in arrangements from the Elton concert.

Travel advice from Plymouth City Council
Travel Advice from Argyle

The waiting game

It seems that a lot of an Argyle supporters time is spent waiting for things to happen at Home Park, and this summer is no different. We are still waiting for:

- news about whether the Mayflower Terrace will still be open next season. We are awaiting a decision by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, who have granted Cardiff a reprieve because of their new stadium plans, however as Home Park's phase 2 is currently dead in the water there is no knowing what will be the result. Argyle knew that this was due to happen this season, and contingency plans should have been made a long time ago.

- any signings. Holloway has signed on Halmosi and Timar and offered Gallen a year's contract, however there seem to be no plans to seek new players. The general consensus of opinion is that 'dead wood' will be cleared out, but as we have seen, there are too few players at current. Should no new signings be made we'll have to sign the barman as goalkeeper

- a release date for the new kits. Estimates from the superstore suggest they won't be available until August - 2 weeks before the new season. This is being blamed on the late announcement of the sponsor.

So as one season drags into another, into another, although the club has moved forward in the league, the wheels of progress off the pitch move very slowly. And it's frustrating.

Tickets please!

Details of ticket prices for the following preseason fixtures have been released:



Torquay United, Saturday 14 July, 15.00, Plainmoor
adults £10, under 16s £5
pay on the gate
(supporters' coach - if demand is sufficient - adults £10, under 16s £8 will depart Home Park at 15.00, bookings must be made via Argyle's box office)

Yeovil Town, Tuesday 17 July, 19.45, Huish Park
adults £8, students and over 65s £2, under 16s £1

PAFC Official Website

Put that light out!

As I discussed in this post in December the smoking ban will affect football stadia. Argyle confirmed just before the end of the season that Home Park will become smoke-free. Today, as reported in the Herald, Argyle confirmed some more details:

From the Elton John concert, Home Park is TOTALLY smoke free. That means that once supporters have entered the turnstiles, they shall NOT be permitted to smoke ANYWHERE. Additionally, once supporters are within the stadium, they will NOT be permitted to leave and re-enter. Stewards do not have the authority to issue fixed penalty notices, but the club will take action against supporters who ignore the ban, this can result in a £250 fine or ejection from the ground.

As witnessed at the Elton concert, which was supposed to be the first day of the new rule, they were frequently flouted by concert goers lighting up on the concourses and seating areas (even though smoking has been banned in the seating areas for some time). It is going to take some people a lot of getting used to - but unfortunately there is no choice

New Look

Premium TV, the owners of the majority of league club's official pages, are slowly revamping each clubs website and this morning the new look Argyle site has gone live.

Although confusing to start with, especially the busy-ness of all the adverts, and the extra clicks needed to get to the data; the amount of information provided has increased, is more logically located and there are some new sections. It is still under construction, meaning some sections are not available yet, it remains to be seen whether this incarnation will be kept updated.

PAFC Official Website

Pre-season

Argyle's pre-season matches are:

Wednesday 11 July, verses Weston-super-Mare, Woodspring Stadium, 19.30
Saturday 14 July, verses Torquay United, Plainmoor, 15.00 (Kevin Hill's Testimonial)
Tuesday 17 July, verses Yeovil, Huish Park, 19.45
Saturday 21 July, verses Cambridge United, Abbey Stadium, 15.00

Sunday 22 July - Sunday 28 July, pre-season tour, Austria
including Genclerbirligi Ankara (Monday 24 July*) and Hapoel Tel Aviv on (Friday 27 July*) ^†

Wednesday 1 August, verses Truro, Treyew Road, 19.45
Saturday 4 August, verses Bristol Rovers, Home Park, 15.00
Monday 6 August, verses St Blazey, Station Road, 19.30

^† Hapoel Tel Aviv are have been the Israeli champions 13 times and 12 times national cup winners, whilst Genclerbirligi play in the Turkish premier league.

*dates subject to change

Pie of the Year

The final standings for this year's football ground pie league have been compiled into a helpful book, containing every pie review, comments, clubs' responses and a few surprises, including Gordon Sparks and a certain club's manager.

Download your copy here