The Season of Goodwill

To all except Welsh assistant referees.

Back to normal now (well as near as possible) after the holidays.

Plymouth Argyle 2 (Fallon 38, Summerfield 57 pen) - 0 Southampton

An excellent result at home on Boxing Day lifted the spirits of the Green Army after a sustained period of no wins with a good performance from the men in green who played their opponents off the field. In front of the biggest crowd of the season the Pilgrims romped home following a powerful header from Fallon, cemented by a penalty by Summerfield early in the second, won because of a handball. Summerfield was a surprise choice to take the kick but most probably did as a two finger salute to the discontent amongst supporters. There were a few changes in the team including the recall of skipper Duguid who was fit again after injury, along with Noone and MacNamee, while others were rested for Arsenal.

Cardiff City 1 (Boothroyd 81) - 0 Plymouth Argyle

And then back to earth with a bump with the only league trip to foreign shores (Wales) where Argyle were denied a goal by the assistant referee who flagged for off-side and has since proven to have been wrong. Nonetheless there it was a much changed team that ran out for the last time at old Ninian Park due to The Big One this weekend, giving some semblance of a return to the good away form however clouded by MacNamee's dismissal in stoppage time. He won't be transfer listed for sure. Even so so many wasted opportunities again. But who gives a shit? We're playing Arsenal next week. Get out the flags (or not as they're banned at the Emirates), sink a couple of pints (dry transport from the Westcountry) and watch the greens get hammered for 90 minutes. The FA Cup where all men are equal, except some are more equal than others, and you'd think is the only game we're playing this year.

Merry Christmas

Well it's nearly over now, but hopefully you all had a Happy Christmas and are now sat on the sofa struggling with excess wind.

Convenient Scapegoat

Barnsley 2 (De Silva 37, Campbell-Rice 90 pen) - 0 Plymouth Argyle

A crap performance was put squarely at the door of Walton because of his dismissal, resulting in his effective bannishment from the club by being transfer listed. Walton was red carded from the Barnsley pitch after just 28 minutes on Saturday leading to what Sturrock has declared a breakdown in Argyle's game plan resulting in the defeat. Who knows is this is true? By many accounts the 28 minutes before the incident did not set the world on fire. But Walton's consist ant poor attitude and behaviour have finally proved too much. On the day the club announce credit crunch matters, this could not have been more convenient for the bean counters. After all Walton's never really been popular.

But even so, the run of bad games has equalled that at the beginning of the season and could be out done if there's another loss on Boxing Day. The difference is that we started falling from the right end of the table and the defeat on Saturday did nothing to the Greens position. Any other manager would be having a brown pants moment, but Sturrock has job security so he does need to be worried. The sympathisers say give him time, he's a proven. But how much time does he need? In a few weeks time its likely that the whole personnel at Home Park will change and the rebuilding will start again. You don't have time at Argyle. Maybe that's why attendances are falling chairman, but why bother doing anything to address that?

Watching Football is Not a Crime

Or is it?

The police have new powers called section 27 to ban anyone from an area for 48 hours if they suspect you of causing disturbance under the Violent Crime Reductions Act. The idea is that you can be removed from an area, such as the local club land for being DUI and potentially disorderly. However at least the South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester Police Forces have been using the order to remove large numbers of football supporters from whole counties under suspicion of potentially causing disturbance. They have at least detained Stoke City and Plymouth Argyle supporters in pubs (where it is purported to have been no disturbance) regardless of age, cautioned under Section 28 and escorted out of the county and beyond (Stoke were removed from Manchester as far as Stoke and Argyle from Doncaster as far away as Birmingham). This is regardless of whether these supporters originally came from where the escort took them or the age of the supporter.

The Football Supporters Federation has launched a campaign against what is considered to be a misuse of the Act. More details here.

Going to the Smoke

I've got a ticket to Arsenal after a load of wangling by other people, so will be off to the big smoke in January to be treated like a load of shit by the Met's finest. Happy days.

Argyle Talk

The fan's forum PAFC Talk has metamorphosed into Argyle Talk and is now available at www.argyletalk.co.uk

Lady Luckless

Plymouth Argyle 0 - 1 Birmingham City (Carsley 62)

Getting worse. A better performance from the boys in Green but the Blues take their only chance and win whilst the Pilgrims dither about. The Credit Crunch Christmas is biting at Home Park.

Plymouth Argyle 1 (MacLean 83) - 1 QPR (Helgusson 16)

A late equaliser saved further embarrassement from subsititute MacLean in yet another sloppy game at Home Park which saw the Pilgrim behind after just 16 minutes because of a rebounded volley during QPR's first true possession of the game after Argyle's domination. A series of missed opportunities ensued throughout the game, QPR's performance improved as time continued as the green shirts were second to every ball and every shot going high or wide. Thankfully this time the subsititutes lifted the game and were rewarded with a goal.
But over all 5 games without a win is not good enough.

Lady Luck?

Doncaster Rovers 1 (Stock 37) - 0 Plymouth Argyle

Lady Luck has decided to slap Sturrock on the arse he stated in his post match report. Luck? What's luck got to do with it? 2 games against bottom of the league clubs, two games lost. Great start to December and the festive period. But is typical Argo. Denied by a wonder goal and a wonder save. Not, denied and outclassed by ineptitude and bad football. Not good enough.

Choo Choo

What's this? A train? To the Emirates? Is it true?
It's quite unprecidented in this day and age for a club to charter a train to a match, but Argyle are ruuning a charter train from Plymouth to Finsbury Park (the nearest station to the Emirates), departing at 8am from Plymouth and 6pm from London.

Tickets cost £50 adult and £45 under 16 (accompanied only)

http://www.pafc.co.uk/page/AwayTickets/0,,10364~1476770,00.html

Coach Travel is also available

8,600

Arsenal ticket details

The club have been allocated 8,600 tickets for the FA Cup draw verses Arsenal at the Emirates.
Concentrate, because this is goint to get complicated:

Tickets will cost between £32.50 and £46 depending on where in the Emirates you are located.

If you have a GREEN SEASON TICKET for the GRANDSTAND or MAYFLOWER RESERVED SEATING, you must get your ticket on Sunday 7 December (10am - 4pm) or Monday 8 December (9am - 5pm).

If you have a GREEN SEASON TICKET for BLOCKS 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 you must get your ticket on Tuesday 9th December (10am - 4pm) and Wednesday 10th December (10am - 6pm).

If you have a GREEN SEASON TICKET for BLOCKS 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 you must get your ticket on Thursday 11th December (10am - 5pm) and Friday 12th December (10am - 6pm).

If you have a GREEN SEASON TICKET for BLOCKS 11, 12, & 13 you must get your ticket on Sunday 14th December (10am - 4pm) and Monday 15th December (10am - 5pm).

If you have a GREEN SEASON TICKET for BLOCKS 14, 15, 16 & 17 you must get your ticket on Tuesday 16th December (10am - 5pm) and Wednesday 17th December (10am - 5pm).

If you have a GREEN SEASON TICKET for MAYFLOWER UNRESERVED/DISABLED STAND you must get your ticket on Thursday 18th December (10am - 5pm) and Friday 19th December (10am - 5pm).

If there are any tickets left they will go on sale to WHITE SEASON TICKET HOLDERS. There will be an announcement on www.pafc.co.uk on Friday 19th December.

If there are any tickets left they will then go on sale to PILGRIM MEMBERS.

It is unlikely that any tickets will go on general sale.

There will be an equal share of each ticket price available on each day.