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?