Tuesday 20 April 2010

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Plymouth Argyle 0 - 2 Newcastle United

Relegated. And to be honest who didn't see that coming for a long time? Since the promotion into the CCC maybe? So League One next season (and maybe more, would that team make any impact on L1?), the spiritual home of Plymouth Argyle, 3rd tier, well no actually. A part from a few drops to the 4th tier, Argyle yo-yo between 3rd and 2nd.

What did the Greens make of their latest foray in the 2nd division football pyramid? Consolidation and relegation. Apart from maybe the earliest years, was there ever a time that you could say the Pilgrims went for it? The closest being the end of the Holloway years and we all know what happened then. The same as always. A lot of bottling it. During this time Argyle have managed to lose 2 good managers and a lot of supporters, hire, fire and loan a lot of players, break the record signing bank on several occasions - mostly to crap players - waste a lot of money on not very much and cause so much hot air that could have powered a third world country.

There certainly hasn't be much ambition from anyone at the club, unless it's directed away from the pitch. Today the board's first statement after relegation was that the World Cup bid was still in the running and the south stand will be developed. OK, I''ll allow the stand as that has been on the back burner for years, but it has always been a team v ground issue - money again. To run a so called established CCC team on a shoestring whilst earning a pretty penny for your back pocket does not work, and has not worked, and will not work. Though now there probably is no choice but to cut costs again.

But there have been ups and downs throughout Argyle's life and there will be forever more to come unless the club goes to the wall. So someday there will be another up and the cycle will start again. Though the team at the moment are not likely to challenge next season for promotion. The lack of anything in the net is what got them to this point, not even mentioning the non existent midfield and dodgy defence. So, if they can't score goals, which is what it's all about, then they won't win games. Simple as. What are the odds for next season?

1 comment:

Lord Hutton said...

Admirably Gloomy!