Wednesday 29 December 2010

So, in short, What's happened?

Well who better to explain then Matt Slatter from the BBC, with a succinct account of what's happening to PAFC and the implications for football.

Tuesday 28 December 2010

Away FC Bournemouth

Argyle and Bournemouth have agreed to rearrange their postponed Boxing Day fixture to Saturday 8 January subject to FL approval. That's pretty quick!

Monday 27 December 2010

2 Down...

BBC Spotlight have reported that Sir Roy Gardener is the second member of the NWO to walk away from Argyle, following Keith Todd's forthcoming departure. Now, who truthfully did not see this coming when Russia was announced host of World Cup 2012? The NWO's dreams were founded on England winning WC2012 and Plymouth's host city status; now that has crumbled, the slow running down of PAFC and dodgy dealings have become too much, or become too boring, for those who's money making dreams have gone down the pan. Argyle are never going to generate revenue, and the fat cats are bailing out.

According to the BBC, Gardener has resigned as a protest over changes to the board.

Ridsy Back In?

Peter Ridsdale could be back on the Argyle bandwagon following the forthcoming departure of Todd -a 'lifelong Argyle supporter' - and reinstatement of Stapleton as Executive Director. So going back to plan B1? It's all very confusing.

Sunday 26 December 2010

Fans help out Again

To enable the free buses to run for the next two home games, the PA Supporters Club has paid Citybus out of their own pocket. Yet again the Green Army pull together to shame the NWO to keep the basics of the club afloat, whilst the shambles continues all around.

UnBoxing Day

The game verses AFC Bournemouth was called off following a pitch inspection today. Another game to add to the postponement stack that may or may not get paid depending on whether Argyle exist by then.

Friday 24 December 2010

1 Down...

Keith Todd is leaving Argyle as Executive Director come 1 January, with Stapleton resuming control. 1 down, 6 more to go. Although the return of Stapleton will further split the Green Army, those who hail him as a hero from the McCaughly ashes and those who castigate him for bring about this mess in the first place.

Thursday 23 December 2010

Blue Christmas

Argyle have now received their 4th winding up order from HMRC, this time against PAFC Holdings Ltd, to be heard in court in January, ahead of the ones received in the last few months. Argyle hope to petition the judge to hear all 3 at the same time in February, however this is looking decidedly dodgy. For the cub to receive 3 orders within a matter of months means that the ghost of PAFC future could well come true and end up in the graveyard; no remorse from the NWO and a turkey on Christmas Day will sway the taxman. Apparently the staff at Argyle have finally been paid, along with the 2 grand donation from fans, but even this is too little too late for the NWO. Such incompetence now means that youngster Connor Clifford is unable to stay for the arranged loan extension, meaning a much weaker team to field. For many fans have turned against the board after giving them the benefit of the doubt and a 4th winding up order is too much to stomach and extremely frustrating and yet the silence from Home Park is deafening. Argyle may no longer exist in 2011.

Monday 20 December 2010

Wright-Phillips holds the key to Argyle’s hopes

When Plymouth travel to south coast rivals Bournemouth on Boxing Day, it will be the Pilgrims' first match for 15 days. Peter Reid's men will need to be prepared for a action when Christmas Day has been and gone, the club face a hectic nine days in which they'll play four times.

By the time the busy festive period is over, Plymouth will be hoping to be in and around the play-off places and ready to mount a serious push for promotion in the second half of the season. The continued prolific goal-scoring form of Bradley Wright-Phillips could be integral to any success enjoyed by the Green Army in 2011 and the football odds reflect this.

The former Southampton striker leads the League One goal charts with 12 goals and has been one of the biggest positives for Plymouth in what has been a disappointing opening half of the current campaign. Wright-Phillips was in deadly form in his team’s last game, the 2-0 Devonshire derby against Exeter on November 11th, scoring twice to give the Pilgrims the bragging rights.

There is sure to be Championship interest in Wright-Phillips when the January transfer window opens and Plymouth could be tested with the current financial troubles at the club. If the striker can continue scoring regularly then it will give the club the best chance of climbing this league. The Green Army will be hoping those in charge of the club see Wright-Phillip's goals as the best chance of returning to the Championship.

Peter Reid will already be on the lookout for another forward after Rory Fallon joined Ipswich last month and the Plymouth manager will be hoping he doesn’t have to find a replacement for Wright-Phillips. The striker and Craig Noone have been the club's stand-out players this season and keeping hold of the two key players could be the best bit of business Reid could hope to take care of.

With the season nearing the halfway point, Plymouth find themselves much lower in the table than they would have been hoping for at the start of the campaign, lying 15th in the table. With League One following the trend of English football this season, Plymouth may be nearer the bottom of the table than the top but they are only eight points behind second placed Sheffield Wednesday. A decent winning run and Plymouth are certainly right back amongst the race for promotion.

Meanwhile, some people still make Middlesbrough betting tips to drop down into League One next season.

The side have struggled so far and another relegation battle looks very much on the cards.

Friday 17 December 2010

Leyton Offient

Tomorrow's game verses Leyton Orient has been postponed due to the severe weather conditions.

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Ridsy Out

So even Ridsdale won't touch Argyle with a badge pole. Many saw this as the only chance, others were cringing at the thought of him taking over. But if Ridsy won't touch us, who will? And why won't he? Have the board got a plan C now?

Whip Round

Apparently, though I didn't see it, there was a bucket collection on Saturday to pay towards the office staff's wages, for which they are eternal grateful. How embarrassing for the board that the staff are grateful to the fans for donating money for a everyday business transaction? And if they are, too bloody right, that the so called NWO - the supposed rich kids - cannot even stump up the cash for those that run their club. Add in Reid's personal donation towards heating, in spite himself not being paid for two months, and the board's faces should be so warm that Plymouth, if not the South West, won't get a hint of snow this Christmas.

Sunday 12 December 2010

Bradley Wright-Phillips

He's better than Shaun.

Top scorer in League One.

Odds on to leave in January?

Saturday 11 December 2010

They're not Getting Paid

Plymouth Argyle 2 - 0 Exeter City

...That's how much it means to them, they're not getting paid.

So take that Exeter, revenge is so sweet after knocking us out of the JPT, this is where it matters. Although a run in a cup, any cup, would have been good for income, the state that Argyle are in at the moment means they can ill afford to concentrate on anything but survival as a club. And such a fact must have rubbed off on the players and for once they seemed to give it their all. And they must have learnt how much the local derby means to the Green Army following the poor JPT performance. The off pitch entertainment was not as interesting this time following the police crack down, even so someone did manage to get on to the pitch. Though how much income from today has been swallowed up by the iron fist? On a purely emotional footing it's bloody fantastic, on a rational footing, what will happen next

Friday 10 December 2010

Plymouth hope derby win can lift spirits

At the moment, there can't be many other clubs in as depressed a state as Plymouth Argyle. The Pilgrims are 17th in League One and face the prospect of having to sell their best players in the January transfer window to pay off their £760,000 tax bill to HM Revenue and Customs. All the negativity currently at the club could be lifted significantly by a Devon derby win this weekend against Exeter, something the football odds suggest could happen.

It will be the first league meeting between the two sides since February 2002, although they did meet in the Johnstone's Paint trophy four weeks ago. On that occasion, Exeter got the better of the Pilgrims with a last minute winner to, although the game was marred by crowd trouble following the final whistle.

Peter Reid's side will go into the match on the back of their last league match which was a morale boosting 2-1 win over Dagenham and Redbridge. The victory came after Plymouth had lost four games on the trot, starting with the Exeter loss last month.

The Dagenham win came after Plymouth had gone 1-0 down after ten minutes. Captain Craig Noone got his side back into the contest just after the hour mark with a fine solo goal before Rory Patterson grabbed the winner with seven minutes left on the clock and anyone who had placed a football bet on the Pilgrims to win would have been delighted.

Plymouth will be boosted by the return to action of Jim Paterson, who has been sidelined for the past two months with a hamstring injury. The 31-year-old left-sided player has returned to full training and is desperate to be involved in what promises to be a fiery encounter.

"I have trained for the last two weeks at normal match tempo and, fitness-wise, I'm feeling fine. I would love to be involved this Saturday. I played for Dundee United in derby matches and they are special occasions," he said.

The return of the experienced Paterson should give the whole team a confidence boost in what can be called a must win game for The Green Army. Not only a bragging rights up for grabs, if Plymouth still have hopes of promotion then they need to start producing consistent results and sharpish.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Procrastination

So Argyle have sucessfully appealed to HMRC to defer the debt owed by 63 days. In one way such a decision is good because it should give the NWO chance to sort the place out, on the other hand it just means the prospect of the same thing happening again more. If the club don't have the finances now, how are they going to have them then? Except of course the nu-saviour Ridsdale is hovering, and so are the supporters' trust. January's fire sales will come and go as usual, so will the Exeter game - which could yield the biggest income of the year, only to be swallowed by the police bill - and also the potentially poor performances, because Reid will have no one but the current squad (minus a few) to work with, and that ain't worked so far. In short, Argyle are still in the shit.

Saturday 4 December 2010

Building Trust

The fans' supporters' trust that is underdevelopment have launched a website at
http://www.argyletrust.com/

Blessing or a Curse

They say a week is a long time in politics, but when politics and football collide it can be even longer. On Thursday the world held its breath for 30 extra minutes before it was revealed that Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup and 10 seconds before the New World Order's dreams shattered to pieces. So what happens now? The NWO have publicly put all their eggs in to the one WC basket as a cure-all for Argyles woes. This week came the revelations came out that no staff have been paid and the club's bank accounts have been frozen, add in the problems with paying the police bill for the Exeter league game, the postponement of the MK Dons game due to the weather, it's been a rough ride.

Argyle go before the High Court next Wednesday for the hearing regarding the winding up order. There has been no indication of a plan B for the Greens from the NWO, and even now no one has categorically stated what will happen to save the club. Now some supporters have taken things into their own hands by reestablishing the supporters' trust, with the first meeting before the Exeter game - should it go ahead. As Argyle may not be able to meet the extra policing costs due to the combined mix up of the JPT game, there are options of calling the game off (incurring a fine), playing behind closed doors (losing all revenue) or playing without Exeter supporters present (losing some revenue). All three options mean Argyle lose out on precious income that, come next Wednesday, could be extremely important.

The lead up to Thursday's decision was hailed by the NWO as the be all and end all, now that FIFA have snubbed England with just 2 votes - and don't forget Plymouth may not have even been a host city even if the bid was successful - it's crunch time for the NWO. If, as some believe they are just property developers, will the lack of opportunity to develop mean they leave, or do they now concentrate on actually building a footballing team? Wednesday 8th is the next big day for Argyle. What will the next twist be?