PreSeason: Yeovil

Yeovil Town 5 - 0 Plymouth Argyle

Not the best start to the preseason or indication for the league ahead with a 5-0 loss to local rivals, Yeovil; including a red card for Chadwick.  And to come unstuck against ex-players too.  Still, it is only a 'friendly' warm up.  Like Team GB's match verses Brazil.  Maybe.

PreSeason 2012

Preseason friendlies are starting to be arranged now, so far with

Saturday July 21 v Yeovil Town (A) 15.00
Tuesday July 24 v Truro City (A) 19.45
Friday July 27 v Weston-super-Mare (A) 19.45
Tuesday July 31 v Tiverton Town (A) 19.45
Wednesday August 8 v Preston North End (H) 19.45

The Truro away match now becoming a tradition, along with revisits to Yeovil, Weston and Tiverton.  And Ridsdale returns to Home Park with his new team, PNE. No money for a tour this year!

Ar-Giggle

A throw away reference by a mate (see Gary) that was quite inspired but lost on most of the people around. Argyle have literally become a joke to many. From the lack of ambition that goes back decades, to the poor performances, bad signings and selling off of the good ones. Why does every player that signs for Argyle turn inept at their job, and as soon as they're sold receive the Midas touch? How many ex-Argyle players are now banging in the goals for their new clubs, and even worse how many of them have been against the Greens?

The complete lack of being able to string together any sort of consistency has seen gates yo-yo in what has become predictable of good performance on a low gate - gates rise for the next game, Argyle get stuffed - only this time round the good performances are only flashes in the pan. Plymothians have never been given any reason to be proud of its football club. They came close in the Holloway era but were hesitant. And proven right. Even now if they do turn up, the ticketing situation has become a shambles if you are to read the football forums, and they can't even get in!

The club is systematically being pulled apart on and off the pitch - there is no team effort from players, management or supporters alike. But then again, has much actually really changed?

Pre Season 4

Hereford United 0 - 1 Plymouth Argyle
QPR 1 - 1 Plymouth Argyle
Saltash 0 - 8 Plymouth Argyle

Well that's another exciting pre season over and done with, with less than a week before the start of the season proper, and was it worth it? You can now add Bolaise to the list of players injured on the campaign, Mackie to the list of explayers who have scored against us, and Hereford to the list of twats for attacking a PAFC coach after the game.

We've had 'will he won't he?' with the possible return of Capaldi, the release of several players including Baker, Walton injured which stops any dealings with him, a couple of trialists Molyneux (who should by rights play for Wolves) and Zubar impressing Reid along with keeper Colin Doyle, the signing of Peterlin and the 'man who said he was interest in playing for Argyle one day' James going to Bristol City. Amongst other things.

So it's now time for the league proper with the first game at St Mary's on Saturday live on Sky, so a 12.15pm kick off, that could see Argyle either top or bottom of the league. For a few hours.

Pre Season 3

SC Cambuur 3 - 3 Plymouth Argyle
AZ Alkmaar 1 - 0 Plymouth Argyle

So the Dutch tour is going well, with a win, a narrow defeat and a draw with good performances against good opposition, though the injuries are stacking up. The week long tour of the Netherlands has now finished, with Saltash and QPR fixtures remaining before the season kick off in a few weeks.

Pre Season 2

Torquay United 3 - 1 Plymouth Argyle
NAC Breda 0 - 1 Plymouth Argyle

Can't really get excited about the season, let alone pre season at the moment so the news of a dicking verses Torquay warranted only a slight 'oh really'? It has become traditional to play Torquay pre season and traditional to lose. So god know's who thinks the Greens may actually win against Exeter.
Simon Walton however suffered a cruciate ligament injury that will probably ensure that not only can he not play, no bugger'll want to buy or loan him either.

Pre Season 1

Truro City 0 - 2 Plymouth Argyle

The hectic pre season schedule has kicked off with a win against Truro in front of a 1,700 strong crowd with Bolasie and MacLean netting the ball. The team will travel to Torquay on the 13th before staring their tour in World Cup runner up country, The Netherlands. When they return there will be two further away games before the start of the season proper.

July 10 3pm Truro City Treyew Road
July 13 7.45pm Torquay United Plainmoor
July 17 2.30pm NAC Breda Sint Willebrord
July 21 7pm AZ Alkmaar Anna Paulowna
July 22 7pm SC Cambuur Franeker
July 28 7.45pm Hereford United Edgar Street
August 2 7.45pm Saltash United Kimberley Stadium

Fixing the Dates

The dates for various fixtures of the new season will start to be released soon.

First off the line is the 1st Round of the League Cup, verses Notts County at home week beginning 9th August (assuming the pitch is ready). Usually Argyle do crap in the League Cup, and considering for the past few years there's been a bye into the next round which we;ve then dropped out of, going back to the start does bode any better.

Tomorrow will see the release of the League fixtures, which starts on 7th August.

The pre-season timetable will hopefully come out very very soon! Except for the already known about Truro away on 10th July.

But the Johnstone Paint Trophy will not be drawn until August.

Friendless

Argyle will not be releasing any details of friendlies (except those that have slipped out via other sources) until a new manager is appointed. So, possibly no pre-season this year then?

Preseason: Heart of Midlothian

Argyle 0 - 0 Harts

A good sign hopefully, the last few matches have seen a positive attitude towards the game, even though there was nothing to see from the 90 minutes' effort. Players have stated that there is a positivity at the club and that the mood is that finally the Greens will be going somewhere. The change of mood in the club is excellent following last season's dour negativity that permeated everything and brought such a bad outcome. The warm up games compared to last season's will hopefully see Argyle go into the season on the right footing, which should have a knock on effect with the momentum continuing. Those at the match have said that the players are working better and producing some good style. Vive la revolution!

Preseason: Unirea and Morecambe

Unirea 1 - 2 Plymouth Argyle
Morecambe 0 - 2 Plymouth Argyle

Preseason back on track with two wins and marking the end of the 'tour'. What's become most interesting to me is that supporters who watch have said that Argyle appear to be hammering out a Plan B of sorts. All through last season there was only one plan and frequently it went wrong. There was no possibility of getting out of trouble, there were very few come backs and once we conceded a goal it was a conclusion that the game was beyond reach. However there appears to have been a change and some semblance of an attempt to turn things around is emerging. Long may it continue.

Pre-season: Livingstone

Livingstone 2 - 1 Argyle

Oh, it's getting worse an echo of last year where pre-season ended in losses that carried on to the whole of the season and league game. I hope it will not be the same again, yet news from onlookers is worrying as the Greens are regressing to the poor style of play that we saw for far too long. Has Sturrock et al not learnt anything?

Preseason: Torquay and Skelmersdale

Torquay United 3 - 3 Plymouth Argyle (Fallon, Sawyer, Summerfield)
Skelmersdale United 0 - 2 Plymouth Argyle (Fallon, Paterson)

Is there a cause for concern already for next season in what we are seeing in pre-season? The reason being that the opposition are very critical of how the Greens are playing at the moment, even if they are getting the wins. With the exception of the Torquay match, every game so far has been a win. Though you must wonder why a Championship team can only hold out for a draw against a Blue Square when Bristol Rovers (league 1) can beat then 4-1.

For the Gulls game Sturrock appears to have played his near-first XI, with a couple of exceptions (Saxton in goal again, and some half time swaps) and likewise for Skelmersdale a selection from his forst choices (with Larrieu and Wright-Philips). But even so the Skel fans are not impressed by the 'so called Championship club's' performance, though it's very interesting to see that fans' un-favourites are baggibg the pre-season goals, though possibly the 'stroll in the park' style of play could be helping.

Sturrock still has a lot of work to do on the squad, not least trying to offload those he hates to any Tom, Dick or Harry who'll come in for them with an offer of a mint polo and a cheeky smile, but so far even that hasn't happened. The markerting of disgraced players who are constantly talked down in the press, banished from games, left out of training and left behind on the tour is pathetic and quite frankly so Argyle. If other clubs have managed to offload their trash (mainly to the Pilgrims!) and to big up their fallen stars (Barton for example) then it's surely not beyond possibility.

The Scotland tour is now under way with some doubt still cast over the game verses Livingstone.

Preseason: Truro and Parkway

Truro City 0 - 2 Plymouth Argyle (Puncheon, Barnes)
Plymouth Parkway 1 - 3 Plymouth Argyle (Mason, Rickard)

Off to a good start with wins all round. Luggy deciding to play two separate teams at Truro but with second place keeper Saxton completing the full 90 minutes (Larrieu is injured) show that Stack is well out in the wilderness banished never to return waiting to be off loaded to whoever will have him. There are reports of two trialists who are shoruded in secerecy as normal for they don't appear in any match report. One is rumoured to be Kari Anderson, just 1 lucky one who has, so far, the Luggy X Factor. But that still remains to be seen. The youth got off to a poor start on Tuesday as Parkway bagged the first goal, but the Greens then equalised by converting the penalty before taking the lead thanks to Mason and Rickard. Sturrock is pleased with what he's seen, though some supporters state that there were some poor individual performances that have not changed since last season.

That'll do for starters, the first games of the warm up campaign to blow out the cob-webs and should now set the tone for the rest. As last season's pre-season was a washout followed by a washout of a season, these testing the water games are going to be an indication of what we can expect over the year.

Getting Extra Friendly

An additional game verses Tiverton Town make the full list now:

Monday 13 July. Truro City, Treyew Road
Wednesday 15 July, Torquay United, Plainmoor, 19.45
Saturday 18 July, Skelmersdale United, The Skelmersdale & Ormskirk College Stadium, 15.00
Sunday 19 July - Friday 24 July, Pre-season Tour, Scotland
Monday 20 July, Livingston, Almondvile
Wednesday 22 July, Unirea Urziceni
Saturday 25 July, Morecambe, Christie Park
Wednesday 29 July, Hearts, Home Park, 19.45
Saturday 1 August, Swindon Town, The County Ground, 15.00
Monday 3 August, Tiverton Town, Ladysmead,19.45

Give it some Heart

The home pre-season match will be verses SPL side, Hearts on Wednesday 29 July, 19.45.

Monday 13 July. Truro City, Treyew Road
Wednesday 15 July, Torquay United, Plainmoor, 19.45
Saturday 18 July, Skelmersdale United, The Skelmersdale & Ormskirk College Stadium, 15.00
Sunday 19 July - Friday 24 July, Pre-season Tour, Scotland
Monday 20 July, Livingston, Almondvile
Wednesday 22 July, Unirea Urziceni
Saturday 25 July, Morecambe, Christie Park
Wednesday 29 July, Hearts, Home Park, 19.45
Saturday 1 August, Swindon Town, The County Ground, 15.00

More Pre-Seasoning

A couple of additions to the pre-season schedule make the full list:

Monday 13 July. Truro City, Treyew Road
Wednesday 15 July, Torquay United, Plainmoor, 19.45
Saturday 18 July, Skelmersdale United, The Skelmersdale & Ormskirk College Stadium, 15.00
Sunday 19 July - Friday 24 July, Pre-season Tour, Scotland
Monday 20 July, Livingston, Almondvile
Wednesday 22 July, Unirea Urziceni
Saturday 25 July, Morecambe, Christie Park
Wednesday 29 July, (opposition to be confirmed), Home Park, 19.45
Saturday 1 August, Swindon Town, The County Ground, 15.00

A Bonnie Wee Game...

'gain' SPL side, Livingston on Monday 20 July at Almondvile and Romanian Champions, Unirea Urziceni on Wednesday 22 July (venue to be decided) is the line up for the pre-season tour to Scotland.

This is presuming the Livingston exist by the end of July.

Pre Season

Confirmed pre-season matches:

Monday 13 July. Truro City, Treyew Road
Wednesday 15 July, Torquay United, Plainmoor, 19.45
Saturday 18 July, Skelmersdale United, The Skelmersdale & Ormskirk College Stadium, 15.00
Sunday 19 July - Friday 24 July, Pre-season Tour, Scotland
Saturday 25 July, Morecambe, Christie Park

We're all going on a Summer Holiday

Several short bits of news at the start of the summer hols:

Cash in the Attic
Mr Sturrock appears to be having trouble finding cash in the attic after sweeping up the dregs of the squad for the local car boot sale, whilst he's decided to keep just 3 apprentices, the fax machine appears to not work for his big boys.
Do people still fax these days or can someone give Luggy a computer/texting lesson please?

Go North!
This year's pre-season tour, rumoured as far back as January, will be in Luggy's native homeland, Scotland (surprise, surprise!). With a match in Skelmersdale on the way up.
I wonder if there will be tartan preseason kilts in the shop soon?

Testing, testing, 1, 2
What are your views on the PA system and pre-match/half time entertainment at Home Park? There will be a meeting on Wednesday 3 June at 18.30 in the Pyramid Suite for fans to discuss all aspects of the off pitch entertainment for next season.
They listened with the stewarding and Blocks 17/18, so this is very good.

Some good news, some worrying news and some no new news so far. Of course the big one we're waiting on is the Japanese take over which is tantalising being drip fed through the Herald as being near.