Awaydays #9 - Colchester United

The club: Colchester United (The U's), Layer Road

The ground: Do you laugh or cry at Layer Road? The club are moving to a new stadium come the end of the season, and it's not hard to see why. At only 6,000 odd capacity, Layer Road has had its time as a ground in the Championship. A ground right out of the good ol days, Layer Road could not be redeveloped even if it was possible, the ground is so small you'll make friends quite quickly. The ground is a mishmash of loads of different bits of stand designs plonked together around the pitch - but the best but is - they still have terracing! (and it's covered). The away terrace is very narrow and the rake is slight, so no matter where you stand you get a poor view. 4/10

The facilities and food: Unisex toilets!! Need I say more? The aways stand backs straight onto the road and the toilets have been squeezed into a small space below, they are so small and both sexes' toilets are in the same room. Portaloos are available near the turnstiles for those who are nervous and need privacy. There's a small refreshments kiosk, obviously nor serving alcohol, but with the usual range of food. The pie tasted awful. 2/10

The stewarding/police: Not bad, though quite overzealous with the Greens on Screen photographer. There were a lot of police around, but didn't seem conspicuous. 7/10

The travelling: Very 6-7 hours from Plymouth by road, but seems longer - maybe cause of the M25. Colchester is just off the A12 but the coach took a very circuitous route into the ground. 5/10

The surrounding area (what's there to do outside the ground): Not much. There's only 1 pub really - the Dury Inn - and sometimes they don't let away fans in. If they do you are segregated into a separate bar. 2/10

The home fans (their contribution to the atmosphere etc): The best fans so far, they sang very loudly and passionately throughout (is this because they still have terraces?). 10/10

Total score: 29/60

Awaydays League Table:

Barnsley (Oakwell Stadium) - 42
Blackpool (Bloomfield Road) - 38
Charlton Athletic (The Valley) - 38
Hull City (KC Stadium) - 38
QPR (Loftus Road) - 36
West Ham (Boleyn Ground) - 31
Layer Road (Colchester) - 32
Stoke City (Britannia Stadium) - 28
Torquay United (Plainmoor) - 27

Between us and U's

Colchester United 1 (Lisbie 56) - 1 Plymouth Argyle (Norris 88)



A much better performance from the Sheffield and Preston games, but Argyle could only salvage a point at Layer Road.

For the midweek fixture Holloway made two significant changes to the squad, with Larrieu between the sticks and Abdou in midfield for Halmosi whilst Norris went right and Martin on the left. Colchester have been undefeated at home and have always scored, and last night was no different. Following a nervous 10 minutes when Colchester was all guns blazing, Argyle settled into a good routine that saw Larrieu seldomly challenged around his goal, whilst their keeper was made to work for his wages. The first half saw Colchester and Argyle force several corners but the delivery of both teams was poor that they came to nothing. Colchester came close to taking the lead in the 38th minute but the no one could direct the low shot into the net, followed by another couple of wide attempts.

The second half got off to a poor start when Argyle let Colchester's Yeates through to shoot, which was blocked by Larrieu but followed up my Lisbie. If Argyle could find the net more often, were able to deliver corners properly and didn't lose possession easily then they could have been several goals up, but it took until the 88th minute for Norris to knock in a cross from Ebanks-Blake. Halmosi came close with a free kick on the 67th minute after being fouled but Gerken tipped it over the bar.

A performance when we should have deserved more, as always. If Argyle weren't Argyle, they'd be dynamite.

Same old Argyle

Plymouth Argyle 1 (Ebanks-Blake 47 pen) - 2 Sheffield Wednesday (Sodje 50, O'Brien 55)

Same old Argyle.

There, I've said it.
In a scaving article recently, the official website gave a dressing down to anyone who ever used the phrase 'same old Argyle' (Read it here). It criticised anyone who criticised the club's performance and stated that fans should be happy because of how far the club has come since the dark days. No one is disputing that fact that Argyle have done well for themselves, but you cannot go on living in the past. Football is a 'here and now' business (yes, a business!) and supporters should be able to express their feelings no matter from where we have come. Yesterday has caused major rumblings amongst the Green Army, for a second game in a row it seemed like the players failed to turn up and Argyle's unbeaten run at home came to a shuddering halt.

For a second game in a row, no one turned up - players and supporters alike. From the second half of the Preston game, the Green Army has lost interest in the game, and this continued at home, the atmosphere within Home Park was virtually non existent, save for the Wednesday fans. Whose fault is it? Whatever, it is a self-perpetuating problem: poor play = poor support = poorer play = poorer support. If players want fans to lift them, the fans want players to produce something to lift them (look at what happened for 3 minutes following Ebanks's penalty and the Owls' equaliser). There was no spark from either side, supporters are very disenfranchised at the moment - the news of players wanting out, speculation about who and Buzsaky's departure has again cemented realisation that it is just the 'same old Argyle' with nothing to get excited about. Notice how many people left the game within 15 minutes of full time; you get the usual early leavers, but not on that scale.

"A bad day at the office" was how Holloway described the game, but was it really just a one off? It seems clear that the squad is not all there - injuries and behind the scenes workings, and soon suspensions, taking there toll. Holloway stuck with the same XI against Preston which paid dividend with a fairly good first half, but nothing exciting to write home about. After the break the game turned and Argyle were on the up, 3 points in the bag, thanks to Ebanks-Blake's superbly handled penalty on the 47th minute. But what happened? 3 minutes later Wednesday equalise through a soft goal caused by poor defending. Then Argyle rolled over and died, for another 5 minutes later they do exactly the same with the Wendies scoring their winning goal. Holloway looked as if he ran out of ideas, as he left it late to bring on his substitutes, all 3 within 10 minutes of each other. If Argyle were able to finish then they might have been able to get the point, but out of the chances they created 'same old Argyle' threw them all away. The crowd started to vote with their feet as they started to head for the door.

Save for a few players, there was not much going on on the pitch the last two games, and with 2 months to go before anything can change, Holloway needs to shake the squad to its foundations. Next week we have Norwich at home - a disillusioned team at the bottom of the league - a game that should be won, or will it be 'same old Argyle' - dragon slayer but cannot say boo to a goose?

Buzz Off

The Herald are reporting that Akos Buzsaky will be leaving the Greens to join another club on loan, possibly QPR.

Herald article

UPDATE

Akos's move to QPR on an emergency loan until January, with a view to become permanent has been confirmed.

PAFC Official announcement

North Ended

Preston North End 2 (Omerod 11, Carter 66 )- 0 Plymouth Argyle

Deepdale is not happy hunting ground, and yesterday proved no exception as the Greens didn't even get started. From the off it seemed as if the players couldn't be bothered to play, as they spluttered through an inept performance of poor passing and lost possession. The Pilgrims were turned over by bottom of the league Preston after just 11 minutes as Omerod beat McCormick in front of the Green Army, who in spite of a 300+ turn out had all the wind knocked out of them as their disinterest in the game grew as great as the players on the pitch.

It was probably not the best start or first impression for Easter, who made his debut in the second half, and unlike Martin in a similar position against Blackpool, could not make any impact on the game. Holloway only made one change to the team who played Carlton, and that was Easter on the bench, and didn't even make substitutions until well into the second half. With Ollie blaming tiredness for the performance, it does beg the question as to why he didn't make any change to a team with no legs left.

The game was sealed when Carter volleyed a freekick past McCormick before he had a chance to see the ball, indeed it should have been another 3-0 defeat in stoppage time as referee Pike waved away a Preston penalty.

They say you can't win them all, but such a performance is "typically Argyle" and does nothing to attract supporters through the gate. Such issues never seem to be resolved and it gets trying for the fans.

Awaydays #8 - Charlton Athletic

The club: Charlton Athletic (The Addicks), The Valley

The ground: A good 'ol 'hemmed in by terraced housing' affair that has been redeveloped over the years. The ground is hidden away in back streets and has three enclosed sides of various levels and tiers - the North and West Sides behind the goal being two tiered, the East and South high backed singles, with the away South side completely separate from the rest of the ground. A complete absence of floodlight pylons, replaced with two rows of lights mounted on both the side stands is different of others' lighting solutions. A large video screen is located next to the away end. Unusually only the away seating is covered over - the rest of the facilities are open to the elements and the 'concourse' has a lower league ground feel to it. The seats have a good view down the front, even the very front row as they are raised several feet off the ground. There is one single support pillar right in the centre of the stand behind the goal, any further back than it and you will get some resticted views. 7/10

The facilities and food: The number of facilities were woefully inadequate, located in a narrow walkway between the remote ticket office and turnstiles on Valley Grove and the stand, and totally open to all weathers. There is not enough room to queue for the bar and toilets, mill around or get to/from the seating area. The queues for the bar were very unorganised and after the game it took a good 15 minutes to get out as everyone tried to get through 1 small exit way. Alcohol is only served before the game, not at half time, and there are no pies - 'pastry slices' are on offer instead. 3/10

The stewarding/police: Compared to other London fixtures there seemed to be a smaller police presence. There were several patrols of the away pub, and vans of police personnel dotted around but not overly noticeable. The roads around the area are kept traffic free around game time. The stewards allowed supporters to stand for long periods of the game, even near the front. 8/10

The travelling: Very direct on long distance routes via the M25 and A2, roadworks permitting! Finding the ground hidden behind the main roads is hard as road signing is next to non existent - save for a few. Parking is also difficult as permit parking is only available until 6.30pm. Charlton is without the Tube coverage but a railway station is very close to the ground. 6/10

The surrounding area (what's there to do outside the ground): The Antigallican is away fan friendly, as is the social club further up the hill, both a few minutes from the away end. £3 a pint but the Antigallican was friendly and efficient. 6/10

The home fans (their contribution to the atmosphere etc): Friendly and helpful and quite passionate, the sound travels nicely around the ground when they all sing especially with the good turn out.. 8/10

Total score: 38/60

Awaydays League Table:

Barnsley (Oakwell Stadium) - 42
Blackpool (Bloomfield Road) - 38
Charlton Athletic (The Valley) - 38
Hull City (KC Stadium) - 38
QPR (Loftus Road) - 36
West Ham (Boleyn Ground) - 31
Stoke City (Britannia Stadium) - 28
Torquay United (Plainmoor) - 27

Happy Easter

It has been confirmed that Jermain Easter will be joining the Pilgrims from Wycombe Wanderers on loan until 1 January 2008. Jermaine joins our strike force, at a opportune moment as Nick Chadwick is now out with an injury. Easter, 25, scored 17 goals last season in League One and Holloway hopes he can perform in the Championship. He has been at Wycombe for a year and a half, joining from Stockport as well as Wolves, Hartlepool, Cambridge and Boston, as well as debuting for the Welsh national side last February. Easter hopes to make the loan permanent come the transfer window in January.



Jermaine will play with squad number 36.

Official Site Announcement

Picture copyright BBC

Good View from The Valley

Charlton Athletic 1 (McCormick 6 og) - 2 Plymouth Argyle (Ebanks-Blake 11, Hayles 40)



"Ollie hired muscle" was as the Guardian described last night's match verses Charlton, even though the only addition to the squad has been Lee Martin. Argyle certainly showed their might against an ex-Premier League team in a match that seemed twice as longer than it really was. Holloway kept the same match winning team as that against Coventry, with Larrieu returning to the bench as the only change, which paid dividend as Ebanks-Blake struck home a cross from Norris from 2 yards. Unfortunately for McCormick who otherwise played a blinding match, he was instrumental in the Addick's equaliser 5 minutes later when he poorly cleared Mill's shot, which rebounded off the post, hit him as he laid on the grass and reflected into the back of his net. He then went on to play one of his best games.

Argyle and Charlton fought a hard game right up until just before half time when Hayles scored the winning goal - just, the ball only just made it over the line but enough for the referee to award it on 40 minutes. The second half began with Charlton enjoying a period of attack which was thwarted by either Luke or the defence, sometimes a bit too close for comfort. A number of substitutions saw Charlton on the attack and Argyle on the defence as the desperation became overwhelming, but thankfully for the 1,200 strong Green Army, the Pilgrims held on for the 3 points.

Once again the referee had decided that the game was about him, not the football, and awarded a total of 10 cautions, meaning that several players are now 1-2 cards away from a suspension, which if compared to last season is a near replica in our game play, position and number of bookings. Last year Argyle did not capitalise on their success and gradually the feel good factor and hopes of play off positions faded away in that all to familiar way. Argyle have been granted a second chance, let's hope that everyone concerned grabs it with both hands.

Romain Returns II

Keeper Romain Larrieu has returned from his loan spell at Yeovil Town and will be available for the Charlton match tomorrow.

No Sky Blues

Plymouth Argyle 1 (Martin 16) - 0 Coventry City

Manchester United loanee Lee Martin provided Argyle with their second home win of the season in his debut start. Martin netted the ball after 16 minutes by converting a cross from Ebanks-Blake in front of the Coventry support. Once again Holloway changed the starting team, relegating Buszaky back to the bench along with Chadwick, whilst Hayles took the captain's armband back from Nallis. Coventry too made two changes from their winning side against Wolves, but it was a much more conservative affair in comparison with the Greens.


Martin made a good partnership with Ebanks-Blake as Argyle dominated the game, which unfortunately left Hayles trailing behind, and overall Argyle should have scored more save for their finishing weakness, but Coventry should have claimed a few times too with some shots that fortunately fell wide. Ian Dowie sent on his substitutes in the second half and Coventry came close to claiming the upper hand until Argyle settled back down, their nearest shot in stoppage time at the end when Julian Gray's free kick was missed by McCormick, hit Kevin Kyle's head and the foot of the post, thankfully on the right side.


All in all a much better performance by the Greens, even with the usual reoccurring problems. Martin's performance was outstanding and put some our regular players to shame with this pace and game play, it was apparent that some are no longer up to the challenge of the league. It is a shame that Lee is with us for such a short time, hopefully Holloway will be able to retain him in the long run.

Bye Bye Bojan

Bojan Djordjic has decided he has no future at Plymouth Argyle and by mutual agreement with Ian Holloway has left Home Park.

Djordjic, who has played for Manchester United and Rangers, has never really got into the first team and has made only a few appearances for the Greens. Bojan was plagued my injuries and off-pitch problems, culminating in him joining the reserves and being transfer listed, when he had to prove his worth to rejoin the first team; unfortunately for Bojan these problems prevented him from proving himself on the field - where his talents lay - where he was quick and created opportunities and generally played well.

We wish Bojan well with his future.

Mickey's Match

Mickey Evans's testimonial match has been set for 29 April 2008, teams and further details will be announced in due course.

Squad Changes?

Holloway has stated that several of our players are out of contract this season; the state of play come next year with our regular players contracts currently does not look too good:

In contract
McCormick; Seip; Timar; Sawyer; Norris; Gosling; Halmosi; Fallon; Ebanks -Blake

Out of Contract
Abdou; Larrieu; Chadwick; Connolly; Doumbe; Laird; Nalis; Buszaky; Wotton; Summerfield; Hodges; Dickson; Djordjic; Hayles; Samba; Barnes; Reid.

Out of these 3 players are reaching the end of their careers (Nalis, Hayles and Hodges) who may either re-sign on a short contract, become a player-coach or retire; others like Djordjic and Samba aren't in favour and will probably seek out as soon as possible; Norris might be poached or not want to continue; and others like Summerfield, Connolly and Dickson haven't progressed their game in the league.

Come January there many be many out going players, hopefully followed by some incomings too. As it stands, the team needs freshening up and dead wooding, and that will be a challenge for both Holloway and the board. If the notion of 'Onwards and Upwards' is to be realised, prudent investment both financially and physically will be needed.

Awaydays #7 - Blackpool

The club: Blackpool (The Seasiders), Bloomfield Road

The ground: Bloomfield Road is the epitome of unfinished grounds, with 2 sides, 1 temporary stand and 1 side missing completely. The two sides are of the identikit design, clean straight lines, exposed concrete and space frame roof, with corporate boxes running along the top. The away fans enclosure consists of a shallow uncovered temporary scaffold stand running the length of the pitch with portacabin facilities. The PA system is for home fans only, which is against ground regulations is it not? The far end of the ground is missing completely. It makes for one of the most unusual grounds in the country. 5/10

The facilities and food: All are portacabins and 'chuckwagons' off a gravel 'concourse', even so the flow of people though the toilets was better than some grounds. The catering is from a wagon, and sells only fried food and soft drinks. No pies are available. 3/10

The stewarding/police: A sizable presence around town, including mounted police and a strong presence of stewards inside but there was no trouble. 8/10

The travelling: It's the perfect excuse for a weekend away considering how far you need to travel, however it is very easy to find if you follow the motorways and bypass right into the town. 5/10

The surrounding area (what's there to do outside the ground): Everything, the whole of Blackpool is your oyster with the tacky arcades, piers, tower and Pleasure Beach and obviously plenty of pubs! 8/10

The home fans (their contribution to the atmosphere etc): The best in the league so far with a sell out (which isn't hard really!) and mass singing throughout the game.. 9/10

Total score: 38/60

Awaydays League Table:

Barnsley (Oakwell Stadium) - 42
Blackpool (Bloomfield Road) - 38
Hull City (KC Stadium) - 38
QPR (Loftus Road) - 36
West Ham (Boleyn Ground) - 31
Stoke City (Britannia Stadium) - 28
Torquay United (Plainmoor) - 27

Beside the Seaside

Blackpool 0 - 0 Plymouth Argyle

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside; Blackpool is the great British drunken get-away, and saw many Argyle fans take advantage of the weekend and the unusual good weather to make the match a sell out. Blackpool were undefeated at home since February and Argyle left this record intact.

Following a minute's silence for Blackpool's late Bill Perry, Argyle seemed to wander comatosed through the following 90 minutes as Blackpool played their battering football. Again Holloway made changes to the squad with Ebanks-Blake now partnering Chadwick and Buszaky replacing Gosling. New signing Lee Martin was included on the subs bench, and was called up at the start of the second half. Martin showed promise with this quickness but was held back by his lack of experience with the team and their performance. Both teams pressed hard into the opposition's half but neither were able to finish what they started. Even so Argyle were out run for most of the game by Blackpool's quick moves and attacking play. The second half saw Argyle mainly on the back foot, quelling the repeated opportunities that Blackpool served up but they managed to hold out to a stalemate.

Holloway and many will say it was a good point gained, given Blackpool's performance, but Argyle never really got going. There seems to be something missing in this season's squad that is evident in everything they do. It could be the fact that two players don't want to stay come January, plus the other 15 who are out of contact this season, or the perceived lack of ambition in the club.

New signing

Today, Ian Holloway has signed his prey on a three month loan. 20 year old midfielder Lee Martin from Taunton, currently with Manchester United, will temporarily join the Pilgrims, being available for selection against Blackpool.

Lee played for Manchester United in their defeat against Coventry in the Carling Cup, as well as for Rangers in the SPL and Stoke City.

Lee Martin has squad number 29.


Picture copyright BBC

A Home Win

Plymouth Argyle 1 (Halmosi 50) - 0 Crystal Palace

The potential of beating the club's record of 5 home draws in a row was on the cards (yes, even Pulis never drew 5 games in a row) and it looked inevitable for most of the match. Once again we were treated to an uninspiring match, due to the on going playing issues, the poorness of the opposition and the dubious refereeing.


Holloway made a lot of changes to the squad - with Ebanks-Blake and Buszaky on the bench, Hodges, Chadwick and Gosling making a start, and Doumbe making his first appearance on the pitch this season. Even with all the changes, both team huffed and puffed through the first half with neither goal keeper called up on to do anything of note. What was different though was threat individual players' performances had picked up since the Wolves game, even if neither team could really make the team work for them; as usual Argyle's lack of finishing power kept them out of the game. Fans had to wait until the 50th minute for a goal, coming from Halmosi who hit a vertically cleared pass into their net, possibly via the foot of a Palace player.

Both sides made changes of personnel, Palace going for the draw and Argyle the win, which caused Argyle to work deeper and deeper into their own defence, however they managed to cling on for the whole 3 points however, the next games verses Blackpool away will tell whether this was really due to Palace's poor performance or Argyle's improvement.

Mickey Evans's Testimonial

Mickey Evans's testimonial committee have now launched their website where you can find out about all the events and details of his testimonial year.

http://www.mickeyevanstestimonial.com/

A quick synopisis of the events include:

1 December 2007: Testimonial Dinner at Holiday Inn
January 2008: Meet the Managers with present and past managers and Mickey
January / February / March: Footballers' Wines
March 2008: Golf Day at St Mellion
May 2008: Testimonial Match
May 2008: Grand Ball

The link is also in the sidebar under Recommended Blogs and Links.

Awaydays #6 - West Ham

The club: West Ham United (The Hammers), Boleyn Ground [Upton Park]

The ground: Hi hopes for a Premier League ground and the stadium is certainly impressive looking, however is no better than any other Championship ground. Three stands are joined together all two tiered with the huge high backed Dr Martens stand, and a separate smaller East stand. The outside of the Dr Martens stand is imposing and impressionable. The Centenary stand lower level houses the away fans and is very compact, with seating close to the pitch and a shallow rake to the stand, meaning a restricted view for some supporters. There are two large video screens in opposite corners. 7/10

The facilities and food: The concourse is very small, stark and cramped for the amount of supporters,in fact the largest space to be found in the gents toilet. There was only one refreshment bar open and no organisation and resulted in a near permanent rugby scrum - however the bar remained open throughout the game. They were also very unorganised - the hot food was not ready by the time they opened, resulting in poor pies. 5/10

The stewarding/police: As befits a London club, a very large police presence around the ground with patrols, mounted police and vans every hundred yards or so, inside the ground the stewarding and police action was minimal. 8/10

The travelling: Awful - everybody decided to have an accident, meaning long tailbacks and jams, as well as the usual heavy London traffic taking nearly as long to cross London than get there. Access to the ground is limited as well as parking, which can be found several streets away but the authority specifically target football traffic parked on restrictions and will lift a vehicle sharpish. Upton Park Tube station gets very crowded and crowd restrictions can get put in place. A trip through central London is by far a nicer and quicker way to go even if they do charge! 2/10

The surrounding area (what's there to do outside the ground): Not an away fan friendly area with supporters having to walk some distance though Green Street is full of take aways and stalls. If you arrive early you can easily jump on a Tube and get to central London. 5/10

The home fans (their contribution to the atmosphere etc): Apart from "Bubbles" which makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, like a lot of home fans they can be quiet, however any sound they do make does not travel well to the home end. 4/10

Total score: 31/60

Awaydays League Table:

Barnsley (Oakwell Stadium) - 42
Hull City (KC Stadium) - 38
QPR (Loftus Road) - 36
West Ham (Boleyn Ground) - 31
Stoke City (Britannia Stadium) - 28
Torquay United (Plainmoor) - 27

PAFC Ladies

Argyle's ladies team have launched their own calendar this week to raise funds. PALFC do not get any funding from Plymouth Argyle and therefore have to fund themselves. Their 2008 calendar is available in WHSmith in Plymouth, Argyle Centre Spot, St Luke's Hospice Shops and on Ebay priced £6 with £1 going to St Luke's Hospice.

Plymouth Argyle Ladies

Still Not Good Enough

Plymouth Argyle 1 (Chadwick 61) - 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (Elliott 41)



Back to the league with a bump, or rather a crash landing. Holloway fielded the same team as against West Ham but they did not live up to the same standards. Whether it was fatigue or big-headedness but today Wolves were by far the better team. For the whole first half Wolves controlled the game culminating in their goal 3 minutes from the break. For the first 15 minutes neither team really got a chance at goal until Wolves got into their stride and began attacking, but thankfully either them ending up shooting wide or high, or McCormick collecting the shots. Argyle had a few similar chances with the same outcomes as they poorly passes and poorly defended their way through the game, with several players making silly mistakes or just weren't in the game at all. The eventual goal came at the end of the first half with Ellott capitalising on these mistakes to beat McCormick.

Argyle continued the second half as they left the first by conceding a 15th corner kick to the Wolves and Holloway decided to make some changes, taking Ebanks-Blake and Buszaky for Fallon and Chadwick., which lead to Chadwick scoring his first goal of the season. Wolves took advantage of the huge gaps let by Argyle to continue their blitzkrieg attack on Argyle's goal, but thankfully they were forced wide or collected by Luke. To prove how poorly Argyle played - it wasn't until the 83rd minute when they took their first corner of the game but Chadwick could not direct it goalwards.

It seems that wins are just flukes of luck or caused by other teams playing poorly at the moment and it's hard to understand why it is happening. With 17 players out of contract this season, little money to spend, no completed stadium on the cards and Holloway looking more despondent by the week, things are not boding well at Home Park.

This is one game where a draw was a welcome result.

Awaydays #5 - Stoke

The club: Stoke City (The Potters), Brittania Stadium

The ground: For one in the breed of new stadium, the ground is looking old and tired. Two stands are independent of each other whilst the other two are connected at the corner, all three structures are high and imposing. The concourse was wide and airy and the away end seating area vast with a commanding view of the action. However if ever the song 'dirty northern b-stards' was true it was here - the stadium was filthy - I ended up covered in black dirt marks. 5/10

The facilities and food: There was a large bar - one half selling food, the other selling alcohol so you had to queue twice, the toilets were adequate for the number of supporters we took with shortish queues forming. The pie was far too hot to handle let alone eat but had the best filling of the season. 6/10

The stewarding/police: Minimal supervision by police and stewards before, during and after the match,. although the away end is fenced in after full time; the stewards allowed standing throughout the game on the back rows. 7/10

The travelling: Quick and easy, the route from the M6 is direct although you can miss the turning off the Stoke bypass. Car Parking is haphazard with people perched on verges, central reservations and roundabout all round the ground. 7/10

The surrounding area (what's there to do outside the ground): Nothing. The only amenity near by is the leisure centre. I would recommend that you make a small detour into Newcastle-under-Lyme and visit the pubs there - it's not far out of the way and you can loop round the centre back to the bypass. 0/10

The home fans (their contribution to the atmosphere etc): Another very poor, effort. No audible noise except for a few fans nearest the away support. However the supporters in the pubs were very friendly. 3/10

Total score: 28/60

Awaydays League Table:

Barnsley (Oakwell Stadium) - 42
Hull City (KC Stadium) - 38
QPR (Loftus Road) - 36
Stoke City (Britannia Stadium) - 28
Torquay United (Plainmoor) - 27

Hammered

West Ham 1 (Ashton 90+) - 0 Plymouth Argyle

So for the first time in ages Argyle get a run in the Carling Cup (recently we've been going out at the first round) and managed to hold out a Premier League team until second half stoppage time. Although it would have been good to take West Ham right down to penalties, the probability would have been that West Ham would have won regardless.

West ham fielded a near full strength experienced team verses Argyle's equivalent - the same team verses Stoke except for Ebanks-Blake and Hayles back in the starting line up - and for a lot of the game you could barely tell we were a league apart. At the beginning West Ham were not expecting for Argyle to come out so strong and it took time for them to settle down and play, especially in the second half when Argyle remained resolute throughout. Even when West Ham made their substitutions and sent on some 'muscle' the Greens stood firm, unfortunately a lack of concentration - maybe through tiredness - during the 3 minutes stoppage time saw Ashton score the Hammers' only goal.

By no means was this an outstanding performance, but unlike the 5-0 defeat last time the teams met, Argyle weren't outplayed or embarrassed, they created some great chances, but unfortunately as in league games we are not seizing the opportunity to put the ball away, have the same 'fear' of shooting and Luke's lack of command. However we should be proud of the achievement even if we feel gutted at the result.

Not Good Enough

Stoke City 3 (Seip (og) 9, Lawrence 65, Fuler 73) - 2 Plymouth Argyle (Seip 50, Fallon 58)

"The lads worked 'arrrrrd" is something that Tony Pulis would normally trot out after a defeat, however this time it was Ian Holloway who borrowed that infamous quote. Once again Argyle went up north and lost 3-2. Holloway was reported he would field the same team as that against QPR, however he made several changes, not least relegating Barry Hayles and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake to the bench. Overall Argyle probably deserved to win, but the game once again was marred by the same mistakes and weaknesses.

The first goal came about through the changes by which players should no longer take it upon themselves to stop play but let the referee deal with injured players, subsequently McCormick received the ball and cleared it up field, however the referee then awarded two successive free kicks to Stoke and on trying to defend them, Seip put the ball into his own net. The first half continued with Argyle missing chances and free kicks and went into the break with the deficit.

The second half got off to a flyer with Argyle going 2-1 up. The equaliser thanks to Seip, eager to avenge his mistake, followed by Fallon. And there it should have ended, Argyle were playing the better football and making all the moves. But it wasn't to be - the defensive problem reared its ugly head yet again, coupled with McCormick continued stupid mistakes. Stoke equalised when McCormick came for a long ball and missed, leaving Lawrence to put the ball away. This put Stoke on the up and Argyle lost control. Holloway made some later changes and eventually brought on Blake and Hayles, but the defence left large holes for Fuller to walk through and score - however it is questionable if this was an offside goal, but the officials disagreed. Argyle then lost all wind in their sails and Stoke strolled home with the 3 points.

Historically Stoke is very bad hunting ground, however QPR proves that is immaterial. We have gone on so long with the same problems in defence and learnt nothing. Additionally Holloway's 'pledge' to replace the keeper when he makes more than 2 mistakes is worthless with Romain's loan. Where do we go from here? Nowhere probably - it's clear that we are not good enough for promotion and (hopefully) not bad enough for relegation, so yet another season of mid table obscurity if things continue. And that will prove one season too many or some.

Awaydays #4 - QPR

The club: Queens Park Rangers (QPR, The Rs/Hoops); Loftus Road

The ground: How a football ground should be - hidden away in terraced streets in people's gardens with only the main entrances of the South Africa Road side being visible. The ground is a completely enclosed rectangle shape, all four corners meet at right angels. Three tiers are two tiered with a high backed single tier on one side. The away end is two tiered with two remote entrances on either side of the ground - and a long walk if your at the wrong one. The upper tier of the School end is quite steep and cramped for the capacity. 7/10

The facilities and food: As mentioned the upper tier is very cramped if it is near capacity - there are few toilets or refreshment bars. Queues for both quickly build and obstruct the rest of the concourse and vomitaries. Last season the lower tier was 'dry' with no alcohol served, however it is available on the top tier. The legroom is cramped and the view not too good - from places the nearest few yards of the pitch can easily be obscured. The food and drink was reasonably priced but the pie was awful. 4/10

The stewarding/police: As always with the Metropolitan Police, there is usually a large presence including mounted police, however it did not seem as excessive as previously. The stewards had lots difficulty telling people (who do not normally go away and want to occupy their allotted seat, not sit anywhere) where they can sit - a large group just aimlessly stood around for 10 minutes after kickoff. 6/10

The travelling: Easy Sailing until you get into London and hit the traffic. There are several routes to get to Shepherd's Bush - each as congested as the other. Parking near the ground can be problematic, but the residents bays restrictions end at 5pm on Mondays to Fridays and don't operate at weekends. However there is the Underground network and several stations nearby, but queues after the match can get long, however White City tube station is normally quieter. 6/10

The surrounding area (what's there to do outside the ground): You can do anything in London as there's so much to do and easy to get to on the Tube.hear the ground there are several 'away fan friendly' pubs on Shepherds Bush Green, or the Sprongbok on South Africa Road. 10/10

The home fans (their contribution to the atmosphere etc): Very poor, no sustained singing, very quiet for most of the game. There were reports of some QPR fans spoiling for a fight afterwards. 3/10

Total score: 36/60

Awaydays League Table:

Barnsley (Oakwell Stadium) - 42
Hull City (KC Stadium) - 38
QPR (Loftus Road) - 36
Torquay United (Plainmoor) - 27

Larrieu Loan Out

In another successive season, keeper Romain Larrieu has been loaned out, this time to Yeovil Town for 1 month after their keeper was injured. Larrieu has not had many games under Holloway after his illness and poor performances. Is it possible that Romain will be one of the players due to leave in January?

58 years of Hurt

Queens Park Rangers 0 - 2 Plymouth Argyle (Halmosi 49, Norris 62)

1949 was the last year in which Argyle won at Loftus Road, so it's fair to say QPR is not happy hunting ground, but last night ended 58 years of losses and draws with Argyle netting the ball twice in the second half in front of a huge Green Army of around 1,000 supporters.

Following Holloway's silence after the Cardiff draw, which felt more like a loss, he must have had strong words with the squad, not least changing calling Halmosi, Timar, Buszaky and Nallis back in to the starting lineup. The game was still locked at 0-0 come half time with both sides having some chances on goal, including two missed free kicks from the edge of the penalty area, and Luke (who kept his place) having to make some smart saves. Going into the break it was everything to play for with Argyle having the advantage over poor-run QPR but nearly throwing it away again in stoppage time with Connolly miss-passing a shot back to McCormick which Ligertwood picked up. Thankfully the defence remained on the ball.

The second half restarted with Argyle pressure up until Halmosi rounded a QPR defender who slipped and could only watch as the ball nestled in the net. Rangers then woke up and Rowlands clipped the bar, luckily for McCormick who never moved from his spot on the line. QPR introduced their substitutes but could not stop Norris from getting the second. A few more slips ensued in defence but QPR could not send the ball home, leaving Argyle the victors.

No doubts a great victory for Argyle, but still at times we were shaky and could have taken advantage of QPR's weaknesses sooner. This puts us 8th in the table (up from 19th), which shows how close the league is at the moment, without the stupidness of Cardiff we would have been in the playoffs; therefore it is vital that those sorts of matches do not happen again.

2-0 and we messed it up

Plymouth Argyle 2 (Ebanks-Blake 31, Ebanks-Blake 58) - 2 Cardiff City (Rai 71, Thompson 86)

In a reversal of last year's comeback against Cardiff, it was their turn to return from the brink.

In front of the Sky TV cameras, Argyle played a good first half with the Championship's current top scorer netting the ball following an imprecisely cleared ball resulting from a free kick. Argyle went into the break 1-0 up and surely ended the game early in the second half when Ebanks again kicked home a rebounded save. But the dodgy defence which has plagued Argyle this season, and had wobbled through the game this far, gifted Cardiff a way back in, quickly followed by number two. Argyle did have the chance to take the lead in stoppage time, with Chadwick missing a sitter.

It is strange that a team which is very nearly the same as last season have not yet gelled well enough to work together and the poor defending conceding stupid goals is becoming a worrying theme this season. There were several great individual performances by players but if the team doesn't play together, nothing's going to happen. So in 5 games we've gone from 5th to 19th, one more draw or a defeat would put us in the relegation zone. Hopefully it's early days yet but it looks like a long hard season is ahead,

New Strip for Argyle

Plymouth Argyle have launched a new strip - by bareing all.

As part of Gordon Sparks's "Have a Ball with Sparksy" highlighting testicular cancer, members of Argyle's squad have stripped off and produced a special football season naked calendar.

Costing £5.99 they will be available from Argyle outlets in Plymouth, as well as the BBC in Seymour Road. For a sneak peak, check out the pictures of the Herald website

The Early Birds

Argyle's home fixture verses Bristol City on 8 December has been moved on police instruction to a 12.30 kick off

Official Site

'Best Wished "Ollie"'

Ian Holloway kicked off his book signing tour today in Bristol, the first Plymouth based one will be this Thursday at Argyle Centre Spot in Drake Circus between 13.00 and 14.00; followed by Waterstones (New George Street) on Friday.

Additional dates have been added to the tour and can be found at www.ollieontour.co.uk

They've only gone and done it

England getting the treble on Saturday.
There goes my opinions for what they were worth!

On a break

International weekends break up the league timetable several times in the year, and they can be a blessing or a pain in the arse - either a team can improve on a bad run or lose momentum from a good one. Another consequence is that fixtures end up squashed together.

This England weekend means that Argyle have no game for 2 weeks, followed by 7 in 3 weeks (one being the additional cup game - and cup games add extra matches at awkward times in the year too, especially FA Cup replays). This takes its toll on players as, especially with a smaller squad in comparison with other clubs, they can become overworked. Argyle have ordered their players this week to take time off over the weekend, following an intensive training week with another one coming up. Maybe they'll use the chance to watch Argyle v Exeter in the rugby, or watch one or both of the England teams lose* in the Euro qualifiers or Rugby World Cup. But what ever they do, hopefully they will come out stronger in the first game verses Cardiff. Will we be in for a repeat of the amazing 3-3 draw of last season? Hopefully not, hopefully we'll win this time!

*this is not a professional prediction!

Hammering down Cup Prices

Prices for the league cup game verses West Ham have been finalised:

West Ham v Plymouth Argyle
Carling League Cup round 3
Wednesday 26 September, 1945
Bowlyn Ground, Upton Park

Adult, Argyle season-ticket holder* £12, without season-ticket £15; Senior citizen and young adult (16-21) season-ticket holder* £6, without season-ticket £7.50; Under-16 season-ticket holder* £4, without season-ticket £5.

Ticket sale dates will be announced shortly

*a season ticket holder is a GREEN MEMBER only

F0-0xes

Plymouth Argyle 0 - 0 Leicester City




It was a strange week for Leicester with their manager sacked hours after fighting to save Clive Clarke's life following his heart attack at their cup game. The match was destined to be an all, either Argyle would capitalise upon the unnerving changes or Leicester would want to prove themselves, or nothing; at it happened it became a nothing.

Holloway made some changes to the starting line up with the artillery of Ebanks-Blake in place, and McCormick back between the sticks, even so it proved a dull first half. After a while it dawned on most people that the game was heading for a 0-0 draw in spite of several shots on goal that all went wide. Argyle picked up the second half with Holloway bringing on new striker Abdou who looked sparky but they couldn't carve out the 3 points. Never the less, the home clean sheet has been maintained.

Carling Cup Round 3

Away verses West Ham, Wednesday 26 September.

Allez les Verts

Ian Holloway announced today the signing of new loanee - Larrys Mabiala. Larrys is joining the Greens for the remainder of the season from Paris St Germain. At 6'' 4', 19 year old Mabiala plays either centre- or right- back, and is a French U21 international player.

Larrys joins Argyle following the signing of fellow countryman Nadjim Abdou (The French Connection) and has been assigned shirt number 6.

PAFC Official Site article

photo copyright www.psgenforce.net

1992 (Doncaster Rovers CC2)

Plymouth Argyle 2 (Ebanks-Blake 15, Summerfield 90+1) - 0 Doncaster Rovers

Was the last time that Argyle progressed through to the 3rd round of the Carling League Cup. Holloway's rollocking following the Barnsley fiasco must have been fresh in the players' minds and coupled with a woeful Doncaster performance led to a better performance by the Greens, however Holloway was still less than satisfied.

Defying the now-common early conceded goal, it was Argyle's turn to score early with Ebanks-Blake's third goal of the season; but Argyle had to wait until the 91st minute to properly cement their lead. A plethora of near misses and an offside goal should have meant a higher scoreline but sadly Argyle couldn't finish.

Doncaster showed little spark until their triple substitution at half time, when upped their attacking play and came close several times to forcing extra time. This wasn't aided by Holloway's substitutions which worked in reverse from Saturday. Ebanks-Blake hit the ball home from 15 yards, closely followed by Chadwick who redirected Ebanks-Blake's mishit but unfortunately was judged offside and the second came from a free kick by Summerfield that no one got to, ending up luckily in the top corner of the Doncaster net.

Holloway used the change to give new player Nadjim Abdou his first start in a green shirt, and was impressive compared to his substitution run on Saturday, like wise Bojan Djordjic received a warm welcome as he came on in the second half.

The 3rd round games will be played week commencing 24 September.

Awaydays #3 - Barnsley

The club: Barnsley (The Tykes); Oakwell Stadium

The ground: The three developed sides tower over the older stand which has the television gantry perched on its roof. Unusually the stands are separate entities with large gaps in each corner where the turnstiles are located except for the disabled stand between the East and Pontefract Road stands. The newer stands have been clad with brick and given attractive stairwells with large church-like windows. This ground happily combines the old and the new and has the unusual approach of away fans walking through a field which is the away car park! 9/10

The facilities and food: Three quarters of the away end was allocated to Argyle, which is a huge cavernous stand. The concourse seems extremely big because of its height, plus there is an additional outside section between the turnstiles and the stand. There are two sets of very large toilets, and the pie extremely good. 8/10

The stewarding/police: The stewards left the fans alone but did complain about banging on the metal cladding at the back of the stand - the back two rows are cordoned off to prevent this. Just the usual police presence, although one squad car did take an interest in why our minibus had suddenly emptied up near the town - we saw a pub! 8/10

The travelling: You get to know the roads when travelling as it's always the same ones you go on to get anywhere, and the M42 and M1 were being their usual selves with roadworks. The bank holiday didn't help with a spate of accidents over the country, including several pile ups and a detour via the M6 north of Birmingham. even so this journey didn't seem as long as it should have. the stadium is signed from near the M1 but there is a rogue sign that will send you in a loop because of works in the city centre, when you get back to where you started you'll know which one it is! 6/10

The surrounding area (what's there to do outside the ground): Oakwell is on the edge of the city centre, but not really near anything in particular. There is a leisure centre next to the ground that permits away fans, or the Prince of Wales pub the other side of 10 (about 15 minutes walk away). the centre is the same distance over the ring road. 6/10

The home fans (their contribution to the atmosphere etc): Quite quiet considering they were winning, only a few sustained chants all 90 minutes. The supporters before hand were very welcoming and chatty. 5/10

Total score: 42/60

Awaydays League Table:

Barnsley (Oakwell Stadium) - 42
Hull City (KC Stadium) - 38
Torquay United (Plainmoor) - 27

Beyond Compre-tyke-tion

Barnsley 3 (Ferenczi 12, Werling 44, Howard 57) - 2 Plymouth Argyle (Hayles 61, Chadwick 67)

The league games this season are following a worrying pattern - shocking defending leading to conceding an early goal, normally Argyle get back into the game quickly - but not this time. If Barnsley wanted to, the could have driven an armoured tank and a New York St Patrick's day parade through the defence, luckily they only chose 3 goals but it could probably have been more. Why have a wall of 2 players for a free kick in front of goal?

Who should shoulder the blame for such an inept performance? For the line up has worked in the past. Even so Holloway made some bum decisions - playing Seip after being out all week with an injury (who had a very poor game) and leaving the subs until far too late, at least Ebanks-Blake should have come on at half time. But when Holloway made a triple substitution - which smacks of a panicking manager with nothing to lose - the game changed with the added stroke force carving out two consolation goals. Unfortunately Argyle ten tried too hard to get the 3rd. Current partnerships are not working.

A small consolation that this is the first defeat of the season, and there will be many more to come; and that Hayles and Chadwick finally made it onto the score sheet.

Hopefully this will be a wake up call to all, and we will never experience a week of hell again.

The Secret's Out

David Norris.

Used to be the best kept secret of the Championship, but not anymore as someone's been blabbing. Norris joined Argyle in 2002 after a loan transfer from Bolton Wanderers and finally a £25,000 transfer and has since made 202 appearances for Argyle, scoring 23 goals*. Norris, nicknamed Chuck, has been a stalwart an integral part of the Argyle squad; some would say he was the 'Championship's best kept Secret' because of his effort, and level of play, sometimes outplaying 'more expensive' players. Until this year.

There have been rumours of several bids for Norris from other Championship clubs, including most recently £700,000 from Southampton. Holloway has said that Norris is not for sale unless it's a realistic figure. Sooner or later that realistic figure will come along or David will start getting itchy feet to move on to pastures new. And higher.

The French Connection

Argyle have added to the number of Frenchmen who have played for them today by signing on midfielder Nadjim Abdou. Nadjim (or Jimmy) will be joining fellow country men Romain Larrieu, Lillian Nallis and Mattias Doumbe at Home Park and following in the footsteps of David Friio.

Holloway has likened Jimmy to Claude Makalele and belives he can will be bringing a lot of enthusiasm to the role. Adbou has be assigned the number 26 shirt.

Official site article

In related news, captain Paul Wotton will play his first competative match in the reserves team at Bristol Rovers tonight.

picture copyright allezsedan.com

Holloway Stoned

The cause of Holloway's illness on Saturday has been confirmed as kidney stones; he was discharged Saturday evening and is back in good health.

Official site statement

Ploughing the Tractor Boys

Plymouth Argyle 1 (Ebanks-Blake pen 85) - 1 Ipwsich Town (Lee 2)

Once again Argyle go down to a very early soft goal, and spend the rest of the match fighting back; with Holloway taken ill a few hours before the match, maybe this was preying on the lads' minds. Within 2 minutes Allan Lee ploughed through very poor defending to put Ipswich 1-0 up, who then spent the remaining 88+ minutes time wasting. The game was characterised by a plethora of bookings, only 5 of Ipswich's squad were booked, including Wilnis's red card for a poor tackle on Norris after just 3 minutes on the pitch from coming on as a substitute.

Argyle made it seem very hard to find the back of the net, as shot after shot would either go wide, or into the arms of keeper Alexander until Argyle were awarded a penalty for a foul on Halmosi. Ebanks-Blake stepped up and thumped the ball low into the net. Even against a 10 man Ipswich Argyle seemed to struggle to finish in spite of carving up the defence, causing Ipswich to lose their heads. If only Argyle can stop conceding the stupid early goals and find the target, however having a shot, even if it misses, is an improvement on last season when the urge was to walk the ball in. Buszaky was the busiest player on the field this afternoon, with numerous attempts on goals and corner taking, but unfortunately he couldn't finish, whilst others had a poor or quiet game..

The overriding thing to come out of this afternoon is : Get well soon Ollie.

The next games are: Barnsley away, Sat 25; Doncaster home, Tue 27/Wed28 (CC2)

BREAKING NEWS - Holloway taken ill

Official site statement

Carling Cup Round 2

Plymouth Argyle v Doncaster Rovers at home, Tuesday 28 or Wednesday 29 August

Ollie on Tour

Ian Holloway's autobiography is due to be released this coming autumn, on 17th September. To promote this, Ollie is undertaking a 'tour' sponsored by Ginsters. To find out more about tour dates visit http://www.ollieontour.co.uk/. The 13th, 14th September and 18th October book signings will be in Plymouth,

Coinciding with this Ginsters are running a competition to win a VIP 'Day on the Bench' with Holloway - your chance to experience the match from the Argyle home bench; visit http://www.ginsters.com/ollie/ to enter.

Watch last season's Soccer AM interview where he discusses his book here

picture copyright ollieontour.co.uk

Sparksy v Holloway

The annual Plymouth FlavourFest launches tomorrow, with the now traditional Sparksy vs Holloway 'Ready Steady Cook' session. At 12noon on Friday Ian Holloway will go head to head with Gordon Sparks armed with £10 worth of shopping to create a meal in the famous TV programme style. Last year Holloway beat Sparksy with his aptly named 'Argyle burger'.

For more information visit http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/flavourfest.html

Wycombe Wanderers CC1

Plymouth Argyle 2 (Bullock 41 og, Hodges 44) - 1 Wycombe Wanderers (Oakes 76)

It wasn't a pretty match but we got her in the taxi, as Holloway might say.
Argyle have a shockingly bad history in this cup, having only got through to the 2nd round once in 14 years (excluding tonight) and there was little optimism for a good result tonight. Holloway fielded a youthful team as well as giving second choice first teamers a run out with Ebanks-Blake and Chadwick forming the strike force and McCormick back between the sticks.

The first 10 minutes were dominated by Wycombe until Argyle found their feet but not the goal - there were numerous attempts and near misses, including Ebanks-Blake rounding the keeper but panicking and losing the ball, until in the 41st minute when a defection came off Wycombe's Bullock into their net (this was mistakenly credited to Reuban Reid due to his proximity to the action). This spurred Argyle on with Hodges scoring 3 minutes later and they dominated the first half. Holloway decided to make some substitutions during the second half - and unlike at Hull, it didn't pay off. Argyle sat back and lost control of the game, culminating in Wycombe grabbing a goal back on 76 minutes. This led to a nail biting finish, with the possibility of extra time and penalties lingering in the air; but thankfully Argyle held on to win.

The 2nd round draw will take place on Thursday, whilst the game will be played on Wednesday 29 August.

Awaydays #2 - Hull City

The club: Hull City (The Tigers); KC Stadium

The ground: The KC is an impressive stadium, set in parkland very much like Home Park. A totally wrapped round bowl ground, with a sweeping roof and a two tiered main stand. The concourse is industrial, with bare brick work and steelwork, but the seats are quite flimsy. 7/10

The facilities and food: Hull gave Argyle an extended concourse meaning there was more room than usual and more toilet facilities (curiously one set of gents only contained urinals). The pie was extremely hot and the filling fell out. Hull do a 'pie and pint' deal before 2pm and sell draught lagers and bitters.. 7/10

The stewarding/police: No complaints, the segregation at Hull is very rigid - away fans are caged in outside the ground as well as inside and there's the usual strong 'defensive wall' between in the corner between the home and away fans, nonetheless the stewards allowed fans to stand on the back three rows throughout the match. 8/10

The travelling: The longest journey this season, but very straight forward by road, the KC is easy to find and has a humongous car park; the station is 15 minutes away through a dodgy area which has been improved, there are regular bus services back to the centre but the queues get very long.. 6/10

The surrounding area (what's there to do outside the ground): You could sit in the parkland, and there's a small shopping area with a Sainsbury nearby, but very little else. The pubs are not very welcoming however this year we found a very amiable social club. The New Walton Social Club charges £1 per visitor (no admittance after 2pm mind) and is quite cheap. With your back to the away end, head over the car park to the road, turn right and head up towards the level crossing and cream coloured pub, the club is next door. 5/10

The home fans (their contribution to the atmosphere etc): Started strongly, especially after their early lead, but dropped off as the game progressed. The majority of noise comes from the left of the away end, who tried to remain vocal throughout. Again there was a 10 minute period of silence during the second half. 5/10

Total score: 28/60

Awaydays League Table:

Hull City (KC Stadium) - 38
Torquay United (Plainmoor) - 27

Pie of the Year

The Pie of the Year league is now in full swing for the new season.
Check out www.pieoftheyear.blogspot.com

Deja-Hull

Hull City 2 (Windass 3, Marney 48) - 3 Plymouth Argyle (Norris 15, Fallon 45+1, Ebanks-Blake 81)


The first game of the new season kicked of to a great start for Argyle, with a 3-2 win over Hull City, with Ebanks-Blake scoring the deciding goal in the same scoreline verses last season's winagainst Sunderland.

Argyle went 1-0 down within 3 minutes as Dean Windass netted the ball in front of Argyle's 800 strong support. However Argyle managed to dominate the first half, during which Nallis suffered a head injury, playing the remainder of the game with his head bandaged, with Norris scoring from 20 yards 10 minutes later and Fallon sending a diving header into Hull's goal in stoppage time.

And it all went pear-shaped at the break. From kick off at the second half, something had happened to Argyle for all structure was lost, and a flurry of bizarre refereeing and linesman decisions frustrated the rest of the game. The chant "swimming and driving" rang out, along with derogatory chants against the main culprit, Windass, as Hull sought to win every foul and offside possible. The equaliser came on the 48th minute when Marney netted a rebounded penalty, awarded for Halmosi tugging Marney's shirt. Romain saved the initial kick, but the ball was picked up by Hull and netted on the rebound. Argyle frustrated the fans and themselves by a series of narrow misses. It wasn't until Holloway made key substitutions with Hayles and Fallon being replaced by Ebanks-Blake and Chadwick respectively that Argyle were once again on top when Ebanks shot past Hull's keeper.

On the basis of one result, which sees Argyle in 4th position, the hang up of shooting from outside the box seems to have been dealt with, but it is early days yet - Argyle have won their last three first away fixtures and to speak of play offs is premature. However it is an very encouraging start to the season

The Final Countdown

There are now fewer than 24 hours until the official kickoff of the new season, with our opening game at Argyle's farthest awayday - Hull City.

We go into this season with fewer players than last season, having failed to sign anyone during the transfer window not even a loanie - even McVeigh has rumoured to have gone to Luton. Holloway says he is happy to work with a core of strong players, but with the number of injuries the team were carrying last season, we struggled. For that to happen again this season means we'll be up the famous creek. On a brighter note, the players that have sported injuries last season have made a return (with the exception of Wotton, who still has some recovery time pending, and Djordjic who picked up a small injury over the close season). This is why Argyle, along with the millstone that Argyle wear of being unfashionable, have been mainly by-passed in the season predictions - placed between mid table and relegation.

This is Argyle's 4th season in the Coca Cola Championship - will it be a "make or break" one?

The New Kit

is on general release from today in all Argyle stockists.

St Blazey

St Blazey 0 - 10 Plymouth Argyle (Reid, Barnes, Dickson, Barnes, Laird (pen), Barnes, Barnes, Tonkin (og), Duggan, Samba (pen)

Two green teams took to the field of Blaise Park yesterday, only one came out on top in a spectacular way. Although this was Argyle's reserve side, they continued the winning form of the 1st and youth teams on Saturday.

Barely minutes had passed and Argyle were 2-0 up and so the goals kept coming, including two penalties in either half. Three trialists were given a run out - Anton Robinson, Andre Taiwo and Aaron Silcott - but they quickly found their feet.

A comical moment right on full time, saw three Argyle players miss the goal in quick succession, with the Samba hitting the post for the ball to rebound to Robinson, who again hit the post and rebounded to Duggan who found the crossbar.

As born out of the scoreline, Argyle gave a good account of themselves, with several outstanding performances by players and trialists alike.

69%

of people surveyed in the south west by GMTV do not care for the start of the new football season (and 60% of the UK population). Is this the reason why Argyle has such a low following in recent years?

What has happened to football - has the fat cat nature of the Premiership and the constant ramming of top flight football and its players, their wives and lives down everyone's throats worn down the populous?

Almost 50% of the male population and 75% of females are not looking forward to 2007/08, which are significant figures. "There's too much on TV" is a popular excuse - conveniently forgetting the fact that 'main stream TV' has lost football rights to specialist pay-per-view channels; "There's too much money in football" is another - and when you look at the Premiership etc is true, but once again people forget their local teams and the grass roots of the game; "Footballs full of thugs [the supporters]" - say that to my face mate and I'll knock yer f-ing block off; "I'm sick of hearing about Posh and Becks" - aren't we all love.

In the country that is the home of football, unless we are riding high in the World Cup, it looks like to a lot of the British and Westcountry population, the game we love is insignificant, if this continues, will it be sustainable in the future?

Bristol Rovers

Plymouth Argyle (Halmosi, Fallon, Fallon, Norris, Buzsaky, McVeigh, McVeigh) 7 - 3 Bristol Rovers (Lescott, Pipe, Hinton)

The run away train came down the track and was nearly brought to a stop at half time.

In the only home friendly of the pre-season, Holloway fielded was must surely be his first choice team for the new season, incidentally wearing the new home kit, and they were unstoppable. Like a runaway freight train Argyle crashed through the Rovers' defence time and time again, yielding 5 goals by half time and 2 more in the second half.

But whilst the first half was crisp, clean, flowing, clinical football, the changes of half time saw the game fritter away into a semi-nothingness. Three substitutions after 10 minutes saw Argyle tighten up again with the return of goals. Unfortunately Argyle conceded 3 very soft goals by the Gas, two in that return from half time. But Argyle's goals were a joy to watch, players not afraid to have a pop at the net from distance - only Hayles tried to walk in a certain goal, and failed - the most spectacular being McVeigh's first goal - a volley from 25 yards. And it could have been more - if it wasn't for the woodwork again!

With the improving look of the team over the pre-season, the outlook for the league is looking rosey.

New Kit -a Big Joke?

Has this season's (2007/08) new home and away kits turned into one big joke? There seems to have been nothing but complications in getting it ready and released to the Argyle massive this summer.

The palaver started back towards the end of the 2006/07 season when supporters were invited to suggest colour schemes for the new away kit, this then turned into a vote on the final colour. Democracy in action. Or was it? The final colours came out as the traditional green, white, and black, along with silver and yellow. Unofficial votes saw silver as the main colour of choice. However as the the new kit was revealed in June it was to be yellow with green flashes - reminiscent of Norwich City. This took many supporters by surprise to say the least. The home kit was not up for negotiation.

Then there was the delay in announcing the sponsorship. The kit design preview drawings were released with the word SPONSOR in place of the Ginsters logo, this led to speculation about a new sponsorship deal. But when the announcement it was Ginsters again with a new deal. Now sponsorship deals are a complex process and there was probably a lot of background dealing and counter-dealings that led to this delay. But this has probably affected all the events which followed.

We are now nearly 1 week away from the start of the new season without any clear date on when supporters will be able to get their hands on them. At the opening of Centre Spot on Tuesday I was told the release will be 6 August, today - two days later - it is now being quoted as 10th August - 1 day before the new season starts!

Replica kits are a big money spinner for football clubs. Unfortunately they have also been part of merchandising corruption - with a kit costing £40 to buy the leading sports shops have been found guilty of price fixing the leading Premiership and National shirts. Even though this doesn't apply to Argyle, they have been sucked into the stance, because of Puma, that there has to be a new strip for every new season - the away shirt has been changed 3 times and the home twice in 3 seasons, with the new strips are only due to last for 1 season.

It has been a long held opinion that supporters are being taken for a ride over replica kits, and whilst Argyle have avoided the pitfalls so far, the last few years there is growing disquiet over how this part of their merchandising is being handled.

Truro City

Truro City 0 - 4 Plymouth Argyle (Halmosi, Reid, Buszaky, Reid)

The second pre-season friendly in two days saw the same scoreline as at Paulton but this time against FA Vase winners, Truro City. Again Holloway was keen to see more of the new trialists with McVeigh in the line up with Nadjim Abdou in the starting line up.

Argyle didn't have such an easy ride as might have been expected, conceding a penalty in the first half which was saved by keeper Romain Larrieu, which Argyle took to their advantage by Halmosi scoring at the other end of the field from a corner. In a cliche it was a game of two halves with the first looking scrappy, whilst a change of Argyle personnel at half time saw a better second half when Reid and Buszaky widened the scoreline with 3 successive goals within the last 20 minutes of the game.

Paulton Rovers

Paulton Rovers 0 - 4 Plymouth Argyle (Dickson, Chadwick, Chadwick, McVeigh)

Ollie promised a full squad for the last minute fixture verses Paulton Rovers, Bristol, but the shoe-horned in game gave a chance for several trailists including Paul McVeigh, a former Northern Irelander, an unnamed Finish centre-back (possibly Tony Kallio) and French top division midfielder, Nabjim Abdou. However this game was always about fitness.

Paulton gave a good performance against a domineering Argyle, but it was the visitors who opened the scoring with Ryan Dickson knocked a low shot in on the 37th minute. Two goals by Nick Chadwick in the second half, followed by another from trialist McVeigh only extended a predictable scoreline. McVeigh and Abdou impressed supporters at the game especially in spite of McVeigh size, whilst the Finnish player didn't set the field on fire.

Kick off the Centre Spot

Argyle's new flagship city centre store was opened today in Drake Circus shopping centre. Paul Wotton official opened the shop, along with fellow team mates Bojan Djordjic, Dan Gosling, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Romain Larrieu.

The store is located on the upper mall level at the foot of the escalators to the food court, and although compact in size, sells a range of, mostly new, merchandise for the coming season and, for the first time away from Home Park, matchday tickets.

Supporters can get their hands on the new 2007/08 season merchandising - mostly featuring the yellow of the new away strip. The new home and away kits are due to be launched on Monday 6 August.

Opening Times.
Mondays - Saturdays (except Thursdays): 9am - 6pm
Thursdays: 9am - 8pm
Sundays: 10.30am - 4.30pm

Austrian Tour: Tel Aviv

Hapoel Tel Aviv 1 - 1 Plymouth Argyle (Buszaky)

In a repeat scoreline of Tuesday's game, in almost repeat timed game, Argyle equalise with a late goal from Akos Buszaky after Tel Aviv take an early lead.

Badeer Valeed took the early lead for Tel Aviv after 10 minutes in the preseason tour friendly in a slightly different line up due to Ebanks-Blakes injury meaning Chadwick partnered Hayles up front with Norris, Summerfield and Barnes behind, and Gosling, Timar, Doumbe and Hodges at the back. However this formation proved lacklustre and following the goal Holloway switched to a 4-3-3 which changed the game as Argyle started to look sharper. A near full change of squad at half-time as follows Holloway's preseason 'tactics', saw Argyle domineering possession but still getting caught out on set-pieces and wantonness in front of the goal save for some excellent efforts from Gosling and Buszaky who eventually scored the equaliser from a short taken corner.

Austrian Tour: Genclerbirligi

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Plymouth Argyle (Reid)

Argyle are currently on the preseason tour of Austria with their first of two games whilst there. Although Argyle played strongly they let in an easy goal within 2 minutes and spent the remaining 88 minutes on catch-up, striking the woodwork from all angle before Reid managed to miss the crossbar and posts to find the back of the net.
The game was played in appalling conditions with a lightning storm domineering the first half, and saw some very strong performances from several players, not least Chadwick who seemed keen to impress after his prolonged injury.

Cambridge United

Cambridge United 1 - 2 Plymouth Argyle (Norris, Ebanks-Blake)

Still in the winning way, and with Ollie back in charge and Chadwick making his first start for a very long time. Holloway is still rotating the team and using different combinations but only a few players are standing out. Norris gave Argyle the lead, but wastefulness in front of the goal and the usual defensive problems meant that Cambridge were spurred on so they equalised instead of Argyle increasing the lead. The game was mostly marred by Sawyer receiving a nasty blow to his head, resulting in several sutures. Ebanks-Blake scored the winner after 78 minutes.