Les Rosbifs

Blog, Les Rosbifs*, following the fortunes of English players when the go abroad have a very interesting interview with ex Argyle and Torquay player, Sam Malsom.

I recommend Les Rosbifs, to readers of TBAP who are interested in what English players who have moved abroad are doing, and shall add it to my recommended blogs.

*"Les Rosbifs" literally translated is French for "The Roast Beefs", a term used like "Jocks" and "Taffs" to mean the English.

Championship new-boys: Peterborough United

In my last post I had a look at Leicester City, who I think should be able to survive in the Championship without too much difficulty. The Posh represent a different kettle of fish all together and predicting where they’ll end up next season is much harder.

They played some neat football in League One last season and as long as they hold on to Darren Ferguson as boss that should continue next year. Irish owner Darragh MacAnthony is certainly willing to splash his considerable cash around. Since he has taken over at the London Road Stadium about £2million has been invested into the squad and they paid around the £500,000 mark for goalkeeper Joe Lewis and a similar fee for defender Gabriel Zakuani.

There is no doubt they need to spend a bit of money in the summer but I don’t think they need to make massive changes to their side. Peterborough will have looked at the way teams like Doncaster have come up and survived this season. It will be a big task for a club that size to compete in the Championship but they’ve got a good manager and owner so the set up is there to succeed.

They will be relegation candidates with the bookmakers, that’s a certainty, but I would argue they have a decent chance of survival. For the Posh keeping hold of Ferguson will be crucial and he is fast becoming one of the most sought after managers in the lower leagues, with QPR among the clubs said to be keen.

Personally I reckon Ferguson will stay and try and establish them in the Championship, but it seems a good Championship bet that he’ll need more funding from MacAnthony if he is to achieve that.

Comings and Goings

With Burnley winning 1-0 against Sheffield United, `w welcome the following clubs into the Championship:

Middlesbrough (relegated from PL)
Newcastle United (relegated from PL)
West Bromwich Albion (relegated from PL)
Leicester United (promoted from L1)
Peterborough United (promoted from L1)
Scunthorpe (promoted from L1 via play offs)

Whilst saying goodbye to:

Wolverhampton Wanderers (promoted to PL)
Birmingham City (promoted to PL)
Burnley (promoted to PL via play offs)
Norwich (relegated to L1)
Southampton (relegated to L1)
Charlton Athletic (relegated to L1)

The games against likes of Newcastle and Middlesbrough will get janners creaming their pants, else it's going to be yet another tough season.

Good Luck Sturrock

The summer shenanigans have started at Home Park.

First off it appears that Gallagher will not be returning as he's now too expensive for Argyle, fan favourite, Timar has been told to shove off and fan non-favourite Summerfield is likely to be kept on.

No one really knows the workings of Sturrock's mind, Timar has been out of favour since his head injury and if he's never to figure again just as well he gets shot along with the changing room cleaners like Mpenza. It was never likely that Gallagher would be staying as money would always be the problem, and Summerfield ... well I don't think we'll go down that road apart from saying that he has a lot of potential. This all assuming someone wants Sturrock's rejects.

Well good luck Sturrock, you can't really do much worse than last year's transfers can you? Can you???!

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.

Championship new-boys: Leicester City

It has been a little while since my last post on To be a Pilgrim and I thought I’d start my first post of the off-season with a little look at the teams who will be new to the Championship. First up then is Leicester City who after just one season in League One have made their way back into the Championship and won the league in some style.

I’m not expecting wholesale changes for the Foxes to be honest. They paid their squad Championship wages in League One in an effort to get them straight back up and it worked. They’ve got some decent players there already, Matt Fryatt in particular has been amazing this season and owner Milan Mandaric is keen to keep hold of the striker. I’m not convinced Fryatt will have the same impact in the Championship (well I’m sure he won’t) but he is still a quality goal-scorer and he should keep that up in a higher division.

Mandaric claims he wants to take them into the Premier League so they probably will delve into the transfer market a bit, though as I said I expect the spine of the team to remain essentially the same. I rate Nigel Pearson as a manager and whenever I’ve watched Leicester this season they’ve played some nice stuff, though his record in the Championship with Southampton wasn’t great even though he didn’t last very long there.

Personally I’m expecting Leicester to start the season well, as many promoted sides do, but I can’t see them challenging for promotion next season. I doubt they’ll be relegation candidates either though and a mid-table finish seems like a good Championship bet for their first season back in the league. I’ll be looking at Darren Ferguson’s Peterborough next time, who unlike Leicester will probably have to build their squad to cope with the Championship.

I’m a big fan of the new Argyle home kit as well, looks pretty good but I’m not so sure about the keeper’s jersey – though to be honest who buys the keeper’s strip anyway?

End of Season Report

CONFIDENTIAL

Name:
Plymouth Argyle Football Club Ltd

Age:
123 years old

Year:
2008/09

Headteacher's comments:
Must try harder, needs more action less talk

Teacher's comments:
A poor start to the year in the test matches of August led to a continued below average performance through to September when the pupil was in the bottom three of the class. Plymouth showed some excellent work during September and November when he turned around his attitude and results to sore to near above average, however he was unable to sustain this success, slipping back to his usual slow ways. Another flurry was shown around New Year when Plymouth was chosen to work with the top set and showed good resilience in their playground, however this treat did little to boost his moral. Aside from a few very good performances, Plymouth worked below his potential for most of the year and only just avoided being kept back a year. Plymouth has also experienced a higher than usual number of injuries this year, seriously affecting his work rate.

There has been concern with Plymouth's out of school circumstances, in particular his parent's financial situation and parental supervision. Additionally, Plymouth had failed to make many permanent friends from other classes and could only manage friendships that lasted a few months at a time.

Recommended action:
Before next year, Plymouth needs to work hard on his key skills, including his enthusiasm, team work and confidence. He needs a positive attitude. It is hoped that there will be help with is financial situation, and also his ability to make friends. Extra training, possibly in Scotland, would be beneficial.

General comments:
Plymouth has shown a lot of concern over recent years but has managed to do just the right amount of work to get by, the increasing pressure may eventually prove too much. Needs close monitoring.

A Fitting End

Plymouth Argyle 1 - 2 Barnsley

Well doesn't that just sum up the whole season? A huge pile of shite.

A no pressure game that saw no pressure to succeed. We're safe, who cares? From play off to just scraping relegation in 21st position in a successful season for the Greens.

Nothing but pride to play for today, but even that wasn't worth our players getting out of bed today, most of whom will go back home tomorrow, leaving us with the rejects and Sturrock to continue to guide the new look ship Argyle onto the rocks. This was a perfect chance to prove all doubters wrong, and yet instead of go out with a fanfare, a mild passing of wind ensued instead. Lucky it didn't go down to an end of season nailbiter isn't it? To snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the 11th home defeat of the season.

Can you tell I can't actually be bothered to even get upset? I wonder why that is?

Kit Unveiled

Argyle unveiled their new home kit for next season today following the new deal with Adidas as manufacturer.

The predominantly green with the trademark 3 white stripes down each arm, is joined by 2 white sweeps across the right breast and side and a left white sleeve (this is not going to make Cosmo), whilst the goalkeeper's kit is pale blue. Both kits feature the new look club crest which is now backed by a circle containing the name of the club and a large sponsor's logo across the chest.

Adidas is under contract to provide a new home kit every season and a new away kit every other season (so reversing the current trend) for four seasons.

The new kit is available for pre-order and will be available to buy from outlets over the summer. The away kit has not yet been launched.

The Season's not even over yet...

...and the excuses for next season are already being wheeled out and hosed off.

I mean for crying out loud, when the managed states that we "won't be top three next season", backed by the chairman saying "I think next season will be just as hard", it hardly fills you with confidence or enthusiasm does it? Who else by little old parochial Argyle, the backward club of the Championship, would come out and say 'you think this was tough, then wait till next year, by the way, give us your money we have lots of season tickets/match tickets/merchandise for you to snap up'.

There's a big difference between being open and communicative and being utterly transparent to the point of cutting of your nose to spite your face. What would be wrong with 'we've had a bad season, we'll do our hardest next to not have a repeat'? Unless of course they're not going to try because the lack of money/bad gates/economy have been lined up to protect their backs? Whose fault is it that there is a lack of money and bad gates? If you publicly sell crap then you're in the shit, whereas if you sell crap but tell no one it's crap you'll get away with it (who was that guy who had a huge business but admitted his goods were crap and within a few weeks was bankrupt?).

I despair a lot of the times.

Sturrock to Stay?

Paul Sturrock has publicly that he has no intention of resigning from his job at Home Park. So unless the current (or maybe future board) say otherwise, he is here to stay for next season.

Sturrock states that he has lots of plans and that this must change over the summer, citing that when he started his second tenure the club was topsy-turvy and he has to put his plans for change on hold in other words he didn't have enough time to sort it out. How much frigging time do you want? Sturrock expects a huge clear out epic proportions to reduce the squad size and the record high wage bill, as well as bringing in some new players.

The announcement by Sturrock will put off a lot of people from renewing their season tickets for the coming season, though this is not an officical line from upstairs yet - he just has no intention of RESIGNING.

All's well that Ends well

Norwich 0 - 2 Reading

We can all breathe a sigh of relief that it is now out of our hands whether we stay up or not cos there was a big change Argyle would balls it up.

And so ends a very turbulent season of onwards and upwards. Oops, well that'll have to be scrapped now. A season of mistakes and more mistakes, some joy and a lot of grief. A lot should hopefully be happening in the club this summer, if not a lot of questions will need to asked.

But it ain't quite over yet.


So pressure off, who's going for a 4-0 win on Sunday?

Stop the Ride I want to get off

QPR 0 - 0 Plymouth Argyle

At least it wasn't a defeat and both me and the QPR friend can be happy, but talk about prolonging the agony. A win today would have eased the fears of relegation, but it's going to go down to Monday as Norwich play Reading.

The table is currently

Team	P	Pts	Goals Diff	Goal Scored
Wolverhampton	45	87	27	79
Birmingham	45	80	16	52
Sheff Utd	45	79	25	64
Reading	44	74	31	69
Cardiff	45	74	13	65
Burnley	45	73	8	68
Preston	45	71	11	64
Swansea	45	68	14	63
Ipswich	45	63	8	60
Bristol City	45	61	4	54
QPR	45	61	-1	41
Sheff Wed	45	58	-8	50
Doncaster	45	58	-10	42
Crystal Palace	45	56	-3	52
Watford	45	55	-6	65
Derby	45	54	-10	54
Coventry	45	54	-10	46
Blackpool	45	53	-12	46
Plymouth	45	51	-12	43
Nottm Forest	45	50	-17	47
Barnsley	45	49	-14	43
Norwich	44	46	-9	55
Southampton	45	45	-21	45
Charlton	45	36	-24	48

Which means that Norwich have to both of their games to jump us. If they lose or draw on Monday we will be safe (a win of their last game would only take them to 49 points), but if they win it will go down to the last game of the season (49 points with a chance of another 3 = 52).
It would be nice to go into the last game knowing that nothing but pride is riding on it. A win today would have been even better as we would have been safe (if Barnsley won our match they would only have had 52 points to our 53), but the opportunities were not taken on a team who were no longer chasing promotion play offs.

There will be a lot of Green and White Royals supporters on Monday.

Make Stripes Three

So further to my concern over Argyle playing naked next season, Argyle announced today that Adidas will be the shirt manufacturer for next season, confirming suspicions. The new kits will be revealed in a weeks' time at the Barnsley game and will be pre-orderable from then. This will explain why there was no fans' vote - because there was no choice! But a coup for Argyle to negotiate with yet another big company. It's come along way from SuperLeague.

Championship predictions

As a fairly disappointing season comes to a close, Argyle sit four points above the drop zone with just two games left and you would have thought the Pilgrims are safe now. Stranger things have happened in football though and I wouldn’t go cracking open the Cava just yet. Come five o’clock on Saturday they could be though so maybe have a bottle on ice just in case. With all that in mind I’ve had a run through the weekend fixtures to offer my football predictions on how I think those around Argyle will do.

Southampton V Burnley

The Saints need to win both their games to stay up and it couldn’t really be much harder than a home tie against Burnley to start things off. I think the Saints will fall at the first hurdle to be honest as Burnley have looked a really good side all season. Prediction: 1-3

Barnsley V Wolves

Could be a good time to play Wolves with them already being promoted. The Tykes do occasionally pop a surprise result out of the bag and I can see them perhaps getting a draw here as I think that is all Wolves need to win the league as well. Prediction: 1-1

Blackpool V Forest

Blackpool are pretty much out of it but they could still go down if something really bizarre happens. Forest have improved, a bit anyway, lately and they should be fairly confident going into this tie. They need a win to secure Championship football next year and they might just get it at Bloomfield Road. Prediction: 0-2

Norwich V Reading (Monday)

Norwich looked pretty good against Ipswich but still came away with nothing. Reading might just have got over their recent slump with their 2-0 win against Derby and the Royals should be too strong for Norwich City – who look in real danger. Prediction: 0-3

The Wrong Attitude

Sturrock has said that there is a wrong attitude at Home Park amongst the players resulting in last Saturdays hideous game. Now why is that and whose fault is it?

Sturrock has thrown down the blame and gauntlet to the players

"I feel that things have been done in the build up to this football game that have contributed to the result and performance.

I am the first to put my hand up - not today.

I am not going to accuse my players of consciously going out and doing something like that. It is a subconscious thing. We have got to be strong-willed now.

Everything in the build up to this football game was identical, a mirror-image, to the three weeks that we have just had, and the last three results."

However as a manger surely he is the core of the situation. A manager is employed to manage a team -tactically and emotionally. It is his responsibility with is coaches to instil enthusiasm and positivity. What went wrong? If he says he did everything the same, why did it not work?

What has be got to work with? The mainstay of players who do not work for the club, and fringe players who do who are disenfranchised. Players, in the large, no longer play for the shirt but for the money, but why should they want to play for the club when there is no motivation to do so especially if they still rake in the pounds when sat in the stands?

There is a lot of negativity at Home Park - every match build up reaction has included some negativity - the whole season started on a negative when we were told not to expect anything.

There is a malaise at Home Park that has rotted away for too long, there are drastic measures needed this summer in rebuilding yet another team. However, the excuse of 'time is needed to do so' is not relevant, after a year a team has not been built - how much longer is required?

Playing Naked

I can only presume currently that next year Argyle players will be running out in the pitch naked. Aside from increasing the female attendance next year, there'd probably be an added excuse for Sturrock of aerodynamic lag slowing down the players (some very bad images coming to mind now - some of which involve a razor).

But anyway, at a time when most teams will be announcing their kit for next season, indeed QPR will be wearing theirs against us on Saturday, there has been no movement on the subject in Plymouth aside from announcing the continuing sponsor of Ginsters.

There are far more pressing issues at Home Park at the moment to be getting on with and with the alleged change of shirt manufacturer is probably slowing down the process. Though certainly we know that the away shirt will defintely change. But with just one league game to go, it would be nice to know whether to spend £30ish over the summer before the season ends.

What a Load of old Shite

Plymouth Argyle 0 - 3 Doncaster Rovers

A typical Argyle moment - 4-0 win, 1-1 draw and a 0-3 loss. Typical Argyle with no consistency or stability, a conceded goal with no chance of a come back and a catalogue of errors that would rival Argos. The first goal is the key and ...

THE NEXT TWO GAMES ARE VITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well as the next two games are the only games left, it's going down to the wire and nothing can ve certain till 17.00ish on 3 May 2008.

Hope or dispair?
Tears of joy or hurt?

Time to start praying. However, so far it appears that God is not an Argyle fan.

Better the Devil you Know?

Well the time is nearly here. The wish of some Argyle fans as the Japanese are coming. Since the announcement last year that K&K had bought a share of the club there has been derision that nothing has happened. Couple that with the poor season results in "board out!" It could soon happen, as the Japanese are in town and are in "take over" discussions. Is this what we really want?

On the one hand, yes, it means hopefully more money to build a decent a team again and the chance of completing the stadium. If the current board has run its course then a new broom is needed at Home Park.

But at what price?

Earlier this week I spend Easter in the presence of a QPR fan who decries the situation at Loftus Road caused by a 'saviour board' who have been little but. Without repeating some of the problems he and his fellow Hoops have seen, but the potential for a new board to chance the face of Argyle as we know it should be a cause for concern.

So it is a crossroads moment for Argyle and its fans, four options: go for it and it works, go for it and it ends up shite, do nothing and it's fine, do nothing and we're buggered. I know which 2 I would prefer.

Championship Predictions

Argyle have a beautiful four point cushion with three games left to go and after the weekend may have even guaranteed Championship football next season. After recent successes, the best being the 4-0 hammering of Coventry, I’m quite confident the Pilgrims will pick up all three
points against Doncaster at the weekend and these are my football predictions for how the rest of the relegation contenders will do…

Charlton Vs Blackpool

The Addicks have picked up (slightly) under Parkison but they’re already pretty much relegated, its all just a case of mathematics now. Blackpool have been pretty poor lately and I think Charlton should be able to pick up a rare win. Prediction: 2-0

Nottingham Forest Vs Coventry City

Plymouth’s hammering of Coventry pretty much demonstrated the sky-blues are already on holiday, or at least studying the brochures. Forest on the other hand are fighting for their lives and I think they’ll pick up a massive home win in this one. Prediction: 1-0

Reading Vs Barnsley

Reading need to win to keep their automatic promotion push alive and I reckon they should be able to see off Barnsley. The Tykes do occasionally pop a surprise result out of the bag but I think Reading will be just a bit too good for them. Prediction: 3-1

Sheffield Wednesday Vs Southampton

Argyle stay up and Southampton go down? It looks pretty likely at the moment doesn’t it! Wednesday are an inconsistent side and this is a hard one to call but I’m going to go with the home side, but it should be a close one. Prediction: 2-1

Ipswich Vs Norwich (Sunday)

This is a massive game for Norwich and not just because it’s a derby. The form-book should be thrown out of the window and sadly I fancy the Canaries in this tie, Ipswich have been pretty poor at home and I think Norwich could emerge with all three points. Prediction: 0-2