Not sure if this has been mentioned before either but when we had a "fortress" it was during the time where there were terraces and not all seated. The atmosphere in the former scenario was much more hostile and benefitted the home team.
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Fortress Home Park - Was this real?
- Thread starter argobenz
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I think this stems back from many years ago when teams travelled on the day. I have read stories from a few old time footballers who dreaded coming to us because they had to leave at 3 in the morning to get here.
This theory might explain why for many years we had a bad away record. This is many many years ago but these things can stick. However I might have been misinformed and teams were using hotels in the thirties for away games.
With overnight stays and better transport links it is not so daunting to come here.
This theory might explain why for many years we had a bad away record. This is many many years ago but these things can stick. However I might have been misinformed and teams were using hotels in the thirties for away games.
With overnight stays and better transport links it is not so daunting to come here.
The years from around 1999 to 2008 were when I could go to HP confident that we'd at least get a draw, with a bit of a wobble under Williamson. Since then i have had to lower my expectations somewhat. Even last year the home form was only okay.
The empty Mayflower terracing means no pressure build-up from the closeness of home support on the dug-out length....gives the away dug-out no real worries of home fans bellowing in their ears...a let-off personally, it makes it easier for the away team to play their own game....what a difference when the area was used for Liverpool etc...till it was taken down.
consider our average finishing positions down the years and the leagues we have been in - there can't have been many seasons where it was a 'fortress' (though I love the term 'fortress' as a bit of football hyperbole)
Bill Shankly went one better when he was appointed to the Liverpool job in December 1959. He promised that he would "turn Anfield into a bastion." Helped by Shankly's style of emphatic delivery of certain words, it came over even better than fortress.crownhillpilgrim":63ds4m5j said:
You have to go back to before WWII to find the only 4 seasons when we have suffered no home defeats (as a Football League club). In 1921-22 and 1922-23 we suffered no home defeats and conceded only 4 home goals and 6 goals respectively. Indeed, after losing 2-0 at home to Millwall on Good Friday 1921 we did not suffer another home defeat until the opening game of the 1923-24 season. In 1926-27 we went the entire season without a home defeat. In all 3 of the seasons mentioned we finished second in Three (South). The fourth and final time was the 1929-30 season when we were promoted. After the war, generally speaking our most successful seasons in terms of lack of home defeats has coincided with a high finish. The exception was 1999-2000 season where we finished 12th but lost just one home game, the final one of the season against Hull City. However we drew 10 games. Last season saw the most home defeats in a promotion season. It was three higher than the previous record of 4 set by Warnock's Wembley winners.Keyham Pilgrim":3tqndvo5 said:
I don't have the stats to back this up but I'd imagine that consistently brilliant home records are becoming rarer across British football because for better or for worse it's all a bit more sanitised. We all go to away games and it's not a remotely intimidating experience, even for derbies or really important promotion games like at Pompey last year. It's probably fair to say that at most football matches played in England's top five divisions, it's the travelling support that make most of the noise, especially at the biggest Premier League clubs (Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea etc) where a fair proportion of the home support are made up of day-trippers or tourists on package holidays rather than regulars.
Brussels Bureaucrat":vx4al6kc said:
I went to White Hart Lane last season and it was electric, I'll be going to Wembley to see them but I don't expect the same atmosphere.
Next season I'll visit the new stadium, it will be interesting to compare it against the old one regarding the atmosphere.
Regarding Argyle I think the split between the Devonport end and those in the Lyndhurst Barn Park end really spoils the atmosphere at Home Park, because just as one kicks off with a chant, by the time the other jumps in the first area has stopped.
However on our travels I have been chuffed at the din we kick up.
When at Anfield a pal of mine in the Kop texted me the following "Will you F*****S shut up, were trying to sing here!"
Proud as fudge.
Which was the season (1998/1999?) Argyle went unbeaten at home all season, then lost the last game against Hull? LOL
It was just a mid table season for us, so not extraordinarily successful, which suggests that HP was indeed a fortress for us.
It was away we were terrible - where as now we are terrible at home too.
It was just a mid table season for us, so not extraordinarily successful, which suggests that HP was indeed a fortress for us.
It was away we were terrible - where as now we are terrible at home too.
Since DA took over our away form has improved considerably and that is why we had 2 good seasons pushing for promotion, It was our home form that was below par. Things seem to have got worse at the start of this season which is why we need to concentrate on winning our home games to boost our points tally to end the season in a comfortable position.Knibbsworth":24hxfip4 said:
It is included in the final part of my post above. It was 1999-2000 and we finished in 12th place. Away from home we actually won or drew more than half of our games (4 wins and 8 draws). It was the 10 home draws that made it such a disappointing season (and that was the third time in 10 seasons that we had drawn 10 or more at home). However, that there are only two other seasons in the entire post-war period where we lost just one home game - and on both occasions we won the division. (1951-52 and 2003-04).Knibbsworth":1glz6ltc said:
