Lousy_Pint":2g5j63x4 said:
James_Dennis":2g5j63x4 said:
pafcstafford":2g5j63x4 said:
James_Dennis":2g5j63x4 said:
Macclesfield away circa April 2000. The nadir of the Kevin Hodges era. Awful, non-league stadium and a non-entity of an opposition but we contrived to lose 4-1. I remember sitting on the platform waiting for the train back to Nottingham seriously pondering if I'd ever bother going to a game again.
That was truly awful think
we fitted in a 3-0 loss away to Lincoln on a Tuesday night aswell.
I was there for that one too! A truly depressing time to be an Argyle fan, as we just seemed to be slowing rotting away.
I remember at the Lincoln game there was a guy sitting in front of me who started ranting and raving at the players after the third goal. A youngish guy in front of him looked back in bemusement, and the former said something like "What the f*** are you looking at? It's alright for you, you're young; I've had to put up with this sh** for years!". He then proceeded to sit down with his face in his hands, seeming for all the world if he was experiencing a complete psychological breakdown!
Was the only thing to smile about all evening.
I think you may find that was our very own Tyhee! I was sat next to him and, you're right, it was the only good thing that evening.
Ah yes, the dangers of getting an early train from Nottingham and s[ending an entire afternoon in some of Lincoln's finest pubs. Hoow many ****ing years was it again Lousy?
Anyway. There was a series of away games towards the end of the Kevin Hodges regime that were just dreadful including the Lincoln and Macclesfield debacles mentioned here, and each time you thought it couldn't get any worse it somehow did. It culminated, for me, in the 5-2 beating at Cheltenham in Sep 2000 which was, I think, just about the end for poor old KH. I think he was finally sacked after the following week's home defeat by Barnet and was then replaced by Luggy.
The Cheltenham defeat has obviously been surpassed in grimness since, but at the time it was, for me, the lowest of the low. If memory serves, we were 4-0 down at half time and quite a few people retired to the pub. We somehow managed to get a couple of goals back, including one (Sean McCarthy I think) that shouldn't have stood but where the ref appeared to be taking pity on us, and just for a while it seemed we may even turn the 4-0 deficit around. However, it wasn't to be and we simply seemed to give up the ghost at a time when Cheltenham were looking rattled. That was part of what made it so bad - they really didn't seem that bothered - but it was also losing to (basically) a non-league outfit and that this really wasn't a surprise.
The humiliations of the last few seasons are for me, although not exactly acceptable, not as depressing as the results and performances at that time were. I think it's because the decline of the last few seasons has meant that nothing surprises me any more and, if I'm honest, has left me not really that bothered as the return to mediocrity was signposted towards the end of our Championship days and I'd already given up the ghost. At that point, though, there was still a sense that we were a 'big club' having a temporary blip in the bottom division and that we were only ever one decent season away from getting out of it at the right end (as was the case) and losing to 'the likes of' Cheltenham still felt wrong somehow, especially five bleddy two. I'll bet Bristol Rovers fans felt the same when they first came down here, but now their experience looks almost as likely a scenario for us and we're only one bad season away from leaving it at the wrong end.
