One Game at a Time: You’re Only Here for the Pasties
Mackems (H) November 25th
Ah, International breaks. Created by FIFA so that domestic football can take a breather with only the finest and the best forced to run the risk in injury and overwork (and in the case of Ben Waine, largely splinter related) whilst taking on the might of Malta and North Macedonia in the case of England, whilst others battled out against the minnows of Gibraltar, Faroe Islands and Scotland.
All of which reflects back to the last time Argyle ran out in League action, with the much anticipated and clear sign of the changing times at Home Park, as the squad, shorn of both main striker options, travelled to Elland Road, a not exactly happy hunting ground.
The loss of Hardie and Bundu, and the relative ineffectiveness of Waine against Middlesboro, resulted in a changed strategy of Cundle, Azaz and Whitaker rotating the false nine system against a side that featured a number of players (including substitutes) whose transfer fees individually dwarfed the annual turnover of our club.
It was against this disparity of wealth, and with new American owners that included some defectors from our own American investors, that the club launched its new five-year mission statement. Having achieved the objectives of the previous edition in a year under the prescribed timeline, Lord Hallett of Argyle and his trusty footsoldiers of the backroom calculators clearly believe that the progress made to date can be continued. Once again, our commercial leadership set the benchmark in clarity and openness of reporting, and even the booking of a £3.4 million loss was explained clearly and rationally. Argyle remain debt free and with cash in hand whilst building for the future.
On the field however, we can see what a difference splashing the cash can make. Chasing shadows for much of the first half, Argyle were very much architects of their own downfall with the first goal, when KKH, having stolen the ball effectively in the box, was hunted down as he attempted to play out, leaving Dan James in space to score.
One quickly became two as two of those expensive signings, Rutter and Piroe, carved Argyle open after, this time Pleggy, was caught ambling away from the penalty area.
With half time providing respite for all except the chino clad Argyle fan that the Leeds choir had alighted on, Schuey clearly made it known what he expected, and the introduction shortly afterwards of Joe 90 changed the energy. The Mighty Whites sliced most efforts wide, and, with Waine introduced, a long but perfectly weighted pass out of defence by Scarr, released Cundle. His cross into the six-yard box was snapped up by Waine, for his first Championship goal, hopefully of many, and Leeds endured a nervous last ten minutes or so. Defeated but not dishonoured could best sum up the reaction.
Heading South for the resumption of the Championship campaign are, if not familiar opponents, certainly a side that Argyle can look towards as an example of what can be achieved after gaining promotion, and also with the utilisation of young players. The Mackems (from the shipyard vernacular of their Geordie rivals , based on the idea that Wearsiders would “Mack’em” or make them and the Tynesiders would “tack’em “ or effectively finish them off and fix the defects.
Sunderland, to give them their proper name, are one of the great names of English football, and remarkably are the sixth most successful side in the history of the League with five titles. Three of these titles were gained with the Queen on the throne. Unfortunately for the current Sunderland fanbase, that Queen was Victoria. Formed as a sporting outlet for local teachers originally, the club came into existence in 1879, and a year later, after allowing non teachers in, became Sunderland FC, joining the Football league in 1890, appointing Tom Watson as their manager. The final decade of the century saw them win their first three titles, in 1892, 1893, and again in 1895 after finishing as runners up to Villa. It was no surprise to the footballing world that this team would gain the epithet,” the Team of all Talents” from the League founder William McGregor. They were crowned unofficial World Champions after a match in 1895 against Scottish champions Hearts, winning 5-3 at Tynecastle. They won the title again in 1902, after their former manager Watson had decamped to Liverpool, their most successful import from the Wearsiders until Jordan Henderson, unless you count Barry Venison (which we don’t).
The club were the first to score a hundred goals in a season, and keeper Ned Doig set a record for clean sheets yet to be equalled. In 1898, presumably fuelled by the fact their ground was in Newcastle Road, the club moved to their spiritual home Roker Park where they were to play for a century. All the sweeter therefore that their record victory is a 9-1 triumph over the Tyneside neighbours in 1908.
Sunderland played the first sixty-eight years of their existence at the highest level, which explains why the two sides had not met in the League until well after the second world war. Our first three fixtures against the Black Cats were all FA Cup games at Roker Park, two before the first world war and one just before the second world war. Based on current world events we should be due a cup tie at the Stadium of Light in January. Sunderland won the Cup for the first time in 1937, defeating Preston North End. This was the season after their most recent League triumph, when in 1936 they overcame the tragedy of goalkeeper Jimmy Thorpe’s death to lift the League title. Thorpe, a young talented local keeper played 139 times for the Rokerites, but in a match at Chelsea, as was permissible under the rules at the time, he was challenged whilst carrying the ball and kicked. Despite finishing the game, he subsequently collapsed, and died four days later. The rule allowing such challenges was changed as a result of his death.
That, barring one exceptional result in the seventies, was the end of the silver polish budget for Roker Park. The club continued to compete at the highest level, becoming known as the Bank of England Club for its extravagance in signings. One signing was the then player manager of Carlisle United, Ivor Broadis, who by agreeing the transfer became the first manager to sell himself to another club. Despite the financial outlay, the club failed to win trophies and after sixty-eight years at the top ere finally relegated to Division Two, not long after the impact of being fined heavily for payments in breach of the then imposed maximum wage.
Having clawed their way back to the top division in the mid-sixties the club fell back into the second tier, and it was here that the appointment of Bob Stokoe was to lead to the Sunderland that most modern-day football fans recall. Ironically for this match it was a game against the giants of the era, who we played last week, Leeds United, that, in 1973, were nailed on favourites to retain their FA Cup.
In the upset of all time, Sunderland won one nil, confounding even former player turned manager/pundit Brian Clough, who declared pre match they had no chance of victory. The goal was scored by Ian Porterfield but all fans of a certain age will recall the miraculous reflex save from Peter Lorimer, by Jim Montgomery, that kept the Sunderland score sheet blank. The side also featured a young Mick Horswill, a match day host still at The Stadium of Light, who was to arrive a few years later after a spell at Manchester City to grace the Home Park turf.
Montgomery also played a small role in a memorable match for the few hundred (including at least one skiving Sutton High Schooler) that made it to a midweek afternoon reserve team game which was to feature a cameo of epic imbecility by a later brief Black Cat manager Ricky Sbragia. Both turning out for Birmingham City reserves, Sbragia was sent off for a series of borderline homicidal tackles which led to a number of fans pelting him and his teammates with mud taken from the grass that covered the then players’ tunnel as they left the pitch. Montgomery at least had the decency to look embarrassed at the events unfolding in front of him. Argyle were fined and the grass removed from the tunnel roof to prevent a reoccurrence of such behaviour. Sbragia, at best a journeyman pro, fared better in management, and after replacing Roy Keane as caretaker at Sunderland secured the role permanently, helping the Black Cats avoid relegation from the EPL in 2009, before returning, first to scouting, and then managing youth Scotland international sides through various age groups.
Given the paucity of contact between the clubs over the years, it is perhaps surprising that both clubs would hold their only common manager in such high esteem. Peter Reid arrived at Roker Park in 1995, with the club staring relegation to the third tier in the face. He transformed their form and within three seasons the club was back in the big time and playing in the EPL. Reid was to manage the club for seven and a half years and just under 400 games before parting company with the club. The Mackem fans loved him, even adapting the Monkees “Daydream Believer” to “Cheer Up Peter Reid,” to reflect his dour demeanour, displayed even when they were playing well. Whilst his stint in charge there was to include their highest League finish for 45 years, he eventually left.
His spell at Argyle, whilst only sixty-one games long was equally dramatic, and his selfless acts of generosity during the most troubled of financial times will mean his time in charge, whilst less than successful in terms of games won and lost, meant that we did at least still have a club to save.
Our most recent games were in the ill-fated, or so it seemed at the time, first promotion challenge under Schuey, when a goalless draw ay Home Park was part of a winless last five games that led to the heartbreak of a missed play-off campaign. In isolation a win would not have been enough to change the outcome for either side.
Sunderland did however defeat Whycome in the final so there was some common cause, albeit briefly for that result. The following season, whilst Argyle set about righting that wrong and winning the title, also saw an unexpectedly good season for the Mackems who once again reached a play-off spot, although this time they were to surrender limply to Coventry.
By now the club was under the ownership of Kyrill Louis-Dreyfuss (and yes, he is loosely related to actress Julia) taking over from the docu-drama leadership duo of Stewart Donald and Charley Methven. The "Sunderland till I Die" series sets the benchmark of why clubs should never allow third parties to have free access to their behind the scenes activities. If you only watch one episode, then watch the one where Donald is told how much Will Grigg should cost, and then is reeled in like a mackerel to pay massively over the odds for the smouldering embers of the on-fire man’s career.
Louis-Dreyfuss is one of the sons of his late father Robert, former CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi and Adidas, and who, in 1996, stepped in to take ownership of Olympique Marseille after their relegation for financial impropriety by Bernard Tapie. Despite his wealth (enough to plough millions into a Fifa slush fund to help win the 2006 World Cup hosting for Germany over England, leading to the ill-fated 2018 bid that dragged the New World board into Argyle to eventually chew up and almost destroy our club), Dreyfuss senior won little at Marseille, so you can see the attraction for Sunderland to his son.
The Sunderland fans will fill the away section, no doubt bemoaning the length of their trip on the buses, even if it isn’t quite enough to watch the whole box set of all seven series of “On the Buses”. It isn’t clear whether they will bring an actual Black Cat, as one fan did to the 1937 Cup Final, and which is one supposed source of their nick name. The other source is apparently a Napoleonic gun battery regiment from the area, sadly omitted from the Ridley Scott biopic, although the Duke of Wellington’s quote about Sunderland fans “ I don’t know what they do to the enemy but they terrify me” is there.
Argyle will have players coming back, and as the second highest home scorers will be hoping that Schueys coaching in the break to eliminate the soft goals will allow us to continue to pick up the points that will allow our own leadership to continue to build a team that competes with the big battalions.
Janner Song versus a Roker Roar?
Only one winner there .....
COYG!!!!!!
Mackems (H) November 25th
Ah, International breaks. Created by FIFA so that domestic football can take a breather with only the finest and the best forced to run the risk in injury and overwork (and in the case of Ben Waine, largely splinter related) whilst taking on the might of Malta and North Macedonia in the case of England, whilst others battled out against the minnows of Gibraltar, Faroe Islands and Scotland.
All of which reflects back to the last time Argyle ran out in League action, with the much anticipated and clear sign of the changing times at Home Park, as the squad, shorn of both main striker options, travelled to Elland Road, a not exactly happy hunting ground.
The loss of Hardie and Bundu, and the relative ineffectiveness of Waine against Middlesboro, resulted in a changed strategy of Cundle, Azaz and Whitaker rotating the false nine system against a side that featured a number of players (including substitutes) whose transfer fees individually dwarfed the annual turnover of our club.
It was against this disparity of wealth, and with new American owners that included some defectors from our own American investors, that the club launched its new five-year mission statement. Having achieved the objectives of the previous edition in a year under the prescribed timeline, Lord Hallett of Argyle and his trusty footsoldiers of the backroom calculators clearly believe that the progress made to date can be continued. Once again, our commercial leadership set the benchmark in clarity and openness of reporting, and even the booking of a £3.4 million loss was explained clearly and rationally. Argyle remain debt free and with cash in hand whilst building for the future.
On the field however, we can see what a difference splashing the cash can make. Chasing shadows for much of the first half, Argyle were very much architects of their own downfall with the first goal, when KKH, having stolen the ball effectively in the box, was hunted down as he attempted to play out, leaving Dan James in space to score.
One quickly became two as two of those expensive signings, Rutter and Piroe, carved Argyle open after, this time Pleggy, was caught ambling away from the penalty area.
With half time providing respite for all except the chino clad Argyle fan that the Leeds choir had alighted on, Schuey clearly made it known what he expected, and the introduction shortly afterwards of Joe 90 changed the energy. The Mighty Whites sliced most efforts wide, and, with Waine introduced, a long but perfectly weighted pass out of defence by Scarr, released Cundle. His cross into the six-yard box was snapped up by Waine, for his first Championship goal, hopefully of many, and Leeds endured a nervous last ten minutes or so. Defeated but not dishonoured could best sum up the reaction.
Heading South for the resumption of the Championship campaign are, if not familiar opponents, certainly a side that Argyle can look towards as an example of what can be achieved after gaining promotion, and also with the utilisation of young players. The Mackems (from the shipyard vernacular of their Geordie rivals , based on the idea that Wearsiders would “Mack’em” or make them and the Tynesiders would “tack’em “ or effectively finish them off and fix the defects.
Sunderland, to give them their proper name, are one of the great names of English football, and remarkably are the sixth most successful side in the history of the League with five titles. Three of these titles were gained with the Queen on the throne. Unfortunately for the current Sunderland fanbase, that Queen was Victoria. Formed as a sporting outlet for local teachers originally, the club came into existence in 1879, and a year later, after allowing non teachers in, became Sunderland FC, joining the Football league in 1890, appointing Tom Watson as their manager. The final decade of the century saw them win their first three titles, in 1892, 1893, and again in 1895 after finishing as runners up to Villa. It was no surprise to the footballing world that this team would gain the epithet,” the Team of all Talents” from the League founder William McGregor. They were crowned unofficial World Champions after a match in 1895 against Scottish champions Hearts, winning 5-3 at Tynecastle. They won the title again in 1902, after their former manager Watson had decamped to Liverpool, their most successful import from the Wearsiders until Jordan Henderson, unless you count Barry Venison (which we don’t).
The club were the first to score a hundred goals in a season, and keeper Ned Doig set a record for clean sheets yet to be equalled. In 1898, presumably fuelled by the fact their ground was in Newcastle Road, the club moved to their spiritual home Roker Park where they were to play for a century. All the sweeter therefore that their record victory is a 9-1 triumph over the Tyneside neighbours in 1908.
Sunderland played the first sixty-eight years of their existence at the highest level, which explains why the two sides had not met in the League until well after the second world war. Our first three fixtures against the Black Cats were all FA Cup games at Roker Park, two before the first world war and one just before the second world war. Based on current world events we should be due a cup tie at the Stadium of Light in January. Sunderland won the Cup for the first time in 1937, defeating Preston North End. This was the season after their most recent League triumph, when in 1936 they overcame the tragedy of goalkeeper Jimmy Thorpe’s death to lift the League title. Thorpe, a young talented local keeper played 139 times for the Rokerites, but in a match at Chelsea, as was permissible under the rules at the time, he was challenged whilst carrying the ball and kicked. Despite finishing the game, he subsequently collapsed, and died four days later. The rule allowing such challenges was changed as a result of his death.
That, barring one exceptional result in the seventies, was the end of the silver polish budget for Roker Park. The club continued to compete at the highest level, becoming known as the Bank of England Club for its extravagance in signings. One signing was the then player manager of Carlisle United, Ivor Broadis, who by agreeing the transfer became the first manager to sell himself to another club. Despite the financial outlay, the club failed to win trophies and after sixty-eight years at the top ere finally relegated to Division Two, not long after the impact of being fined heavily for payments in breach of the then imposed maximum wage.
Having clawed their way back to the top division in the mid-sixties the club fell back into the second tier, and it was here that the appointment of Bob Stokoe was to lead to the Sunderland that most modern-day football fans recall. Ironically for this match it was a game against the giants of the era, who we played last week, Leeds United, that, in 1973, were nailed on favourites to retain their FA Cup.
In the upset of all time, Sunderland won one nil, confounding even former player turned manager/pundit Brian Clough, who declared pre match they had no chance of victory. The goal was scored by Ian Porterfield but all fans of a certain age will recall the miraculous reflex save from Peter Lorimer, by Jim Montgomery, that kept the Sunderland score sheet blank. The side also featured a young Mick Horswill, a match day host still at The Stadium of Light, who was to arrive a few years later after a spell at Manchester City to grace the Home Park turf.
Montgomery also played a small role in a memorable match for the few hundred (including at least one skiving Sutton High Schooler) that made it to a midweek afternoon reserve team game which was to feature a cameo of epic imbecility by a later brief Black Cat manager Ricky Sbragia. Both turning out for Birmingham City reserves, Sbragia was sent off for a series of borderline homicidal tackles which led to a number of fans pelting him and his teammates with mud taken from the grass that covered the then players’ tunnel as they left the pitch. Montgomery at least had the decency to look embarrassed at the events unfolding in front of him. Argyle were fined and the grass removed from the tunnel roof to prevent a reoccurrence of such behaviour. Sbragia, at best a journeyman pro, fared better in management, and after replacing Roy Keane as caretaker at Sunderland secured the role permanently, helping the Black Cats avoid relegation from the EPL in 2009, before returning, first to scouting, and then managing youth Scotland international sides through various age groups.
Given the paucity of contact between the clubs over the years, it is perhaps surprising that both clubs would hold their only common manager in such high esteem. Peter Reid arrived at Roker Park in 1995, with the club staring relegation to the third tier in the face. He transformed their form and within three seasons the club was back in the big time and playing in the EPL. Reid was to manage the club for seven and a half years and just under 400 games before parting company with the club. The Mackem fans loved him, even adapting the Monkees “Daydream Believer” to “Cheer Up Peter Reid,” to reflect his dour demeanour, displayed even when they were playing well. Whilst his stint in charge there was to include their highest League finish for 45 years, he eventually left.
His spell at Argyle, whilst only sixty-one games long was equally dramatic, and his selfless acts of generosity during the most troubled of financial times will mean his time in charge, whilst less than successful in terms of games won and lost, meant that we did at least still have a club to save.
Our most recent games were in the ill-fated, or so it seemed at the time, first promotion challenge under Schuey, when a goalless draw ay Home Park was part of a winless last five games that led to the heartbreak of a missed play-off campaign. In isolation a win would not have been enough to change the outcome for either side.
Sunderland did however defeat Whycome in the final so there was some common cause, albeit briefly for that result. The following season, whilst Argyle set about righting that wrong and winning the title, also saw an unexpectedly good season for the Mackems who once again reached a play-off spot, although this time they were to surrender limply to Coventry.
By now the club was under the ownership of Kyrill Louis-Dreyfuss (and yes, he is loosely related to actress Julia) taking over from the docu-drama leadership duo of Stewart Donald and Charley Methven. The "Sunderland till I Die" series sets the benchmark of why clubs should never allow third parties to have free access to their behind the scenes activities. If you only watch one episode, then watch the one where Donald is told how much Will Grigg should cost, and then is reeled in like a mackerel to pay massively over the odds for the smouldering embers of the on-fire man’s career.
Louis-Dreyfuss is one of the sons of his late father Robert, former CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi and Adidas, and who, in 1996, stepped in to take ownership of Olympique Marseille after their relegation for financial impropriety by Bernard Tapie. Despite his wealth (enough to plough millions into a Fifa slush fund to help win the 2006 World Cup hosting for Germany over England, leading to the ill-fated 2018 bid that dragged the New World board into Argyle to eventually chew up and almost destroy our club), Dreyfuss senior won little at Marseille, so you can see the attraction for Sunderland to his son.
The Sunderland fans will fill the away section, no doubt bemoaning the length of their trip on the buses, even if it isn’t quite enough to watch the whole box set of all seven series of “On the Buses”. It isn’t clear whether they will bring an actual Black Cat, as one fan did to the 1937 Cup Final, and which is one supposed source of their nick name. The other source is apparently a Napoleonic gun battery regiment from the area, sadly omitted from the Ridley Scott biopic, although the Duke of Wellington’s quote about Sunderland fans “ I don’t know what they do to the enemy but they terrify me” is there.
Argyle will have players coming back, and as the second highest home scorers will be hoping that Schueys coaching in the break to eliminate the soft goals will allow us to continue to pick up the points that will allow our own leadership to continue to build a team that competes with the big battalions.
Janner Song versus a Roker Roar?
Only one winner there .....
COYG!!!!!!
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