One Game at a Time
Barnsley (h) July 30th
Well this is early …..
Normally the average football fan is still in deep hibernation at the end of July, squirreling away nuggets of rumour and disinformation, as the transfer window slowly unfolds towards the crashing sound of it slamming closed (never manages to shatter the glass though, does it) at the end of August.
By the time that happens this year, courtesy of a Winter World Cup, we will have half a dozen games completed and the season will be taking shape.
That well known football fan, the Dalai Lama (Middlesbrough, I think, since you ask, or maybe Walsall) says “Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.” 2.59 on the 30th of July (barring early kick offs for Sky), will be the most optimistic point of the season for millions of football fans, Argyle ones included. At that point all is possible. Promotion; championships; cup runs; Papa Johns freebie vouchers; Gareth Ainsworth wearing a suit and tie; Deli Alli scoring; everything.
Well almost. Everton will still waste a fortune on misfiring midfielders (again), Whycombe will still be plucky media darlings yet timewasting sods on the field, and Devon will still be green and white, much to the six toes despair. But everyone else can still have it all.
Of course, the new season is already shaded by what went before it. Last season’s unexpected charge towards the upper echelons of our division, glorious in the way the Charge of the Light Brigade was glorious, as we were decimated by the Russian Guns of Franchise FC, and on our home battlefield at that, means that expectations have been raised here at Fortress HP.
With what appears to have been solid improvement of the squad with new infusions of pace and skill, retention of key assets, albeit wantaway midfielder Panuche Camara is still to determine if and when he will depart, spirits seem high.
The optimist will have forgotten last season where high spirits were doused by a pre-game injury to Niall Ennis followed by a comprehensive defeat at subsequent champions Rotherham. The super optimist will also have erased Scott Twine from their near-term memory, as indeed will MK fans have to, along with almost all the rest of their squad.
This new season once again starts with a test against recently relegated Yorkies, Barnsley, a club itself rebuilding from the inverted cost pyramid of surviving in the Championship and sporting a host of new and unfamiliar names for both sets of supporters.
The division itself has a meatier look to it. As well as Barnsley, Derby County, The Wednesday, Ipswich Town, Bolton Wanderers, Pompous Pompey and Charlton mean over 25% of the division are ex EPL at some point.
But some things remain the same. Boxing day transportation woes and family rows about why you need to spend it in Cheltenham. Again. Morecambe at Easter in the traffic cones. Again. James Bolton being injured. You get my drift.
So will it be same old Barnsley, Tyking the p**s, or are they Baa…rnsley, lambs to the slaughter, heading for the Barnsley Chop with the manager looking a bit Duff. Chris Errington, your headlines took a hell of a bleating.
In their brief but heady rise to the summit of the English game, it was chanted frequently that watching Barnsley was “just like watching Brazil”. Well, so it might have been, but let us not forget, in the spirit of optimism, it wasn’t Pele that crashed a twenty-five yarder into the net in 1973 after only three minutes, when the cream of Brazil last graced Home Park, but a young Devonian midfielder.
So, the question on everyones lips as they approach the Theatre of Greens on Saturday will undoubtedly be, "who will be the Mike Dowling of the 22/3 Green Army".
We only have a week to find out.
Barnsley (h) July 30th
Well this is early …..
Normally the average football fan is still in deep hibernation at the end of July, squirreling away nuggets of rumour and disinformation, as the transfer window slowly unfolds towards the crashing sound of it slamming closed (never manages to shatter the glass though, does it) at the end of August.
By the time that happens this year, courtesy of a Winter World Cup, we will have half a dozen games completed and the season will be taking shape.
“Choose to be optimistic. It feels better.” – Dalai Lama
That well known football fan, the Dalai Lama (Middlesbrough, I think, since you ask, or maybe Walsall) says “Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.” 2.59 on the 30th of July (barring early kick offs for Sky), will be the most optimistic point of the season for millions of football fans, Argyle ones included. At that point all is possible. Promotion; championships; cup runs; Papa Johns freebie vouchers; Gareth Ainsworth wearing a suit and tie; Deli Alli scoring; everything.
Well almost. Everton will still waste a fortune on misfiring midfielders (again), Whycombe will still be plucky media darlings yet timewasting sods on the field, and Devon will still be green and white, much to the six toes despair. But everyone else can still have it all.
Of course, the new season is already shaded by what went before it. Last season’s unexpected charge towards the upper echelons of our division, glorious in the way the Charge of the Light Brigade was glorious, as we were decimated by the Russian Guns of Franchise FC, and on our home battlefield at that, means that expectations have been raised here at Fortress HP.
With what appears to have been solid improvement of the squad with new infusions of pace and skill, retention of key assets, albeit wantaway midfielder Panuche Camara is still to determine if and when he will depart, spirits seem high.
The optimist will have forgotten last season where high spirits were doused by a pre-game injury to Niall Ennis followed by a comprehensive defeat at subsequent champions Rotherham. The super optimist will also have erased Scott Twine from their near-term memory, as indeed will MK fans have to, along with almost all the rest of their squad.
This new season once again starts with a test against recently relegated Yorkies, Barnsley, a club itself rebuilding from the inverted cost pyramid of surviving in the Championship and sporting a host of new and unfamiliar names for both sets of supporters.
The division itself has a meatier look to it. As well as Barnsley, Derby County, The Wednesday, Ipswich Town, Bolton Wanderers, Pompous Pompey and Charlton mean over 25% of the division are ex EPL at some point.
But some things remain the same. Boxing day transportation woes and family rows about why you need to spend it in Cheltenham. Again. Morecambe at Easter in the traffic cones. Again. James Bolton being injured. You get my drift.
So will it be same old Barnsley, Tyking the p**s, or are they Baa…rnsley, lambs to the slaughter, heading for the Barnsley Chop with the manager looking a bit Duff. Chris Errington, your headlines took a hell of a bleating.
In their brief but heady rise to the summit of the English game, it was chanted frequently that watching Barnsley was “just like watching Brazil”. Well, so it might have been, but let us not forget, in the spirit of optimism, it wasn’t Pele that crashed a twenty-five yarder into the net in 1973 after only three minutes, when the cream of Brazil last graced Home Park, but a young Devonian midfielder.
So, the question on everyones lips as they approach the Theatre of Greens on Saturday will undoubtedly be, "who will be the Mike Dowling of the 22/3 Green Army".
We only have a week to find out.
