One Game at a Time
Sheffield Wednesday (H) October 4th
Dear Santa
You do know it is only October, don’t you? Just checking I am still going to get some presents in December as well, because right now following Argyle is the gift that just keeps giving.
So Why Come, We Came, We conquered. They say the mark of a good side is they win when they aren’t playing at their best. It is called winning ugly, and whilst we wouldn’t want to see it every week, it beats the hell out of losing ugly. And to them.
The people I feel sorry for are the Why Come ground staff. They will have to clear up the 1200 proverbial monkeys that fell off the backs of the Green Army when the whistle went on 94 minutes. On the plus side it was lovely that the Why Come dreadful run of head injuries against us came to a long overdue end, somewhere around the eighth minute when they went behind, and had to chase the game. Also wasn’t it nice for them to get home for an early tea?
After a win on Sky over Ipswich I am not sure anyone was expecting the wholesale changes and rotation that Shuey went with, but it worked perfectly, and had the added benefit of resting some key players who will probably be back in contention when we play a more grass-based team.
Which brings us neatly on to The Wednesday, on Tuesday. Obviously, this rearrangement was brought about by the loss of the game a couple of Saturdays ago, and the subsequent commemoration of Her Majesty, culminating on a Monday Bank Holiday. As no-one except the second-tier European sides (Manchester United, West Ham, occasionally Spurs) play on a Thursday, and Sky Sports dictate who rock up on Friday Night Football, and since we have just had to play on Sunday, that really only left Wednesday with Tuesday. Glad I cleared that up.
It also means I only have a couple of days to preview this game, although obviously I can’t just cut and paste in the last one (believe me I considered it) and it all starts again on Wednesday with a review of Wednesday from Tuesday and then the preview of Accrington Saturday. That’s the day we play them not a name change. They are still Stanley (as I write this on Sunday).
At the time of original scheduling Argyle were coming off a famous victory at Derby in a run of games that looked daunting from the outset.
Since then, we have continued our perfect home form, seen off the first of what will no doubt be a regular series of speculations on the future of our impressive young manager, and almost upset the apple cart at Pompous before settling for the traditional late equaliser Desmond.
What is more impressive is that the opening eleven games have hardly favoured Argyle in terms of who we have had to play. I found this in the Ipswich site, and it makes for very enjoyable reading:
Games between the top eight so far.
P TEAM P W D L G P
1 ARG. 6 5 1 0 7 16
2 DER 3 2 0 1 1 6
3 IPS 5 1 3 1 0 6
4 POR 4 1 2 1 0 5
5 SHF 5 1 2 2 -2 5
6 BAR 4 1 1 2 0 4
7 BOL 4 1 1 2 -3 4
8 PET 5 1 0 4 -3 3
Compared to our form against the immediate rivals for promotion last season, there is simply no comparison. What is even more remarkable is that I know that just like almost every other Argyle fan, I am looking at that table thinking, but for a mad ninety seconds at Pompous, that should be eighteen out of eighteen.
It also makes the results at Fleetwood and Charlton just that little bit more annoying.
Having disposed of ex Prem September with aplomb, we now have the shortest odds Manager of the Month Award in the history of League One. Not only is Schumacher in pole position, but he probably is also the only one out of the pit lane.
And given we have already previewed the Wendies in the none too distant past, I thought that after a quick update I might look at the state of the League on managerial runners and riders after the imaginary ten/eleven game mark that fans are so beloved of.
The big positive you can take as a Wendies fan is that they haven’t had the dreadful start that they had last season. So far, the revised squad, and it is substantially revised, has settled into a decent pattern, beating the sides they should beat, including a 1-0 at Port Vale this weekend. They have been coming up slightly short against the teams that, barring the occasional Posh style plummet and recover, you would expect to be fighting it out in the final weeks for automatic and play off places though, especially at home.
Last season’s two visits to Fortress HP for what was, and in some Wendy fan posts still is, referred to as HMS PTL on tour, led to two short and unproductive stays in the Dockyard City, and if owls can put their tail feathers between their legs as well as spin their necks almost 270 degrees, then they most assuredly did so last time around.
Time and close season acquisitions heal such wounds very quickly, and once again the Owls fans consensus is that THIS is the season for climbing out of the division. Again. The Law of Averages says they will be right one season I suppose.
In managerial terms, whilst Darren Moore appears to have got over the rocky relationship that last seasons very false start created, you get the impression that a fall away from the play-off spots, or another failed play off campaign would make his position with the fans somewhat fraught. Expectation at fan level is very much that they and Ipswich will be the automatically promoted teams, primarily due to squad depth. Mind you the Tories have the most MP’s so the Parliament of Owls doesn’t have too far to look to see what might happen when you decide to change leader and bring in the fan’s choice. Let’s call it brave, shall we?
It is both shocking and surprising to note that Shuey is already in the top half of the 92 longest serving managers at their current EPL/EFL clubs ( rising one more place with the departure of Bruno Lage from Wolves this afternoon). Given that currently he probably has the safest job in League One, and possibly the EFL, as a combination of the sanity of our Club Chairman and the impressive job he is doing, it was perhaps no surprise that when the first club came calling, he elected to turn them down. The greater surprise was possibly that the club that came calling was Huddersfield Town, given that it was more likely to be The Riddler clutching his receipt and claiming he had been delivered faulty goods.
There are several managers in League One who also have reason to feel secure in their position because of that combination of good club ownership and strong performance. Mark Bonner at Cambridge and John Coleman at Accrington Stanley, spring to mind as does Darryl Clark at Port Vale. I would have included Matty Taylor at Exeter as well but for the fact he may be about to be headhunted up a division to Rotherham. Logically that feels like a good fit, as he is used to being at a smaller club in the shadow of a bigger neighbour, with limited budget and a need to develop players. I was also surprised to learn he is the eighth longest serving manager in the League. Alternatively, the Watford gig should be up again pretty soon, so he may hang on for that one.
Similarly safe through the fact they are relatively early in their managerial post are Ipswich’s McKenna, Scott Brown at Fleetwood, Mark Kennedy at Lincoln and Dino Maamria at Burton. I would have included Paul Warne, newly installed at the Rams, but they only gave Rosenior five players (to begin with) and nine games so who knows when Mad Sheep Disease will strike again.
Barnsley’s Michael Duff also has gone on a decent run, that you would hope will allow him to stay on board.
Likewise, being in the promotion race is a double-edged sword, as is coming off a good run of seasons and then falling away. Ainsworth at Why Come, Evatt at Bolton and Dastardly and Muttley Cowley at Pompous stand every chance of staying around if they don’t fall of a cliff form wise. You can but hope though.
I think the same is true of our next visiting manager, Darren Moore of the Wendies. He has been backed with players and staffing and,so far this season seems to be delivering good results. Patience is not a quality associated with Owls fans and a bad run which saw them slip away from immediate contention for the play offs could be terminal for him and his Chairman.
I felt the same was true of Grant McCann at Posh, although the 3-2 win at MK will have helped his cause after six defeats on the spin, and strangely so might the fact that part owner Darragh MacAnthony has announced a desire to step away from the club at the end of the season. Not sure how encouraged Posh fans should be by the silence of his current co-owners over the opportunity to buy him out though, amidst rumours of a breakdown in communications between the three, who separately co-own the ground together. That uncertainty of future ownership could be enough to stop any boat rocking if the Posh stay broadly in touch. Posh are also being investigated over the appointment of a non-approved executive by the EFL, so all is not well in the London Road area.
The danger zone is always the bottom reaches, which is where we currently find ex Pilgrims boss Derek Adams, back at Morecambe, but struggling. Low expectations and past over achievement may save the dour Scot, in the opposite way to the way Lowe expectations may threaten another former Pilgrim currently ripping up the Championship no score draw records at Deepdale in the Division above. Still Derek’s next four home games are Ipswich Derby Barnsley and Pompey, so let’s hope he has a mad run of home form and Cole Stockton starts playing for his January move.
Another manager who will not be overburdened by hope is Steve Cotterill, where a mid-table finish will satisfy the Shrews, as will a similar result for Cheltenham’s Wade Elliott. I do however fear for Ian Burchnell at Forest Green who seem to have imploded at this level. Having two strikers long term injured is a huge handicap, but it would be ironic if the upcoming January transfer window signals a change as they find their way back to fitness just in time for a new boss.
Joey Barton at the Gas is probably safe from a footballing perspective, but who knows if a court case or another episode of inexplicable violence might stymie his managerial career. After his bizarre if entertaining rant about hating (but respecting) Exeter City and their management, and how he was wealthy enough to buy the club just so he could fire them all, his hair trigger temperament will always leave some doubt as to his long-term employability.
Which leaves us with three managers battling expectation against performance. Ben Garner at Charlton has probably had one complete performance from his team this season, and annoyingly it was against us. Since then, Garnerball has not won over his critics, and he has a less than stable Chairman in charge.
Manning has had to cope with the dismantling of the impressive team he built last season and results so far indicate he is a long way away from doing so. Fans are unhappy with him, the squad, the owners, and most recently the fact a team they gubbed 5-nil last season are showing them and I quote “how far they have fallen”.
Finally, everybody’s favourite Tarby impersonator might be facing his very own Karlmaggeddon at Oxford if he cannot get some results strung together pronto. Fans are seriously displeased with the squad and performances (there is a one-hundred-page Robbo out thread on their site). New owners on board might also speed up calls for change unless things improve. Luckily, they have injury stricken Whycome next so that will mean at least they will be thoroughly entertained.
When all is said and done it feels like a very good time to be an Argyle fan. Great ownership, good financials, open governance, the brightest young manager in the Division (and possibly in the League), attractive football beating almost all the teams in the top eight so far and a win at the Adams Family.
Once the Wendies have been and gone we can start to relax and enjoy some games against teams from outside the top eight.
Bring on Accy Stanley.
What do you mean they are ninth? Is no-one else in the bottom half of this division?
COYG!
Sheffield Wednesday (H) October 4th
Dear Santa
You do know it is only October, don’t you? Just checking I am still going to get some presents in December as well, because right now following Argyle is the gift that just keeps giving.
So Why Come, We Came, We conquered. They say the mark of a good side is they win when they aren’t playing at their best. It is called winning ugly, and whilst we wouldn’t want to see it every week, it beats the hell out of losing ugly. And to them.
The people I feel sorry for are the Why Come ground staff. They will have to clear up the 1200 proverbial monkeys that fell off the backs of the Green Army when the whistle went on 94 minutes. On the plus side it was lovely that the Why Come dreadful run of head injuries against us came to a long overdue end, somewhere around the eighth minute when they went behind, and had to chase the game. Also wasn’t it nice for them to get home for an early tea?
After a win on Sky over Ipswich I am not sure anyone was expecting the wholesale changes and rotation that Shuey went with, but it worked perfectly, and had the added benefit of resting some key players who will probably be back in contention when we play a more grass-based team.
Which brings us neatly on to The Wednesday, on Tuesday. Obviously, this rearrangement was brought about by the loss of the game a couple of Saturdays ago, and the subsequent commemoration of Her Majesty, culminating on a Monday Bank Holiday. As no-one except the second-tier European sides (Manchester United, West Ham, occasionally Spurs) play on a Thursday, and Sky Sports dictate who rock up on Friday Night Football, and since we have just had to play on Sunday, that really only left Wednesday with Tuesday. Glad I cleared that up.
It also means I only have a couple of days to preview this game, although obviously I can’t just cut and paste in the last one (believe me I considered it) and it all starts again on Wednesday with a review of Wednesday from Tuesday and then the preview of Accrington Saturday. That’s the day we play them not a name change. They are still Stanley (as I write this on Sunday).
At the time of original scheduling Argyle were coming off a famous victory at Derby in a run of games that looked daunting from the outset.
Since then, we have continued our perfect home form, seen off the first of what will no doubt be a regular series of speculations on the future of our impressive young manager, and almost upset the apple cart at Pompous before settling for the traditional late equaliser Desmond.
What is more impressive is that the opening eleven games have hardly favoured Argyle in terms of who we have had to play. I found this in the Ipswich site, and it makes for very enjoyable reading:
Games between the top eight so far.
P TEAM P W D L G P
1 ARG. 6 5 1 0 7 16
2 DER 3 2 0 1 1 6
3 IPS 5 1 3 1 0 6
4 POR 4 1 2 1 0 5
5 SHF 5 1 2 2 -2 5
6 BAR 4 1 1 2 0 4
7 BOL 4 1 1 2 -3 4
8 PET 5 1 0 4 -3 3
Compared to our form against the immediate rivals for promotion last season, there is simply no comparison. What is even more remarkable is that I know that just like almost every other Argyle fan, I am looking at that table thinking, but for a mad ninety seconds at Pompous, that should be eighteen out of eighteen.
It also makes the results at Fleetwood and Charlton just that little bit more annoying.
Having disposed of ex Prem September with aplomb, we now have the shortest odds Manager of the Month Award in the history of League One. Not only is Schumacher in pole position, but he probably is also the only one out of the pit lane.
And given we have already previewed the Wendies in the none too distant past, I thought that after a quick update I might look at the state of the League on managerial runners and riders after the imaginary ten/eleven game mark that fans are so beloved of.
The big positive you can take as a Wendies fan is that they haven’t had the dreadful start that they had last season. So far, the revised squad, and it is substantially revised, has settled into a decent pattern, beating the sides they should beat, including a 1-0 at Port Vale this weekend. They have been coming up slightly short against the teams that, barring the occasional Posh style plummet and recover, you would expect to be fighting it out in the final weeks for automatic and play off places though, especially at home.
Last season’s two visits to Fortress HP for what was, and in some Wendy fan posts still is, referred to as HMS PTL on tour, led to two short and unproductive stays in the Dockyard City, and if owls can put their tail feathers between their legs as well as spin their necks almost 270 degrees, then they most assuredly did so last time around.
Time and close season acquisitions heal such wounds very quickly, and once again the Owls fans consensus is that THIS is the season for climbing out of the division. Again. The Law of Averages says they will be right one season I suppose.
In managerial terms, whilst Darren Moore appears to have got over the rocky relationship that last seasons very false start created, you get the impression that a fall away from the play-off spots, or another failed play off campaign would make his position with the fans somewhat fraught. Expectation at fan level is very much that they and Ipswich will be the automatically promoted teams, primarily due to squad depth. Mind you the Tories have the most MP’s so the Parliament of Owls doesn’t have too far to look to see what might happen when you decide to change leader and bring in the fan’s choice. Let’s call it brave, shall we?
It is both shocking and surprising to note that Shuey is already in the top half of the 92 longest serving managers at their current EPL/EFL clubs ( rising one more place with the departure of Bruno Lage from Wolves this afternoon). Given that currently he probably has the safest job in League One, and possibly the EFL, as a combination of the sanity of our Club Chairman and the impressive job he is doing, it was perhaps no surprise that when the first club came calling, he elected to turn them down. The greater surprise was possibly that the club that came calling was Huddersfield Town, given that it was more likely to be The Riddler clutching his receipt and claiming he had been delivered faulty goods.
There are several managers in League One who also have reason to feel secure in their position because of that combination of good club ownership and strong performance. Mark Bonner at Cambridge and John Coleman at Accrington Stanley, spring to mind as does Darryl Clark at Port Vale. I would have included Matty Taylor at Exeter as well but for the fact he may be about to be headhunted up a division to Rotherham. Logically that feels like a good fit, as he is used to being at a smaller club in the shadow of a bigger neighbour, with limited budget and a need to develop players. I was also surprised to learn he is the eighth longest serving manager in the League. Alternatively, the Watford gig should be up again pretty soon, so he may hang on for that one.
Similarly safe through the fact they are relatively early in their managerial post are Ipswich’s McKenna, Scott Brown at Fleetwood, Mark Kennedy at Lincoln and Dino Maamria at Burton. I would have included Paul Warne, newly installed at the Rams, but they only gave Rosenior five players (to begin with) and nine games so who knows when Mad Sheep Disease will strike again.
Barnsley’s Michael Duff also has gone on a decent run, that you would hope will allow him to stay on board.
Likewise, being in the promotion race is a double-edged sword, as is coming off a good run of seasons and then falling away. Ainsworth at Why Come, Evatt at Bolton and Dastardly and Muttley Cowley at Pompous stand every chance of staying around if they don’t fall of a cliff form wise. You can but hope though.
I think the same is true of our next visiting manager, Darren Moore of the Wendies. He has been backed with players and staffing and,so far this season seems to be delivering good results. Patience is not a quality associated with Owls fans and a bad run which saw them slip away from immediate contention for the play offs could be terminal for him and his Chairman.
I felt the same was true of Grant McCann at Posh, although the 3-2 win at MK will have helped his cause after six defeats on the spin, and strangely so might the fact that part owner Darragh MacAnthony has announced a desire to step away from the club at the end of the season. Not sure how encouraged Posh fans should be by the silence of his current co-owners over the opportunity to buy him out though, amidst rumours of a breakdown in communications between the three, who separately co-own the ground together. That uncertainty of future ownership could be enough to stop any boat rocking if the Posh stay broadly in touch. Posh are also being investigated over the appointment of a non-approved executive by the EFL, so all is not well in the London Road area.
The danger zone is always the bottom reaches, which is where we currently find ex Pilgrims boss Derek Adams, back at Morecambe, but struggling. Low expectations and past over achievement may save the dour Scot, in the opposite way to the way Lowe expectations may threaten another former Pilgrim currently ripping up the Championship no score draw records at Deepdale in the Division above. Still Derek’s next four home games are Ipswich Derby Barnsley and Pompey, so let’s hope he has a mad run of home form and Cole Stockton starts playing for his January move.
Another manager who will not be overburdened by hope is Steve Cotterill, where a mid-table finish will satisfy the Shrews, as will a similar result for Cheltenham’s Wade Elliott. I do however fear for Ian Burchnell at Forest Green who seem to have imploded at this level. Having two strikers long term injured is a huge handicap, but it would be ironic if the upcoming January transfer window signals a change as they find their way back to fitness just in time for a new boss.
Joey Barton at the Gas is probably safe from a footballing perspective, but who knows if a court case or another episode of inexplicable violence might stymie his managerial career. After his bizarre if entertaining rant about hating (but respecting) Exeter City and their management, and how he was wealthy enough to buy the club just so he could fire them all, his hair trigger temperament will always leave some doubt as to his long-term employability.
Which leaves us with three managers battling expectation against performance. Ben Garner at Charlton has probably had one complete performance from his team this season, and annoyingly it was against us. Since then, Garnerball has not won over his critics, and he has a less than stable Chairman in charge.
Manning has had to cope with the dismantling of the impressive team he built last season and results so far indicate he is a long way away from doing so. Fans are unhappy with him, the squad, the owners, and most recently the fact a team they gubbed 5-nil last season are showing them and I quote “how far they have fallen”.
Finally, everybody’s favourite Tarby impersonator might be facing his very own Karlmaggeddon at Oxford if he cannot get some results strung together pronto. Fans are seriously displeased with the squad and performances (there is a one-hundred-page Robbo out thread on their site). New owners on board might also speed up calls for change unless things improve. Luckily, they have injury stricken Whycome next so that will mean at least they will be thoroughly entertained.
When all is said and done it feels like a very good time to be an Argyle fan. Great ownership, good financials, open governance, the brightest young manager in the Division (and possibly in the League), attractive football beating almost all the teams in the top eight so far and a win at the Adams Family.
Once the Wendies have been and gone we can start to relax and enjoy some games against teams from outside the top eight.
Bring on Accy Stanley.
What do you mean they are ninth? Is no-one else in the bottom half of this division?
COYG!
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