One Game at a Time
The Grinch who Stole Christmas All Star XI (H) December 29th
In the words of that great football philosopher John Bon Jovi, “Woo-Oh! We’re halfway the-ere!”
To have reached the halfway point of the season top of the tree, ten points better off than last season and having only used seventeen players in any significant way is a remarkable achievement by all at the club.
The only fly in the ointment is that there are no prizes for halfway, and this will only count for something if we maintain the form and focus that got us to here for the remaining half of the season. Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it said George Santayana, (as repeated by Winston Churchill). Karl Marx also subscribed to the theory of history repeating itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.
The evidence of that repetition on Saturday was no bad thing as Argyle completed a six on the bounce sequence against Cheltenham Town, who by now must dread the Boxing Day visit of their not so near neighbours. With the breakaway group all managing wins and all bar one of the chasing pack failing to gain maximum points, then if this was a Christmas movie to be picked for the coach trip home it would have to be “It’s a Wonderful Life”. That said there is a traditional Christmas film with a much stronger “Argyle “connection, as I will reveal later.
The downside of history repeating itself is that we start the second half of the season against those perennial party poopers at Home Park, Why Come Wanderers. It is a staggering reality that any Argyle fan from 15 years old and down won’t have seen a home win for Argyle against the Chairboys. Of 109 opponents over the history of the club, Why Come are our 99th worst potential opponent. They are comfortably the worst opponent in our current fixture list with only Derby and Burton close to them….Cambridge and Lincoln who have also yet to visit are also not great historically for us at Fortress HP.
On the other hand, this is a season for setting things right and Schuey has already shown this season that the messianic supremacy of the long haired, cloven hooved rock god that is Gareth Ainsworth can be overcome with tactics selection and application. Having once again missed out on the QPR job Ainsworth remains the longest serving manager at this level, and much like Alex Ferguson at United when they played Spurs, one could imagine his team talk being something along the lines of “Come on lads, it’s only Argyle…”
But this is Christmas, and as we lead the entire division, we can at least dream that this year will be different. After grinding out a one nil win at Derek Adams Park we are already three points better off against the Grinches before a single head has been clutched. Since then the Grinches have managed to pull together a very decent run of form, especially at home, where they have despatched the Pompous Ones and helped us maintain our lofty status by delivering a knockout Suffolk Punch to Ipswich. They have the Wendies coming to visit soon shortly as well.
And punching above their weight is perhaps the one thing we have in common with the Chairboys. With crowds creeping above the six thousand marks in recent fixtures, primarily as a result of the away attendances, (Ipswich were given an extra allocation and was peak performance crowd wise at 7500+) Wanderers start at a financial disadvantage to many of the teams in the division. Owned for many seasons by a Supporters trust, they were majority purchased by US lawyer Rob Couhig two years back, after his seemingly signed and sealed bid to purchase Yeovil fell through following their relegation out of the League.
Undaunted, Couhig switched targets and landed himself the lion’s share of Wanderers within eight months of walking away from the Yeovil deal. In that brief time, he developed (apparently) a strong affinity with what he has termed the World Wide Wycombe Wanderers Phenomenon. I assume that’s a bit like the World Wide Web but with many, many less users. Safe to say he is not a man for understatement.
It is perhaps therefore no surprise that Couhig has a history of political ambition, sadly for him as yet unsuccessful, as a Republican in a hugely Democrat New Orleans. He has had two unsuccessful runs at Congress together with similarly unsuccessful mayoral campaigns, last attempted in 2010. One can only hope he sees what a successful Mayoral campaign looks like tonight.
Having arrived in 2020 at Adams Park, Couhig was immediately launched into the Covid season play off campaign which saw Wanderers catapulted to their highest ever League status. Their single season at this lofty level resulted in a relegation tinged with rancour and litigation after Derby County managed to finagle their way through the financial penalties and points deductions and cling on to Championship status for another season at Wanderers expense.
Wanderers of course pipped Argyle to the final play-off spot last season (of course they did) courtesy of two comprehensive wins which was a six-point swing in their favour at our expense. They lost the final, in part through a horrendous goalkeeping gaffe, although Couhigs intervention in calling Sunderland their opponents a “Netflix club” was regarded as a similarly catastrophic gaffe by the Wanderers faithful, calling it the equivalent of pouring a gallon of petrol onto the flames of Sunderland desire.
Although the likely attendance from Wanderers fans at Home Park will be in the low hundreds, it is unclear if their International Media Partners, La Media Inglesa, will be attempting to motivate their Spanish supporters to join the trip to Home Park. They did send 250 to Wembley for the Play-Off final against Sunderland, having selected Why Come from the clubs that responded to their entreaties for a club to support in England, as they were the only one to respond in Spanish. You would have thought a Spanish website focusing on English football would appreciate the history of a trip to the city whose greatest son once singed the King of Spains beard, but maybe it is too close to Christmas for some Hoe Hoe Hoe revenge.
Having recently expanded his financial interest in the club, as the only way that they can fund the proposed route back to being a sustainable Championship Club, Couhig has just lost his chief football advisor to Bristol City as their new CEO. This is not his first sporting rodeo though. Couhig moved a minor league baseball team from Denver to New Orleans, where they became the New Orleans Zephyrs. He then added the New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers soccer franchise, renaming them the New Orleans Storm.
Couhig sold his Baseball franchise in the late nineties and with a couple of months had mothballed the football franchise as well. He also sold his pest control company in 2001, and now remains focussed on his law partnership and his worldwide phenomenon. Oh, and an independent book store his wife Missy runs which to be fair actually looks rather good.
In many ways the visit of the Wanderers is much like a classic movie franchise, although in this case the tropes are more akin to a zombie apocalypse movie, than light-hearted uplifting fayre of the Holiday rom com. It has all the elements. A large group of innocent bystanders, trapped together with no means of escaping. The relentless slow grinding down of opponents by the undead first XI, who, no matter how many times they tumble to the turf, always eventually spring back to life, almost as if there was no injury at all. And like all such franchises, even if this ends and you escape into the night, you just know they will be back.
On a positive note, it will be a joy to see James Bolton back where he belongs, competing for a first team place after the most unfortunate of absences from footballing duties. It may be too soon for a long stint on the pitch, but one can only hope he gets a suitably rousing reception. And is ready for action at Portman Road, unfinished business.
Of course, this is the final game before the transfer window swings open and we have thirty-one days of rumour and mayhem before everything settles back down again. Expectations are high of imminent arrivals, whilst other clubs are already salivating over the potential for debilitating departures, be they transfers or recalls. Other clubs are the same, with the Wendies losing another player to injury at the weekend, but also expecting Patterson to depart and possibly embargo struck Cardiff to recall McGuinness in the absence of being able to sign anyone.
All we can assume is by the time the window “slams” shut we will be stronger and refreshed and ready to push on to what could be a glorious finale.
It all starts with a visit from an opponent who, safe to say, we owe a performance at Fortress HP. So let us see the commitment that was shown in that Christmas classic movie Die Hard, not by John Maclane, but by his unsung limo driver, who threw his vehicle in front of the escaping villains as they tried to escape with their ill-gotten gains.
His name? Argyle. And as he said, if this is how they do Christmas, I gotta see what they do for New Year!
Let’s make 2023 a very Happy and very Green New Year
COYG!
The Grinch who Stole Christmas All Star XI (H) December 29th
In the words of that great football philosopher John Bon Jovi, “Woo-Oh! We’re halfway the-ere!”
To have reached the halfway point of the season top of the tree, ten points better off than last season and having only used seventeen players in any significant way is a remarkable achievement by all at the club.
The only fly in the ointment is that there are no prizes for halfway, and this will only count for something if we maintain the form and focus that got us to here for the remaining half of the season. Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it said George Santayana, (as repeated by Winston Churchill). Karl Marx also subscribed to the theory of history repeating itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.
The evidence of that repetition on Saturday was no bad thing as Argyle completed a six on the bounce sequence against Cheltenham Town, who by now must dread the Boxing Day visit of their not so near neighbours. With the breakaway group all managing wins and all bar one of the chasing pack failing to gain maximum points, then if this was a Christmas movie to be picked for the coach trip home it would have to be “It’s a Wonderful Life”. That said there is a traditional Christmas film with a much stronger “Argyle “connection, as I will reveal later.
The downside of history repeating itself is that we start the second half of the season against those perennial party poopers at Home Park, Why Come Wanderers. It is a staggering reality that any Argyle fan from 15 years old and down won’t have seen a home win for Argyle against the Chairboys. Of 109 opponents over the history of the club, Why Come are our 99th worst potential opponent. They are comfortably the worst opponent in our current fixture list with only Derby and Burton close to them….Cambridge and Lincoln who have also yet to visit are also not great historically for us at Fortress HP.
On the other hand, this is a season for setting things right and Schuey has already shown this season that the messianic supremacy of the long haired, cloven hooved rock god that is Gareth Ainsworth can be overcome with tactics selection and application. Having once again missed out on the QPR job Ainsworth remains the longest serving manager at this level, and much like Alex Ferguson at United when they played Spurs, one could imagine his team talk being something along the lines of “Come on lads, it’s only Argyle…”
But this is Christmas, and as we lead the entire division, we can at least dream that this year will be different. After grinding out a one nil win at Derek Adams Park we are already three points better off against the Grinches before a single head has been clutched. Since then the Grinches have managed to pull together a very decent run of form, especially at home, where they have despatched the Pompous Ones and helped us maintain our lofty status by delivering a knockout Suffolk Punch to Ipswich. They have the Wendies coming to visit soon shortly as well.
And punching above their weight is perhaps the one thing we have in common with the Chairboys. With crowds creeping above the six thousand marks in recent fixtures, primarily as a result of the away attendances, (Ipswich were given an extra allocation and was peak performance crowd wise at 7500+) Wanderers start at a financial disadvantage to many of the teams in the division. Owned for many seasons by a Supporters trust, they were majority purchased by US lawyer Rob Couhig two years back, after his seemingly signed and sealed bid to purchase Yeovil fell through following their relegation out of the League.
Undaunted, Couhig switched targets and landed himself the lion’s share of Wanderers within eight months of walking away from the Yeovil deal. In that brief time, he developed (apparently) a strong affinity with what he has termed the World Wide Wycombe Wanderers Phenomenon. I assume that’s a bit like the World Wide Web but with many, many less users. Safe to say he is not a man for understatement.
It is perhaps therefore no surprise that Couhig has a history of political ambition, sadly for him as yet unsuccessful, as a Republican in a hugely Democrat New Orleans. He has had two unsuccessful runs at Congress together with similarly unsuccessful mayoral campaigns, last attempted in 2010. One can only hope he sees what a successful Mayoral campaign looks like tonight.
Having arrived in 2020 at Adams Park, Couhig was immediately launched into the Covid season play off campaign which saw Wanderers catapulted to their highest ever League status. Their single season at this lofty level resulted in a relegation tinged with rancour and litigation after Derby County managed to finagle their way through the financial penalties and points deductions and cling on to Championship status for another season at Wanderers expense.
Wanderers of course pipped Argyle to the final play-off spot last season (of course they did) courtesy of two comprehensive wins which was a six-point swing in their favour at our expense. They lost the final, in part through a horrendous goalkeeping gaffe, although Couhigs intervention in calling Sunderland their opponents a “Netflix club” was regarded as a similarly catastrophic gaffe by the Wanderers faithful, calling it the equivalent of pouring a gallon of petrol onto the flames of Sunderland desire.
Although the likely attendance from Wanderers fans at Home Park will be in the low hundreds, it is unclear if their International Media Partners, La Media Inglesa, will be attempting to motivate their Spanish supporters to join the trip to Home Park. They did send 250 to Wembley for the Play-Off final against Sunderland, having selected Why Come from the clubs that responded to their entreaties for a club to support in England, as they were the only one to respond in Spanish. You would have thought a Spanish website focusing on English football would appreciate the history of a trip to the city whose greatest son once singed the King of Spains beard, but maybe it is too close to Christmas for some Hoe Hoe Hoe revenge.
Having recently expanded his financial interest in the club, as the only way that they can fund the proposed route back to being a sustainable Championship Club, Couhig has just lost his chief football advisor to Bristol City as their new CEO. This is not his first sporting rodeo though. Couhig moved a minor league baseball team from Denver to New Orleans, where they became the New Orleans Zephyrs. He then added the New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers soccer franchise, renaming them the New Orleans Storm.
Couhig sold his Baseball franchise in the late nineties and with a couple of months had mothballed the football franchise as well. He also sold his pest control company in 2001, and now remains focussed on his law partnership and his worldwide phenomenon. Oh, and an independent book store his wife Missy runs which to be fair actually looks rather good.
In many ways the visit of the Wanderers is much like a classic movie franchise, although in this case the tropes are more akin to a zombie apocalypse movie, than light-hearted uplifting fayre of the Holiday rom com. It has all the elements. A large group of innocent bystanders, trapped together with no means of escaping. The relentless slow grinding down of opponents by the undead first XI, who, no matter how many times they tumble to the turf, always eventually spring back to life, almost as if there was no injury at all. And like all such franchises, even if this ends and you escape into the night, you just know they will be back.
On a positive note, it will be a joy to see James Bolton back where he belongs, competing for a first team place after the most unfortunate of absences from footballing duties. It may be too soon for a long stint on the pitch, but one can only hope he gets a suitably rousing reception. And is ready for action at Portman Road, unfinished business.
Of course, this is the final game before the transfer window swings open and we have thirty-one days of rumour and mayhem before everything settles back down again. Expectations are high of imminent arrivals, whilst other clubs are already salivating over the potential for debilitating departures, be they transfers or recalls. Other clubs are the same, with the Wendies losing another player to injury at the weekend, but also expecting Patterson to depart and possibly embargo struck Cardiff to recall McGuinness in the absence of being able to sign anyone.
All we can assume is by the time the window “slams” shut we will be stronger and refreshed and ready to push on to what could be a glorious finale.
It all starts with a visit from an opponent who, safe to say, we owe a performance at Fortress HP. So let us see the commitment that was shown in that Christmas classic movie Die Hard, not by John Maclane, but by his unsung limo driver, who threw his vehicle in front of the escaping villains as they tried to escape with their ill-gotten gains.
His name? Argyle. And as he said, if this is how they do Christmas, I gotta see what they do for New Year!
Let’s make 2023 a very Happy and very Green New Year
COYG!
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