One Game at a Time: You’re Only Here for the Groaty Dick
The Albion (H) February 20th
And just as you thought the Never-ending Story that is Leeds United stumbles to its overwritten and depressingly familiar conclusion, we find ourselves immediately plunged into the prequel that is the Return of the Baggies. The contest, delayed by the replay and now the fitting end part of a home trilogy that, based on the outcome of this evening’s fare, will either deliver a promising four, troubling two or potentially still a solitary one point gain from Fortress HP.
The final part of a series of games against the Yorkshire Championship team that isn’t fighting relegation ended in predictable defeat, but as with all the other games, Argyle showed enough fight and endeavour to keep the game a contest until, as ever architects of their own downfall, a second comedy piece of defending gave a player who was too good too much time to finish. So he did.
The first half, had it been a boxing match might well have been stopped on points, so dominant were the away side. The strategy from Argyle was to seemingly surrender the ball so that they could compact the space and stay in the game for as long as possible, hoping that as in the previous three games a second half surge would produce a chance that could level the game up. To that extent the Rope a Dope worked and in the second half Argyle were still in touch.
In fact, had it not been some shambolic defending from Gibson and Miller, who between them allowed the painfully unmarked Gnonto collect a stratospheric aimless high ball and plant his shot past a flat-footed Hazard, the plan might have worked. Admittedly the linesman’s flag saved Ash Phillips from scoring his best worst goal ever, with Hazard beaten all ends up by a stunning volley into the roof of his own net.
The second half saw, as in previous encounters Argyle further forward, more aggressive and, but for the merest moment of movement earlier, close to an equaliser when Waine just failed to reach another fizzing cross from Miller, who caused the Leeds right side no end of problems.
Miller though was also the source of the second Leeds goal, losing the ball on halfway, allowing Piroe and Rutter to combine to score a second, and that was very much that.
For Leeds eight wins in a row in the League, interspersed with two cup ties against Argyle, have allowed them to compact the top four somewhat, assisted by the Saints stumble, the levelling off of Ipswich and Leicester tripping over at home to Boro, aided and abetted by some bloke called Azaz.
Just behind the runaway four are the Baggies, who, rather in stealth mode and organised by Carlos Corberan, have moved steadily up the table to become, for the time being at least, the best of the rest. There most recent form however has them tracking a little below that, mainly propped up by their home form, which contains a win over Leeds as well as the recent home defeat to Southampton, but also includes a defeat to fast plummeting Swansea.
Corberan will be on the naughty step for the game at Home Park, after an unfortunate decision to stop the ball from going out of play with his foot. Whilst correct to the laws of the game, it was hardly Alan Pardew sticking the nut in on David Myler. Also likely on the sidelines will be new signing M'vali, the former Sunderland and Olympiakos player picked up on a short-term deal to re-join his former boss from Greece as cover for the injured Molumby. Also on the damaged good shelf are strikers Josh Maja, at one time a rumoured Argyle target, and powerful striker Darryl Dike, out long term with a ligament problem sustained unfortunately whilst in his comeback game from a previous injury.
Corberan has gained much adulation for his rebuilding of a promotion challenge despite working under considerable financial restraints under now departed Chinese owner Guachong Lia. The absentee owner who acquired his stake in the club for some $200 million from previous owner Jeremy Pease. After falling back into the Championship, and eventually exhausting the payment for failure that parachute payments represent to most fans (you could equally argue it is delayed payment for having succeeded to have the chance to fail) Lia failed to adequately (in the cock-eyed financial world of the Championship) finance the club, and indeed suddenly started to take loans out of the club, the most recent of which of some $5 million was recently written off as being uncollectable. A bit like Exeter City cup final tokens.
The traditional model for how clubs work (which as we know is not necessarily how our Chairman believes successful clubs should be run) does at least have the fundamental that the man owning the club finds the funding, and generally speaking the flow of funds is from them to the club. A chairman extracting funds from the club whilst not impossible is not generally accepted (ask Blackpool and their troubled relationship with prior owner Owen Oysten).
The recent announcement of a sale of the club to the US based investors the Patels comes with the traditional provision of hope and expectation that always accompanies such transactions. Then again when Lia arrived he was greeted with open arms as he offered to buy scarves and pints for the fans. I am sure that the name of their investment vehicle, Bilkul, so close to Bilk-u-all is of no concern to the joyous Baggies delighted to see the back of the man whose commitment to the club most recently involved them taking out a 20-million-pound loan from Michael Dells vehicle MSD last November.
Mind you Corberan’s dismissal from the touchline was mild compared to the outcome of Michael Beales twelve game stewardship of Sunderland being ended after a spat with substituted defender Trei Hume, whose attempted handshake was ignored by the boss. Combined with falling out with the fans over criticisms, and then calling the players in for extra training whilst he apparently had the day off meant that Beale will have a limited role in the next series of Sunderland till I Die. It probably wasn’t helped by the fact he also appeared to be planting pro Beale tweets on social media. Still what are you going to do on your day off while the players are being punished?
Indeed, the weekend’s games, where Sunderland lost to Birmingham saw a double whammy when Tony Mowbray, who has already surpassed Wayne Rooney’s managerial record in double quick time, has taken a step back on medical grounds. We wish him well. Tony, that is.
Argyle will be hoping their game in hand will allow them to extend the gap to the relegation teams, which closed slightly as QPR and Wednesday both fashioned away wins at Brizzle and Millwall. Millwall seem to have hit the Wall of late with only Rotherham having worse form. Huddersfield, who have also found themselves a left field boss, also lost, at home to Hull in an eventful game which saw them equalise two minutes into stoppage time and still fashion a chance for Hull to take all three points with virtually the last touch of the game. We know your pain!
The visit of Albion brings a side that of late has had little occasion to head Westwards, and indeed were reasonably successful when they did. You have to go back to 1992 to find a Green home win, and even that was in the League Cup second leg, where goals from marker and Poole from the penalty spot overturned a one goal deficit from the Hawthorns. The league match finished goalless, but the return match at the Hawthorns saw a Steve Castle hattrick continue a winning streak in the West Midlands as Argyle triumphed 5-2 after previous visits provided 2-1 and 3-0 victories.
But home is where we find ourselves and what better memory than a simple one nil victory in November 1986. The scorer, a rare goal in what was to be his final season in green came from an ex-Baggie. Nissie, signed from Hull City but who made his debut for West Brom was one of the finest right backs to ever play for Argyle being voted into the Team of the Century. He even managed a two-game stint as joint caretaker manager just before the arrival of Peter Shilton.
He scored seventeen goals in his time at Argyle, many of which were powerful long-range strikes, but few if any would have felt as sweet as the winner against his first club. In that’s rarest of combinations, the ball was laid off to him by Tommy Tynan, and the shot was crashed into the Devonport End net in the blink of an eye.
Nissie, unassuming as ever, remarked that he reckoned quite a few West Brom fans would be wondering if the bloke playing right back for Argyle was the same one they knew. After a brief spell “up the road” Nissie was back as reserve team manager before ending up on the beat for the Devon and Cornwall police.
Not bad for a lad who started as a goalkeeper, and even had one game between the sticks for Argyle after an injury to Geoff Crudgington.
Fozzy will have his first choice strike partnership back available, plus other players starting to return from injury and club related ineligibility. Albion don’t have great away form so far this season, and Corberan was criticised for his substitutions against the Saints which seemed to weaken the team when they were trying to secure a point. They do have a missile of a throw in taker in Furlong and may have Semi Ajayi back from the Africa Cup of Nations final. Up front Wallace and Weimann give them Championship guile and goal threat.
It is getting to the business end of the season, as various clubs start to circle around the hope that QPR might suffer a points deduction after their financial results seem to indicate they needed to have saved close to ten million in their current year’s figures.
A win tonight for Argyle will help enormously towards not needing such artificial aid to retain their position as a sustainable Championship club.
A draw or defeat, whilst not terminal, will make the table feel a little more compressed with tough games coming up against Middlesbrough, Leicester and Ipswich.
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Albion (H) February 20th
And just as you thought the Never-ending Story that is Leeds United stumbles to its overwritten and depressingly familiar conclusion, we find ourselves immediately plunged into the prequel that is the Return of the Baggies. The contest, delayed by the replay and now the fitting end part of a home trilogy that, based on the outcome of this evening’s fare, will either deliver a promising four, troubling two or potentially still a solitary one point gain from Fortress HP.
The final part of a series of games against the Yorkshire Championship team that isn’t fighting relegation ended in predictable defeat, but as with all the other games, Argyle showed enough fight and endeavour to keep the game a contest until, as ever architects of their own downfall, a second comedy piece of defending gave a player who was too good too much time to finish. So he did.
The first half, had it been a boxing match might well have been stopped on points, so dominant were the away side. The strategy from Argyle was to seemingly surrender the ball so that they could compact the space and stay in the game for as long as possible, hoping that as in the previous three games a second half surge would produce a chance that could level the game up. To that extent the Rope a Dope worked and in the second half Argyle were still in touch.
In fact, had it not been some shambolic defending from Gibson and Miller, who between them allowed the painfully unmarked Gnonto collect a stratospheric aimless high ball and plant his shot past a flat-footed Hazard, the plan might have worked. Admittedly the linesman’s flag saved Ash Phillips from scoring his best worst goal ever, with Hazard beaten all ends up by a stunning volley into the roof of his own net.
The second half saw, as in previous encounters Argyle further forward, more aggressive and, but for the merest moment of movement earlier, close to an equaliser when Waine just failed to reach another fizzing cross from Miller, who caused the Leeds right side no end of problems.
Miller though was also the source of the second Leeds goal, losing the ball on halfway, allowing Piroe and Rutter to combine to score a second, and that was very much that.
For Leeds eight wins in a row in the League, interspersed with two cup ties against Argyle, have allowed them to compact the top four somewhat, assisted by the Saints stumble, the levelling off of Ipswich and Leicester tripping over at home to Boro, aided and abetted by some bloke called Azaz.
Just behind the runaway four are the Baggies, who, rather in stealth mode and organised by Carlos Corberan, have moved steadily up the table to become, for the time being at least, the best of the rest. There most recent form however has them tracking a little below that, mainly propped up by their home form, which contains a win over Leeds as well as the recent home defeat to Southampton, but also includes a defeat to fast plummeting Swansea.
Corberan will be on the naughty step for the game at Home Park, after an unfortunate decision to stop the ball from going out of play with his foot. Whilst correct to the laws of the game, it was hardly Alan Pardew sticking the nut in on David Myler. Also likely on the sidelines will be new signing M'vali, the former Sunderland and Olympiakos player picked up on a short-term deal to re-join his former boss from Greece as cover for the injured Molumby. Also on the damaged good shelf are strikers Josh Maja, at one time a rumoured Argyle target, and powerful striker Darryl Dike, out long term with a ligament problem sustained unfortunately whilst in his comeback game from a previous injury.
Corberan has gained much adulation for his rebuilding of a promotion challenge despite working under considerable financial restraints under now departed Chinese owner Guachong Lia. The absentee owner who acquired his stake in the club for some $200 million from previous owner Jeremy Pease. After falling back into the Championship, and eventually exhausting the payment for failure that parachute payments represent to most fans (you could equally argue it is delayed payment for having succeeded to have the chance to fail) Lia failed to adequately (in the cock-eyed financial world of the Championship) finance the club, and indeed suddenly started to take loans out of the club, the most recent of which of some $5 million was recently written off as being uncollectable. A bit like Exeter City cup final tokens.
The traditional model for how clubs work (which as we know is not necessarily how our Chairman believes successful clubs should be run) does at least have the fundamental that the man owning the club finds the funding, and generally speaking the flow of funds is from them to the club. A chairman extracting funds from the club whilst not impossible is not generally accepted (ask Blackpool and their troubled relationship with prior owner Owen Oysten).
The recent announcement of a sale of the club to the US based investors the Patels comes with the traditional provision of hope and expectation that always accompanies such transactions. Then again when Lia arrived he was greeted with open arms as he offered to buy scarves and pints for the fans. I am sure that the name of their investment vehicle, Bilkul, so close to Bilk-u-all is of no concern to the joyous Baggies delighted to see the back of the man whose commitment to the club most recently involved them taking out a 20-million-pound loan from Michael Dells vehicle MSD last November.
Mind you Corberan’s dismissal from the touchline was mild compared to the outcome of Michael Beales twelve game stewardship of Sunderland being ended after a spat with substituted defender Trei Hume, whose attempted handshake was ignored by the boss. Combined with falling out with the fans over criticisms, and then calling the players in for extra training whilst he apparently had the day off meant that Beale will have a limited role in the next series of Sunderland till I Die. It probably wasn’t helped by the fact he also appeared to be planting pro Beale tweets on social media. Still what are you going to do on your day off while the players are being punished?
Indeed, the weekend’s games, where Sunderland lost to Birmingham saw a double whammy when Tony Mowbray, who has already surpassed Wayne Rooney’s managerial record in double quick time, has taken a step back on medical grounds. We wish him well. Tony, that is.
Argyle will be hoping their game in hand will allow them to extend the gap to the relegation teams, which closed slightly as QPR and Wednesday both fashioned away wins at Brizzle and Millwall. Millwall seem to have hit the Wall of late with only Rotherham having worse form. Huddersfield, who have also found themselves a left field boss, also lost, at home to Hull in an eventful game which saw them equalise two minutes into stoppage time and still fashion a chance for Hull to take all three points with virtually the last touch of the game. We know your pain!
The visit of Albion brings a side that of late has had little occasion to head Westwards, and indeed were reasonably successful when they did. You have to go back to 1992 to find a Green home win, and even that was in the League Cup second leg, where goals from marker and Poole from the penalty spot overturned a one goal deficit from the Hawthorns. The league match finished goalless, but the return match at the Hawthorns saw a Steve Castle hattrick continue a winning streak in the West Midlands as Argyle triumphed 5-2 after previous visits provided 2-1 and 3-0 victories.
But home is where we find ourselves and what better memory than a simple one nil victory in November 1986. The scorer, a rare goal in what was to be his final season in green came from an ex-Baggie. Nissie, signed from Hull City but who made his debut for West Brom was one of the finest right backs to ever play for Argyle being voted into the Team of the Century. He even managed a two-game stint as joint caretaker manager just before the arrival of Peter Shilton.
He scored seventeen goals in his time at Argyle, many of which were powerful long-range strikes, but few if any would have felt as sweet as the winner against his first club. In that’s rarest of combinations, the ball was laid off to him by Tommy Tynan, and the shot was crashed into the Devonport End net in the blink of an eye.
Nissie, unassuming as ever, remarked that he reckoned quite a few West Brom fans would be wondering if the bloke playing right back for Argyle was the same one they knew. After a brief spell “up the road” Nissie was back as reserve team manager before ending up on the beat for the Devon and Cornwall police.
Not bad for a lad who started as a goalkeeper, and even had one game between the sticks for Argyle after an injury to Geoff Crudgington.
Fozzy will have his first choice strike partnership back available, plus other players starting to return from injury and club related ineligibility. Albion don’t have great away form so far this season, and Corberan was criticised for his substitutions against the Saints which seemed to weaken the team when they were trying to secure a point. They do have a missile of a throw in taker in Furlong and may have Semi Ajayi back from the Africa Cup of Nations final. Up front Wallace and Weimann give them Championship guile and goal threat.
It is getting to the business end of the season, as various clubs start to circle around the hope that QPR might suffer a points deduction after their financial results seem to indicate they needed to have saved close to ten million in their current year’s figures.
A win tonight for Argyle will help enormously towards not needing such artificial aid to retain their position as a sustainable Championship club.
A draw or defeat, whilst not terminal, will make the table feel a little more compressed with tough games coming up against Middlesbrough, Leicester and Ipswich.
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
