One Game at a Time: You’re Only Here for the Parkin
The Terriers (A) January 13th
The aftermath of the strange affair of the helicopter journey was that FA Cup third round week was an ideal chance for our new Head Coach, Ian Foster, to get his feet on the touchline and watch his new charges take on the banana skin of a game against the next to lowest team in the top four divisions.
Changes were in order, with the departure, graciously handled without a rotor blade in sight, by Finn Azaz, and in a strong line up, the apparent wantaway Luke Cundle lined up to cup tie himself (albeit as it transpired, academically) and also to be on hand to apply a tidy finish and open the scoring.
The game saw a start and a promising cameo for Freddie Issaka, who provided the brightest moments of a disjointed Green performance. It should not be forgotten that this was the level that the fiery Schumacher-Lowe comet took over a few short seasons ago. Against the kind of opposition that to their credit, played to their strengths in front a noisy and boisterous away following, Argyle managed to concede a typically shoddy equaliser early after half time. Because of course.
Then two pieced of MW magic, the first winning a clear penalty, despatched by Hotdog, and the second in stoppage time making the game comfortably safe for the fourth-round draw with his fourteenth goal of the season. Leeds United away. When was the last time we got anything good from Leeds. Time was to tell.
And that was the hurdle negotiated. A full week to start to make an impact on the squad, both current and future began with a six-hour Sunday recruitment meeting. News which surprised precisely no-one given his lack of celebration at scoring that Cundle was in the wind to Stoke and his old boss to help them avoid to the first round of the FA Cup next season.
Reaction to the recall and reloan of Cundle was swift and harsh, but the economics of modern football dictate that players are commodities. News that Wolves and Stoke both have issues around FFP regulations probably in this case had nothing to do with the change. Cundle clearly enjoys working for Schumacher and Stoke clearly have an ownership that will use financial muscle to try and improve their consistent fourteenth place finishing of the last couple of seasons. If ever a club was proof of the maxim the quickest way to make a small fortune owning a football club is to start with a large one, then the publication of their annual accounts where the forgiving of debts to maintain their legitimate financial status in the eyes of the EFL showed that since departing the English Promised Land, the Coates family have poured in a third of a billion pounds to achieve, well, not very much. As Jeff Stelling would say for Sky Bet, when the fun stops, stop!
Having appointed a new coach, widely regarded as having some of the best contacts book in the emerging English talent market, and sitting him alongside Neil Dewsnip and Jimmy Dickenson, who has consistently outperformed most other recruitment analysts since arriving at Home Park, meant that most Greens were willing to wait and see what might emerge.
They didn’t have long to wait. If there was one criticism of the squad assembled, it was that it lacked a degree of athleticism and size compared to more established sides. In what ironically could be described as short order the first two arrivals quickly changed the dynamic on that score.
First in came Ash Phillips from Spurs, a rangy Championship experienced centre back who left Blackburn Rovers for just over £2 million and who has already had Premier League bench warming opportunities at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Already known to Foster, and likely already well on the Argyle radar before he arrived, Phillips looks like the perfect addition to the defensive unit which will need some strengthening as the likely departure (since confirmed) of Macauley Gillephey to Charlton for a six-figure sum was clearly on the cards given his rocking up at the Valley to see them succumb to Oxford. A good player and we will always have Chelsea!
If this six four Championship Apprentice of the year was a statement signing, the next man in was even more so, if only because at six five he could be the only man in the side to look down on Phillips.
Darko Gyabi followed Phillips, this time from Leeds United, where he had landed as part of the deal that took Kalvin Phillips to Manchester City reserves, with Gyabi being valued at some five million pounds. Having failed to break through into the Leeds first team Gyabi has been sent out to gain experience and has that look of a rangy box to box midfielder that we have not really had since Panutche Camara left to take lodgings in the Ipswich Town treatment room.
At time of writing that was it for the arrivals, although the team that takes the field against Huddersfield may find themselves doing some more intros on the coach or at the hotel if past seasons windows are anything to go by.
The return match against the Terriers gives Argyle that rare opportunity, a league double. It seems a lifetime ago that a hot sunny season opening Saturday in August saw Argyle announce their arrival back at the Championship level. Fans, already marvelling at the arrival of not one but two million pound players, were wondering if their League One Champions could cut it at the higher level.
Those questions were answered in a game which saw the first Whittaker goal of what is proving an outstanding season, combined with a Mumba solo effort and a Hotdog trademark goal. The theme of the season was set.....to win at Home Park means you might need to score four more often than not. We will however make sure that you have plenty of chances to do that.
Away from home has been a very different story, and one which our new hierarchy will doubtless be keen to rectify. Starting at Huddersfield.
Given the reference to the Harold Wilson quote, a week is a long time in politics, it will be no surprise for Argyle fans braving the rail system that the former PM, who in his time delivered the ultimate treble of an election win, the World Cup and Eurovision to be confronted by his statue as they emerge at Huddersfield station.
If travelling with hope over expectation has long been the lot of the Argyle fan and having failed to make it thirteenth time lucky at the Saints, Foster will be hoping for the new head coach bounce, if that is a thing in the same way it is supposed to be for new managers. Certainly, the game is a watershed moment as a win would extend the gap over the three-way battle to be the least worst team in Yorkshire in the division. Currently Town lead that race, interrupted only by the Southern upstarts QPR, over Wednesday and Rotherham.
Interestingly as a result of their pitch problems at the start of the season QPR are playing all their January games at home, and whilst for Argyle that might have been a boon and the kick start to a push up the table, Rangers fans, fresh from blowing a two goal lead over Bournemouth are already facing a window with no additions due to their FFP past misdemeanours. Talk of a points deduction are swirling, although perhaps with little foundation over a failure to pay past fines on time.
Huddersfield of course is famed as the town that bought itself. In 1919 the town council purchased the estate (not the chippy) and so has continued to own much of the freehold of the town centre. An engine of the industrial revolution, the city with its Cloth Hall from the textile industry and the Canal that was built to smooth the shipping of the raw materials and goods were integral in the towns prosperity.
We have covered the history of the club in the earlier OGAAT, and so we will focus on the current and much changed fortunes of the team since that August drubbing. Owner Kevin Nagle, owner of a basketball franchise parted company with Neil Warnock, who had signed on for the season to help out the team he saved from relegation. His replacement, our old friend and opponent Darren Moore arrived and despite a pair of back-to-back wins, is currently sitting on three wins in twenty games. Injuries are playing a part, although the side could have at least two debutants in Chelsea loanee Alex Matos and alleged Argyle interest in the Serbian striker Bojan Radulovic. Nagle has said they have a target list of nine or ten players to turn around the unacceptable trajectory of their season. They have also recalled their defender Brodie from his loan spell at Motherwell.
Goals are the problem, and their leading scorer remains Polish centre half Helik, who opened his season account with the Town equaliser at Home Park. Radulovic and Matos are clearly a sign of intent to fix that problem.
If Nagle is used to the end-to-end chaos of the basketball style of play that has become the signature of Argyles successes and failures in the League this season, the town knows a little about chaos too.
It would surprise many that the final two UK concerts ever performed by the Sex Pistols in 1977 were in Huddersfield, culminating with a Christmas Day event. They then set off on their ill-fated US tour that was the be their destruction.
Nagle is attending, although whether he will bump into their most well-known supporter Sir Patrick Stewart is unclear. The town is also famous for its quirky industries with one company famed for producing an eleven-foot-tall nodding dog as a Christmas decoration. There is no truth that the creature has been shortlisted for the upcoming vacancy at Preston North End however.
Local tractor magnate, David Brown, is also the man behind the rescue and elevation of the Aston Martin brand, famed for its many Bond film appearances. It is also where the DB mark came from.
Argyle should also feel comfortable as Huddersfield is also proud of its green heritage, voting in the first Green councillor way back in 1996. Also thanks to a rule changes they won’t have to worry about light fingered Town fans, who once influenced the rain sodden Millwall game by stealing Zian Flemmings throw in towels.
So Argyle aim for their first away win, Foster for his first league win and Darko Gyabi will hope to nip back to his digs and pick up a few more bits and bobs for his stay in glorious Devon.
Team selection will be intriguing as the squad begins its evolution. Will the Argyle defence improve under the “out of possession” specialist now in charge. Has Dan Scarr realised it is that and not “out of position” coaching Foster brings to the table?
Will our new physicality help in the home of the gentle sport of Rugby League, founded in Huddersfield in 1895. Tine will tell but as they say in the best Guinness adverts,”It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day…..
Fourteenth time lucky. That’s a thing, right?
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Terriers (A) January 13th
The aftermath of the strange affair of the helicopter journey was that FA Cup third round week was an ideal chance for our new Head Coach, Ian Foster, to get his feet on the touchline and watch his new charges take on the banana skin of a game against the next to lowest team in the top four divisions.
Changes were in order, with the departure, graciously handled without a rotor blade in sight, by Finn Azaz, and in a strong line up, the apparent wantaway Luke Cundle lined up to cup tie himself (albeit as it transpired, academically) and also to be on hand to apply a tidy finish and open the scoring.
The game saw a start and a promising cameo for Freddie Issaka, who provided the brightest moments of a disjointed Green performance. It should not be forgotten that this was the level that the fiery Schumacher-Lowe comet took over a few short seasons ago. Against the kind of opposition that to their credit, played to their strengths in front a noisy and boisterous away following, Argyle managed to concede a typically shoddy equaliser early after half time. Because of course.
Then two pieced of MW magic, the first winning a clear penalty, despatched by Hotdog, and the second in stoppage time making the game comfortably safe for the fourth-round draw with his fourteenth goal of the season. Leeds United away. When was the last time we got anything good from Leeds. Time was to tell.
And that was the hurdle negotiated. A full week to start to make an impact on the squad, both current and future began with a six-hour Sunday recruitment meeting. News which surprised precisely no-one given his lack of celebration at scoring that Cundle was in the wind to Stoke and his old boss to help them avoid to the first round of the FA Cup next season.
Reaction to the recall and reloan of Cundle was swift and harsh, but the economics of modern football dictate that players are commodities. News that Wolves and Stoke both have issues around FFP regulations probably in this case had nothing to do with the change. Cundle clearly enjoys working for Schumacher and Stoke clearly have an ownership that will use financial muscle to try and improve their consistent fourteenth place finishing of the last couple of seasons. If ever a club was proof of the maxim the quickest way to make a small fortune owning a football club is to start with a large one, then the publication of their annual accounts where the forgiving of debts to maintain their legitimate financial status in the eyes of the EFL showed that since departing the English Promised Land, the Coates family have poured in a third of a billion pounds to achieve, well, not very much. As Jeff Stelling would say for Sky Bet, when the fun stops, stop!
Having appointed a new coach, widely regarded as having some of the best contacts book in the emerging English talent market, and sitting him alongside Neil Dewsnip and Jimmy Dickenson, who has consistently outperformed most other recruitment analysts since arriving at Home Park, meant that most Greens were willing to wait and see what might emerge.
They didn’t have long to wait. If there was one criticism of the squad assembled, it was that it lacked a degree of athleticism and size compared to more established sides. In what ironically could be described as short order the first two arrivals quickly changed the dynamic on that score.
First in came Ash Phillips from Spurs, a rangy Championship experienced centre back who left Blackburn Rovers for just over £2 million and who has already had Premier League bench warming opportunities at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Already known to Foster, and likely already well on the Argyle radar before he arrived, Phillips looks like the perfect addition to the defensive unit which will need some strengthening as the likely departure (since confirmed) of Macauley Gillephey to Charlton for a six-figure sum was clearly on the cards given his rocking up at the Valley to see them succumb to Oxford. A good player and we will always have Chelsea!
If this six four Championship Apprentice of the year was a statement signing, the next man in was even more so, if only because at six five he could be the only man in the side to look down on Phillips.
Darko Gyabi followed Phillips, this time from Leeds United, where he had landed as part of the deal that took Kalvin Phillips to Manchester City reserves, with Gyabi being valued at some five million pounds. Having failed to break through into the Leeds first team Gyabi has been sent out to gain experience and has that look of a rangy box to box midfielder that we have not really had since Panutche Camara left to take lodgings in the Ipswich Town treatment room.
At time of writing that was it for the arrivals, although the team that takes the field against Huddersfield may find themselves doing some more intros on the coach or at the hotel if past seasons windows are anything to go by.
The return match against the Terriers gives Argyle that rare opportunity, a league double. It seems a lifetime ago that a hot sunny season opening Saturday in August saw Argyle announce their arrival back at the Championship level. Fans, already marvelling at the arrival of not one but two million pound players, were wondering if their League One Champions could cut it at the higher level.
Those questions were answered in a game which saw the first Whittaker goal of what is proving an outstanding season, combined with a Mumba solo effort and a Hotdog trademark goal. The theme of the season was set.....to win at Home Park means you might need to score four more often than not. We will however make sure that you have plenty of chances to do that.
Away from home has been a very different story, and one which our new hierarchy will doubtless be keen to rectify. Starting at Huddersfield.
Given the reference to the Harold Wilson quote, a week is a long time in politics, it will be no surprise for Argyle fans braving the rail system that the former PM, who in his time delivered the ultimate treble of an election win, the World Cup and Eurovision to be confronted by his statue as they emerge at Huddersfield station.
If travelling with hope over expectation has long been the lot of the Argyle fan and having failed to make it thirteenth time lucky at the Saints, Foster will be hoping for the new head coach bounce, if that is a thing in the same way it is supposed to be for new managers. Certainly, the game is a watershed moment as a win would extend the gap over the three-way battle to be the least worst team in Yorkshire in the division. Currently Town lead that race, interrupted only by the Southern upstarts QPR, over Wednesday and Rotherham.
Interestingly as a result of their pitch problems at the start of the season QPR are playing all their January games at home, and whilst for Argyle that might have been a boon and the kick start to a push up the table, Rangers fans, fresh from blowing a two goal lead over Bournemouth are already facing a window with no additions due to their FFP past misdemeanours. Talk of a points deduction are swirling, although perhaps with little foundation over a failure to pay past fines on time.
Huddersfield of course is famed as the town that bought itself. In 1919 the town council purchased the estate (not the chippy) and so has continued to own much of the freehold of the town centre. An engine of the industrial revolution, the city with its Cloth Hall from the textile industry and the Canal that was built to smooth the shipping of the raw materials and goods were integral in the towns prosperity.
We have covered the history of the club in the earlier OGAAT, and so we will focus on the current and much changed fortunes of the team since that August drubbing. Owner Kevin Nagle, owner of a basketball franchise parted company with Neil Warnock, who had signed on for the season to help out the team he saved from relegation. His replacement, our old friend and opponent Darren Moore arrived and despite a pair of back-to-back wins, is currently sitting on three wins in twenty games. Injuries are playing a part, although the side could have at least two debutants in Chelsea loanee Alex Matos and alleged Argyle interest in the Serbian striker Bojan Radulovic. Nagle has said they have a target list of nine or ten players to turn around the unacceptable trajectory of their season. They have also recalled their defender Brodie from his loan spell at Motherwell.
Goals are the problem, and their leading scorer remains Polish centre half Helik, who opened his season account with the Town equaliser at Home Park. Radulovic and Matos are clearly a sign of intent to fix that problem.
If Nagle is used to the end-to-end chaos of the basketball style of play that has become the signature of Argyles successes and failures in the League this season, the town knows a little about chaos too.
It would surprise many that the final two UK concerts ever performed by the Sex Pistols in 1977 were in Huddersfield, culminating with a Christmas Day event. They then set off on their ill-fated US tour that was the be their destruction.
Nagle is attending, although whether he will bump into their most well-known supporter Sir Patrick Stewart is unclear. The town is also famous for its quirky industries with one company famed for producing an eleven-foot-tall nodding dog as a Christmas decoration. There is no truth that the creature has been shortlisted for the upcoming vacancy at Preston North End however.
Local tractor magnate, David Brown, is also the man behind the rescue and elevation of the Aston Martin brand, famed for its many Bond film appearances. It is also where the DB mark came from.
Argyle should also feel comfortable as Huddersfield is also proud of its green heritage, voting in the first Green councillor way back in 1996. Also thanks to a rule changes they won’t have to worry about light fingered Town fans, who once influenced the rain sodden Millwall game by stealing Zian Flemmings throw in towels.
So Argyle aim for their first away win, Foster for his first league win and Darko Gyabi will hope to nip back to his digs and pick up a few more bits and bobs for his stay in glorious Devon.
Team selection will be intriguing as the squad begins its evolution. Will the Argyle defence improve under the “out of possession” specialist now in charge. Has Dan Scarr realised it is that and not “out of position” coaching Foster brings to the table?
Will our new physicality help in the home of the gentle sport of Rugby League, founded in Huddersfield in 1895. Tine will tell but as they say in the best Guinness adverts,”It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day…..
Fourteenth time lucky. That’s a thing, right?
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
