Your Argyle 'career'

[memory man]

My 1st game was 2-1 win over Huddersfield 11/2/61 viewed from BPE. I was a regular the following 61/2 season when we finished 5th in Div2. GOS reminds me return of 1 point from last 6 games !!!
For me the best Argyle win I saw was this season against a very good West Ham side in the 3rd round cup game. 3-0 and then a heavy defeat to Spurs double winning side including new signing Jimmy Greaves.
I still believe this was the best Argyle side I saw over a season with Johnny Williams and the goal machine Wilf Carter my favourite players. Peaked at the age of 8 unfortunately.
Season ticket for 5 years and "educational" train football specials to Cardiff ,Bristol ,Charlton ,Millwall and QPR.
After that I played Saturdays , went to Uni in the early 70s and ended up working in London. Restricted to matches on visits home and London away games .Highlights were Villa Park and Wembley 96 and bizzarely the 4-3 defeat at Reading
All 3 kids are Argyle fans albeit they only make a game or 2 each season.
Retired 5 years ago and season ticket holder again. Regular at Fanfest and it is brilliant to chat now and again to some of my childhood heroes including Mike Trebilcock ( that penalty) ,Duncan Neale and Norman Piper..
In my opinion you only have one team and there is just nothing like watching your team live however they are doing. There is always hope!

Your first game had great consequences .I remember it very clearly. Ray Wilson, who five years on helped win the World Cup, was at left back for the Terriers. It was refereed, very poorly, by Denis Howell, who later became Minister for Sport then Minister for Rain during the 1976 drought. So bad was Howell's refereeing that day that a home supporter successfully launched a Simond's Brown Ale bottle at the referee. Despite intensive research I can find no trace of anyone being prosecuted. I suspect the police did not want to create a hero because most of the crowd felt the same about the referee. The FA took a different view and closed Home Park for two weeks in March. That meant we played a home game against Ipswich at Torquay. It led to a wonderful stat. Geoff Barnsley our goalkeeper played his final game for Argyle that day at Plainmoor, thereby becoming the first and only Argyle player to make their final home appearance away from Home Park.

 

[Neath Green]

My first match was a 2-0 home defeat in the FA cup 4th round against Huddersfield Town on 12th Feb 1966. Hopefully that won't happen on Saturday. My first win was the following week at home to Ipswich 3-0.

 

[Dreamgreen]

My first game was West Ham at home in the FA Cup 1961 (3 v 0 win). I entered with my dad at the back of the Devonport End and, as it was full, I was passed on shoulders all the way from the back to the front by the railings, where all the children seemed to have been accumulated. My dad came to check that I was still there at half time. My second game was the Spurs game in the next round (1 v 5 defeat).

I have seen John Charles, the Allchurch brothers, Stanley Mathews, Bobby Charlton, Nobby Stiles, Johnny Giles, Billy Bremner, Albert Johanneson, Man Utd v St Etienne, Tony Currie, Ray Wilkins, Ruud Gullit, Laurie Cunningham, Paul Mariner and many other great players grace Home Park.

I have enjoyed many great wins, Torquay (6 v 0), any win over Excreta, Sheff Wed away (3 v 1), QPR home (2 v 0), Colchester home (3 v 1), Port Vale away (5 v 1), Portsmouth away (5 v 1), Portsmouth home Play off game (1 v 0) plus any other win against Pompous, the FA Cup run (Derby, WBA etc), Southampton away (1 v 0), the Wembley win and quite a few others.

However, I have also had some pretty miserable defeat experiences too such as Macclesfield away (1 v 4), Reading away (3 v 4), Excreta away (0 v 4) plus any other defeat to that lot, Newport away on Boxing Day in the rain (0 v 2), Burnley home Play off (1 v 3), Brighton away at the Withdean (0 v 4), Blackburn home (1 v 3), the Wembley defeat and obviously loads more.

All the ups and all of the downs !

 

[Totnes Green]

My first home game was against Derby in late 60's. I think it was the 0-0 game on 27/12/65. I was only 8. My dad drove a double decker bus down from Totnes(about 60 fans). The driver got in free, so I went in with him. It was the noisiest and most exciting thing I had ever experienced. Since then bus, train, my cars, mates cars and now I drive 17 of us down on 'Bob the bus', or I did until last March. I have missed very few home games since then, many more to come hopefully.

 

[Manchesterlala]

First game was in 1986 against Blackpool at home when we were guests in the Far Post Club for my Dad's birthday courtesy of my cousin who sponsored Russell Coughlin. Think we'd just been promoted but as a 6 year old Tottenham fan thanks to my Granddad and the fact that Clive Allen was scoring for fun, I don't really remember much about my early years other than the fact that I used to fall asleep a lot and be very very cold. Whilst we used to go week in week out between 87 and 90, I guess my memories started with Tommy Tynan (and his soccer school), further fuelled by me being a mascot in a 3-0 win against Oldham, which also happened to be Alan Miller's first match for us. Anyway, my Dad's company ended up becoming a sponsor and we spent many happy match days in the Chisolm lounge and the Mayflower boxes until around 1991. But we kind of lost the bug while David Kemp was in charge (didn't everyone?) until mid way through the infamous Shilton play off season.

After that disappointing play off campaign, I was old enough to go with my mates so relocated from the confines of the Upper Mayflower to the Zoo corner, where I stayed until I went to Uni in 1997 - Wembley obviously being a highlight of those years. But thanks to being in London for three years and Hodges's team being largely terrible it wasn't until September 11th 2001 that me and Dad rekindled the love in a 3-1 win against Swansea. It was a very odd day (check the date again) but from that moment, we didn't miss another match for the rest of the season aside from Boxing day (when they opened the Horse shoe) as we were away for Christmas. I moved away again (to Manchester, where I've stayed) in 2002 but Dad got a season ticket (with Mum now also in tow!) and I became an exiled Northern day tripper having only previously seen Argyle away from Home Park at Highbury in 1987(?). And that's the way it's stayed. In the Championship years I'd make it down for maybe 6-7 home games a season, with 10-15 away games on top. But work commitments and the state of the M6 roadworks saw me journey down less and less. Think I've averaged maybe 3-4 home games a season since 2011. And I've never seen a Ryan Lowe side at Home Park, although I've listened to or watched on ifollow probably 95% of all the games for the last 10-15 years. Fittingly the last match I went to was also the closest match to my house. A 3-2 victory against Salford on the last night of my paternity leave in February. The wife wasn't happy but what a game that was. And only a 20 min walk.

BTW I'm still also a Tottenham fan (and I did used to frequent White Hart Lane when I lived in London). Both teams are in my blood but Argyle are my go-to if anyone asks me who I support. Shame my little boy's other "blood" team is that lot from Old Trafford. But his first shirt was an Argyle one

 

[Jim Furnells Shirt]

I've loved reading these trips down memory lane, to the point where I've been moved to make my first post.

In truth, I can't remember the precise game, or in fact, even the season. I think it was 69-70, maybe 70-71. What I do remember is the atmosphere and characters, both of which were a revelation to a 10 or 11 year old kid.

I had started to show an interest in football and played for Knowle Primary school. Neither my mum or dad were particularly interested, but knew that the father of a schoolmate was a keen supporter, and asked him if he would take me with his son. This gentleman was someone whose name has cropped up a few times on this site, Reg Dixon. To me, he seemed like a bear of a man, with a beard like a garden hedge. He was friendly and welcoming and happy to introduce another youngster to Home Park. He was one of a group of Plymouth Corporation bus drivers who would congregate around the players tunnel and give grief to opposition players and officials with that mixture of abuse and near the knuckle humour that would probably have them thrown out of the ground now.

The smells of bovril and liniment, hearing Lee Marvin singing I Was Born Under A Wandering Star, or Double Barrel by Dave & Ansell Collins are inexorably linked with memories of Derek Rickard, Mike Bickle and Norman Piper.

I was pretty much an ever present for the next few years and had the pleasure of witnessing Tony Waiters promotion side and seeing Paul Mariners debut. Even as a kid, it was obvious that this guy was a bit special.

I joined the RAF in 1976 and then followed either home games when on leave, or away when I got the chance, or wasn't actually playing as I played for RAF representative sides or civvy sides on a Saturday. As others have already highlighted, one of the biggest disappointments was travelling up from Kings Lynn to Wigan, only to see Dave Smiths promotion side get battered 3-0. Good day out though.

Highlights are as most other posters have highlighted, Santos, Man City League Cup semi final, Wembley games etc, but there are two stand out games for me. Firstly vs Colchester, 3-1 in Warnocks promotions year. The noise when the third goal went in!!!! Secondly, I missed most of the '84 cup run due to playing for Kings Lynn, but we didn't have a game for some reason on 5th round day, so I went with a couple of RAF mates to the Hawthorns where we were obviously going to get beaten. Except.....we out played and beat 'em!!! One of my mates was a Wolves fan, I don't know who was happier, me or him.

On the other side of the coin, the low points have not been defeats, rather than the pointless waste of time games. I remember driving up from Truro for a Tuesday night game during the Mike Jones era, on a cold drizzly night where two inept sides, I think either Chester or Carlisle being the other one, struggled to string three passes together and played out a 0-0. Away to Yeovil back in 2016 was a similar scenario, 0-0 on the night, and it would be 0-0 if they were still playing.

I still get down from my home near Taunton to meet up with friends for a few beers before the game when possible. As others have said, its been a rough old ride, all part of the fun of supporting a lower league team. Would I swop with a Plymouth born Chelsea fan? Not for a second.

Ah, the memories. As Basil Fawlty said:-

'Whoosh!
What was that?
That was your life mate.

 

[IJN]

Welcome to the world of posting on Pasoti. :wave:

 

[Bovey Green lady]

Graham
I always had you down as a Millwall fan what with knowing Harry Cripps....not many will have heard of him....

Harry Cripps, that's what you call a hard man, absolute Millwall legend.

Argyle 4 Cardiff 2, Boxing Day 1962.

2-1 down at half time and came back to win.

One of the highlights was Dave Maclaren knocking Derek Tapscott out cold at the Devonport End going for a cross in the days when the CF often took the Keeper out with his shoulder.

Ah yes, Dave MacLaren did seem to have these "accidents" when, in coming out to punch the ball, a centre forward's head mysteriously materialised between his fist and the ball!

 

[oddball]

I well remember an Argyle centre forward called George Kirby who as I seem to remember always,more often than not, had a bandage around his head.....I was a big fan of George and it really irked me when he went to Southampton...obviously these "accidents" judging by his bandages happened at both ends of the pitch....

 

[Mark58]

I've loved reading these trips down memory lane, to the point where I've been moved to make my first post.

In truth, I can't remember the precise game, or in fact, even the season. I think it was 69-70, maybe 70-71. What I do remember is the atmosphere and characters, both of which were a revelation to a 10 or 11 year old kid.

I had started to show an interest in football and played for Knowle Primary school. Neither my mum or dad were particularly interested, but knew that the father of a schoolmate was a keen supporter, and asked him if he would take me with his son. This gentleman was someone whose name has cropped up a few times on this site, Reg Dixon. To me, he seemed like a bear of a man, with a beard like a garden hedge. He was friendly and welcoming and happy to introduce another youngster to Home Park. He was one of a group of Plymouth Corporation bus drivers who would congregate around the players tunnel and give grief to opposition players and officials with that mixture of abuse and near the knuckle humour that would probably have them thrown out of the ground now.

The smells of bovril and liniment, hearing Lee Marvin singing I Was Born Under A Wandering Star, or Double Barrel by Dave & Ansell Collins are inexorably linked with memories of Derek Rickard, Mike Bickle and Norman Piper.

I was pretty much an ever present for the next few years and had the pleasure of witnessing Tony Waiters promotion side and seeing Paul Mariners debut. Even as a kid, it was obvious that this guy was a bit special.

I joined the RAF in 1976 and then followed either home games when on leave, or away when I got the chance, or wasn't actually playing as I played for RAF representative sides or civvy sides on a Saturday. As others have already highlighted, one of the biggest disappointments was travelling up from Kings Lynn to Wigan, only to see Dave Smiths promotion side get battered 3-0. Good day out though.

Highlights are as most other posters have highlighted, Santos, Man City League Cup semi final, Wembley games etc, but there are two stand out games for me. Firstly vs Colchester, 3-1 in Warnocks promotions year. The noise when the third goal went in!!!! Secondly, I missed most of the '84 cup run due to playing for Kings Lynn, but we didn't have a game for some reason on 5th round day, so I went with a couple of RAF mates to the Hawthorns where we were obviously going to get beaten. Except.....we out played and beat 'em!!! One of my mates was a Wolves fan, I don't know who was happier, me or him.

On the other side of the coin, the low points have not been defeats, rather than the pointless waste of time games. I remember driving up from Truro for a Tuesday night game during the Mike Jones era, on a cold drizzly night where two inept sides, I think either Chester or Carlisle being the other one, struggled to string three passes together and played out a 0-0. Away to Yeovil back in 2016 was a similar scenario, 0-0 on the night, and it would be 0-0 if they were still playing.

I still get down from my home near Taunton to meet up with friends for a few beers before the game when possible. As others have said, its been a rough old ride, all part of the fun of supporting a lower league team. Would I swop with a Plymouth born Chelsea fan? Not for a second.

Ah, the memories. As Basil Fawlty said:-

'Whoosh!
What was that?
That was your life mate.

Yes, welcome JFS :scarf:

Rex Dixon is a name and a face that I remember very well. He was a mate of my Dad - and something of a character, to say the least. I was only in my early teens at the time but - if my memory doesn't fail me - he featured in the infamous QPR game at Christmas 1967 where Rodney-diver-Marsh was awarded a penalty and we lost 0-1. I was sitting in the Grandstand when it happened and joined in with the the crowd as we howled our anger at the decision. Reg did one better, however, and suddenly climbed over the low railings of the Mayflower standing area. Much to the cheering of one and all, he strode onto the pitch and walked towards the ref to give him a piece of his mind. Reg was a big bloke with a huge bushy black beard and, if I remember correctly, it took a couple of coppers to drag him away. I think he was banned from Home Park for that but was reinstated after a show of contrition and a mass of support from his many Argyle mates. Real people and happy days. :thumbup:

 

[Jim Furnells Shirt]

Hi Mark.

Yes, I can imagine that he would have taken some stopping. Your recollection is probably correct, but school folklore was that 'Mr Dixon chinned the ref'.

Different world

 

[IJN]

Dear old Rex. He didn't really think it through as he had his Bus Driver/Conductor uniform at the time, which even contained a circular disc with his number on it. :lol:

He was a bit of a celebrity after that I can tell you. Saw him on Mutley Time many a time.

 

[martinji]

I started supporting Argyle aged 11 in 1986, after the World Cup got me interested in football. I remember my first game , a 2-2 draw vs Brighton & Hove Albion (I'm sure they used to get referred to by their full name a lot more than now?!). My early hero was Tommy Tynan of course, and then Kevin Summerfield. I remember well our 1-1 draw at home to Everton followed by a 4-0 defeat away when Summers broke his leg, leading to my best ever memory following Argyle - 0-2 down at home to WBA to two Don Goodman goals, them well in charge, us looking like relegation possibilities, Summers on the bench for the first time after his injury, the whole crowd starts chanting "Summerfield! Summerfield!", he eventually comes on, sets up a goal back, and then smashes in an equalizer from outside the box. Hairs on end moment.

Highlights since that team would be the same as many others - the Steve Castle Shilton team, the Sturrock promotion sides (I was at Hillsborough for that Friio inspired 3-1), and the Holloway championship side which I would say personally is the best Argyle team I've seen in terms of quality and balance of the team.

Obviously many downs to go with the ups but following Argyle has definitely enriched my life. My only regret is I that I started just too late to experience the 83-84 cup run! COYG!

 

[timplym]

Like Jim Furnell’s shirt, I’ve enjoyed reading these life stories. So I thought I’d recount my own.

I started going to Argyle in the 1974-75 season. The year we got promoted to division two. Glory hunter I guess they’d call me today. I’d always wanted to go since hearing all about Argyle from my Grandad, who used to walk from Devonport to Argyle (and probably stop for a few pints en-route) every home game. He was a little fella and made these wooden blocks which he would attach to his shoes in the ground so he could see! My Grandma would take the mickey out of him on his return by standing on the doorstep and saying, “Owing to the wind and rain, Poor old Argyle lost again!” He would respond by telling her to “shut up woman and make the tea!” Haha different times! (the chant must have been relatively well known back in the day because when talking to a very elderly Everton fan in the 1990s on hearing that I was an Argyle fan he trotted out the saying. I’d previously only heard my Gran say it.)

I would nag my Dad to take me cos he used to go with a few mates. I was gutted to miss out on Santos of Brazil in 1973 but was told as a seven-year-old “it was too late for me”!!

Eventually he took me in the promotion year, and I was hooked immediately. He’d been going since the early 50s, so I felt as if this was a rite of passage. It was a shame as my Grandad who inspired me about Argyle died the year before I first went. We used to go in the Barn Park end because it was generally less crowded than other parts of the ground. When we played Chelsea in 1976, I absolutely crapped myself!

My Dad stopped going around 1978-79 and it wasn’t until 1980-81 season that I started going again when I was deemed old enough to go on my own with my mates from school. We used to meet up in Plymouth city centre and about 10 of us would go to games together. It was frightening in 1983 when the Pompey scum came to town in the last game of the season.
The university years were great. My Dad worked for British Rail and I had a free ticket to go anywhere around the country. I went to loads and loads of grounds then.

Then at the start of 1992 I took my Dad to the game against Pompey and we finally put the hex over them from that game in 1983 to bed with a fine 3-2 win. He fell in love with Argyle again and we started going to games together again, until he died in 2017.

The highs are similar to everyone else. The cup run in 1983-84, the Wembley win, the Sturrock side finally winning a league title (and the another came along a couple of years after), the win at Hillsboro on a Wednesday night (my wife’s family are all Leeds fans and they were amazed when they saw the numbers of fans!), the Chesterfield game where we only scored seven (we were 5-0 up 15 minutes in) and countless others. The low points stood on that bloody grass bank at Wigan when we lost 3-0 (losing 3-4 away against Reading that season hurt more!), losing away at Burnley to relegate us to the bottom division for the first time, that Wembley loss against the Dons and countless others.

The best side I’ve seen in Argyle green are the Dave Smith side in 1987-88 so nearly make it to the playoffs (we’d destroyed a really good Derby side who were worthy winners in the first half and couldn’t keep it up for the second).

I’ve seen seven promotions and seven relegations. So back where we started, although I think that Argyle are a Championship club in all but name in my head! All in all, not bad for a glory hunter!

 

[swedengreen]

Enjoyed this thread very much so here comes my first post for a long time.
Interesting to note there's a few others, like me, with fairly tenuous connections to Plymouth...

My Argyle career began on Sunday 1st March, 1987, aged 12. As a football-mad kid from rural Shropshire, with no relatives even vaguely interested in the game, it wasn't obvious which team to support. Until this point I had been watching Everton on the TV and my local non-league team.

On holiday in Devon, my parents had been invited to Sunday lunch with some old acquaintances of theirs who lived in Plymouth. It turned out the guy was an Argyle nut. You could practically see Home Park from their house, and he talked enthusiastically about the 2-0 win over Barnsley the day before with 2 goals from Garry Nelson (this is how I can date the event, thanks Greens on Screen!) I was so enthused by it all, having not really met a proper fan before, that I started looking out for the results and following the team. (I suspect the mysterious "Argyle" name and the unique green shirts were part of it too). Don't believe I ever met the guy again since that day (maybe he's reading here, who knows...) and my parents can't even remember his name. Little did he know...

After a while of supporting from afar I began pestering my Dad to take me to an Argyle game, but my parents were worried about hooliganism and told me to wait until I was older. I finally succeeded 2 seasons later on another holiday, witnessing a 2-0 win over Hull City at the start of the 1988-89 season. That was the season we played Everton in the FA Cup, I was playing a chess tournament that day and kept dashing out between games to listen to the radio. After the 2 games, and Kevin Summerfield's leg break in the replay, all feelings for Everton had gone forever.

Since then I've followed Argyle from Shropshire, from Cambridge, from London and now from Gothenburg in Sweden. Following from afar pre-internet was really a starvation diet, but gradually more and more information has been available. And suddenly thanks to IFollow I can watch absolutely everything, and usually do! Suddenly I know more about what's going on than many of the locals...