Weekend Update

It's been a quiet week at Home Park, with the players off on their holidays, although the club has apparently been doing a healthy trade in memberships (season tickets).  James Brent, for one, is in an optimistic mood as thoughts turn to next season.


Negotiations are ongoing between Carl Fletcher, Romain Larrieu and James Brent regarding the current management team's future at the club.  All of the signs appear to be positive despite a BBC Sport article, published on Monday, which had a go at creating a load of drama around one standard non-commital Fletch response (the stat about Le Keeper being fourth in the all time appearances list is also wrong; he's actually 21st).


On a not-completely unrelated topic: Paul Groves has been appointed as Bournemouth's permanent manager on a two-year deal.


Here are a few interesting bits and bobs from the local press:

• The side that faced Santos at Home Park back in 1973 are planning a reunion (Friday).
• Carl Fletcher almost passed on signing Maxime Blanchard (Friday).
• An interview with Young Player of the Season, Luke Young (Thursday).

Nominations are now open for the Plymouth Argyle Supporters Board (PASB).  A leaflet, with all of the details, is available on the club site, while Thisisplymouth.co.uk have a piece on the subject.


Finally, there's a fascinating, three part 50 minute interview with Carl Fletcher, Romain Larrieu and Kevin Nancekivell on Argyle World, looking back at the whole of the 2011-12 season.  It's just the sort of thing that the club should do more of, and well worth the £4 monthly Argyle Player subscription.


Here are a few choice quotes:

Carl Fletcher on pre-season worries:

I think we doubted [that the club would start the season] once we got back for pre-season, and nothing had changed.  I think we kind of expected to go away, come back and at least see some kind of movement.  Literally nothing had changed at all...that was the worst time.

On the players' strike threat in the run-up to the Burton game:

We were the only ones left who could have actually done something...if it was the staff or anyone the administrator would have been “great, go on, you go on strike and we’ll just sack you, we don’t have to pay you again.”... Miraculously, they were able to find some more money for us.  Makes you wonder why they didn’t do it in the first place.

On Guilfoyle and Ridsdale: 

There was no relationship between the players and the administrator.  The only one who would ever tell us anything was Ridsdale.  To be fair to him, he did come down on a fairly regular basis and say [what was happening]...whether true or not, at least he was telling us something.

On the takeover:

I think everyone thought we’d get taken over, spend loads of money, gets loads of players in and that would be it, done.  We were very realistic, the club wasn’t run like a football club before and you need to take time to get the wheels turning again.  It’ll still take time now.

On the style of play:

Where we were, there was no way we were suddenly going to come out [and play attractive football]. It would have been great if we’d gone “yeah, we’ll pass the ball around, brilliant, we’ll look really pretty and everything like that.”  We’d lose every game; that was no good for us...on our worst days we were fit, we were solid and we were hard to beat.

On the recruitment policy:

We try and bring the right characters in, that’s the main thing.  If you get people who are idiots – we don’t want them.  It just disrupts everything; if someone’s an idiot he might drag a couple with him, then you get splits in the group...we’re very lucky that we got some real good characters.

On the doubters:

There’s nothing nicer than sticking two fingers up at people who doubted you... it takes strong people to stick [to their guns] like James Brent – he stuck behind us and has put his faith in us with his football club, and we know the people who have stuck by us through thick and thin......we appreciate the ones who stuck with us when things aren’t going right.  We stayed up, and we’re all getting twenty, thirty messages on our phone; we didn’t get that when we lost at Rotherham.

Romain, on the same topic:

I remember coming back Monday morning and watching the Football League Show and one of the pundits said “now they’ve got an owner, they just need a manager.”  I remember that very well, and I thought “yeah, you’ll be eating your words in a minute”.  He was probably looking for a job.

As I said, there's much, much more (another 49 minutes worth, in fact) on a varied selection of topics - Shrewsbury, Stourbridge, Bristol Rovers, Rotherham, Oxford, Nance's playing career, Romain's clean sheets, receiving their backpay over five years - it's all in there.

If you want to reall all the Argyle news without clicking on a load of links, why not head over to Greens On Screens' Daily Diary?

Merci, Romain

Yesterday marked the end of an era for Plymouth Argyle.  Much has happened during the past eleven and a half years at Home Park; three sides of the ground redeveloped, two championships, two relegations, seven months in administration, seven different full time managers, numerous players and directors in and out of the door. And through it all one goalkeeper - Romain Larrieu - has been at the club, an ever-present in constantly changing times.

There are few one club men in football, especially in the modern era; it’s quite possible that there will never be another Argyle player who spends more than eleven seasons with the club.  Of course, the chances are that ‘Le Keeper’ will remain at Home Park next season as Carl Fletcher’s number two but, for many, it’ll be an odd feeling to see an Argyle teamsheet without the name ‘Romain Larrieu’ listed amongst the starters or the substitutes.

There’s a nice tribute piece by Rick Cowdery on the official site, along with some pictures from Ro’s time at the club.  And the image that accompanies this article about yesterday's match is oddly touching.

Romain Larrieu In Numbers

• 4,169 days between first appearance (vs Bristol City in the LDV Vans Trophy, 5th December 2000) and last appearance (vs Cheltenham Town in Football League Two, 5th May 2012) 
• One month - the length of Romain's initial trial contract
• 314 starts and four substitute appearances
• 86 clean sheets
• Two championship medals (Division 3 champions 2001-02, Division 2 champions 2003-04)
• Two loan spells away from the club, at Yeovil Town (2006-07) and Gillingham (2007-08)
• 161 different Argyle teammates
• One Player of the Season award (2008-09)

Romain Larrieu at the Greens on Screen database

Le Testimonial

BACK IN 2012!

Argyle Outsider is currently on hiatus and will return in 2012.

Plymouth Argyle 0, Crewe Alexandria 1

Argh.

Argyle lost 1-0 to Crewe at Home Park this afternoon to drop to the bottom of League 2 and the foot of the Football League pyramid. The Greens have now played more than 300 minutes since they last hit the back of the opposition's net, in which time they have conceded 6 goals. Furthermore, with only five games of the season played, the Pilgrims' goal difference has already reached -9.

All of this will, of course, only make the inevitible resurrection all the sweeter. Ahem.

The official site's match report can be found here.

Plymouth Argyle 0, AFC Wimbledon 2

Oof.

Argyle lost 2-0 at home to AFC Wimbledon this evening, their third straight defeat at Home Park in the last seven days. After having the best of a goalless opening period the Greens, much like on Saturday, conceded a quickfire double just before the hour and were unable to find a way back into the game.

A full match report is now available on the official site.

Daily Update

Ominous injury news - both Robbie Williams and Carl Fletcher are set to miss tomorrow's home game against AFC Wimbledon. Left-back Williams is also likely to miss Saturday's trip to Gillingham due to a heel problem, whilst Fletch is rumoured to be looking at a couple of weeks on the sidelines with a thigh injury.

But enough of this football nonsense! What is the latest on the takeover saga, I hear no-one ask. Well, in the aftermath of Saturday's Save Our Club meeting, the Argyle Fans' Trust have this afternoon released an interesting letter which has been emailed to all of the involved parties, including Brendan Guilfoyle. In the letter, which you can read here, the Interim Steering Committee have stated that, should a situation arise where Bishop International have the funds to complete the deal but the Football League refuse to grant their approval due to Peter Ridsdale's upcoming trial (for fraud), the Trust would be willing to buy the football club for £1. An unlikely outcome, perhaps, although the Guardian's Matt Scott appeared to hint last week that Ridsdale's appointment with judge and jury is a factor in the League's deliberations over whether to approve the proposed BIL/Riddler ownership structure.

If you want to read all the Argyle news without clicking on a load of links, why not head over to Greens On Screens' Daily Diary?

League 2 Round-Up - Week Two

Rotherham, Gillingham and Southend are the early pace-setters in League Two, with all three sides picking up six points from their opening two matches of the 2011-12 campaign. The Millers sit top on goal difference after their 4-1 victory at Home Park, followed by the Gills and Luggy's Shrimpers, who both picked up 2-1 away wins against Crewe and Accrington respectively.

Elsewhere, bookie's favourites Crawley Town picked up their first ever league win, overcoming Macclesfield 2-0, a feat matched by AFC Wimbledon who picked up a great win away at Dagenham. Torquay put one over their old boss Paul Buckle, beating Bristol Rovers 2-1 at the Memorial Stadium, while Bradford recovered from their opening day defeat to Aldershot by picking up a useful point away at Oxford.

Cheltenham beat Swindon 1-0, whilst Port Vale ran out 3-1 winners over Barnet. Shrewsbury were held to their second consecutive 1-1 draw of the season away at Burton Albion, Northampton won 1-0 away to Aldershot and Hereford were smashed 3-0 at home by Morecambe.

Weekend Update

Around 800 supporters attended the Argyle Fans' Trust's Save Our Club meeting at Plymouth Pavilions on Saturday morning. All the reaction, feedback and key points are covered in the relevant thread on PASOTI. If you don't fancy trawling through all of that, the main gist of it seems to be:

• According to Guilfoyle, Bishop International originally wanted a 14 day extension to the exclusivity agreement, but P & A have only granted them a week
• Brenda doesn't believe that there will be any problem obtaining the Football League share The League have posed four questions and their lawyers will review the answers next week
  
• The Contigency Plan will not get the four weeks they are requesting, should they be called upon
• Graham Clarke brought a small boy on to the stage to ask Brenda to give James Brent the time he would need. This didn't go down well with Guilfoyle, nor many of those in the audience (judging by the response on PASOTI)
• Guilfoyle said that whoever buys the club will be taking on £2.8m debts, a £1.2m trading loss for this season and £300k owed to the Plymouth Argyle Supporters Training and Development Trust
• Apparently Heaney will use some form of bridging finance to fund the deal, while he waits to free up the rest of the cash from another property deal

Peter Reid's post-Rotherham thoughts are now available on the BBC Sport website, as are the 'highlights' of the Greens' 4-1 defeat.

If you want to read all the Argyle news without clicking on a load of links, why not head over to Greens On Screens' Daily Diary?

Plymouth Argyle 1, Rotherham United 4

Ouch.

Argyle fell to their first defeat of the season this afternoon, losing 4-1 to Rotherham at Home Park. The Pilgrims took the lead through debutant Will Atkinson in the 49th minute, before two strikes from Gareth Evans, on 52 and 59 minutes, put the Millers in front. Adam Le Fondre added two more late on for the visitors to inflict a heavy loss on Peter Reid's young side.

The match report is now available on the official site.

Daily Update

Brendan Guilfoyle tonight released a statement (yes, another one) claiming that Bishop International have assured him that the takeover will be completed next week. The statement, which you can read in full here, seems to indicate that Heaney and friends will have the required cash in place by Tuesday, while Peter Ridsdale needs to get Football League approval (which they have so far refused to provide) by end of play on Friday.

Kevin Heaney has finally given an interview on the subject of the Argyle takeover, which is available on thisisplymouth.co.uk. Amusingly, the Herald are continuing to publish a tremendously unflattering photo of the Truro City chairman alongside almost every story connected with the proposed takeover - this one is no exception. Anyway, according to the Heanster (as no one calls him) there is no problem with getting the cash in place and it's the pesky creditors and Football League who are causing all the delays. Which raises the question of why Bishop International refused to provide £250k to pay the August wage bill? They wouldn't try and deliberately increase the chances of liquidation so that they could pressurise the Football League into approving the deal, would they?

Everything seems set for the Trust's Save Our Club meeting tomorrow at the Plymouth Pavilions. The meeting, which will be addressed by Peter Ridsdale and Brenda, amongst others, is scheduled to get underway at 11.30am.

Some football news! Winger Will Atkinson has signed on a season long loan from Hull City and will go straight into the squad for the match against Rotherham United at Home Park. Speaking of which, after "scouting" the Millers against Leicester City on Tuesday night, I suspect that the Pilgrims will be in for a tough game tomorrow afternoon. Rotherham, who eventually lost 4-1 after a second half hat-trick from Foxes youngster Jeff Schlupp, impressed in the first half of the Carling Cup tie and troubled a defence that contained Paul Konchesky and £5m ex-Reading man Matt Mills.

If you want to read all the Argyle news without clicking on a load of links, why not head over to Greens On Screens' Daily Diary?

Daily Update

The BBC are reporting that the Argyle staff and players have agreed to defer their wages for the month of August at the request of administrator Brendan Guilfoyle. This now means that the staff have received one full pay packet since January, whilst the players have are yet to be paid in full in 2011. The move should, theoretically, keep the liquidation wolf from the door for a few more weeks, and Brenda seems to have reverted to his standard line that he has been "assured that the money to complete the deal will be available next week." Which is in no way inconsistent with taking the preferred bidder to court just over 24 hours ago.

Speaking of which, both the Herald and the Guardian have published pieces on the rapidly deteriorating situation at Home Park. They don't make pretty reading.

Plymouth Pavilions has been confirmed as the venue for the Fans' Trust Save Our Club meeting. Peter Ridsdale and Brendan Guilfoyle have both confirmed their attendance, Kevin Heaney is yet to reply to his invitation, while Peter Reid has sent his apologies - apparently he has a football match to prepare for. The meeting gets underway at 11.30 on Saturday morning.

If you want to read all the Argyle news without clicking on a load of links, why not head over to Greens On Screens' Daily Diary?

Daily Update

Firstly, the football news. There are post-Carling Cup interviews with Matt Lecointe and Peter Reid up on the official site, and another match report available from the Evening Herald. Thisisplymouth.co.uk are also reporting that the loan deal for Hull winger Will Atkinson is all but completed.

Meanwhile, on the takeover front, it appears that we are rapidly approaching the endgame. Here, in a handy timeline form, are the key events that have unfolded over the last 24 hours or so:

Yesterday Evening:

• Brendan Guilfoyle appears on ITV's The Westcountry Tonight. Backs the Bishop International deal as the only realistic path forwards. Also appears to insinuate that the James Brent backed contingency plan is unable to provide the £240,000 needed to meet the August wage bill.
• Argyle Fans' Trust ISC chair Chris Webb posts on PASOTI. Explains that it is not a case of Brent not having the cash, but rather that he is unwilling to immediately hand over a quarter of a million pounds to the administrator without first securing agreements with the secured creditors.
• Chris also reports that several of the team behind the contingency plan had spoken to Peter Ridsdale after the Millwall game. The Riddler was "more confident than ever that KH [Kevin Heaney] would complete" next week and was planning to accompany Heaney to a meeting with secured creditors Lombard in London on Wednesday.

This Morning:

• The Plymouth Herald report that staff and players will be asked to sign an agreement to defer their wages for August. The Herald also notes that Lombard have rejected an offer to settle the £2.1 million debt secured against Home Park.
• Then, a massive U-turn. It emerges that P & A are taking Bishop International to court, this afternoon, to try and forceably extract the money for the August wage bill. According to a statement from the administrators, "The move follows a lack of response from Bishop international Limited to a request last week from the joint administrators for funds to pay August wages for players and staff and confirmation that they can complete the purchase by the middle of this month."

This Afternoon:

• BBC Sport journalist Matt Slater tweets that Brendan Guilfoyle has released a statement, apologising to James Brent for any confusion caused by his Westcountry interview. Graham Clark, former Trust ISC chair, posts the complete statement on PASOTI.
• P & A's application to the court in Manchester to force BIL to cough up is rejected.

So where does all of this leave us? On the brink, would be the short answer. Today's events seem to suggest that Brenda is desperately trying to rid himself of Heaney and co and frantically scrambling to mend fences with James Brent. However, any deal with Brent would take time to complete (two or three weeks at a minimum), and it appears that Guilfoyle's boss at P & A, Jeremy Priestly, is unwilling to take on the liability for August's wages. It's hard to think of a time when liquidation seemed more likely. Indeed, some (usually fairly optimistic souls) such as Contingency Committee member and fund raising supremo Ian Newell appear convinced that the club is about to bite the dust. Others, such as the Beeb's Matt Slater, seem more optimistic, sensing that there is still a good chance for the Brent/Trust deal to succeed.

In light of these developments, the Trust is organising a Save Our Club meeting for Saturday morning. The venue is still to be confirmed, although Plymouth Pavillions seems the most likely candidate. Keep checking the Trust website for details. If you can't attend, but still want to help, how about donating to the cost of the venue hire (£2000, if it turns out to be the Pavillions)? You can do this by using the "Donate" button on the top right of any page on PASOTI. This is still labelled "Sponsor Le Keeper", but all donations will now go to the Trust.

If you want to read all the Argyle news without clicking on a load of links, why not head over to Greens On Screens' Daily Diary?

Plymouth Argyle 0, Millwall 1

Argyle exited the League Cup at the first round stage (yet again), losing 1-0 against Millwall at Home Park. By all accounts the Championship side were deserved winners although a young Plymouth XI, shorn of the injured Carl Fletcher and Warren Feeney, were far from disgraced. Peter Reid handed debuts to apprentices Jordan Copp and Matt Lecointe, who both came on as second half substitutes.

The match report is now available on the official site.

The Opposition: Millwall

Founded: 1885

Manager: Kenny Jackett (since November 2007)

Record transfer fee paid: £800,000 (Paul Goddard, 1989)

Final league position 2010-11: 9th, Football League Championship

Previous seasons:

2009-10: 3rd, League One (Play-Off Winners)

2008-09: 5th, League One (losing Play-Off finalists)

2007-08: 17th, League One

Top scorer (2010-11): Steve Morison (15 goals)

Pre-season results:

30th July: Millwall 4, Charlton 3

July 23rd: Gillingham 0, Millwall 1

Last time out: Reading 2, Millwall 2

Head-To-Head: Argyle won 24, lost 23, drawn 27

Most recent meeting: Millwall 1, Argyle 1 - April 15th 2008

Daily Update

Former Swindon, Cardiff and Southend full-back Miguel Comminges is on trial with the Pilgrims. The Guadeloupe international, who was twice signed by former Argyle boss Paul Sturrock, has been without a club since being released by the Shrimpers at the end of last season. A left-winger may also be on the way, with Hull City wide man Will Atkinson rumoured to be heading to Home Park after tomorrow night's Carling Cup games. Atkinson has previously had successful, if brief, loan periods at Rochdale and Rotherham.

Argyle also have also added another body to the coaching staff, as former Exeter, Watford and Barnsley goalkeeper Kevin Miller is assisting Peter and Shaun Reid with training at UCP Marjon. Meanwhile, Warren Feeney has withdrawn from the Northern Ireland squad for the Euro 2012 qualifier against the Faroe Islands after picking up a slight muscle injury on Saturday afternoon.

Highlights of the Shrewsbury match are now available on the BBC Sport website. The post-Shrewsbury press interviews are nicely rounded up on Greens On Screen.

Finally, the Argyle Fans' Trust have released formal notice of the election of society board members. All the details are available on the Trust's website.

If you want to read all the Argyle news without clicking on a load of links, why not head over to Greens On Screens' Daily Diary?

League 2 Round-Up - Week One

Full results from this round of matches in Football League Two are available here on the BBC Sport website.

Swindon and Bristol Rovers, both relegated from League One last season and under new management, made good starts to life in the bottom tier by picking up three points on the opening day of the season. Paul Buckle's Rovers overcame Football League new (old) boys AFC Wimbledon at Kingsmeadow, whilst Swindon Town, under the watchful eye of Paolo Di Canio, saw off Crewe by three goals to nil. Meanwhile, at Vale Park, promotion favourites and all-round people's champions Crawley Town were held to a 2-2 draw away at Port Vale.

Paul Sturrock's Southend began the season in Luggy-pleasing form, beating Hereford 1-0 at home, while Torquay United came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Burton Albion at Plainmoor. Bradford City, who are now in their fifth season of being too big for the bottom division, lost 2-1 at home to Aldershot.

Potential play-off contenders Rotherham beat Oxford United (who have promotion hopes of their own) 1-0. Morecombe and Macclesfield, who have been tipped to struggle by many, both lost their opening fixtures 1-0, to Barnet and Dagenham and Redbridge respectively. Elsewhere, Gillingham beat Cheltenham by a goal to nil and Northampton and Accrington Stanley played out the division's only goalless draw.

Saturday Afternoon, Sunday Morning

Some post-match thoughts, 24 hours on...

• Argyle's football was a pleasure to watch at times yesterday. The move that nearly set up Tom Hitchcock within 90 seconds of kick off was a thing of beauty, four or five first time passes followed by a whipped cross from Luke Daley. It will, at points, test the patience of some supporters - on more than one occasion at Greenhous Meadow the Greens worked the ball back to Jake Cole from a throw-in deep in Shrewsbury territory, and free kicks in dangerous crossing positions were quickly taken short - but has the potential to be very effective, as Argyle's dominance of the first 20 minutes of yesterday's match showed. Despite the received wisdom that direct football prospers in the basement tier, Chesterfield played a short passing game in League Two last season. They won the division by five points.
  
• It was blatantly obvious from yesterday's match that more bodies are needed, and fast. First and foremost, a left winger is desperately required to fill the gap caused by the non-signing of Andres Gurierri. Robbie Williams ran up and down gamely in the first half without much effect, whilst the Pilgrims pretty much played without a left sided wideman after the interval, as Conor Hourihane patrolled the inside left position with Ben Gibson pushing on from full-back. Neither situation was particularly satisfactory.
• The Greens will also be in the market for a tall centre-forward. Tom Hitchcock and Warren Feeney, yesterday's front two, measure in at 5ft 8 and 5ft 7 respectively - in the second half at Greenhous Meadow, as Peter Reid highlighted in his Argyle World interview, the visitors had little of chance of retaining possession when the Shrewsbury forwards pressurised Zubar and Soukana into hitting it long.
• Woe betide us should Carl Fletcher get injured. Aside from his goal, the captain looked a cut above in the middle of the park, especially in the first half an hour of the match.
• Peter Reid has a selection dilemma in the centre of midfield, with Fletcher, Conor Hourihane and Simon Walton all staking a claim. Fletch is the first name on the teamsheet, and Hourihane made a very assured debut, only let down by some wayward shooting in the second half. However, Walton can also pick a pass whilst offering a more imposing physical presence than the former Ipswich youngster.
• Stephane Zubar and Ladjie Soukana looked solid as a centre-back pairing. The fact that Curtis Nelson was only named as a substitute would seem to indicate that the 2010-11 young player of the year is either a) carrying a knock or b) on the verge of a move away from Home Park.
• Every club has it's own band of idiots who turn up once in a blue moon looking for a punch-up (usually with the opposition, rather than each other). Let's hope this match was their annual outing.
• The majority of the players may be young and inexperienced, but they don't seem afraid of letting their feelings known to their senior colleagues. Hitchcock gave Feeney a right mouthful after the Northern Irishman had shot tamely at the 'keeper instead of passing just after the interval, whilst a loud "Oi!" from Luke Daley halted Carl Fletcher's celebrations, apparently reminding the captain that their were still 4 minutes of injury time to see out.
  
• Fletcher's goal certainly felt like "a moment". We'll know in a few weeks whether it really was a turning point, or just another false dawn.
• The early stages of this season could be vital for the Pilgrims. Peter Reid has clearly cobbled together a talented bunch of young footballers, but the key to success may be in giving them confidence to express themselves on the field. A few confidence-boosting results over the coming weeks could mean that we're in for a good season. However, a run of defeats early doors may be hard to turn round with so few experienced heads in the squad.
  

Shrewsbury Town 1, Plymouth Argyle 1

Argyle drew 1-1 with Shrewsbury Town at Greenhous Meadow, Carl Fletcher netting a 90th minute equaliser (and sparking pandemonium in the away end) after James Collins had put the home side ahead 20 minutes from time.

Argyle: Cole, Berry, Zubar, Soukana, Gibson, Daley, Fletcher (c), Hourihane, Williams (Walton), Hitchcock (Vassel), Feeney. Unused subs: Nelson, Copp, Sims.

Match reports are available on the official site and the BBC, whilst you can find all of the usual commentary clips and photos on Greens On Screen.

Possible Line-Ups: Shrewsbury Town

The Opposition: Shrewsbury Town

Founded: 1886

Ground: Greenhous Meadow

Record transfer fee paid: £100,000 (Mark Blake, 1997)

Final league position 2010-11: 4th, Football League Two (losing play-off semi-finalists)

Previous seasons:

2009-10: 12th, League Two

2008-09: 7th, League Two

2007-08: 18th, League Two

Top scorer (2010-11): Lionel Ainsworth (9 goals)

Pre-season results:

July 29th: Shrewsbury Town 0, Tranmere 2

July 26th: Kiddeminster Harriers 2, Shrewsbury Town 1

July 22nd: Shrewsbury Town 2, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0

July 17th: Shrewsbury Town 2, Manchester United XI 1

Head-To-Head: Argyle won 12, lost 14, drawn 17

Most recent meeting: Shrewsbury 3, Argyle 1, January 19th, 2002