Daily Update

Argyle have announced the match-day prices for the 2011-12 season. An adult ticket will cost £20 (whether you pay a week before the game or 2.55pm on a Saturday afternoon), whilst over-65s will be charged £15. Under-18s will pay £7. All of the details are on the official site.

What's more, tickets for the Shrewsbury and Millwall matches are now on sale from the Home Park box office. An adult ticket for the match against the Shrews is £17, although the box office is currently only taking cash and cheques (no credit cards). The full details are here.

In a final bit of ticket news, the club have come up with a wheeze to try and shift a few more season tickets with the 'Founders Club'. It's all to celebrate the 125th anniversary you see, and anyone who signs up for a season ticket for 2011-12 will get the chance to watch a training session, take part in an exclusive Q & A with the players and get a certificate and load of other commemorative stuff. You can find more about this once in a lifetime opportunity/marketing ploy on the official site.


Match reports are available for the Truro match on the official site and thisisplymouth.co.uk. The Herald have also got an account of their failed attempts to get anything out of Kevin Heaney, who was sitting in the Director's Box. Long story short, he didn't say anything. They did, however, manage to get a picture of him looking fabulously sinister.

Peter Reid had good things to say about all four trialists that featured in last night's game, and was especially positive about the performances of midfielders Joe Holt and Conor Hourihane (who, contrary to what I wrote yesterday, appears to be available on a permanent transfer from Ipswich).


On the topic of new players, the word on PASOTI is that Brendan Guilfoyle has given the Riddler the green light to sign proper contracts with all of those who have agreed in principle to join the club. This is clearly good news, although it's not entirely clear whether the Football League have given the all-clear for Cole, Williams, Berry, Daley et al to actually play for the Pilgrims. The local press should be running this tomorrow, so hopefully we'll know more in the morning. Let's hope the FL are in a generous mood, as new Chief Executive David Jones apparently told Graham Clark (former chairman of the Fan's Trust) and Peter Ryan (current Trust secretary) that the takeover is now unlikely to be completed until August 12th. Jones is also reported to have admitted that he's yet to see any of the £5m that the deal will cost.

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 2 Truro City 1

This evening's match at Home Park finished with Argyle emerging with a 2-1 victory over a decent Truro City side. By all accounts trialist Conor Hourihane was the standout player for the home side, while Andres Gurerri had a difficult evening at right-back, deputising for the injured Durrell Berry. Hourihane would be a good aquisition, as the Greens remain short of creativity in the middle of the park.

Also, I've just stumbled upon Brendan Guilfoyle's Twitter page. I particularly enjoyed the two entries for May 15th.

Daily Update

Argyle have new shirt sponsors! WH Bond & Sons, an "agricultural-based family business", will be the Pilgrims' main sponsors for the 2011-12 season, with "Bond Timber" appearing on the front of the shirts. What's more, the Bonds family have paid for the interim 'off-the-peg' Puma kit which the Greens will wear until the 125th anniversary strip turns up at some point in September. A (fairly amateurish) illustration of the temporary kit has also been released, which looks none too shabby. The Bonds logo certainly is an improvement on the red Ginsters splodge.

There's plenty about WH Bond & Sons on the official site, including a brilliant picture of Reidy and the Riddler leaning on a pickup truck, in a pose reminiscent of something out of a Wrangler jeans advert. Basically, the deal appears a good one for a League 2 club with the added bonus that the Bonds family are staunch Argyle supporters.


The other main development from this morning's press conference was the announcement that Dave Jones has been made Chief Executive. Oddly, there's no mention of this appointment on the official site. Jones, who was previously chief financial officer at Southampton, has been working with Peter Ridsdale at Home Park since the Greens enter administration back in March.

There's a new interview with Peter Ridsdale and on Argyle World. The main point of interest is a quick glimpse of what appears to be the interim away kit, which the Riddler is shown holding up a picture of during the press conference. It's this shirt, with a black version on the Bond logo on the front. The club did say that the stand-in away kit would be a different colour to the final version, so presumably we're not having a white away kit post-September. Ridsdale's main points in the interview are:

• It's brilliant to be focussing on a football-related matter, rather than finance. (This seems a pretty financial issue to me but, hey, what do I know?)
• Bonds have the option of a second year if all goes well
  
• He's looking forward to watching the new team - the spirit in the camp is excellent, apparently
• Please buy a season ticket
  

There's also a brief interview with Chris Bond who, make no mistake, is a proper Argyle fan.


Argyle are playing there third and final pre-season friendly at Home Park this evening, against Truro City. The Pilgrims started the match with the following XI:

Jake Cole; Andre Gurreri, Stephane Zubar, Ladji Moukana, Robbie Williams; Luke Daley, Carl Fletcher (C), Conor Hourihane, Joe Holt; Tom Hitchcock, Joe Mendes.

Here's a bit on the three trialists (in bold above):

• Conor Hourihane, a 20-year-old central midfielder, who is available on loan from Ipswich Town
• Joe Holt is another young midfielder, who has previously made the bench for Wigan Athletic
• Joseph Mendes, aged 20, is a French striker who scored 1 goal in 13 appearances for Grenoble in Ligue 2 last season. Grenoble ended up finishing 20th and were relegated.

With around three quarters of the match played Argyle are leading 2-1 after initially falling behind to a Les Afful goal. A deflected Carl Fletcher effort drew the Pilgrims level, however, before Hourihane made it 2-1 after linking nicely with fellow-trialist Mendes. Simon Walton, Jared Sims and Jordan Copp have all made appearances as second half substitutes. Walton is currently captaining the team, which is something you can file under "sights I thought I'd never see".

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?

Bridport 3 Plymouth Argyle 3

A young Argyle side ended up drawing 3-3 with Bridport at St Mary's, with Matt Lecointe grabbing all three goals for the Pilgrims. That takes Lecointe's pre-season tally to six goals - it wouldn't be a shock to see the 16-year-old on the bench against Truro City tomorrow night.

The match report is now up on the official site.

Daily Update

Plenty of news in the Herald/WMN today...

• One-nil to the Argyle...the youth team make a winning start to their Northern Ireland Milk Cup campaign
• Peter Reid is keen to snap up Andres Gurrieri, who impressed in Le Testimonial
• The Trust are looking to recruit new members in the run up to next month's inaugural elections
• The City Council are refusing to give the Preferred Bidder any guarantees on planning permission for any development in Central Park

There's a nice piece about St Luke's Hospice and the charity Help The Hospices on the official site. It's well worth a read, and you can find out more about St Luke's here and Help the Hospices here.


An interview with new signing Jake Cole is now available to view on Argyle World. If you don't have a subscription, the main points of interest are:

• He's looking forward to the Shrewsbury game, where he's guaranteed a start due to Larrieu's suspension
  
• Cole is a QPR supporter, and spent 14 years with the Hoops before moving to Barnet

A young Argyle team (managed by Kevin Hodges and Sean Reid) are currently playing Bridport at St Mary's Road. The latest on PASOTI is that the mighty Bridport are leading 2-1. Matt Lecointe has got the goal for the visitors. You can follow the match thread of PASOTI here.


Finally, it's been reported on PASOTI that the Riddler has called a press conference for tomorrow morning. Those in the know (Chris Webb from the Trust, Rupert Metcalf from the Morning News) reckon it's to announce a new sponsorship deal.


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?

Bondz Voyage

Bondz N’Gala left Argyle last week, moving up the road to Huish Park after sealing a free transfer to Yeovil Town. The London-born defender spent more than 14 months at Home Park and made 35 appearances for the Greens, scoring one goal. N’Gala, who had previously made a handful of league appearances whilst on loan at Weymouth, MK Dons and Scunthorpe, was again lent out by the Hammers in March 2010 as Paul Mariner sought to bolster his squad with the Pilgrims in the midst of their doomed battle against relegation from the Championship. The 20-year-old impressed while making his debut in the 2-0 victory over Ipswich at Portman Road, one of the high points of the Mariner era, and was an ever-present for the rest of the season as Argyle fought gamely throughout March and April, before finally throwing in the towel in the wake of the 2-0 home defeat to Middlesbrough on Easter Monday.

Despite the announcement that a new manager would be brought in for the following season, N’Gala was snapped up on a free transfer by the leaderless Pilgrims in May 2010, presumably on the recommendation of Paul Mariner who remained in his role as Head Coach. New boss Peter Reid chose to deploy Bondz in his less-preferred position of right-back at the start of the 2010-11 campaign, a decision that paid early dividends as a deep N’Gala cross led to the only goal in the 1-0 opening day victory over Southampton at St Mary’s.

The N’Gala-as-a-fullback experiment continued through the first month of the season as the Pilgrims made a stuttering start to their League One campaign, before a controversial dismissal during the 3-2 triumph over Sheffield Wednesday in September led to the return of the (temporarily) rehabilitated Marcel Seip at full-back, with Bondz switching back to his more natural home at centre-back. However, the partnership forged in the centre of defence with Reda Johnson was not an entirely happy one, as occasionally inspired blocks and challenges were accompanied by moments of miscommunication and frequent lapses in concentration. An early dismissal away at Oldham further blotted Bondz’s copybook, as the Pilgrims conceded two late goals to lose 4-2 after playing nearly 45 minutes with nine men.

N’Gala made a handful of appearances throughout November, December and January before reclaiming his first team spot in the midst of Argyle’s horrible winless run throughout February. Back out on the right, with Stephane Zubar and Curtis Nelson firmly established as the unpaid Pilgrims first choice centre-halves, N’Gala registered his first professional goal at Hillsborough in March, opening the scoring in the memorable 4-2 victory with a crisp left-footed drive from the edge of the penalty area. Bondz made five more appearances as the Greens finally slid to a second straight relegation before requesting permission at the end of the season to make a summer move to a club closer to home.

Memorable moments

Southampton 0, Argyle 1 – August 2010. Bondz whips in a deep cross from the right flank, Fallon nods across goal and Summers slides the ball home. One nil, three points, plenty of false hope. Hear it here at Greens on Screen.

Sheffield Wednesday 2, Argyle 4 – March 2011. N’Gala gives the Greens a perfect start to a thoroughly entertaining afternoon, netting his first professional goal with a vicious left-footed strike. Hear it here at Greens on Screen.

Dagenham & Redbridge 0, Argyle 1 – April 2011. Not named amongst the Argyle substitutes, Bondz joined Rory Fallon in the away end with the travelling Green Army.

Check out Bondz’s Argyle stats at the Greens on Screen database.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 94 minutes

Charlton want the three points and are throwing men forwards in search of a late, late winner. Their search is in vain however, as the referee brings the game to an end.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - Goal!

Gaarrrgh!

More poor defending gifts Charlton an equaliser, Paul Benson netting his second of the game with a tap-in after the ball is allowed to travel right through the Argyle penalty area. It's no less than the visitors deserve, but Peter Reid will be tearing his hair as his side toss away two points.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 87 minutes

Clever play from Wright-Phillips wins a corner for Argyle, knocking the ball behind off Christian Dailly. The Addicks clear, but that wasted a few precious seconds.

The visitors remain an attacking threat though, with Reid and Martin rampaging down the flanks. Romain Larrieu calms some Green nerves, however, showing confidence to come off his line and pluck a cross out of the air.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic -Goal!

Duguid is on, replacing Stephens rather than Noone. That seems a little strange as the winger has been limping for a whi...

WHAT A STRIKE!

Out of nowhere Yala Bolasie smashes the ball past the helpless Rob Elliot. The pacy forward almost takes his shirt of in celebration, then realises that he'll get a booking an changes his mind at the last moment. Can the Pilgrims hang on? There's little over five minutes left to play...

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 80 minutes

Karl Duguid is readying himself to join the action, presumably in place of the limping Noone, allowing Stephens to move back to right-midfield.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 75 minutes

Both Argyle full-backs go into the referee's notebook in quick succession, as Stephens and Molyneux foul their opposing wingers, Martin and Reid. Quarter of an hour left on the clock, and the Pilgrims are really hanging on for a point.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 72 minutes

Craig Noone goes into the book after clipping Kiel Walker. That's Nooney's fourth booking of the season, and we're only in the second week of October. Thankfully for Argyle, the resulting free kick is overhit and lands safely behind Romain Larrieu's goal.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 68

Peter Reid makes his first tactical change of the afternoon, throwing on Yala Bolasie in place of Steve Maclean. Hopefully Yala can give the Greens an outlet in attack and cause problems for the veteran Addicks backline. At the very least, it should pin back Christian Dailly, who has been rampaging forwards from right-back since the interval.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 62 minutes

We're getting hazardously close to the usual standard at Home Park, with the Greens retreating into their shells and struggling to string together anything resembling a passing move.

Romain Larrieu then makes three excellent saves in quick succession to prevent his side from falling behind. First, the Frenchman makes a fantastic stop to prevent Marcel Seip putting the ball into his own net, before gathering Pawel Abbott's free header after a lapse of concentration from N'Gala. Less than a minute later Le Keeper is action again, saving from Lee Martin. Peter Reid does not look happy.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 54 minutes

Craig Noone is at the centre of everything going forwards for Argyle, first firing a left-footed shot just wide of the target before scuffing an effort wide from distance, ignoring both Steve Maclean and Dean Parrett in acres of space.

While the Pilgrims are still struggling to find their attacking rhythm, the visitors are starting to look really threatening from the wide areas with Kyel Reid and Lee Martin offering pace on the flanks.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 49 minutes

Johnnie Jackson goes into the book for a late challenge on Craig Noone. The Liverpudlian takes the resulting free kick himself, floating the ball straight through the area and out for a goalkick.

Meanwhile, Lee Martin is certainly offering more threat on the Addicks' right flank, firing a dangerous ball across the face of the Pilgrims goal.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 46 minutes

The second half is underway at Home Park, as the visitors make a change. Former Argyle loanee Lee Martin is on for the Addicks, with Scott Wagstaff making way on the right side of the visitors' midfield.

The tricky winger almost makes an instant impact, firing a shot goalwards from 25 yards. It's another slow start to a half from the Greens.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - Half Time

The first half comes to a close at Home Park, with the sides level at one apiece. Argyle have looked decent in attack, but the Pilgrims continue to shoot themselves in the foot with their sloppy defensive play. Perhaps Kari Arnason, who has dropped back into defence after Reda Johnson's afternoon was cut short by an ankle injury, will help to solidify things after the interval.

Live Blog: Plymouth Argyle vs Charlton Athletic - 42 minutes

There's a lengthy break in play as Reda Johnson stays down after landing awkwardly. After a couple of minutes Peter Reid makes a change, with Dean Parrett coming on. Presumably Arnason will drop back to centre-half, with the Spurs youngster joining Carl Fletcher in the midfield engine-room.