As our 'Turmoil Week' draws to a close, we turn the spotlight westwards to Plymouth, arguably the
most well-documented club in crisis over the past 18 months or so. Thankfully, the situation at
Home Park now appears to be settling down but here season ticket holder Roger Willis takes a look
back over an incredible few years, describing in detail the events that very nearly led to the
Pilgrims' demise.
Less than two years after its construction was completed, PPL Park was awarded its first MLS
All-Star game, the league announced on Wednesday.
The game has been scheduled for July 25th at 8:00pm ET and will be televised on ESPN2 and
Galavision. An opponent has not been announced.
The soccer specific stadium, which has a capacity of 18,500, is the home grounds of the
Philadelphia Union, who entered the league in 2010.
By Chris Wright
It would be remiss of us to let the day pass without mentioning that, having never been further
than the first round before, Southern League Premier Division side Stourbridge beat League Two
stragglers Plymouth Argyle 2-0 on their own patch last night to reach the second round of the FA
Cup for the first time in the club's history.
Plymouth Argyle's season goes from bad to worse, as they were knocked out of the FA Cup First
Round by Southern League Premier Division side Stourbridge. Goals from Paul McCone and Sean Evans
gave the Glassboys a well deserved victory, and the chance to face League One Stevenage in eleven
days time.
A trio of Galaxy goalscorers ensured that the Supporters' Shield winners would get the benefit
of home cooking for the MLS Cup Final as L.A. beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 Sunday night at the Home
Depot Center.
Landon Donovan (23′), Mike Magee (58′), and Robbie Keane (68′) all scored for the home
squad as the Galaxy will return to their home park for MLS Cup, which, coincidentally, is being
held at the Home Depot Center on November 20th.
Yesterday in Plymouth, some people with lots of money demanded more money, some people with much
less money were told they were getting no more money, until the people with lots of money got more
money. This was morally indefensible. Doubtless, there will be people on hand to claim "it isn't as
simple as that.
By Chris Wright
League Two side Aldershot's humble 7,100 capacity (4,000 seated) Recreation Ground known
formally and commercially as the 'EBB Stadium' is set to play host to Premier League goliaths
Manchester United in the Fourth round of the Carling Cup a week next Tuesday and, with tickets
going on sale yesterday, we thought we'd give you all a little sneak peak of the venue that is
lying in wait for Fergie's high-rollers (or at least the second/third string of Fergie's
high-rollers) in a fortnight or so's time in the form of a photo essay.
Organisation is the key to many of life's success, and this has been ably demonstrated than by
Plymouth Argyle fans over recent days, in dealing with two potential obstacles to the club's exit
from administration. The starkest issue was highlighted by Ian King on this site on Sunday as the
story broke of attempts by former directors to disrupt and potentially threaten outright Argyle's
exit from administration, in order to protect personal financial interests.
So near, yet so far. The future of Plymouth Argyle seems likely to be thrown into fresh turmoil
if rumours that started circulating late yesterday afternoon regarding an attempt on the part of
three former directors of the club to buy the mortgage held over its Home Park ground by Lombard
North Central PLC.
The London Gazette can be a treasure trove of information. The official journal record of the
British government contains years and years of official information and one notice, published
yesterday, really caught the eye a winding up order issued against Truro City Football Club
Limited.
They lost again yesterday, of course, a two-nil reverse at Southend United which left them
anchored to the bottom of the entire Football League and this morning, in an act entirely at odds
with the slow, long, drawn out procedure of the take-over of Plymouth Argyle, Peter Reid paid the
price for his failure as an alchemist with his job.
Has a corner finally been turned at Home Park? The days, weeks and months of agony suffered by
Pilgrims supporters, not to mention the club's staff and players, have been assiduously logged and
documented across print and digital media but, until now, the news has nearly always set heads
a-banging.A few weeks ago, we were patronised as champagne corks popped upon the announcement that
the club
Port Vale's 'grey knickers' plus daft quotes of the week and pies for
chants
Plymouth's decision to celebrate their 125th anniversary with an old-style team sheet raised
eyebrows at Home Park on Saturday. Argyle were listed as wearing "green jerseys, white collar and
cuffs, white knickers", while Port Vale were wearing "grey jerseys, grey knickers".
Regular readers of this site will be all too aware of the recent problems that have beset
Plymouth Argyle Football Club. Plymouth's supporters, in conjunction with whose of Brighton & Hove
Albion, are now planning a protest on the twenty-fourth of September to which supporters of all
clubs will be welcome.
Yesterday in Plymouth, it nearly all kicked off, or rather it nearly didn't. Lead administrator
Brendan Guilfoyle "all-but-vanished" and somebody paid for acting chairman Peter Ridsdale to jet to
the South of France, while staff at Home Park remained resolutely unpaid. Worse still... somebody
paid for Ridsdale to jet back.
Earlier this evening, we wrote on the extraordinary impromptu press briefing given by two
Plymouth Argyle players and their manager, Peter Reid. This evening, in the second part of a
double-bill, a little more background about why professional footballers should be talking about
going on strike, courtesy of Mark Murphy.
Sometimes, help can come from the most unexpected of sources. Last Friday, it was announced to a
mixture of joy and relief probably more of the latter than the former, considering the shenanigans
of the last few months that Plymouth Argyle Football Club had been saved. After repeated broken
deadlines and wage deferrals for the longest-suffering staff in British football, we were told in
an official statement that, "Bishop International Limited has secured the necessary funding and
everything is agreed between the numerous parties" in order to complete the sale of the club and
its ground to the Gibraltar-based company, who would take ownership of its Home Park ground and
bring in Peter Ridsdale as the Chief Executive of the club.
Two clubs are facing deadlines in the near future after months of insecurity, but while Wrexham
now seem likely to be headed towards a brighter future, Plymouth Argyle supporters are probably at
the point now of not believing anyone until the take-over of their club is ratified by the Football
League.
One takeover has happened. One is due to happen by the end of the month. One is
on-and-on-going. And one might not now happen at all. But however far down the takeover line
Plymouth Argyle, Stockport County and Port Vale are – and even Rangers, who have nominally
crossed it – none will be able to file their 2011/12 preparations under ‘ideal.
As of the end of this weekend's games we're almost exactly a third of the way through the MLS
season. Out of 306 total, we've played 106 (assuming my math is right). Obviously some teams have
played more than others. MLS was true to its word that teams that qualified for the Champions
League would have frontloaded schedules to help with fixture congestion once CCL play starts, and
so the teams that have played at least 13 games already include CCL qualifiers Seattle Sounders,
Los Angeles Galaxy, Colorado Rapids, and FC Dallas - along with (inexplicably) the Houston
Dynamo.
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Just over a year ago, Plymouth Argyle played Newcastle United in the Championship at Home Park.
It was an emotional night all round, as Newcastle were promoted but, at the same time, Plymouth
were relegated. Newcastle's supporters could have been forgiven a little catharsis as their team
returned to the Premier League after a year in exile, while Plymouth were facing an uncertain
future after dropping from the league that they had been in since 2004.
On 3 January 2004, Plymouth Argyle got off to a brilliant start against Chesterfield, scoring 5
goals in the first 18 minutes. They added 2 more to complete the 7-0 rout and match their
biggest-ever margin of victory. Playing before a crowd of 13,109 at Plymouth's Home Park, the hosts
were celebrating their centennial year [.
