The simple drift of this post is to ask the question "where are the people of Plymouth when you need them most". The population of this City is in excess of 250,000 and the catchment area for support of the football club includes virtually the whole of Cornwall to add to that. The Cornish have always supported Argyle well historically considering the club is in a different County so I exclude them from this. Without them we would have fallen long ago. Crowds at Argyle currently are around the 5000 mark but if the Cornish were to leave it would fall to half that. I went on a coach trip to Folkestone recently because I am a smoker and there is a day trip to Belgium thrown in. That's why most people go on this particular trip and the Hotel used is often full. It has over 700 rooms so that is a lot of people who come from all over the UK. There was also a SKA weekend in the town so it was booming. I wore my Argyle coat and a lot of strangers noticed the badge. The comments made were many and without exception there was an overwhelming outpouring of care shown by those that spoke to me. Geordies, Welsh, Midlanders, East Anglia, West Country. In fact people from all over and they showed they cared. I then come home and find that less people from Plymouth appear to care than people with no real connection with the City or even area. This City was almost bombed out of existance in WWII and the word that is synonymous with Plymouth following that was "RESURGUM". It was the people of Plymouth who showed a real community spirit and determination to rise again against all the odds. What happened to that in the interim years and for a state of apathy to now rule. There are many things financially that are poor in this area which does have an impact on Argyle. It is an expensive part of the Country to live in with utility bills being higher than most other areas with wages amongst the lowest. It is not in a part of the Country that attracts much attention from glory seekers who would buy a club like London for example. The club has not had much in the way of glory either in footballing terms. But this does not hide the fact that far too few care about it's football club. There are many football shirts worn in the City from the Sky TV watchers who jump on the success of other clubs to be seen as one of their numbers. Come on Plymouth, if even half of those people took an interest in their own club then it would not be in the state it is now and who knows might not be famous for being the largest City in the Country not to have had a team in the top flight in it's history. Remember "RESURGUM" and show some pride in yourselves.
My first 26yrs of work sensible was in the tobacco industry, I worked for a firm called Molins in Deptford South London, who made tobacco machinery (not Rizla). Machinery that produced at least 5000 cigs a minute,very high tech precision equipment. The reason I mention it is because, we used to get machinery back to modify and then return........the state of this machinery after years of contact with the juices from tobacco was something to behold.........aluminium components eaten away by the juices..........just like a crunchie bar.......did you ever suck the honeycomb centre out of one leaving the chocolate outer casing nearly empty (surely you must have,lovely) thats what aluminium looked like afterwards, quite a few lads never smoked again (and that was in the 1960s) before the anti-smoking lobby really got started. I thought I'd just cheer you up a little before dinner,keep on smiling...................
Sensible, I am an EX smoker and as such am vehemently against it - you know what they say!! 2 years ago today, I smoked 20 B&H a day +, 2 years ago Tomorrow I had a (failed) operation on my spine - 3 months on Morphine and I never smoked again after the day of the op! It's a drastic way to stop smoking though!! All the best greens
I think if I supported Plymouth Argyle I would be on 40 a day. (loling Reidy) If Sensible wants to smoke then I certainly am not going to try and stop him and preach on about smoking related illnesses or that smoking is the greatest single cause of premature death in the UK. Each to their own. I was in Plymouth on Sunday and without sounding facetious could not help but notice how sleepy it seemed in the City Centre (1pm). Shops boarded up, pubs empty and Restaurants not particularly busy. I did however see More Argyle shirts on peoples backs than any other team on a day when Man Ushited, Chelski, Citeh, Arsenal etc were not on Sky!!
I have never smoked and often when people are trying to guess my age they tend to put me as appox. 10 yrs younger. Smoking is very ageing especially so with women....which I guess makes sensible a wrinkly old git.
Well there you go. A thread on plymothian apathy turns into a smoking or anti smoking forum and the fact I may have wrinkles. I have wrinkles only on one part of my anatomy and they occasionally even disappear. If you can't beat them then just join in is my stance.
I've never smoked either,even though I worked in the industry for 26yrs. Mrs Reid,people must of thought you were a child bride at the time,if you look younger.
You look to young to have three growing lads.......so you must have married very young...........I've kept away from to many big words to keep it simple.........not that I'm suggesting that your a simple lass in any way Mrs Reid.
As you look so young Mrs Reid,and having three growing lads...........you must have married very young.........I have tried to keep away from too many big words and kept it simple............not that in anyway am I suggesting that a well educated lady like yourself is simple.........So being a non-smoker obviously works.
Going back to Sensible's original point about the Plymouth/Cornwall support, I agree that on an average Saturday at HP about half are from over the Tamar. Don't forget that 125 years ago (nearly) it was two Cornishman who founded Argyle. With Cornwall having a 500,000 population which is I know comparatively small when Plymouth can boast half of that in just one City it is still these fans that will be needed if we are ever to reach some giddy heights in the future. There is always a strong pro-Argyle feeling in most Cornish outposts. As for a Cornish league team of our own it will never happen. Over the years so much local rivalray has gone on in the SW League and more recently SW Peninsula League to switch allegances to Truro City. Apart from wishing the ex-Argyle players at Truro well I was delighted to see them record their 4th successive defeat last week.
Of course we have the added bonus of not having to employ window cleaners with our Cornish window licking friends support too
The fact that an excellent thread by sensiblegreeny gets hijacked by a smoking debate is worrying in itself. From a footballing point of view, Swansea were in a similair position about 10 years ago, although I think the Argyle are in a slightly worse position. One decision the Directors made saved the Club (that is my opinion). They reduced the entry fee to £5 and the crowd virtually doubled. While gate receipts may have stayed the same, the extra buzz around the stadium helped the players and of course there is extra revenue in programme sales etc. We survived by beating Hull on the last game of the season and haven't looked back since. Good luck Argyle.
Good point PGF White and thanks for your support. A full house on Saturday would do wonders for the players, and if the news tomorrow is what we all want, i.e. James Brent is onboard, then it could be the start of something good at Argyle for the first time in years.
