It has now been almost 4 years since Ian Holloway left us which seems to have been the trigger which set our club rolling down a slippery slope we have yet to recover from. Holloway has since given hints that his reasons for going were lack of ambition from the board and lack of money. At his time of leaving (November 2007) Argyle were occupying a play-off position in the championship. Holloway was replaced swiftly by Paul Sturrock, a previously successful ex Plymouth Argyle manager who steered our club up through the bottom leagues and was seen as something of a living legend by fans. The board was led by director Paul Stapleton, an accountant and a personal friend of Sturrock's. Stapleton was respected by the fans as "one of us" an Argyle fan but fans were to became increasingly frustrated by what was seen as lack of ambition, unwillingness to fund new players or to make that final push for the premiership, some fans dubbed him "Staplewallet" for his running of a tight ship. Paul Stapleton perhaps influenced by the fans' calls to spend and with limited finance himself decided to enter into talks with a Japanese consortium, at first to buy limited shares but later as a takeover. The Japanese spoke of promoting Argyle as a worldwide brand and to bring over some Japanese players to play for us, neither of these things materialised for various reasons and meanwhile under Sturrock and despite a huge squad and salary bill Argyle were dropping down the leagues like a stone. Sturrock refused to go and despite the fans who were by now crying out for him to be sacked the board steadfastly refused to do so. Paul Stapleton's head position on the board was replaced by messrs Todd and Gardener who's interest in the club raised suspition among the fans, unlike Stapleton neither Todd nor Gardener were Argyle fans, nor were they seen at matches and rarely visited Plymouth but chose to stay in London. Who knows what their interest was in our club but it became increasingly apparent that Argyle's league and financial woes were only just beginning. The Japanese constantly gave assurances of finacial backing but the money never materialised and the greens were left to their fate. By the end of 2010/11 season and now led by Peter Reid Argyle despite an 11th hour revival of form, had slipped to the league 1 relegation zone after a 10 point deduction given by the football league for declairing their intention of entering administration, but if you thought we had sunk as low as we could you'd be wrong. Again fans were given constant assurances there was a buyer for their club but the prefered bidders had declared their only interest was to build on the surrounding areas of Home Park, they also steadfastly refused to reveal their identities to all except the FL (when forced to) led by Kevin Heaney who himself is the owner of a certain Truro City FC (rendering himself unable to own another club) they are known only as "The Irish Consortium". Add a certain (ex Leeds/Cardiff) Peter Ridsdale into the equasion (hoping £1 buys himself the running of the club) and at this time, several months after entering administration Argyle now in league 2, still do not have an owner and are still in administration. Staff and players have not been paid for the best part of a year making it almost impossible for Peter Reid to get the players he so desperately needs to change Argyle's fortune and the players we do have are, a few games into the new season are not winning matches. If this all sounds somewhat complicated - it is but the question remains: Have Argyle reached rock bottom yet?
I have to believe we have as the alternative doesn't bare thinking about. Apart from heading for the highest bridge in the region and finding how long it takes to reach the bottom. It's a fair summary Mrs Reid but the difference now is that we have a Manager that can pull things around and a set of players who will improve as time goes on along with proper football being played. That's the on field assessment from me. As for the off field bit, well, what can one say about all of that. Gat published an interesting article today and it makes very sad reading if you are an Argyle supporter. We have to believe it will end and end soon or what else is there? I should have added a happy ending to that.
Well Mrs Reid.........your question is the one all Argyle supporters would like answered ........If the B.I.L. consortium have soughted out the one financial agreement outstanding and F.L. are happy to return Plymouth's league share, assuming that they are happy with Heaney and Ridsdale being involved,then what is stopping the deal being completed ? Quite simple really,but the on going saga at PAFC which makes the Forsyth's look like a day trip to Margate is never ending. To try and guess when it will finish is tempting fate to the extreme,have we reached rock bottom yet............ask Heaney's Bank manager he might know,on the other hand he might not.
Well a good post Mrs Reid, i think we have reached rock bottom now. Surely it can't get any worse. The team will only get better as they play together. But as for The off field crowd they are or never will get any better, we have no other choice but to put up with it............. at least we have a club,as a few months ago some of us thought we would never start the season. I have read the article what Gat has published early. What can one say? We all have our suspicions over the way its been handled, but as i have been told off before for making accusations about this i will keep it to my self. Its very hard for Argyle fans at present on and off the field. I'm sure we will come through this and hope the manager is kept and no rash decisions are made by the "Riddler". Oh, sorry to pick you up but its Kevin Heaney i think not Paul, but its Ginger to us all!
Evening Reidy, I think what happens next is the answer to your question, and then it all depends on your view point as to what you think of our prospective buyers
Dr Who's Tardis could, we could go back in time and kidnap Brenda before he got here, and bundle the fiddler out of Devon via Exeter lol
Even better Dr Who could have stopped Paul Stapleton from getting involved with Gardner, Todd, Kagami etc,etc.
Just one problem sensible with Paul Getty one of the worlds leading philanthropists..............didn't he die in 2003.........we were on the way up then and were more involved with Paul Stapleton............now what about Paul McCartney..........he might just want to get away from boring Liverpool..........or he might of been a distant relative of one of the Pilgrim Fathers, I'm sure we need to research that angle in the USA you never know what might turn up...........wouldn't be to bothered if their name wasn't Paul.
Paul Daniels is not up to much these days. "You're going to like this, not a lot, but you're going to like this" That would be Magic!!!
Paul Macartney is supposedly Green plymborn but probably not with his money. I don't care if Paul Getty is dead it's his money I'm after not his body.
