Yes, I admit I no longer attend matches. My son goes with his mates these days - when his league match allows that is BUT I sat through 4 seasons of it, 3 of them were utter dross, I have suffered enough. However you will not find me critisising gate numbers or telling others they should go. The same cannot be said for you Distant. When did you last attend HP? It must have been some time back as you don't appear to be as depressed as the rest of us. Believe me watching Argyle is utterly soul destroying - ask sensible.
He is still in his darkened room Mrs LaLa....and hoping tomorrows game is washed out........that nervous tick in his left eye does seem to be getting worse.....but give him credit he still goes.......Coat on ...nice green and white scarf wrapped neatly around his neck by Mrs sensible.......vacuum flask tucked in his bag for him as well. Open front door and put legs on to auto drive setting.....with Central Park, stand ,row and seat number programmed in to his personal Argyle sat-nav and off he goes. When the final whistle goes he comes out of this self induced supporters trance and can't remember where he is or what the hell he is doing.......that's when his faithful trusted friends lead him by the arm to their nearby watering hole and over a few jars put Argyles world right........as he wanders home later... he will find Mrs sensible anxiously peeping out from behind the net curtains hoping that he hasn't flipped at the match and got himself arrested.......when she sees him coming.....she nips out to the kitchen and gets his cup of cocoa on the boil....and hopes that the stress hasn't unsettled sensible too much and he will be able to sleep later.
So just to clear up the expat rules here: Posts that slag anything and everything to do with Argyle are acceptable and a valid opinion。 Posts that have any positivity， logic or in this case just a little common decency (what a welcome to a new player) are obviously banned (although at the moment that just seems to extend to all posters in general) " All animals are equal but some are more equal than others" George Orwell
Sorry guys but I have to agree with LaLa ..... watching Argyle over the last 5 seasons I can liken to having your teeth extracted one by one without any anesthetic !
Everyone is entitled to an opinion whether they attend or not. In life though the best informed is the one that witnesses first hand. I don't want to criticise and I certainly don't boo anyone. I more tut frustratedly like the old person I am. The fact is that the football has been bloody aweful to sit through in almost every match. For every decent game there have been four or five following that have been pants. The criticism I have is when people tell other people that they should spend their money, having spent none of their own, and just put up with whatever they are served up. If they don't do this then it is THEIR fault if the p*ss poor entertainment is no longer available. The simple point about this new loan signing is asking the question what is he likely to bring to the party. As one who quotes statistics freely notdistant then the answer on paper appears to be nothing very much. We already have players who fit into the same category as this new one appears to. For a club that is allegedly struggling financially then why are they spending money on a risk that they don't apparently have when if they are going to risk it spend money on somebody with a better track record. The logic is that we should not have signed this player and should have gone for a better option. Now he may turn out to be very good. I personally will wait and see on that one. With players who are lets say injury prone our track record isn't exactly very good is it statistically speaking. We may not get a full 90 minutes out of this favour done by Fletcher's best buddy before he has to go back. Or January arrives and we sign him on a free even though he is in the sickbay.
Had a logical reply for you Sensible but better stick to the rules。。。。。Fletcher out， Brent out， all our players are crap， injured or uncontrolable (except on paper obviously) What makes you think that people who cannot attend every match do not spend their own money？ I pay for 2 season tickets， Argyle player and purchase numerous shirts and merchandise every year so perhaps I may be allowed to express my opinion but had better wait for clarification on that point.
As far as I'm concerned there are no rules on who posts an opinion mexijan and as said above anyone is entitled to one attendee or not. It has nothing to do with what you pay out it is about what you see which is my point. You may buy 2 season tickets but you cannot witness very often. I'm assuming it is your's who you buy the tickets for. They must surely tell you how carp it is. You would have to be very very green tinted in the extreme to think it is any good most of the time. Don't hold back on my part I seldom take offence whatever anyone has to say unless it is family personal and then I find it unneccessary. Please give me your logical reply as I'm curious now and this is a football forum for opinions. Don't ever believe anything plym tells you though as if you believe anything he has posted above about my matchday then he clearly lives in fantasy land somewhere. All I hear is a cheer when I'm on my way down the path to football. No flask, no sandwiches, no pasty and there is no way I would let the Mrs anywhere near my neck with a scarf. I generally hide anything with a sharp point or that can be used to garotte when I'm in the house. He might be a bit right about the after match affect though.
I regards to this signing where has it been said what the deal is? How do we know what if anything we are paying for the loan? Considering the money spent to date on our signings it seems to be pretty clear that this competitive budget promised may well be not as competitive as suggested. So it could well be that the favors called in are in regards to the deal rather than the actual player himself. If there is money available then it is a case of what we can beg, borrow or steal and with Wotton weeks away then is a holding midfielder such a stupid signing. Using Houri or Young in this position is not playing to their strengths and Gurri,PCH,Baz really is not an option so Lowry is about only cover we have and he is not long back from a long term injury, plus it is not really his natural position from what I have read. With loans ending another injury or card would leave us even weaker in an already weak area. So if it is on the cheap or free then is it really that bad a signing? Having watched Argyle home and away through the 80s and 90s I have seen some pretty dismal sides and never once considered not going or booing and yes I would rather be able to watch them no matter how bad they are. I probably see more games a year that a fair few posters on here and have a slightly longer commute than most.
A couple of points if I may as I sit here full of very green tinted optimism ahead of today's game. Funnily enough I actually enjoy the experience of going to each match, as does my 14 year old who is now in his third year of having a season ticket-feel his pain- all he has witnessed is the dramatic slide down the tables, possible liquidation and the saving of the club by a business man who by his own admission knows little about football. Having looked forward to a stable season it looks likely that we will be involved with the bottom few for some time to come; BUT even at his age he wouldn't dream about doing anything else on matchday except walking up the hill and fully getting behind the team. Like many others he dissects tactics, team selection, signings and all things green, and poor performance brings a negative response but the good thing about football is "there is always the next match" to look forward to with enthusiasm. What confuses me about this and other boards (and I accept this may be a failing on my part) is comments from those that don't attend because its rubbish, but still feel the urge to spend time criticizing everything associated with the club. I have no problem with and welcome the opinions of those who can't go due to illness, other commitments, geographical location or finances etc (having spent 30+ years in the RN I missed many games/seasons in my early career) but those who chose not to bother to turn out belong to the "Fickle element" that provoked such a grumpy response to one of my previous posts. So if we win today we will be delighted; if we lose, my son will sulk and i will kick the cat and drink too much red wine, but by tomorrow we will look forward to the next game-IMO that is what supporting a football club is all about. In terms of Moseley (after all that is what this thread is about) , although WOTTON is not the player he once was, I think we have missed him whilst injured as he is probably the one midfielder that breaks the opposition play up when they have the ball- albeit not always legally!. Perhaps Moseley has been brought in to do a similar sort of job for a month. As I know nothing of him other than the comments on here, I will keep my powder dry until I have watched him play but surely bringing someone in to to provide another option cant be a bad move?-lets at least give him a chance.
Lalala As I clearly and very deliberately said, " Everyone is entitled to to make their own decision as to whether to go or not.". However, there are also very clear implications of that for the club's finances, especially given they were brought to wrack & ruin a year ago. You cannot disassociate deciding not to go when you could (exceptions made for those unwell, unable to afford it, having other commitments or too far away, like Plymborn or Mexijan etc etc) and the inevitable consequences. You cannot rely on Brent to fund the club's losses forever - indeed you couldn't rely on ANY owner to fund losses in perpetuity. If you feel that strongly, don't go but don't deny the consequences. You might as well try to deny gravity. I won't say this again, it's getting very boring but there seem to be quite a few who just don't get it, a bit like the Flat Earth Society or the Evolution Deniers. Personally, I think the worst of the boo-boy knuckle-draggers are inhibiting chances of improvement, given that we have a lot of youngsters out there most Saturdays. I think that's part of the reason we do badly at home. How would you expect a teenage son of yours to react to a barrage of abuse if he was playing for Argyle, like Luke Young has for example, at 19 years old? Despite what I've just said, I'm unsure whether that lot are better off handing over their cash and booing everything in sight or just staying away altogether.
Oh gawd I seem to have upset the ex-pats it wasn't my purpose to offend it's just that with Distant I get the impression he is preaching from his DISTANT high horse and I don't think that anyone who doesn't attend (for whatever reason) is in a position to preach to others how to spend their money. OK I get it Distant, you are saying it's ok to stay away but we (including yourself I guess) must suffer the consequences if we do so. That is up to those who are in a position to attend though eh? I remember anglo_dutch (from the old BBC606) used to always be banging on about gate numbers and how it was our duty to attend matches - all the way from Holland! I used to get wound up with him over it too. When I posted my earlier comments it was largely aimed at Distant (and someone else who's name escapes me right now) but it was most definately not aimed at you BC or you Mexi - I don't recall either of you persistantly banging on about attendances. Hope that clears things up.
Mrs LaLa........you haven't upset me.........I feel to go every week like sensible does is what a true dedicated supporter is....and I commend what he is doing. Being an ex-pat I have it far easier.....I just see the result unfolding before me on the BBC Argyle match page.....and have not been subjected to the dross that is regularly seen by those that attend each home game........so my down time is less than those that view it at first hand.
Thanks for clearing that up Mrs Lalala..you know i would be at the game if i could. Just having my morning coffee at 6.44am before the 7am kick off..hope you Guys are keeping dry as i watch the snow level creep down the mountains.
Lalala I am not preaching, I am pointing out a simple fact, that if gates are lower, there will be fewer, poorer players and in time an increased risk of the club getting into financial trouble again. I can't see how that's controversial, how could anyone say anything else? On a related topic, we've been discussing elsewhere the established statistical fact that a club's position in the league is determined mainly by the size of its wage budget. Compared to that, the influence of the average manager is small, either in a positive or negative direction. So those that are presumably staying away until Fletcher gets the sack are harming the club twice: they are depriving the club of ticket sales AND when Fletcher does go, he'll have to be paid off, diverting money which could otherwise be spent on players. A real vicious circle.... Oh and a minor point - it's not just the stay-aways who suffer the consequences of their actions... we all do.
Credit to Mark Moseley for playing well for the whole game......first game of the season on the minimum of training that he has managed.
Let me start by saying I was premature regarding Moseley. When he started I thought he looked like a carthorse. But appearances can obviously be quite deceptive. He was my man of the match as well lyndhurst and it was only when he was on the ball that I thought we showed any real threat. He looks ungainly when he moves but is infact quite mobile. If he maintains that, and doesn't do a Rhys Griffiths, then we have a useful recruit. Moving on to people attending. Of course it is obvious that numbers through the turnstyles dictate greatly at this level. That is so obvious that it isn't worth even bothering to comment on that in itself. However, what I do comment on, and keep commenting on, is why anyone at the club should expect people to pay to watch what they are offering. There are those who will always go like myself and lyndhurst but anyone who knows Argyle also knows that they have a potential of 3 to 4000 floaters who need to be encouraged. There is nothing much on offer to encourage me as such let alone that section of the potential crowd. I would love there to be 7/8000 there every matchday. Can I balme those who are missing? Absolutely not. They are not the stalwarts like me and they need to be given something for their £20. Why should they come. The entertainment is hardly worthy of the name, the results are even worse and nobody at the club seems to see what the problems are. What you cannot do is criticise people for not going when you don't either from afar or from the City itself. If Brent were to allow this kind of failure in his other business ventures then he would be out of business. He knows this and would not tollerate it anywhere else but seems to at the Football club. Why does he think this one is different from all of the rest. Does he think that Janners in general are thick and will put up with anything. He will find out very soon that they aren't and the rot in numbers is beginning to show. It's his own fault to a degree because he shows little sign of doing anything about it which is the main reason people are and will continue to stay away.
So how large exactly is the fabled Green Army then Sensible? I'm not one to kick the club when it's down but there seems to be an impression that we're like Newcastle or Leeds [or even "little" Norwich] in terms of the size & loyalty of our fan base. From what you're saying we're deluding ourselves and we're pretty much where we belong..........
The fabled green army is exactly that notdistant as you well know already. Fabled. In this league if we were up top then we would get 7/8000. Not 14/15 or even 10000. If we went up and did well then that would go up to 9/10000 at best. If we went up again then that would rise to 12/14000. Nowhere in the Norwich or Newcastle range and we never have been for donkeys years. The time for mega thousands was when football was much bigger, and cheaper, everywhere and it was the working man's fix on a weekend. However, it is bigger than Cheltenham, it is bigger than Dagenham and the absolute vast majority in this league again as you well know. If the product is right then sufficient will come. If the product is poor as it is then the numbers will fall. It has been thus for a long time now. As you well know notdistant. The only reason the club has held on to it's numbers for so long despite the fall is the Admin backs to the wall syndrome. People got caught up in it and gave a loyalty they have not shown for a long time. This however is disappearing fast now and is no shock to anyone or it shouldn't be. There is only so long that people feel that loyal when getting nothing in return. The rule is the same the whole world over in business. Provide what the public want and you will stay in business. Dont and you will go to the wall. It's quite a simple rule really. The shock for example when Woolworths went to the wall. Reason being not enough customers. Ergo the company were clearly not providing what people wanted at the price they wanted it. Had they put an Ad in the papers to say they were in trouble and needed more loyal customers do you think they would have got them? Doubt it personally as they still would not have been providing what the public wanted. Answer would have been to change and bring the customers back. They didn't and the Company is no more. Does Brent want a business? Over to him then to change things.
