John Sheridan says that he is still looking for new players......it was evident on Tuesday the shallowness of his squad........with Alessandra ill....Morgan becoming a father and Blizzard injured....there was poor support from the beginning for Reid who works better with a partner than as a lone striker. Sheridan admits how hard it is to entice players to come to the most westerly and southerly club in England. It was mentioned that in Argyles Championship days it was easier to attract players to the south west.....surely that is a no brainer really..... !.....Higher level of football on offer so more attractive to players. 2.....Obviously higher wages on offer to draw players to the club. It shows the limitations that PAFC are under at present. 1.....Not far down the road from coming out of administration. 2.....Limited finance because of not living beyond our means being the sensible policy. 3.....Fourth level league football on offer.....so limited pool of players to attract (without the carrot of higher wages) What is the answer.....is Plymouth seen by players as 'one stop from America'.....are the transport links to Plymouth not fit for purpose.....too much road time for players who have families settled elsewhere.....and of course the obvious draw back of no local airport for the 13th biggest city in England......can players etc feel happy that Exeter or even Newquay are the nearest airports.....is the City of Plymouth not selling itself to tourism,business and of course top level football in the south west. Maybe the aims of PAFC doesn't attract good players who want to better their careers and of course earn better wages......remember it is a short career and injury can disrupt that as well. What is the answer.......thoughts on a postcard or even the back of a *** packet would be acceptable.....what do you think ?
This one has been trotted out for years as being the reason we hardly ever get anyone decent to come here. There might be some substance to this as an argument but I am not convinced it is as big a problem as some Managers would have us believe. Firstly location. Those that come seem to like it a lot and numerous players have stayed on after retirement. You can't tell me that word of mouth between players bad mouths this area. As for transport links well there is an airport as close as a lot of other teams have one. Exeter is not the other side of the World and is less than an hour away. Money. You can't tell me that other clubs in this league are offering more in wages generally than Argyle. We have, or should have, as good if not better a budget. Other clubs don't seem to have a problem signing players when just out of admin so that isn't much of an excuse either. It is also a fact that squads are generally smaller now due to finances so it therefore follows that there are more players seeking a contract than before. Is anyone telling me that an offer of a grand a week down here isn't attractive to someone who needs to earn a living? I don't believe that for one minute. Ambition. Well that could well be part of it. Argyle have lacked that since time began. It is even more so these days with proposals for mini stands and restricted capacity. Managers may have had some ambition but successive Boards haven't had much and I think this does become knowledge in the game over time. Why would a really good player waste his time here when he could earn the same elsewhere and potentially go places in his career. I don't think this club promotes itself enough and does too much of this kind of publicity. That is Managers moaning they can't sign players due to what it lacks rather than talking it up a bit.
