Plymouth Argyle have called in the administrators.

League two beckons for the Pilgrims after they've finally admitted defeat and gone into admin - first of many teams over the next year or two I think, and not all of them will survive.

My question is this, Is it really that bad a thing if football has to adjust to living within its means, resulting in some clubs going bust and possibly losing league status?

I appreciate that every club has its diehard fans who would be devastated if their local club was to fold, but in the larger scheme of things does this really matter?

My father is an Argyle fan so there's no malicious intent here, but I am curious as to whether you think football does need a good shake up or whether anybody has another solution.

 

I feel for the Argyle fans. Was it just two weeks ago that they avoided going into admin by paying the tax Bill. So what on earth has changed for them to go down this route a couple of weeks later? By doing it now though I suppose you could argue that if they cannot sustain their outlay it is better to go into admin now so that when they start the new campaign the will not start out with a with a 10 point deduction as we did.

 

I think that was the intention Beddytare. They've not officially gone into admin, they've announced an intention to appoint an administrator which gives them 10 working days to actually appoint one, or find new investment. The intent still brings a 10 point deduction though so the effect will be the same, even if they don't actually go into admin.

I think the club have been limping on, still hoping that significant promised investment from their Japanese shareholder would actually materialise. When it didn't, the board have seen no other choice.

 

it looks like they just cobbled together the monies to pay the tax man, but didn't have enough to pay their wages, so have finally succumbed. its a good thing that football in general looks to live within their means, but it is a shame if any club goes under. Clubs are not like "normal" companies, their customers, the fans have an absolute loyalty to their club, that you just dont have with your mobile phone supplier, or woolworths. It was a shame for all employees of woolworths who lost their jobs, but did it really affect the lives of their customers - no, they just bought their pick and mix from another shop, but when there is a risk that your club could go under, it is devastating! The real crime is the money that floods out of football to players, and agents - DISGUSTING!

 

Down to bottom now with 23 points. I feel for them and hope that they can get over this safely.

 

What a shame for The Green Army. But as it has already been said better to deal with it now rather than at the start of next season. Hope they manage to stay in this league & start to move off the bottom. Hard task to do. Good luck anyway.

 

Great shame, again though it has been a case of questionable new owners that have been allowed by the Football League to take ownership and control of the club, but sadly when called upon have come up with an apparent lack of actual cash.

 

There seems to be a trend of this type of buyer. It seems to be the "in thing" to own a football club. Why someone would buy a club and then let it drown does not make sense.

 

Dont know Edward, The Japanese consortium took out a majority holding then did not dig deep into their pockets when needed then along comes Ridsdale(ex Leeds)who got involved and 'rescued them' it seemed? but then, here we go again! Surely the Football League and indeed Premier League should actually demand evidence that new owners have sufficient 'cash' to keep the clubs going. Echo's of Al Fahim and Al Mirage here! !

 

Argyle can make a good start by holding the Seagulls tonight!

 

Plymouth struggle as well because they have a very small fan base. I see more people in Plymouth wearing Man U or Liverpool shirts rather than their home team. I don't understand why people don't support their local team. They seem to have a core of 4000/5000 fans, but where Plymouth is, it should be attracting Saints kind of attendences and have a big fan base as there is no club really to support in Cornwall and Exeter is on the other side of Devon.

It sums up alot of people that live down here really.

 

Not too sure I would agree with you Saintsftw Plymouth itself while an old naval town is not that large also you have a lot of rugby stalwarts down there. (or it used to when I was stationed down there) You also have gord help them a lot of Pompey supporters as well. You would think they could draw a few more in than they have each week but thats how it goes. They seem to draw as many in as Exeter. Which area for area is larger than Plymouth. Mind you the rugby interest is just as strong there as well. Any fan base us included has to draw in from far and wide. I spoke to someone I have known a while but didn't know where they lived. It seems they live within sight almost of Fratton park literally 5 minutes walk away. Yet he remains a Saints fan. He has lived in the Portsmouth area all his life too. He is a season ticket holder to boot. Most of his mates know he is a Saints fan but don't bother him although he takes some stick if we lose but hey that ain't often so not so bad!!!

 

Hopefully that will be what happens on here as we grow. Plenty of stick when we or others lose but nothing OTT. I used to work in Milton Road which is next to the FP and similarly would get loads of banter/stick when we were not doing well. Generally once you become known to the locals they accept you for who you are and not what you are perceived to be because of your colours.

 

Yes I too worked down there for a while not too far from the ground.....I never got any trouble, a lot of laughs, but Pompey were in the 4Th division then I think, we were in the old 1st division. They seemed to like the idea when we used to beat the likes of Arsenal or Chelsea and Man united. Oh happy days

 

Maybe we can finally beat the fact that our two stars never seem to be on the up at the same time. Always seems to be one of our teams has to be down when other is up. Can't seem to keep both up at the same time for long.

 

It does seem that way, heck it would be nice to have all four southern teams in one league though. You would have almost local derbies potentially around 20% of games. Now here a question....is that likely to put people off coming to home games to see these teams scrap it out? Is it likely to lead to more trouble between fans? Umm maybe I will do a thread to ask that question, may be worth it?

 

I think the club has made the correct decision to make its statement of intent now to ensure the points deduction is taken this season. Even without the -10, they would only be 2 points above the drop zone and, having lost 9 of their last 10 league games, relegation would be looking on the cards anyway.

Correct decision? I base that on the option the club could have taken to struggle on until the [probably] inevitable time when the administrators would have needed to be called in to avoid the club being wound up. If they had struggled past the cut off date [not sure when that is] it is likely that they could have ended up in League Two in August at the bottom with -10 against their name.

Good Luck Green Army

 

We echo those sentiments Devon......... Good luck Green Army.....

 

Yes it really does matter. Ask yourself this; can you honestly imagine supporting a different club? Not just following their results (as I suppose many of us do in other leagues/divisions) but truly supporting them? No way. I have red and white blood and the green army have green blood. Whilst clubs are "businesses" in the strictest sense of the word, we all know that it runs much deeper than that and ALL clubs should be afforded protection from the FA which currently does not exist. I personally believe that a straightforward (and cheap) solution is readily available and needs to be implemented to avoid constant repeats of this awful situation.

Until recently, I ran a business which was deemed a "high risk enterprise" by the OFT. This meant that I had to be audited every single year by an independent external body. Whilst their main role was to ensure that we were performing our duties appropriately, they also had to cast an eye over cashflow, forecasts and projections to ensure that we were not biting off more than we could chew and were cutting our cloth accordingly. "Recommendations" that they made were to be addressed by the next audit or you could be in trouble. Whilst my business was always fine, 43 similar companies were shut down by the OFT in 2009, before any problems effected their clients. This is a great example of how regulation works and I believe it should be applied to all football clubs.

Earlier this decade, a certain Mr Ridsdale based "his" club's revenue projections on permanent qualification for the UCL, despite having only ever done so once. When they failed to qualify the following season, this was not just a £25m hole in the revenue, it was closer to double that as he still had to pay the wages of the players already recruited to get there. And that was just year one. We all know how that ended.

An audit process would never have allowed this to happen (provided it had the relevant powers through transfer embargoes and so on) and a huge club would never have been brought to it's knees as it was. The audit process would also be able to differentiate between inept/borderline criminal cases like Leeds and passionate, committed overspending by a true owner-supporter like David Murray at Rangers for use in the Fit and Proper Person Test (which is a joke). Honestly, please tell me how Ridsdale passed the FAPPT to take over at Cardiff and then get them in court again for exactly the same thing? It beggars belief.

Clubs and their fans need protection from individuals who have it in their power to destroy clubs and their heritage.

Rant concluded!

 

I have to feel for the Plymouth fans as im sure we all know how they must be feeling - but at a tier lower than when it all started happening to us, but the deduction the same tier. I really do hope they turn it around and tbh without the deduction they were in a relegation battle anyway. They are now in a position where they have lost some key players and morale is low and crowds will thin. It could easilly be a downward spiral but i really hope they use this like crystal palace did initially and drive on and they have the facilities and potentiel support base to stay up and next season who knows.

Seems like a very very different Plymouth set up to the one we met on the opening day.

In regards to the previous comment of them being poorly supported.... that is a little unfair as when you compare this to the rest of the league they actually lay bottom of the table on points but lay 6th on average attendances. This is averaging at only 8000 so seems pretty poor but looking at reality and the league etc then thats fair enough

Good luck to them coz there a decent bunch and football in that neck of the woods is pretty sparse as it is so they deserve a succesful team!

COYRs