Last night the (15th Dec) saw the Christmas get together of PASALB, at the Hoop & Grapes pub in Farringdon St just down from Holborn Viaduct. A better attended than usual meeting because of the visiting guest speakers who had come from the motherland (thats Devon to you and me). A packed meeting room upstairs had an estimated 60/70 London supporters (hard to be sure) to listen to talks from Chair of the meeting PASALB's Lee Jameson.and also Chris Webb,Peter Jones and our new owner James Brent......others had come up from Plymouth as well, including Ian Newell who was thanked for his fund raising efforts. Lee gave a London supporters overview of what had happened in the last year,thanking various people for their committment to the cause of saving PAFC.........he also presented James Brent with a plaque which gave him life long membership of PASALB. Chris Webb referred to his short but sweet reign as the Fans Trust leader.........how he loved a cause to get his teeth into.......and the way that Guilfoyle had assumed that this level of business was beyond the understanding of such as club fans.........and the support that they had for James Brent being the right man to takeover PAFC. It was only when fan groups challenged the powers that be that suddenly they were not seen anymore as just country bumkins........and their views and James Brent's determination to press on and take over the club won the day......certain individuals had been shown up as beyond contempt regarding their attitudes towards the disaster that was PAFC.........and it came over very strongly that PAFC will never underestimate the value of working with fan bases again......also strongly supported later by James Brent. Peter Jones reminded us of PAFC over the last five Decembers........showing us the disaster that was unfolding before are very eyes.......the buying of the ground and mortgaging it........the coming on board of the likes of Gardner..........the world Cup bid........the money spent towards achieving the bid..........the disaster when Englands bid failed........and the ever accelerating downward spiral from that moment. He also reminded of us of the playing squad each December......the quality of players we had.........and the changing team from year to year as players were sold year after year because of necessity..........until the start of this season when we had a team of youngsters a few pro's and not enough for a squad. James Brent told us how he was now a fan and how his family were now Argyle fans as well,also his two daughters were dead keen on following young football players.......they are 13 and 16. It was obvious that he spoke with honesty and he said things in a straight matter of fact way with no double speak etc...........He said also that it was no exaggeration that PAFC had been to hell and back, and he had a lot of admiration for the staff and players and the supporter groups that had seen it through to the end........the stories of hardship that people had gone through......losing homes,cars etc. He said also that it will take time for the wounds to heal..........don't expect sudden miracles to happen it will be a gradual process of recovery........and that 2012 will be hard. James Brent isn't afraid of Q&A sessions.......he was asked how he saw the prospect of Conference football next season.......he would be disappointed if Argyle were relegated again........he felt that what would happen in the next transfer window would hopefully be good enough to stop that happening.......loanees more than trying to buy players at this stage........there was a little financial leeway at the moment to help...........but if Argyle did go down disappointing as it would be, it would not phase him out and his committment would be the same for Argyle,Plymouth,Devon and the South West Peninsula. He answered every question without being anything but open with his answers and was in no rush to leave at the end.......talking to everyone that wanted to say hello. The evening finished with Ian Newall holding a auction of various items raising money for the staff funds. Finally the PASALB raffle was drawn by various guests........and yours truely won .....ziltch . Optimism was evident for the future of Argyle whatever happens this season in the league........and the feeling was that we had found a good owner in James Brent.
Thanks very much for the excellent report Plymborn, very interesting. We are certainly a long way from out of the woods but IF we can achieve some good results over Christmas and a couple more useful players come in in January, I'm hopeful that we may yet get to safety.
Yes I always wear my green tinted glasses-thanks very much for the detailed report on the meeting.FORWARD THE GREENS.
Interesting read plymborn and it follows all the other things I've heard and read about Brent. It does give you something to take confidence in. Roll on a successful Christmas period and the January window.
