If……………….

By: Jim | January 15th, 2008

I apologise. The temptation to reference Rudyard Kipling’s sententious and overblown paean to the Imperial stiff upper lip is currently just too strong. And it is, undeniably, the case that, if Paul Sturrock can keep his head while all about him are losing theirs, our season might, might just not be over. Yes, losing Ebanks-Blake (Argyle’s best bet for that mythical beast, the 20-goal-a-season man, since Tommy Tynan) to play-off rivals Wolves is a body blow. It almost makes it worse, that our Board and management could do nothing but fume impotently from the sidelines, given the presence of a £1.5 million release clause in SEB’s contract. Moreover, it sends out decidedly unambitious signals to the “gems” currently having their heads turned by interest from other rivals. And if any of them – Norris, Halmosi or Seip – were to have offers accepted for them, then I think we could justifiably write 07-08 off as (another) season of disappointed hope.

But just indulge me for a moment, and suppose that the resolve of Paul Stapleton, the Chuckle Brother lookalike currently in charge of the balance sheet at Home Park, is stiff enough to resist the filthy lucre of Ipswich/Saints/Leicester/Wolves/Wigan. And further suppose that the monies raised from the sale of SEB and 17 year old starlet Dan Gosling to Everton are immediately and in full made available to Luggy to purchase more-than-adequate replacements. It’s not inconceivable that we could arrive at February 1st with a stronger squad than we had on December 31. Unlikely, but not inconceivable. Imagine a set of forwards consisting of, say, Riordan, Cox, Easter, Jutkiewicz, Andrew, Barnes. Doesn’t that look better than SEB, Hayles, Easter, Fallon, Chadwick? Now imagine a midfield of Halmosi, Folly, Whelan, Norris, Clark? Looks a bit better than Halmosi, Nalis, Norris, Hodges, Martin, no? And almost anyone we bring in is likely to be an improvement on Connolly and Hodges at full-back.

The stars have to be told, in words of one syllable, that PAFC will not entertain any offers for them from other clubs. The ‘four or five’ deals apparently set to be concluded this week need – despite Luggy’s protestations – to include a “name”, if for no other reason than to steady the nerves of the players. What musn’t happen is that the money from Gosling/SEB gets squirreled away for the completion of the stadium and we confine our transfer activity to a bunch of lower-league who-are-yas and assorted Scotch journeymen (see History of Argyle passim and especially The Williamson Year And A Bit). In Luggy We Trust, all right. Can’t say the same for Jannergang, though.