So it’s official
By: Jim | May 26th, 2008Following Hull City’s victory in the Championship play-off final yesterday, Plymouth is now the largest city in England, possibly Europe, never to have hosted top-flight football. There are reasons for that beyond the mere statistical, to do with geography, economics, sociology and culture, but it’s also worth reflecting how close we came, and wondering whether, in the cold light of post-season, it should have been us celebrating yesterday.
Stopping for a while in if-only territory, had we hung on to leads either for ten minutes more at Sheffield Wednesday or ten seconds more at home to PNE, we would have be in the mix for the play-offs on the final day. Had we hung on to both, then our destiny would have been in our own hands. And, as we know, anything can happen in the lottery that is the play-offs. If, if, if, if. If my grandmother had wheels she’d be a bus and we could all go for a ride in her. The truth is, since the Bristol City game, Blackpool apart, Argyle were woeful – an embarrassing abject shambles of a side, devoid of creativity, confidence and class and a fairly safe bet to achieve not much at all. The only reason we were still in the mix at all was because of a collective attack of the yips suffered by almost the whole of the top ten. Play-offs – we were having a laugh.
In hindsight, I think our collapse in form can be linked to three things: first, the injury and suspension suffered by Halmosi in the Watford game, making him miss two key games, Coventry away and Charlton home; the Seip debacle; and the desire of manager Paul Sturrock to make absolutely sure that releasing Paul Wotton was the correct thing to do. Halmosi’s injury was catastrophic, not just for the games that he missed – both games we could and maybe should have won that we ended up losing – but also for the way it affected his performances through the rest of the season. He remained a marginal figure, perhaps with the spectre of losing a lucrative transfer hanging over him, and it’s fair to say that we lost seven games out of Halmosi, instead of the two he nominally missed, and won only one of those.
Seip’s refusal to sit on the bench for the Charlton game obviously had a seismic effect on the morale of the squad – and moreover deprived the Greens of a critical option at centre back, given Luggy’s understandable refusal to involve him further. He’s a class player, no doubt: and we certainly missed his calm authority at the back during the run in. More than that, though, there seemed to be a lack of cohesiveness about the squad as a result, which spilled over on to the pitch and contributed to the general half-heartedness that characterised a lot of our performances. There’s talk that he might be able to rehabilitate himself: how realistic that is I don’t know, especially if some key players figure he contributed to our failure to challenge effectively at the end of the season.
The persistent pairing of Wotton and Abdou in the centre of midfield exposed more cruelly than any analysis the keenness of the Buzsaky loss. As energetic and committed as those two are, they simply did not have the passing ability or vision to be able to open teams up, or even simply begin to create momentum in attacks. Our approach play was painfully crab-like (and unSturrock-like) for far too many games in the run-in, and that was directly due to our failures in central midfield. Only when Luke Summerfield was restored to the side were we able to open teams up again. I understand Luggy’s need to assess Wotton more carefully, given his history and relationship with the club and its fans. But ultimately, by not playing Summers until it was effectively too late, we were unable to create enough chances to give ourselves a chance. That’s an easy call to make from a few weeks’ distance, I know, but still I think valid.
Much has been made in the press and on various websites of the Hull miracle, and how refreshing it is to see a “small” club in the Prem. Sorry to spoil the cliches, but this is, in the main, an almighty canard. Hull’s assault on the Prem has been meticulously planned for the best part of 8 years. In 2001, all the talk pre-season was of how Hull, with their shiny new stadium due to come to fruition, would storm the league. The KC Stadium, despite its local authority ownership, was envisaged as *the route by which Hull would achieve the Holy Grail. And so it has proved. Hull’s Board have a) never shied away from paying out significant fees and wages for good quality players; b) been happy to step aside when they have felt they don’t have the financial weight to carry the club further; and c) not let the local authority off the hook of delivering a state-of-the-art venue for the area’s football team. Compare and contrast with the actions taken by our own Board. Unable or unwilling to spend money on players; refusing to step aside or share power with those with money (despite the recent, low-key announcement of Japanese investment, unlike almost every other club in this situation NO mention has been made of ANY additional funds making their way into Luggy’s budget – in fact the reverse); and most heinously of all, jumping at the chance to let the council off the hook of their obligation to finish the job and provide the people of Plymouth with a stadium they can be proud of. Instead, the season-ticket holders pick up the tab, while the Board claim the financial rewards once it is done. Hmmmmmm.
I back Hull to stay up next season – provided, of course, Phil Brown doesn’t allow sentiment to cloud reason. As for Argyle – well, that’s another story. One involving coat-cutting and affordable cloth, I suspect. Put it this way – I don’t expect us to be handing over the mantle of “largest city never to have staged top-flight football” any time soon.
Category: Team News
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