One Game at a Time: You’re Only Here for the Pasties
Die Eulen (H) October 25th
To the best of my knowledge (and there will be plenty to correct me if I am wrong), the sadly late great Sir Bobby Charlton only graced the Home Park turf once. That game in March 1975, for Preston as player manager, saw England’s greatest number nine outscored two to one by one of his successors, Paul Mariner. I can still remember Charlton’s goal, a fizzing drive with the usual minimal back lift. At the time, an equaliser five minutes from the end was the last thing I wanted. Mariner’s late header, long erased from this fans recall, gave me the result I wanted, but the memory of seeing Bobby Charlton score is the thing that lingers.
Charlton was not a success as a manager, but, in reality, he didn’t need to be. His first game for Preston was the season opener against Argyle at Deepdale, where a dodgy call over a Delve shot that crossed the line off the bar, (sounds familiar) meant Argyle were denied a draw.
The word legend is bandied around far too easily. Bobby Charlton was, and will always be, a legend. RIP.
The news of his death, announce at half time at football grounds across the country and which allowed for a genuine and humbling outpouring of appreciation for a life well lived, will be remembered long after a goalless draw against the Baggies has faded away.
Six changes for Schuey, with the long-anticipated return of Mike Cooper the most notable. It was always a question of when the best keeper outside the EPL was going to retake his place, not if, and whilst Conor Hazard has done little wrong, in the same way Callum Burton had last season, Argyle are blessed with a standout talent between the posts.
Also back was Lewis Gibson, another young player of immense promise, and a back four once again for Argyle this time seemed to grow in confidence, in part from the calmness exuded by their returning stopper, whose distribution is a step or two up on our other keepers and which gives a quicker tempo to our starting of attacks.
In truth a stodgy Albion, suffering from a host of injuries and the hamstrung transfer market for Carlos Corbaron, whilst the club unravels itself from the latest overseas chancers that somehow were deemed fit and proper owners, and then allowed to plunder the clubs funds for their own purposes, only tested Cooper once.
At the other end, former Pilgrim loanee Alex Palmer, granted a deserved and, I suspect, unexpected ovation from the Green Army when he made his way to the noisy end of the ground, was busier and made two excellent saves, as well as being grateful that Morgs shot that beat him comprehensively,rebounded off the post.
A game of nine cards, including seven yellows for Argyle, also spoke to the fact that the short international break has been used to instil a “they shall not pass” attitude that will be needed at times. The end result, whilst a good away point, means that Argyle now sit 21st, with only the three sides that occupy the relegation zone keeping them afloat. Equally one more win leaps the team into mid-table set to chase the play-off groups, such is the compressed nature of the Championship this season.
It also underlines that Fortress Home Park, breached twice in a week in an unfamiliar experience, needs to return to its previous impenetrable history, as next up come the familiar sight of Sheffield Wednesday, but with the unfamiliar sight of newly appointed head coach Danny Rohl in the dugout. He may be expecting a familiar accent when he clocks the name Schumacher on the teamsheet (a kind of heil fellow well met, perhaps) having arrived from the German National team via Bayern Munich Southampton and RB Leipzig, and for once Schuey will be the elder statesman on the sidelines. Roy Hodgson would probably think he is a ballboy.
Rohls arrival at Argyles erstwhile opponents in the three horse race at the top of last seasons League 1 caps a bizarre six months or so for the Sheffield club. Seemingly coasting under Darren Moore towards an automatic berth, The Wendies became becalmed as both Argyle and Ipswich set a ferocious end of season pace. Third, on a remarkable 96 points, which would have won the title in many seasons past, Wednesday set about tossing away whole seasons work in ninety minutes at London Road. Then, trailing by four goals, Moore somehow inspired his side to a five one victory in extra time that allowed them to remarkably win through on penalties.
A Yorkshire derby against Barnsley at Wembley was then decided by the last touch of the game as Josh Windass scored an extra time decider to secure the promotion place that, whilst their seasons performance deserved it, their method of delivering it was nerve shreddingly unorthodox.
It is said that winning promotion via the Play-offs is the best and worst way of doing it. The best for the occasion and the enjoyment for the fans, but the worst for the preparation for the following season. Luckily for Darren Moore the club Chairman promised the fans a tilt at the play-offs and a top six budget. Perhaps naively, given the Chairmans past grasp of football finances had resulted in a points deduction and relegation from the Championship in the first place, Moore thought that he and his coaching team might be rewarded for delivering the promotion, albeit via the back-door.
In the most Dickensian of discussions," please sir may we have some more" became, "no you may not and what’s more, there’s the door, Moore". The shock departure of the manager who had taken them up, was followed by a spawling ranting diatribe from the Chairman that suggested he was, in effect, taking his financial bat and ball home, that Moore had demanded a massive pay rise, and the fans would have to not only shut up, but put up, with hefty price rises to fund the clubs budget deficit, and the most remarkable of all, ten year season tickets which could only be paid for in cash.
Having decided no more Moore, the big Tuna cahuna appointed Xisco Munoz, ex of Watford where he was fired after seeing the club into the EPL, followed by spells with Huesca (Spain) and Anorthosis (Cyprus). Having started his managerial career at Dinamo Tbilisi with a 72% win percentage, Munoz stats declined as his career descended the leagues, but having parachuted into Hillsborough, the Wednesday fans were prepared to give him a chance, as he started to sign players from the Spanish and Italian leagues with international pedigrees.
Twelve games into the season with a win percentage of zero percent in all competitions, the Xisco inferno was extinguished with the Owls having secured a grand total of three points and rooted to the foot of the table. Munoz, his brother (and assistant) and the rest of the coaching side departed, leaving Chansiri to spring the surprise of landing the ex-German National team coach, who apparently, he had wanted all along.
Rohl, whose previous experience as a coach in the UK was working for Ralf Hassenhutl at Southampton before his return to Germany, having followed him from Red Bull arrives with a burgeoning reputation as a forward thinking and positive coach, and was quickly plunged into the maelstrom of the Championship with an away match at Watford.
Napoleon always asked of his generals, no matter how competent, “but is he lucky?”. It appeared early in the second half of the game at Vicarage Road that Rohl was indeed a bit jammy, when a perfectly fair tackle was adjudged a penalty for the Owls. To paraphrase Gary Lineker, football is a game where twenty-two men chase a ball and in the end a German gets a dodgy penalty. Except in this case an intervening assistant (or possibly a fourth official with an iPad) pointed out the error and penalty became a corner.Maybe they showed it on the big screen? That always goes well at Wednesday.
A late Watford winner means that Rohl has already equalled Munoz’s win percentage, and the club that have now not scored for five matches trail the coveted spot currently occupied by Argyle by nine (effectively ten with their minus 13 goal difference) points having scored five league goals so far in twelve matches, or one less that Argyle managed against Norwich.
Of course, explaining that to a rational football fan simply sends them into a flat spin, fitting the traditional narrative of irrational thoughts which include opposition goalies always play well against us, if a side can’t score then they are bound to do so against us, and the overall application of Murphys Law, that is something can go wrong, it will.
The wisdom of crowds is a general tenet that people, when making a decision as a group, will make a better one than you make as individuals. As any fan will tell you the wisdom of football crowds is in almost inverse proportion to the normal tenet. I first encountered the concept when starting work for a major multinational as a graduate on a training course. Each person had to rank a series of items in importance of survival after a plane crash, individually. They then do the same exercise as a group and comparing the answers the deviation from the best expert solution is invariably less with the group.
In my exercise, the most entertaining group was a team of alpha males who effectively spent almost all of their three hours arguing over who should be the leader, and then who should have the gun. Based on the video evidence the answer was none of them. Another group spent the whole-time ignoring input from the only female, despite the fact she had military experience and was suggesting sensible ideas, but was eventually so frustrated she simply sat back in silence.
When asked afterwards in the group review, by the course leader, why she did not make her case more forcibly, she simply looked her colleagues in the group in the eyes one by one and said “ I enjoyed imagining them dying.” Teamwork eh?
A group of owls is commonly known as a Parliament, in part because of the idea that associates them with wisdom (Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom is represented by an owl). C S Lewis refers to a council of wise owls in his Narnia series of books, which has helped spread the idea, as has the wise old Owl, Wol, in Winnie the Pooh.
In fact, Lewis was satirising a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, called a Parliament of Foules, where all the birds of the world convene to find their mate on St Valentines Day.
That we will have a close to capacity Home Park when for once, after multiple attempts last season, we finally get to play Wednesday on a Wednesday, gives us a chance to get on a roll against Rohl. Fifteen hundred canoeing owls will be paddling Southwest for the contest, which is a damn fine showing for a midweek game on the red button!
Our prodigal prodigy is back in the goal, and it is time to send the fans away from FHP with a spring in their step. Let’s continue the process started at Albion, when the team wised up and start to climb the table.
COYG!!!!
Die Eulen (H) October 25th
To the best of my knowledge (and there will be plenty to correct me if I am wrong), the sadly late great Sir Bobby Charlton only graced the Home Park turf once. That game in March 1975, for Preston as player manager, saw England’s greatest number nine outscored two to one by one of his successors, Paul Mariner. I can still remember Charlton’s goal, a fizzing drive with the usual minimal back lift. At the time, an equaliser five minutes from the end was the last thing I wanted. Mariner’s late header, long erased from this fans recall, gave me the result I wanted, but the memory of seeing Bobby Charlton score is the thing that lingers.
Charlton was not a success as a manager, but, in reality, he didn’t need to be. His first game for Preston was the season opener against Argyle at Deepdale, where a dodgy call over a Delve shot that crossed the line off the bar, (sounds familiar) meant Argyle were denied a draw.
The word legend is bandied around far too easily. Bobby Charlton was, and will always be, a legend. RIP.
The news of his death, announce at half time at football grounds across the country and which allowed for a genuine and humbling outpouring of appreciation for a life well lived, will be remembered long after a goalless draw against the Baggies has faded away.
Six changes for Schuey, with the long-anticipated return of Mike Cooper the most notable. It was always a question of when the best keeper outside the EPL was going to retake his place, not if, and whilst Conor Hazard has done little wrong, in the same way Callum Burton had last season, Argyle are blessed with a standout talent between the posts.
Also back was Lewis Gibson, another young player of immense promise, and a back four once again for Argyle this time seemed to grow in confidence, in part from the calmness exuded by their returning stopper, whose distribution is a step or two up on our other keepers and which gives a quicker tempo to our starting of attacks.
In truth a stodgy Albion, suffering from a host of injuries and the hamstrung transfer market for Carlos Corbaron, whilst the club unravels itself from the latest overseas chancers that somehow were deemed fit and proper owners, and then allowed to plunder the clubs funds for their own purposes, only tested Cooper once.
At the other end, former Pilgrim loanee Alex Palmer, granted a deserved and, I suspect, unexpected ovation from the Green Army when he made his way to the noisy end of the ground, was busier and made two excellent saves, as well as being grateful that Morgs shot that beat him comprehensively,rebounded off the post.
A game of nine cards, including seven yellows for Argyle, also spoke to the fact that the short international break has been used to instil a “they shall not pass” attitude that will be needed at times. The end result, whilst a good away point, means that Argyle now sit 21st, with only the three sides that occupy the relegation zone keeping them afloat. Equally one more win leaps the team into mid-table set to chase the play-off groups, such is the compressed nature of the Championship this season.
It also underlines that Fortress Home Park, breached twice in a week in an unfamiliar experience, needs to return to its previous impenetrable history, as next up come the familiar sight of Sheffield Wednesday, but with the unfamiliar sight of newly appointed head coach Danny Rohl in the dugout. He may be expecting a familiar accent when he clocks the name Schumacher on the teamsheet (a kind of heil fellow well met, perhaps) having arrived from the German National team via Bayern Munich Southampton and RB Leipzig, and for once Schuey will be the elder statesman on the sidelines. Roy Hodgson would probably think he is a ballboy.
Rohls arrival at Argyles erstwhile opponents in the three horse race at the top of last seasons League 1 caps a bizarre six months or so for the Sheffield club. Seemingly coasting under Darren Moore towards an automatic berth, The Wendies became becalmed as both Argyle and Ipswich set a ferocious end of season pace. Third, on a remarkable 96 points, which would have won the title in many seasons past, Wednesday set about tossing away whole seasons work in ninety minutes at London Road. Then, trailing by four goals, Moore somehow inspired his side to a five one victory in extra time that allowed them to remarkably win through on penalties.
A Yorkshire derby against Barnsley at Wembley was then decided by the last touch of the game as Josh Windass scored an extra time decider to secure the promotion place that, whilst their seasons performance deserved it, their method of delivering it was nerve shreddingly unorthodox.
It is said that winning promotion via the Play-offs is the best and worst way of doing it. The best for the occasion and the enjoyment for the fans, but the worst for the preparation for the following season. Luckily for Darren Moore the club Chairman promised the fans a tilt at the play-offs and a top six budget. Perhaps naively, given the Chairmans past grasp of football finances had resulted in a points deduction and relegation from the Championship in the first place, Moore thought that he and his coaching team might be rewarded for delivering the promotion, albeit via the back-door.
In the most Dickensian of discussions," please sir may we have some more" became, "no you may not and what’s more, there’s the door, Moore". The shock departure of the manager who had taken them up, was followed by a spawling ranting diatribe from the Chairman that suggested he was, in effect, taking his financial bat and ball home, that Moore had demanded a massive pay rise, and the fans would have to not only shut up, but put up, with hefty price rises to fund the clubs budget deficit, and the most remarkable of all, ten year season tickets which could only be paid for in cash.
Having decided no more Moore, the big Tuna cahuna appointed Xisco Munoz, ex of Watford where he was fired after seeing the club into the EPL, followed by spells with Huesca (Spain) and Anorthosis (Cyprus). Having started his managerial career at Dinamo Tbilisi with a 72% win percentage, Munoz stats declined as his career descended the leagues, but having parachuted into Hillsborough, the Wednesday fans were prepared to give him a chance, as he started to sign players from the Spanish and Italian leagues with international pedigrees.
Twelve games into the season with a win percentage of zero percent in all competitions, the Xisco inferno was extinguished with the Owls having secured a grand total of three points and rooted to the foot of the table. Munoz, his brother (and assistant) and the rest of the coaching side departed, leaving Chansiri to spring the surprise of landing the ex-German National team coach, who apparently, he had wanted all along.
Rohl, whose previous experience as a coach in the UK was working for Ralf Hassenhutl at Southampton before his return to Germany, having followed him from Red Bull arrives with a burgeoning reputation as a forward thinking and positive coach, and was quickly plunged into the maelstrom of the Championship with an away match at Watford.
Napoleon always asked of his generals, no matter how competent, “but is he lucky?”. It appeared early in the second half of the game at Vicarage Road that Rohl was indeed a bit jammy, when a perfectly fair tackle was adjudged a penalty for the Owls. To paraphrase Gary Lineker, football is a game where twenty-two men chase a ball and in the end a German gets a dodgy penalty. Except in this case an intervening assistant (or possibly a fourth official with an iPad) pointed out the error and penalty became a corner.Maybe they showed it on the big screen? That always goes well at Wednesday.
A late Watford winner means that Rohl has already equalled Munoz’s win percentage, and the club that have now not scored for five matches trail the coveted spot currently occupied by Argyle by nine (effectively ten with their minus 13 goal difference) points having scored five league goals so far in twelve matches, or one less that Argyle managed against Norwich.
Of course, explaining that to a rational football fan simply sends them into a flat spin, fitting the traditional narrative of irrational thoughts which include opposition goalies always play well against us, if a side can’t score then they are bound to do so against us, and the overall application of Murphys Law, that is something can go wrong, it will.
The wisdom of crowds is a general tenet that people, when making a decision as a group, will make a better one than you make as individuals. As any fan will tell you the wisdom of football crowds is in almost inverse proportion to the normal tenet. I first encountered the concept when starting work for a major multinational as a graduate on a training course. Each person had to rank a series of items in importance of survival after a plane crash, individually. They then do the same exercise as a group and comparing the answers the deviation from the best expert solution is invariably less with the group.
In my exercise, the most entertaining group was a team of alpha males who effectively spent almost all of their three hours arguing over who should be the leader, and then who should have the gun. Based on the video evidence the answer was none of them. Another group spent the whole-time ignoring input from the only female, despite the fact she had military experience and was suggesting sensible ideas, but was eventually so frustrated she simply sat back in silence.
When asked afterwards in the group review, by the course leader, why she did not make her case more forcibly, she simply looked her colleagues in the group in the eyes one by one and said “ I enjoyed imagining them dying.” Teamwork eh?
A group of owls is commonly known as a Parliament, in part because of the idea that associates them with wisdom (Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom is represented by an owl). C S Lewis refers to a council of wise owls in his Narnia series of books, which has helped spread the idea, as has the wise old Owl, Wol, in Winnie the Pooh.
In fact, Lewis was satirising a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, called a Parliament of Foules, where all the birds of the world convene to find their mate on St Valentines Day.
That we will have a close to capacity Home Park when for once, after multiple attempts last season, we finally get to play Wednesday on a Wednesday, gives us a chance to get on a roll against Rohl. Fifteen hundred canoeing owls will be paddling Southwest for the contest, which is a damn fine showing for a midweek game on the red button!
Our prodigal prodigy is back in the goal, and it is time to send the fans away from FHP with a spring in their step. Let’s continue the process started at Albion, when the team wised up and start to climb the table.
COYG!!!!
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