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Cooper on travel at Argyle (incl general location chat)
- Thread starter GU7Green
- Start date
What's wrong with it, apart from its not called a Motorway? There's plenty of very good dual carriageway A roads across the country with enough capacity, speed and usable services that you'd get with a motorway - A38 between Exeter and Plymouth included.
Yeah its a dump, but you worry about that after you've booked a flight from there to Dublin for £35.
"Expressway" is the official term used by the D of T for a grade separated road that doesn't have the characteristics or restrictions of a motorway.
Sometimes sections of expressway have been upgraded to Motorway but for continuity purposes have retained their numbering such as the A1(M) but that wouldn't apply here.
God this has gone off topic
Agree way off topic, I expect we will be moved! Are you sure an expressway is an official category? Cannot see mention of it on the internet except in the context of new roads that would be designated with an (M) and have requirements that A38 cannot fulfill such as only slipway junctions (and it is not clear to me the category ever went ahead anyway)"Expressway" is the official term used by the D of T for a grade separated road that doesn't have the characteristics or restrictions of a motorway.
Sometimes sections of expressway have been upgraded to Motorway but for continuity purposes have retained their numbering such as the A1(M) but that wouldn't apply here.
God this has gone off topic
I don’t think the club should move. That would be plain silly. However I think there is some mileage in having a groiund sharing agreement with eg Woking from which “ reserve “ type games could be played. It might open up the opportunity to play in London leagues and give access to the rack em and stack em players when their “ glamorous” clubs run into trouble.
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The chances of this happening after the investment in Brickfields and land purchases re Harpers is virtually nil, I imagine. And goes against our values of being One Argyle and based in the heart of the community.
A price too high to pay, I think.
You remind me of something a player from a time gone by told me .For some years I have been interviewing players from the late 50s and early 60s. Travel was always a topic of conversation. Some said about how good it was for bonding but on the road infrastructure in those days (the Ridgeway and the road down through Lee Mill was the main A38) an away game at Middlesbrough at 1500 on a Saturday required the bus to set off early on Thursday morning. The club did try something pretty revolutionary for the times. A damaged, beyond economical repair Dakota aircraft was being broken up at Roborough airport. The club bought the seats and fitted them into the team bus, giving the players reclining seats. There were a few tables at the back for the card schools and any injured player who needed to lay down used the bench seat at the back.
One of the players from that era, Alex Jackson, told me that a new manager-designate, Vic Buckingham, arrived at the club in March 1961. He was still manager of Ajax at the time but was working his notice. They played on a Sunday so he used to fly across on a Thursday and return to Holland on a Saturday night. Jackson told me: "This Buckingham fellow gets us together after training and tells us a few things he will be changing when he takes over. Being a Scot, I was never fond of posh accents, so from the start he had something to prove. First off, he tells us that too many of us are driving to training and that all that sitting down is damaging to the muscles in your legs. Where possible, you need to walk. Well, Steve, I cannot believe what I have heard and cannot help but ask him how he thinks we get travel to away games. He suggests we stop the bus for twenty minutes out of every hour. By now most of the players are falling about laughing. Our skipper, Johnny Newman, asks the man if he knows how long it already takes if we are playing Newcastle, Sunderland and that. He scoffs and says we need to 'give it a try'. Fortunately, Buckingham reneged on his deal with our chairman and in May 1961 left and went to Sheffield Wednesday. No one was too sad to see him go."
I don't think it is the standard of the A38 from Exeter to Plymouth that is the problem, rather it's the length of it and the fact that you have to get to/from Exeter on the M5 or A303 before/after you complete the A38 stretch. It would be much better if they moved the Exeter end 50 miles further east and shortened the A38 section to, say, 10-20 miles. Surely that wouldn't be too difficult to achieve in this day and age...?
Yeah it is an official term when it refers to parts of the strategic road network (or trunk roads in old money)
Hence the A38 Devon Expressway is officially deemed an Expressway, whereas the A380 which has mostly the same characteristics isnt!
Expressway - Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki
Which will be inadequate unless they can use a professional clubs training facilities.
There is no doubt that travelling on a coach for hours on end will be detrimental to the physicality of the players, both travelling there and travelling back and it will be mentally exhausting also. Disruption to the matchday routine can and does disrupt the players when travelling such long distances on a regular basis.
Other clubs have these long distances once or twice a season. We have to do it on every away match. It is not ideal preparation for a matchday, is it?
Interesting (although obviously boring to normal people…). Certainly not a well publicised designation!Yeah it is an official term when it refers to parts of the strategic road network (or trunk roads in old money)
Hence the A38 Devon Expressway is officially deemed an Expressway, whereas the A380 which has mostly the same characteristics isnt!
Expressway - Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki
www.sabre-roads.org.uk
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