Final positions

Despite what has been a trying season, I am confident Argyle will stay up finishing the season in 21st place.


Above Stoke, Middlesbrough and Preston.

Before the season started I predicted 19th which is now looking very overly optimistic. But I'm going to stick with that in spite of everything. Relegation and going back to Cheltenham, Exeter, Shrewsbury, Burton et al would be too horrible to even contemplate.

18th I hope.

21st would do me just aslong as we stay up. It all depends on how good we do business this month in terms of incomings and how savvy Foster is in charge to get results away from home if we can reach 16th -20th.

Angry wrote:

21st would do me just aslong as we stay up. It all depends on how good we do business this month in terms of incomings and how savvy Foster is in charge to get results away from home if we can reach 16th -20th.

We just need to carry on doing what we’re good at - collecting pointage at home. Carry on as we did in the first half of the season, then away games just become bonus points.

We need to start to get a few away wins under our belt as quick as possible be the perfect opportunity against Huddersfield to get the monkey of our backs and first away win ..cos relying on our home form is all we good but the last couple of our home games with had a dip in form with two 3all draws that’s a bit worrying specially if we’re not getting anythink away so it’s up most importance to start with this 6 pointer saturday

RegGreen wrote:

We need to start to get a few away wins under our belt as quick as possible be the perfect opportunity against Huddersfield to get the monkey of our backs and first away win ..cos relying on our home form is all we good but the last  couple of our home games with had a dip in form with two 3all draws  that’s a bit worrying specially if we’re not getting anythink away so it’s up most importance to start with this 6 pointer saturday

Agreed. Argyle have yet to play Leicester, Leeds, Ipswich etc at HP and will certainly need to pick up better results away from home than in the first half of the season. Only QPR and PNE from the bottom half of the division to visit HP so you have to doubt whether the results will be as good especially with the loss of a couple of key players. Four points from the next two games would be a good start.

Greenskin wrote:

RegGreen wrote:

We need to start to get a few away wins under our belt as quick as possible be the perfect opportunity against Huddersfield to get the monkey of our backs and first away win ..cos relying on our home form is all we good but the last  couple of our home games with had a dip in form with two 3all draws  that’s a bit worrying specially if we’re not getting anythink away so it’s up most importance to start with this 6 pointer saturday

Agreed. Argyle have yet to play Leicester, Leeds, Ipswich etc at HP and will certainly need to pick up better results away from home than in the first half of the season. Only QPR and PNE from the bottom half of the division to visit HP so you have to doubt whether the results will be as good especially with the loss of a couple of key players. Four points from the next two games would be a good start.

Two loanees are "key players"? Nobody else was that interested in offering them permanent deals in the summer or else they wouldn't have rocked up at Home Park. Even the Manager who has been working with them for the last 6/18 months hasn't offered a fee for them!

Let's hope the latest batch of loanees become "key players" so that the Club can be demonised for not signing them for next season.

Grovehill wrote:

Greenskin wrote:

RegGreen wrote:

We need to start to get a few away wins under our belt as quick as possible be the perfect opportunity against Huddersfield to get the monkey of our backs and first away win ..cos relying on our home form is all we good but the last  couple of our home games with had a dip in form with two 3all draws  that’s a bit worrying specially if we’re not getting anythink away so it’s up most importance to start with this 6 pointer saturday

Agreed. Argyle have yet to play Leicester, Leeds, Ipswich etc at HP and will certainly need to pick up better results away from home than in the first half of the season. Only QPR and PNE from the bottom half of the division to visit HP so you have to doubt whether the results will be as good especially with the loss of a couple of key players. Four points from the next two games would be a good start.

Two loanees are "key players"?  Nobody else was that interested in offering them permanent deals in the summer or else they wouldn't have rocked up at Home Park. Even the Manager who has been working with them for the last 6/18 months hasn't offered a fee for them!  

Let's hope the latest batch of loanees become "key players" so that the Club can be demonised for not signing them for next season.

If you don't think Azaz in particular, but Cundle to a lesser extent as well, were key player in most of Argyle's home wins this season then the only explanation imho is that you couldn't have been watching very closely. In Argyle's situation of course loanees can be key players or have you forgotten the part that Azaz, Mumba, Nigel, Cosgrove and Whittaker played in Argyle actually being in the championship? Azaz has been offered a permanent deal at Middlesbrough at a very nice price and i'll wager that if Argyle had been able to match that fee then they would have been very keen on signing him permanently a la Whittaker and Mumba. As for Cundle it remains to be seen if Stoke sign him permanently, i understand that there is an option to do so but whatever he contributed goals and assists during his time here. I do hope that the possibility mooted in the last sentence of your post comes to pass because if it doesn't then trouble could lie ahead.

Well, the opinion of the guy who has managed Azaz for 18 months is that he isn't worth the money Boro have paid and Cundle isn't worth a permanent contract at all!

My point was that every manager knows that loan signings are just that, they are not players that you should think about building a team around. They are NOT key players.

Grovehill wrote:

Well, the opinion of the guy who has managed Azaz for 18 months is that he isn't worth the money Boro have paid and Cundle isn't worth a permanent contract at all!

My point was that every manager knows that loan signings are just that, they are not players that you should think about building a team around.  They are NOT key players.

I think you’re splitting hairs a little, Grovey.

Azaz has been an instrumental part of our success in the last 18 months. He has played a KEY part in getting us into this league, and if we stay up, he will have played a KEY part in that, with his displays this season. Whittaker and Mumba are prime examples of what is possible if the stars all align following a successful loan period - so we can be thankful Shuey disagreed with you and had a plan to build a team around our prize asset, Whittaker.

Grovehill wrote:

Well, the opinion of the guy who has managed Azaz for 18 months is that he isn't worth the money Boro have paid and Cundle isn't worth a permanent contract at all!

My point was that every manager knows that loan signings are just that, they are not players that you should think about building a team around.  They are NOT key players.

yet they were though. 12 goals 11 assists between 2 loan stars who have now left its a huge void and one down to the management and the board for prioritising their signings on loans rather than signed one of them on a perm which they should have done with Azaz as a player of his talent will not be that cheap again that middlesbrough paid. Who's opinion was it he wasnt worth the money? more like Argyle couldnt afford him as why would you not want a player like Azaz, Cundle left as stoke offer wolves a better deal on the percentage of the wage they would pay him that was better than ours and they dont have an option to buy but im sure they will bid for him in the summer all going well for them, if we go by football manager for a non verified source hes on £10,000 plus a week

Changed my prediction to 24th. With so many players leaving and all this upheaval with the coaching staff there is far too many changes to cope with mid-season. Argo feels like a club in crisis. We will be relegated.