Sheridan out?

I blame the owner, his jamboys,  a seriously limited team manager and his similarly uninspirational staff. His post match interviews are painful and predictably repetitive.

Only the terminally addicted, the dimwitted and those who see themselves as someone, could enjoy this village ride.

16 hours to Hartlepool and back. Sad, so very sad.

All very village. Let's have em all out. Sheridan.brent.newell.webb. They are all inept

MannameadGreen wrote:

We have two major issues:

1) The long-term issue of a poor owner.

2) The short-term issue of a manager who, despite having a good squad, is tactically inept and can't get the best out of them.

While issue 1 is hard to solve, issue 2 can be easily rectified by sacking John Sheridan. These are not average mid-table players in this league. Mellor, Cox, Morgan, McHugh, Smalley and Hartley have all won promotion from this league before. McCormick and Blizzard won promotion from the division above. Reuben Reid has had two 20 goal seasons in this league, and did look to be on the way to it again this term. Curtis Nelson has seen interest from teams higher up the pyramid. Anthony O'Connor, Andy Kellett and Bobby Reid have all looked very good in their loan spells.

There's no excuse for Sheridan's underachievement.

Spot on, the issues need separating.

X Isle wrote:

MannameadGreen wrote:

We have two major issues:

1) The long-term issue of a poor owner.

2) The short-term issue of a manager who, despite having a good squad, is tactically inept and can't get the best out of them.

While issue 1 is hard to solve, issue 2 can be easily rectified by sacking John Sheridan. These are not average mid-table players in this league. Mellor, Cox, Morgan, McHugh, Smalley and Hartley have all won promotion from this league before. McCormick and Blizzard won promotion from the division above. Reuben Reid has had two 20 goal seasons in this league, and did look to be on the way to it again this term. Curtis Nelson has seen interest from teams higher up the pyramid. Anthony O'Connor, Andy Kellett and Bobby Reid have all looked very good in their loan spells.

There's no excuse for Sheridan's underachievement.

Spot on, the issues need separating.

Both part of the same problem. Remove the manager the same lack of interest and funding will still be there and no new manager with ambition is going to want a budget to sign loan players only. Dont be fool in thinking Argyle will turn a corner no matter who is the new manager while Brent is the owner

MannameadGreen wrote:

We have two major issues:

1) The long-term issue of a poor owner.

2) The short-term issue of a manager who, despite having a good squad, is tactically inept and can't get the best out of them.

While issue 1 is hard to solve, issue 2 can be easily rectified by sacking John Sheridan. These are not average mid-table players in this league. Mellor, Cox, Morgan, McHugh, Smalley and Hartley have all won promotion from this league before. McCormick and Blizzard won promotion from the division above. Reuben Reid has had two 20 goal seasons in this league, and did look to be on the way to it again this term. Curtis Nelson has seen interest from teams higher up the pyramid. Anthony O'Connor, Andy Kellett and Bobby Reid have all looked very good in their loan spells.

There's no excuse for Sheridan's underachievement.

This is a good post. But what is the excuse for the players underachieving when they have gotten onto the pitch in the last couple of months? The squad did reasonably well up to the Christmas period - possibly overachieving for 7th - 9th best budget. Sheridan hasn't singlehandedly sabotaged the season has he? When did the poor run start? Did it coincide with the PCC/HHP/Brent offers to resign dates? No proper facilities to look forward to - having been sold a dream?

Having said that if I was a player I'd have been suicidal that the board didn't accept Brent's offer to go.

It's not all down to Sheridan. The disease has spread much wider and deeper. And it will still be infecting the club when the next poor sap replaces Sheridan.

Brent cant take the club forward thats obvious, so sacking sheridan is pointless while Brent remains.

Angry wrote:

X Isle wrote:

MannameadGreen wrote:

We have two major issues:

1) The long-term issue of a poor owner.

2) The short-term issue of a manager who, despite having a good squad, is tactically inept and can't get the best out of them.

While issue 1 is hard to solve, issue 2 can be easily rectified by sacking John Sheridan. These are not average mid-table players in this league. Mellor, Cox, Morgan, McHugh, Smalley and Hartley have all won promotion from this league before. McCormick and Blizzard won promotion from the division above. Reuben Reid has had two 20 goal seasons in this league, and did look to be on the way to it again this term. Curtis Nelson has seen interest from teams higher up the pyramid. Anthony O'Connor, Andy Kellett and Bobby Reid have all looked very good in their loan spells.

There's no excuse for Sheridan's underachievement.

Spot on, the issues need separating.

Both part of the same problem. Remove the manager the same lack of interest and funding will still be there and no new manager with ambition is going to want a budget to sign loan players only. Dont be fool in thinking Argyle will turn a corner no matter who is the new manager while Brent is the owner

Would it be fair to summarise that as, 'there's no point discussing anything until after an ownership change' ?

Cornish Rebel wrote:

Sheridan has the players to do well. I've seem some very good performances this season.

I think he overcomplicates things and then does things that are retarded. McHugh at left back?! or not playing Banton/Thomas when we cry out for invention and pace.

Losing 3 loanees at roughly the same time shows a lack of planning and forward thinking. Yes he tried to sign O'Connor but any Argyle affiliated person would do because he's class for league 2.

He must take the team on a run like we did in Autumn or its P45 time I am afraid.

Sheridan needed to do that three games ago. Instead we lost to Luton, and followed it up with a stale draw with Morecambe and lost to bloody Hartlepool.

Instead of upping their game for him, the players are going missing.

He needs to go, IMHO. He had a good team but he has lost his way. We haven't won in 8 games now. Olly Lee looks a terrible signing, Brunt is a real concern, and Flanagan isn't of the same cut as McHugh, Nelson or Hartley. Yet these are Sheridan's last three signings.

I am not looking forward to these last 18 matches. I don't have any confidence in Sheridan. Only a change can salvage this season - and I can only recommend an approach for Warnock ASAP.

VillageGreen wrote:

I see that Di Canio has now been added the list of possible Argyle manager.

Well... he'd soon sort out Forza Ultras for us.....show Mr Webb how to do it for real.

AstiSpumante wrote:

Come on fellas, no matter how annoying you find the X man, beating him with the 'how many games do you go to' stick is pretty lame IMO, I'm sure there are plenty of ATDers who never or rarely attend, it shouldn't preclude anyone from having an opinion, it's all a bit pasoti/superfan for my liking.

There is an irony in some people calling him out on his attendance record, yeah. But it is his perennial criticism of Plymothians living locally that makes him fair game. Down the years I've known plenty of people who've rearranged their working life because it doesn't fit with their most important and no1 priority socially - going to Argyle. Geez, I've done it myself. For one so stomach-churningly conceited, and eager to dish out the sermons, if Argyle meant that much to him, he would have made the necessary adjustments by now.

If you can stomach reading the Farm, you'll know exactly how many games he gets to each year because ( a bit like De Lar with away games) when Smiffy does get to Home Park, there'll be a Lord of the Rings sized epic breakdown on the whole day. Needless to say if you were counting, then the fingers of one hand would usually be sufficient.

Not so, p'raps on the rare occasion I don't have to do the four hour drive home myself, but hey.

Come on guys, the mods must be getting bored of cleaning threads up to get them back on topic by now. If you were commercial fishermen you'd have gone out of business long ago, You're never going to get a bite, there less indignity in giving up.

Czarcasm wrote:

AstiSpumante wrote:

Come on fellas, no matter how annoying you find the X man, beating him with the 'how many games do you go to' stick is pretty lame IMO, I'm sure there are plenty of ATDers who never or rarely attend, it shouldn't preclude anyone from having an opinion, it's all a bit pasoti/superfan for my liking.

There is an irony in some people calling him out on his attendance record, yeah. But it is his perennial criticism of Plymothians living locally that makes him fair game. Down the years I've known plenty of people who've rearranged their working life because it doesn't fit with their most important and no1 priority socially - going to Argyle. Geez, I've done it myself.  For one so stomach-churningly conceited, and eager to dish out the sermons, if Argyle meant that much to him, he would have made the necessary adjustments by now.

If you can stomach reading the Farm, you'll know exactly how many games he gets to each year because ( a bit like De Lar with away games) when Smiffy does get to Home Park, there'll be a Lord of the Rings sized epic breakdown on the whole day. Needless to say if you were counting, then the fingers of one hand would usually be sufficient.

Blokes a hypocrite at the end of the day. Thats all that needs to be said.

Just catching up on a few things, including that other vile website , and looking at the posts about Sheridan by the Farm Mods who are by far the most critical of him, both professionally and personally (does De Liar keep everything?), it does seem that there is the beginnings of a campaign against the manager.

Not surprising given the ownership and the club influence on the website, so are we about to see a repeat of the shameful episode that blighted Bobby Williamson's tenure?

Anything to shift the focus from the serial under achieving owner.

PlymptonPilgrim wrote:

Just catching up on a few things, including that other vile website , and looking at the posts about Sheridan by the Farm Mods who are by far the most critical of him, both professionally and personally (does De Liar keep everything?), it does seem that there is the beginnings of a campaign against the manager.

Not surprising given the ownership and the club influence on the website, so are we about to see a repeat of the shameful episode that blighted Bobby Williamson's tenure?

Anything to shift the focus from the serial under achieving owner.

Shows how bi polar that site is, if we dared to do that with Fletcher even once they would have annihilated on there more so than usual.

I've a feeling this is going to end up being a long one.

For all the kerfuffle going on around the admin period one thing stood out for us: we were well beyond bankrupt. Quite how we were allowed to go on for as long as we did and why the old directors weren't done for trading when insolvent is a mystery but there it is. The upshot was that we were the first, and so far as I know, only club to go through an unfunded administration and it was only the efforts of the bucket rattlers, the Green Taverners, unpaid players and staff etc that allowed the club to continue.

Unfortunately for all their sacrifice and good intentions all that was really achieved was that the can was kicked down the road to be truly sorted later.

Enter Brent. With unprecedently generous support from Plymouth City Council, some hard bargaining and a few bluffs that a poker player would be proud of the club exited administration and began to pay off, in installments, the debt that remained.

Those payments represented a serious chunk of our projected income and it was supposed that approximately the first 2000 paying fans at each match would be paying off that debt before the club got anything. Given that we now know that each fan pays on average £11 each per game that could be better estimated now than was then.

If I was about to make a case for the club's continuing poor performance in terms of results then that is where I'd be pointing my finger - if you were so minded you could choose to blame Brent for taking control of the club and not cleaning the slate when he did but either way it is a cop out. Without looking up the figures i'g duess we have averaged 7000 per game and if 2000 is removed from that we still have 5000 which knocks spots off most of our competitors.

The next excuse would be that a large Home Park is more expensive to run than most of our rivals' stadia but given the rent and business rates deal negotiated by Brent and funded, once again, by the council's largesse not even that contributes. And I haven't even mentioned the recent £800k loan.

I can't see any financial reason at all for our problems - not in terms of income anyway. In terms of expenditure it may well be another thing but in the absence of any meaningful accounts we just do not know where "our" money is going and, for instance, we do not know how the failed HHP design expenses were funded. Maybe that has accounted for a chunk of wedge and maybe it hasn't (when are the NATATOMISSAM accounts due to be published? Does anybody know?).

But apart from the financial hangover from admin there is also an emotional structural deficit caused not only by admin but the few years preceding it. As a club we have forgotten how to win and how to enjoy ourselves and this is a malaise that runs deep into every nook and cranny we have.

And we are where we are.

What is needed is a sloughing of the dead skin that binds us still. In part that means an owner whose primary concern is the club who can inspire, cajole, encourage a change of attitude and expectation into every last aspect of the club and a manager who can do likewise for the team.

And we are where we are with an owner either unable or unwilling or both to commit the time, energy and money needed to inspire from above and a dour manager who hasn't really courted the affections of the supporters but who seems to have the wholehearted support of the owner.

It isn't Brent, Sheridan, the players, the staff, the fans or anybody else in isolation that bears responsibilty for the club being in the doldrums as it is but it is the whole package. Essentially we are now back where we were in the tail-end of the McCauley years.

And look at what happened next! Out of the blue McCauley was gone and another seemingly dour manager inspired a turnaround like the club has never seen before and once again the fans were jubilant on the terraces.

That's what we need now. A complete change. Not one single aspect needs to go. It all does.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

I've a feeling this is going to end up being a long one.

For all the kerfuffle going on around the admin period one thing stood out for us: we were well beyond bankrupt. Quite how we were allowed to go on for as long as we did and why the old directors weren't done for trading when insolvent is a mystery but there it is. The upshot was that we were the first, and so far as I know, only club to go through an unfunded administration and it was only the efforts of the bucket rattlers, the Green Taverners, unpaid players and staff etc that allowed the club to continue.

Unfortunately for all their sacrifice and good intentions all that was really achieved was that the can was kicked down the road to be truly sorted later.

Enter Brent. With unprecedently generous support from Plymouth City Council, some hard bargaining and a few bluffs that a poker player would be proud of the club exited administration and began to pay off, in installments, the debt that remained.

Those payments represented a serious chunk of our projected income and it was supposed that approximately the first 2000 paying fans at each match would be paying off that debt before the club got anything. Given that we now know that each fan pays on average £11 each per game that could be better estimated now than was then.

If I was about to make a case for the club's continuing poor performance in terms of results then that is where I'd be pointing my finger - if you were so minded you could choose to blame Brent for taking control of the club and not cleaning the slate when he did but either way it is a cop out. Without looking up the figures i'g duess we have averaged 7000 per game and if 2000 is removed from that we still have 5000 which knocks spots off most of our competitors.

The next excuse would be that a large Home Park is more expensive to run than most of our rivals' stadia but given the rent and business rates deal negotiated by Brent and funded, once again, by the council's largesse not even that contributes. And I haven't even mentioned the recent £800k loan.

I can't see any financial reason at all for our problems - not in terms of income anyway. In terms of expenditure it may well be another thing but in the absence of any meaningful accounts we just do not know where "our" money is going and, for instance, we do not know how the failed HHP design expenses were funded. Maybe that has accounted for a chunk of wedge and maybe it hasn't (when are the NATATOMISSAM accounts due to be published? Does anybody know?).

But apart from the financial hangover from admin there is also an emotional structural deficit caused not only by admin but the few years preceding it. As a club we have forgotten how to win and how to enjoy ourselves and this is a malaise that runs deep into every nook and cranny we have.

And we are where we are.

What is needed is a sloughing of the dead skin that binds us still. In part that means an owner whose primary concern is the club who can inspire, cajole, encourage a change of attitude and expectation into every last aspect of the club and a manager who can do likewise for the team.

And we are where we are with an owner either unable or unwilling or both to commit the time, energy and money needed to inspire from above and a dour manager who hasn't really courted the affections of the supporters but who seems to have the wholehearted support of the owner.

It isn't Brent, Sheridan, the players, the staff, the fans or anybody else in isolation that bears responsibilty for the club being in the doldrums as it is but it is the whole package. Essentially we are now back where we were in the tail-end of the McCauley years.

And look at what happened next! Out of the blue McCauley was gone and another seemingly dour manager inspired a turnaround like the club has never seen before and once again the fans were jubilant on the terraces.

That's what we need now. A complete change. Not one single aspect needs to go. It all does.

Absolutely bang on the money.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

A club who can inspire, cajole, encourage a change of attitude and expectation into every last aspect of the club

If I were lucky enough to have the money to own Argyle I would try and turn it into the English Athletic Bilbao. I would plough as much funding as I could into the youth set-up and local scouting with the primary aim of bringing through "our own" preferably with a style of play that is common throughout the club be it youth, 1st team or women.

I would outline my vision for a club that the whole of the South West peninsula could be proud of or a club to be admired at the very least if you supported Exeter/Torquay or Yeovil. It would be placed at the heart of the community using local suppliers, engaging with fans and the not so fanatic. I would set in stone the traditions of the club - kit colour and style, semper etc.

Ideally the club would be surrounded by the other Plymouth teams - Albion, Raiders, Ice Hockey, Water Polo, American Football replicating that identity in their own sports.

Why not proclaim that the South West IS different from the rest of the country. It is beautiful, it has history and it can say feck off to the rest of you not in a Millwall "no one likes us way" but in a positive, proud way.

I think that vision clearly stated at the beginning with transparency at every level would excite the fans and even in times when things were not going so well on the pitch would get people pulling together because they believe in the point of it all (I refuse to say project).

Anyway idealistic daydreaming hat off.......feckin Accrington (again)...how is it come to this?...and Sheridan out

Well put, Sir Francis.... taking away the 2 promotions it would seem like we have been caught in a spiral of mediocrity since the 70s (and before that) and there's only one thing that can pull us out of that - sustained investment and a long term vision. There is no one at the club that can come close to providing that at the moment. So, the cycle continues.

Dick Trickle wrote:

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

A club who can inspire, cajole, encourage a change of attitude and expectation into every last aspect of the club

If I were lucky enough to have the money to own Argyle I would try and turn it into the English Athletic Bilbao. I would plough as much funding as I could into the youth set-up and local scouting with the primary aim of bringing through "our own" preferably with a style of play that is common throughout the club be it youth, 1st team or women.

I would outline my vision for a club that the whole of the South West peninsula could be proud of or a club to be admired at the very least if you supported Exeter/Torquay or Yeovil. It would be placed at the heart of the community using local suppliers, engaging with fans and the not so fanatic. I would set in stone the traditions of the club - kit colour and style, semper etc.

Ideally the club would be surrounded by the other Plymouth teams - Albion, Raiders, Ice Hockey, Water Polo, American Football replicating that identity in their own sports.

Why not proclaim that the South West IS different from the rest of the country. It is beautiful, it has history and it can say feck off to the rest of you not in a Millwall "no one likes us way" but in a positive, proud way.

I think that vision clearly stated at the beginning with transparency at every level would excite the fans and even in times when things were not going so well on the pitch would get people pulling together because they believe in the point of it all (I refuse to say project).

Anyway idealistic daydreaming hat off.......feckin Accrington (again)...how is it come to this?...and Sheridan out

I take it you were not among the many on here who roared with applause that we kicked Luke Young out 'to find his level at Torquay' then?

I too wish we were an insular thinking club, more village if you like, more like Bilbao with that Basque way of thinking. The careers of Lecointe, Young, Bentley, Harvey, Lane, Purrington etc. could have been substantially different if we had a manager who felt it as important to develop the local lads as many fans do.

That entire ethos could suit a club like Argyle down to the ground in the long term.

Brent will not sack Sheridan for two reasons in my view.1. he wont want to pay him off, unless he can find volunteers to pay him off, 2. letting the terminally simple have a scapecoat,hides the fact that the Brent regime is a total joke and the Great One has failed to deliver on anything............ Shez you are safe Bhey!

Its a shame we dont have elections like they do in spain so fans can elect their presidents or charimans if you will. We wont be stuck with Brent then hopefully. Sure sack Sheridan but brent will remain and so the cycle continues.

Johnson in? Just been sacked by Yeovil who are replacing him with Skiverton for the rest of the season, also known as "doing an Argyle."

I agree that I don't think Brent would sack The Shez on the basis of where we are. It's not that I think that The Shez is particularly good or bad, really. Just even if we were terminally under-performing, which I'm not overly convinced we are, I don't think that he'd have set any goals other than 'safe from relegation' anyway, and if his target is the playoffs (unlikely) then I don't think he'd be disappointed enough in the performance at the moment to justify him dipping his hands into his seemingly empty pockets to pay The Shez off.

Without sainding too much like the good old Captain W, we're only 4 points from the playoffs!! where I think Brent would be really happy to see us finish. It wouldn't just be his lip quivering then, at the prospect of a money boosting playoff scenario...

Iggy wrote:

Johnson in? Just been sacked by Yeovil who are replacing him with Skiverton for the rest of the season, also known as "doing an Argyle."

Johnson has a scary knack of falling out with his most talented strikers and getting rid of them. I think he and Reuben never saw eye to eye. Even worse they had to get rid of Paddy Madden because Johnson didn't like him. Andy Williams left Yeovil and became the top scorer in League One with Swindon. So he has a good record of achievement but some silly decisions on a personal level that haven't left his club in good stead.

ejh wrote:

Dick Trickle wrote:

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

A club who can inspire, cajole, encourage a change of attitude and expectation into every last aspect of the club

If I were lucky enough to have the money to own Argyle I would try and turn it into the English Athletic Bilbao. I would plough as much funding as I could into the youth set-up and local scouting with the primary aim of bringing through "our own" preferably with a style of play that is common throughout the club be it youth, 1st team or women.

I would outline my vision for a club that the whole of the South West peninsula could be proud of or a club to be admired at the very least if you supported Exeter/Torquay or Yeovil. It would be placed at the heart of the community using local suppliers, engaging with fans and the not so fanatic. I would set in stone the traditions of the club - kit colour and style, semper etc.

Ideally the club would be surrounded by the other Plymouth teams - Albion, Raiders, Ice Hockey, Water Polo, American Football replicating that identity in their own sports.

Why not proclaim that the South West IS different from the rest of the country. It is beautiful, it has history and it can say feck off to the rest of you not in a Millwall "no one likes us way" but in a positive, proud way.

I think that vision clearly stated at the beginning with transparency at every level would excite the fans and even in times when things were not going so well on the pitch would get people pulling together because they believe in the point of it all (I refuse to say project).

Anyway idealistic daydreaming hat off.......feckin Accrington (again)...how is it come to this?...and Sheridan out

I take it you were not among the many on here who roared with applause that we kicked Luke Young out 'to find his level at Torquay' then?

I too wish we were an insular thinking club, more village if you like, more like Bilbao with that Basque way of thinking. The careers of Lecointe, Young, Bentley, Harvey, Lane, Purrington etc. could have been substantially different if we had a manager who felt it as important to develop the local lads as many fans do.

That entire ethos could suit a club like Argyle down to the ground in the long term.

Who "roared with applause" when Young was released? Certainly not on this thread:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Mr Trickle got it exactly right with the "idealistic daydreaming" phrase. In this day and age there is the purely practical drawback that clubs of Argyle's stature are now fair game for bigger clubs when it comes to poaching the best of the players that come from the youth system, as the departure of Gallagher, Jones etc would testify. We also lost Walton, Stephens and Mason in the administration period, so essentially the cream of the crop from the past five years or so has been taken away and that situation is very likely to replicate in the coming years-doubt very much if promising young Plymothians will pay much attention to an attempt at creating a Basque mentality if any premier league club came a knocking.

In any case, i couldn't really give a damn where players come from as long as they're good enough and I would say that would reflect the feelings of a fair majority of supporters. There have been a smattering of local players in the successful Argyle teams but that's all-was it the fault of the managers at the time that there weren't any more in the team? What do you really think the fans reaction would have been if Sturrock had continually picked Joe Broad or Kevin Wills because they were local instead of Friio and Hodges? Would they have shown a high degree of tolerance and said "perfectly happy to pay my money every week as long as the locals are in the team"? Bollocks they would have, just like they didn't in 1968 when we had Bickle, Reynolds, Piper, Tedesco, Etheridge in the team or in 1977 when Harrison, Rogers, Johnson were there or 1992 with Barlow, Evans or Morrison. If you blame Sheridan for not picking the players that you mention [although blaming him for Lecointe's injury problems or Bentley's damaging piece of idiocy against Oxford does seem to be ultra harsh] then you might as well blame every manager in Argyle's history for not building teams chiefly with local talent. Maybe the plain truth is that local talent on it's own isn't and never has been good enough-if the club did decide to go down the "basque" road-well, i'd wish them all the best.