Then & Now

This has been nagging away at me for a while now and has eventually coalesced into the semblance of a coherent notion.

I was thinking back to previous promotion seasons and we have surprisingly few of them to refer to: 1975; 1986; 1996; 2002; 2004. That's it as far back as I can recall and it isn't much but what did they have that this season does not?

The answer that screams out to me is "momentum". For some reason or another there was a feeling that we were going to be promoted. In part that came from results but more than that it came in the manner of the results themselves and there was a damned good hiding or two along the way to enthuse us and right now, off the top of my head, I don't remember when we last really walloped anybody anywhere. This season just does not feel like a promotion season anymore whereas up to roughly Christmas it had all the hallmarks of one. What momentum was once there has been squandered. So there's that.

But all of that is the result of other stuff. "What other stuff is that then?" I can almost hear you yell. It's difficult to define in one word so I'll use several that are similar: vision; leadership; cohesion; consistency; faith; direction.

Although I loathe such things what we need is something like a Mission Statement: a clearly defined, concise definition of our objectives. From that Mission Statement we need something else I am not keen on: a 5 Year Plan.

5YPs are nearly always bullshit and Argyle's would be too. If we implemented one immediately on Brent taking over ownership then it would have read something like:

Year 1: Stay up.
Year 2: Top half finish.
Year 3: Play-offs.
Year 4: Promotion.
Year 5: Repeat from Year 1.

These things always plan only for success and set modest goals for improvement - despite which we are clearly a year behind even if we get promoted this year! But no matter.

The very existence of such a plan, any plan would indicate that there was some consideration given for the future, some targets set and some idea as to how to achieve them put in place. In essence some signs of vision, leadership, cohesion, consistency, faith and direction.

Instead of which what do we have? Nothing. Not in the public domain anyway.

We have nothing beyond vaguely expressed goals for the club which Brent himself has more than once suggested that he might not be the man to achieve and we have Brent himself admitting that we might need a cash input that he is unable to deliver. At this point you have to wonder what, exactly - from an Argyle fan's perspective - is the point of James Brent? There's nothing there at all, is there?

What he could give us though is vision, leadership, cohesion, consistency, faith and direction and it wouldn't cost him a bean. He could just act like a responsible club owner, rather than like one who doesn't give a damn, by answering straight questions with a straight answer. He could just act like a responsible club owner, rather than like one who doesn't give a damn, by seeing that walls got painted. He could just act like a responsible club owner, rather than like one who doesn't give a damn, by making sure the pitch was properly maintained. He could just act like a responsible club owner, rather than like one who doesn't give a damn, by talking openly to AFT and taking on board their hopes and fears and maybe even directly addressing rather than appeasing them under great suffereance. He could just act like a responsible club owner, rather than like one who doesn't give a damn, by publishing proper accounts so that the next time he issues a plea for some external money there's an understanding of where "our" money goes.

All things that are easily achieved. All things that are cheap as chips. All things that would suggest that Brent trusts us as fans rather than seeing us a rather awkward inconvenience that occasionally has to be given the impression that it is being considered. All things that would help us to feel a bit less cynical about what the direction of travel at Argyle is. All things that would make it feel a little bit more like it was our club once more because right now it only feels like his to do with what he will; a club which primarily has served as an "in" to Plymothian politics and business to use as a lever to worm his way in to other land and property deals none of which will ever help us as a football club at all. All things that would show vision, leadership, cohesion, consistency, faith and direction and all of that would trickledown into the team and onto the terraces. We'd be as one, or as close to it as we could be, once more and the next time momentum started to grow then it wouldn't be so recklessly squandered again.

Unity is so much more powerful and desirable a creative force than Divide and Conquer can ever hope to be and even if it is more difficult to implement it has to be worth a try.