Art, that's as good a theory as any

With any luck things will start to turn around for Argyle; we had a decent second half against Newcastle on Saturday and Sturrock's hired a couple of defenders from better clubs such as Aston Villa and Man U, so we can but hope.

It's still only September after all, so all is by no means lost. Besides, we've been here before; I remember that during my time at DHS Plymouth were bottom of the league one Christmas, including having lost 7-1 at one point (I think it was the 1972-3 season) but we still stayed up at the end of that season.

BTW, that was the year Santos (with Pele) visited Argyle and Doc Cresswell came into our Latin lesson to tell us not to give Robert Daniel, Argyle chairman and a millionaire even then, any more money. (Doc believed, probably rightly, that Daniel had made his money at the expense of food prices in the Plymouth area). My dad later told me Santos had spoiled the occasion by demanding extra money before leaving their dressing room.

Well, the whole of the Plymouth/Notts game was broadcast live on Fox Sports in Oz the other day, Sunday. If that is the standard that Sturrock is producing they deserve to be in their present supportive position. It was pathetic. If it had not been live I would have switched to computer to get the result to put myself out of my misery. Apart from the two near misses in the first half there did not seem to be any real purpose to their game and it almost seemed that the players' minds were somewhere else. First Div. next season, for sure.

Crikey, a Plymouth Argyle football match is shown on Australian TV?

John, if it was almost anyone other than you I'd have thought you were pulling my leg. I'd understand it if it was Man U vs Arsenal or something, but a team struggling at the bottom of the Championship....

Anyway, we're playing Peterborough tonight so fingers crossed for a better result.

Don't get too excited, Graham. The phenominum had nothing to do with Plymouth, or Notts. for that matter. It was simply a matter of timing and 'right place' syndrome. Fox broadcast a live Coca Cola match every Sunday evening. Lo and behold, Plymouth/Notts was the only match being played.

Fair enough John, and thanks for the explanation. It's a shame that you had to see the team at the nadir (hopefully) of their powers though, when you had every expectation of a treat due to the fortuitousness of that being the match shown. It must be depressing to have to watch a match like that, it's bad enough just logging in and seeing the results.

I logged in to edit the post (I'd put the team we were playing down as Portsmouth instead of Peterborough) and found that we'd bagged the first win of the season!

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/8269440.stm

Well done Argyle, we're off the bottom of the league now.

Well sadly Argyle's brief run of luck or good play (take your pick) didn't continue and it's not looking good for Argyle IMO. As a rule of thumb a team has to get at least as many points as it has played games in order to stay up, and Argyle has just 15 points after 20 games.

Here's a good article about Paul Sturrock's time in charge which outlines the problems he faced and which his replacement, Paul Mariner, is struggling with now;

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/...h_argyle/8407069.stm

Another rule of thumb always used to be "if you're on the bottom at Xmas, you will be relegated" HMMMMMM

.....and here's another thought, by 2018 if we get the World Cup, Argyle could be the first member of the Conference (after all, Luton, Oxford, York and Wimbledon are now embedded there) to host a World Cup match or two!!

John Yates wrote:
Another rule of thumb always used to be "if you're on the bottom at Xmas, you will be relegated" HMMMMMM

Not always though John. I remember Argyle having a disastrous start to a season before (1972-3) and being bottom of the table at Christmas (and that was the old Third Division!), and yet we still stayed up.

Having said that, I don't think it looks good for Argyle right now. I wouldn't bet on us playing in the Championship next season.

@Art; the biggest problem I'd have with Argyle being in the Conference would be all those Exeter City fans laughing at us The thought of that alone should be enough to make Mariner and co. pull their fingers out to make sure it doesn't happen.

Home Park hosting a match from the 2018 World Cup sounds good though.

I don't know what all you guys are on about as Adelaide will be hosting a World Cup Match in 2018. THAT means the whole thiong will be in WAIT FOR IT Oh sorry what's the name of that country again?