League One

Everything Still to Play For in Dramatic Third Tier Finale

Posted on by Andy Gardner

Plymouth play host to MK Dons in a final-day fixture with many issues left to be settled and multiple potential outcomes.

As League One enters its final week, it is not exaggerative to say that this season has been like no other. While it looks as though Wigan Athletic should secure the title and climb to the Championship, a host of permutations, some more likely than others, mean they could still finish outside the top two and miss automatic promotion all together, while four sides competing for three play-off berths are separated by just one point point and only two goal difference.

Normally it would seem hyperbolic to suggest, but it is practically impossible to predict what might happen.

The Latics could have secured promotion at home to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday, but were held to a draw that saw the visitors reach 80 points, a figure they share with Sunderland and Wycombe Wanderers, which would normally be comfortably enough to secure a top-six finish and a place in the play-offs.

However, with Sheffield Wednesday currently seventh on 79 points – and with two games remaining – it is not inconceivable that a side could muster 83 points this campaign and not make the play-offs, something which has never been seen before at this level.

In fact, the last time a team secured 80 points and missed the end-of-season promotion fixtures was 2002/3, when Tranmere Rovers were the unlucky outfit. That season was dominated by Wigan, who amassed 100 points to top the division – this time around, they could reach 95 if they win their final two fixtures. That said, in 2009/10 Southampton were docked 10 points for financial irregularities; had that deduction not happened, Huddersfield Town would have finished seventh despite having 80 points.

While Wigan look certain to secure their place in the Championship next season, the second automatic spot remains up for grabs. Rotherham, who have been there or thereabouts all season, currently occupy second place but are level on points with MK Dons. Both teams have stumbled in recent weeks, but while Rotherham overcame Oxford this Saturday, the Dons claimed a vital win at home to Morecambe. The Millers travel to Sunderland on Tuesday evening in a huge game that could have significant impact on all the clubs involved in the run-in.

A win for Rotherham at the Stadium of Light would see them as-good-as promoted going into their final day fixture at Gillingham with a three point lead over the Dons and a goal difference advantage worth a point, especially with the MK side travelling to Plymouth, where their hosts have enjoyed excellent home form this season.

One potential reason for the near-unprecedented high points tallies at the top of the table could be the low accumulations at the bottom; going into the final week, Gillingham have 40 points from 45 games while Fleetwood – currently one position outside the drop zone – have 40 from 44.

With tough fixtures remaining – the aforementioned Rotherham for the Gills, Wednesday and Bolton for Fleetwood – it remains possible that 40 points could be enough to beat the drop, which would be a first for the third tier (the lowest previously recorded as Oxford United’s 45 in 1999/2000).

Even though this has been a wildly unpredictable division, it’s possible to identify a big and possibly growing gap between the teams at the top and those at the bottom. It’s long been thought that the gulf between Premier League and Championship is creating yo-yo teams like Fulham and Norwich, but something similar is developing between tiers two and three – should Rotherham secure promotion, it would be their third in five seasons, while Peterborough, Barnsley and Charlton Athletic, to name just a few, have all suffered relegations from the Championship in recent seasons within a year or two of winning promotion.

Before the start of this season, there were eleven or possibly twelve sides with legitimate ambitions for promotion from League One and maybe a couple more with hopes of making the play-offs. While some of those pre-season contenders have struggled – namely Ipswich Town and Charlton, who go into the final game of the campaign 11th and 12th respectively. Whoever misses out on promotion this year can bank on those two clubs, plus a number of others, regrouping and challenging next time around.

That Plymouth Argyle go into the final game with their play-off destiny in their own hands shouldn’t be overlooked as an outstanding achievement. 2020/21 saw the Pilgrims finish 18th after a terrible second half of the season, which led some pundits to predict a potential relegation battle.

After some smart recruitment in the summer, particularly bring in a completely new three-man defence in Dan Scarr, Macauley Gillesphey and James Wilson, Argyle went on an incredible run at the start of the campaign, losing just one of their first seventeen games. That sequence saw Ryan Lowe’s team hold on to first place in the table all the way up to Christmas, an achievement that saw the manager eventually catch the attention of Championship club Preston North End.

Following Lowe’s departure to Deepdale in December, Argyle moved quickly to appoint his assistant – Steven Schumacher – as his replacement, a smart move which has seen the Greens remain stable and adapt quickly, playing attractive football and ultimately earning the new boss the League One Manager of the Month award for March.

Waiting for the teams to arrive before kick off between Wycombe Wanderers and Plymouth Argyle on Good Friday, 15th April

A tough string of fixtures towards the end of the season has seen Argyle struggle in recent weeks, particularly a demoralising 2-0 defeat at fellow play-off contenders Wycombe Wanderers, but they will know that a positive result on the final day will give them a great chance of securing an unexpected top-six spot.

Saturday’s visitors to Devon, MK Dons, would have been among most people’s expected candidates for promotion before a ball was kicked this season. A mid-table finish in 2020/21 came after an excellent finish to the campaign under hot managerial prospect Russell Martin, who joined the Dons in 2019 and established a successful, possession-heavy approach.

After a big-spending summer, Martin walked out on the Dons on the eve of the new season, leaving the club in the lurch to join Championship outfit Swansea City. Despite being rocked by Martin’s departure, the Dons made a smart managerial appointment, hiring the previously unknown Liam Manning. Since his arrival, the Dons have steadily grown into promotion contenders despite needing to replace a number of important loan players and midfield star Matt O’Riley in the January window, something which could easily have de-stabilised the squad and undermined their campaign.

Although they too have stuttered in recent weeks, losing back-to-back games against Sheffield Wednesday and Oxford United, Manning’s Dons have really found their groove since Christmas, with the defeat against the Owls ending a run of 15 games unbeaten and being only their second loss since 11th December.

By the time these two sides meet next Saturday, some of the remaining issues could be all but settled, which could totally change the complexion of this fixture.

Whatever happens between now and then, both clubs have overcome adversity and unexpected challenges throughout the campaign and although their end-of-season emotions could swing wildly from delight to despair, they should both be extremely proud.

Exile, Imposter or Just Another Fan

Posted on by Andy Gardner

After such a long time away from being a match-going supporter, was it slightly ambitious to think it would all just be like it was?

Twelve years is a surprisingly long time. That’s how long it had been since I last saw the team I watched most growing up, Plymouth Argyle, in actual live action. There’s numerous reasons for that, central to which was geography but equally important was an overall waning of interest in football and, therefore, a reduced willingness to part with cash for the experience.

The last Argyle game I saw was a Championship fixture in September 2009 at Peterborough, with Plymouth manager Paul Sturrock in his second spell at the club leading the Greens to a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Jamie Mackie and Rory Fallon. It was Argyle’s first win of the 2009/10 season and ultimately both sides would be relegated to League 1.

Fast forward to October 2021 and so much has changed for me – house purchases, changes of career, weight loss, marathons and loads of other memories wiped out by late nights and their supporting substances. In that time, I’d almost totally lost interest and energy for football – no longer a game or the never-ending soap opera it once was, now more of a corporate content factory where victory in the transfer window and social media bear pit trumps actual form on the pitch. Announce Icardi! Take the ratio, admin.

At the height of the pandemic-enforced global lockdown, many of us fell back on nostalgia to replace the hope vacuum created by an uncertain future. I spent a lot of time thinking about my favourite football memories and why they particularly stuck in my mind. Almost exclusively, my personal highlights revolved around watching matches in the flesh and sharing that experience, with friends, family and total strangers. Having televised games on wall-to-wall during lockdown was fine, but watching a series of ghost games played out in front of empty stadiums with canned audio only underscored what was missing, both from matchdays but also my own existence.

An Argyle fan places a flag in position before kick off at the Kassam Stadium

So far this season, I’ve enjoyed going to watch matches again, taking in games at stadiumMK as a season ticket holder at MK Dons. However, the ambition this year was always to re-connect with Argyle and try to see them in action whenever their away fixtures brought them close to my Buckinghamshire home. The first such match, after having failed to get a ticket within the sold-out allocation at Wimbledon, was a trip to Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium.

It was hard to know how the game would go as a lapsed, exiled fan – I don’t have a Westcountry accent so I would probably stand out a mile. I also don’t have the knowledge of the team that more committed supporters build up over years of comings and goings, so what if I seem like some kind of bandwagon jumper, especially seeing as the team are, at time of writing, top of League 1, having enjoyed a fantastic start. What might happen if I was seen as some kind of imposter, taking up the place of a proper fan among the 1,800 away fans?

I was apprehensive, nervous really, about trying to be a fan again, which is crazy really – I’m a middle-aged man who has been to hundreds of games in my time at all kinds of levels. But wanting to be a part of something, a community, and to share that experience creates a huge fear of rejection and humiliation.

Very soon it became clear that those fears were irrational and unnecessary. The game itself was a rollercoaster and was perfect for this return to being a fan – Argyle were behind early, then equalised quickly and went in at half time 2-1 up. Oxford then wasted a series of chances after the interval, but Plymouth weathered the storm and eventually doubled the lead in the closing stages.

Argyle fans and players celebrate the 3-1 win at Oxford

All the emotions of supporting a team came flooding back – the disappointment of conceding early, the relief of an unexpected equaliser and the joy of seeing a game turned on its head. Then the nerves of seeing your team pushed back, waiting for the inevitable levelling of the scores and ultimately the surreal sealing of the win with the third goal. The pantomime jeering of an opposition player with the temerity to celebrate his goal and the hero-worshipping of a midfielder from Guinea-Bissau who was born the year I took my GCSEs (Panutche Camara, scorer of two goals against Oxford, in case you were wondering).

I’d expected to be something of a detached observer, quietly taking in the game and making astute observations (not that I normally do this anyway, but still). Instead, I found myself completely unbridled, on my feet from the early exchanges and joining in all the songs as best I can – it always did feel odd to me to proclaim Plymuff Argo as the greatest team the world has ever seen, not because they’re not excellent, but because my Home Counties diction struggles with the colloquialism.

Argyle’s fans are terrific. I was sat in the quieter of the three blocks, but the noisy and boisterous support on either side was infectious and it felt totally normal to be sharing the game with the elderly couple on my left and the guy on the right who was enjoying a day out with his boy seeing as his under 11s game had been played the night before.

I’d worried before the game that I wasn’t a fan any more, that I was too aloof and too distant from actual supporters to be able to enjoy the experience, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. My whole desire to get back in touch with football fandom was fuelled by nostalgia – powerful memories from my youth, shared with friends, strangers and, particularly, my parents. Football may have totally changed in those times, but it’s also exactly the same, depending where you look.

Above all else, it was a sense of normality and regularity that I took from the game – no questions about the bigger picture, the future of the sport or the potential damage being done by financial disparity and European Super Leagues. No concerns over foreign ownership, petrostate transfer budgets or games being moved to fit TV schedules – just a football match, three points and then onto the next one.

It was simple, uncomplicated and energising. I’d expected to feel like a fish out of water and for the game itself to be relatively low standard – that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Because I felt invested in the outcome, it was exciting, enjoyable and it felt like it mattered, which is something I’d really missed from my match going hiatus.

Prior to the start of the season, Argyle were expected by many to struggle, maybe even candidates for relegation after a terrible finish to the last campaign. The fact that they are currently top of the table, admittedly having played more games than those around them, just shows the unpredictable nature of football outside the ‘big six’ Premier League bubble.

Whether or not Plymouth stay in the race for promotion is unlikely but also irrelevant – just that there is the opportunity to do so is what makes the sport exciting.

Embracing the Rain While the Champions League Comes Calling

Posted on by Andy Gardner

In celebration of being a part of the action by attending in person instead of taking in a game on the box

The near instant transition from summer to autumn confirms that the football season is firmly up and running, to the point that looking at league tables is now valid. With that in mind, it’s both surprising and encouraging to see my two League One sides, Plymouth Argyle and MK Dons, threatening the upper reaches of the table.

Before the start of the campaign, both teams had reason to be negative about the months ahead, with Argyle’s form last season suggesting a possible relegation battle while the Dons headed into the unknown having lost their manager just days before their first game.

Instead, both sides have won more games than they’ve lost, picking up 19 points from their first ten games and defying expectations.

While Argyle can be seen as the division’s real surprise package so far, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sunderland, Wigan Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers, the Dons are perhaps the league’s entertainers, scoring 20 goals and conceding 13 in their opening encounters.

The most recent fixture at stadiummk saw Fleetwood Town visiting; a side who have struggled so far this season, picking up only ten points from their first nine games.

Taking place on a Tuesday night, the game represented an example of a lower league club’s worst nightmare – direct competition with a televised Champions League matchday, the focus of which was a clash between Manchester City and Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain, a game which many believe could be a pre-cursor to the ultimate winner of that competition.

Attracting fans to a stadium for live action when a big game is on the box is a tough challenge – made even more difficult by torrential rain in Milton Keynes with casual punters dissuaded from parting with their cash in favour of kicking back to see how that PSG front line is actually working together.

Before the start of the season, my knowledge of my local team and its players was practically zero. After a few games, however, I already feel more in tune with who the team’s leaders are, who the potential match winners are and who could be concerned about their place in the side.

Meanwhile, my connection to my ‘big’ side, Tottenham, continues to wane – and not just because the club seems to be constantly searching for a new crisis, ready to lurch from the current one with spectacular drama and embarrassment. That’s not solely down to the side’s steady drift down the Premier League table, but also because, in my opinion, actually going to matches is a big part of the experience of following a club.

There’s so much more to attending games than simply the game or the action, much of which revolves around the social experience and sharing it with other people, even if they are total strangers.

On this particular occasion, those of us who eschewed the televised action in favour of the real world were treated to a proper game between two sides who really went for it. Despite their lowly position in the table, Fleetwood played on the front foot and looked to get bodies forward, which hasn’t always been the case for some of the Dons’ opponents so far this season.

It made for an entertaining game, not just because of the 3-3 scoreline, but because both teams looked like they wanted to attack and create chances. So far this season, I’ve been really impressed with the standard of football on show from almost every side. In particular, my previous visit saw Portsmouth as the visitors for an evenly-matched, entertaining game, which ultimately resulted in a 2-1 win for the Dons.

I don’t come at this from a particularly technical point of view – I’m not a coach or an expert in tactics by any means – so I’m just a punter with no horse in the race, but still the experience of going to matches again has been well worth the investment in my season ticket. Thinking back a few years ago, football at this level was not always a great spectacle; most sides seemed happy to be solid and hard to beat, aiming to maybe nick a goal with a set piece, but sies playing in that manner seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

While I still wouldn’t class myself as a Dons fan, there’s no substitute for actually attending a match; watching games, highlights and YouTube clips from afar is not the same as actually feeling it when the action takes place in front of you. Even on a rainy night in a quarter-filled stadium, you’re essentially part of the game rather than simply observing it on the box.

It’s essentially a case of an active experience in contrast to a passive one – when watching football on telly, it’s easy to drift in and out of attention. You pick up your phone and briefly scroll the socials, maybe like a few cat videos and then return to the game when Gary Neville’s commentary reaches fever pitch. When you’re actually in attendance, you’re far more immersed in the occasion, observing the actions of the players in any given situation and taking in the reactions of the crowd.

This is even further amplified when the result really matters – nothing beats the feeling of a last-gasp equaliser or that moment of brilliance that turns a game in your team’s favour. While my match-going experiences so far this season have been limited to attending as a neutral bystander, I can’t wait to get behind Argyle when I can. My first planned trip to see the Greens in action was at Wimbledon a couple of weeks ago, but all tickets were sold to season ticket holders before general sale, showing the popularity of following the team on the road. It’s now looking like my first Argyle game of the season might be Oxford away on 16th October.

Back at stadiummk, the crowd of 6,600 (including probably 100 visiting fans) were treated to an absolute cracker of a game, which ultimately resulted in a share of the spoils thanks to a late equaliser from the away side. Dons were dragged through the game by an excellent performance from Scott Twine, who sealed a brilliant hat trick with a direct free kick that smashed the crossbar, bounced down onto the line and into the roof of the net.

It must have been a great night out for the away fans who made the trip; the journey is a shade under 200 miles as the crow flies, making it a late night on Tuesday. Those who did make the trek certainly looked like they were enjoying themselves and they would definitely have gone away happy, having claimed a richly deserved point with an 88th minute equaliser.

While City were being put to the sword by Messi, Neymar and pals, I never once regretted my choice to go out and watch the game as opposed to staying in for a different one. It was cold, it threw it down with rain and there were no petrostates inflating the wage bill, but it was real, it mattered and I felt like a part of it.