Does Plymouth need Argyle?

Is Argyle needed or even wanted by Plymothians, sure there have been lots of wringing of hands and crying into pints but this is by a comparatively small minority of people. The average crowd for last season was about 8000, a small percentage of the population of Plymouth, watching mediocre football which was rarely entertaining. I am pretty sure the average was inflated by Argyle’s plight; remember the 5000 for Dagenham and Redbridge? The cost of this is not exactly cheap and people would have spent their hard earned cash propping an ailing business.

Local and national businesses have suffered through non payment and the forced acceptance of a pittance in settlement. Staff members have been made to live on the breadline because the actions of their employers. Just over the horizon there is the distinct possibility that they will have to accept far less than they are owed as a reward for their loyalty. People have donated money to the cause but will this just let the new owners save some money?

On the pitch Argyle will never win the Premier League, will always struggle to compete with players’ wage demands and will never be able to compete in the transfer market. Does an eternity in the lower divisions qualify as a success?

If Argyle did disappear how long would you mourn for? How long would it be until you found something else to do on a Saturday? What would you do with the money you save?

PAFC is morally bankrupt and is in debt to its fans and staff.

Does Plymouth need Argyle?

Do you need Argyle?

This is not necessary my opinion but just a few thoughts as we are about to move on to a new phase in Argyle’s future.

Discuss...

Sure, Plymouth doesn't need Argyle. It will still exist without the club. However if you take Argyle away from the city and replaced it with a cinema complex, then what is left? A concrete council estate with no local identity and nothing of note historically since the Luftwaffe flattened Stonehouse.

I think every city of our size needs a club. Say what you like about our attendances, with some success they'd be as high as any other city of the same size. Averaging nearly 9k last season was actually a remarkable achievement. If we can get the club successful then the city can feed off that success.

Pete1886 wrote:

Is Argyle needed or even wanted by Plymothians, sure there have been lots of wringing of hands and crying into pints but this is by a comparatively small minority of people. The average crowd for last season was about 8000, a small percentage of the population of Plymouth, watching mediocre football which was rarely entertaining. I am pretty sure the average was inflated by Argyle’s plight; remember the 5000 for Dagenham and Redbridge? The cost of this is not exactly cheap and people would have spent their hard earned cash propping an ailing business.

Local and national businesses have suffered through non payment and the forced acceptance of a pittance in settlement. Staff members have been made to live on the breadline because the actions of their employers. Just over the horizon there is the distinct possibility that they will have to accept far less than they are owed as a reward for their loyalty. People have donated money to the cause but will this just let the new owners save some money?

On the pitch Argyle will never win the Premier League, will always struggle to compete with players’ wage demands and will never be able to compete in the transfer market. Does an eternity in the lower divisions qualify as a success?

If Argyle did disappear how long would you mourn for? How long would it be until you found something else to do on a Saturday? What would you do with the money you save?

PAFC is morally bankrupt and is in debt to its fans and staff.

Does Plymouth need Argyle?

Do you need Argyle?

This is not necessary my opinion but just a few thoughts as we are about to move on to a new phase in Argyle’s future.

Discuss...

I'm not sure if Argyle's existence is a "need" for Plymouth exactly.But it would be a darned bad indictment of the way the club has been run for 5 years if the 13th biggest city in the country couldn't find a place among 92 league clubs.No matter what their failures have been as far as realising potential is concerned,Argyle have been a stalwart football league club since 1920 and have probably provided more free publicity for Plymouth than a million advertising campaigns could drum up,so it certainly wouldn't be good for the profile of Plymouth if the club were to fold.As to the crowds of 8000,that is certainly a far higher figure than Cardiff,Swansea,Reading and Hull were getting in the relatively recent past-i wonder if the "need" for those clubs in their cities was ever questioned? Doubt it,the clubs concerned realised their weaknesses,got up off their arses and sought the requisite backing needed in order to make progress.Why should it be a given that Argyle should spend an eternity in the lower divisions? Surely the example of those clubs provides the answer.

On the local business side of things,agreed,its a total disgrace that people lose money through the incompetence and greed of a few.However,to balance things out,over a period of a century or more,Argyle have been a good source of business and employment to the populace of the city and there's no reason why they shouldn't be for the next hundred years,given competent and broad thinking leadership.

I've often asked those questions Pete.

Does Argyle deserve Plymouth? - This'll go against the views of today's fan but truly speaking the club has been an embarrassment to a city with a very proud past, but that doesn't mean that Plymouth should be without a professional football club but it does means that Plymouth deserves better.

After a virtual season long boycott I should say that I do miss the experience but I don't miss the standard of football that has been played for the past few seasons.

Does Plymouth need Argyle? - No, but it needs a club. - Despite Argyle being an embarrassment to the city, the people that I meet that know nothing about the club or support the club, are all discussing the situation and commenting on the appalling position the club is in. That means there's a sense of value, so I would say that people do care very much and had the club delivered on its 100 year promise, I think that care would be far deeper then it is.

Generally, we that use this site are probably the most cynical and critical fans on the Argyle Internet, but every one of us is hurting at the state of the club at the moment, and so is the population at varying levels.

I am not advocating nor do I want Argyle to disappear for all the reasons stated above but at the minute there seems to be little in the way of anything positives emerging from the club. The sport of football is as far removed from what is happening at this time as it can be.

A club that is run on a sound financial and moral footing is what is required but is that what we are going to get? Football is about more than 11 men kicking a ball on a pitch; its about history, excitment, the discussions people have and most important it's what's ingrained in people's souls. How this relates to what has happened in the last few years and how Argyle move past this is anybody's guess.

As I just posted on another thread, I would sooner the club cease and start again then take the path of injustice and moral corruption that we seem to be taking. This isn't the club that I once supported, it's an entirely different morally bankrupt club that I want little to do with and I feel a sense of shame owing to my attachment to it.