At a prison in Devon professionals from country rivals Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle are participating in an innovative pilot programme putting football at the centre of rehabilitationThere is a fiercely contested drop-ball during a five-a-side kickabout with a difference. Behind the barbed wire and through the giant blue main gate at HMP Exeter, in the gymnasium perched round the back of C wing, where a pair of tracksuit bottoms are drying out of the window of cell 32, a handpicked group of offenders are taking on a team comprising professional footballers from Devon rivals Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle. “Nice and fair,” says Mike Reece, one of five prison officers who specialise in physical education here, as the game...
After ultimately saving Argyle, the owner has helped to give fans the chance to dream of reaching the ChampionshipLast Sunday marked seven years since a financially crippled Plymouth Argyle entered administration, a time when 40 full‑time staff went nine months without being paid. They were dark days in deepest Devon but, zoom in on a run of one defeat in 15 league matches over the past three months and, like Gary Sawyer, the captain, you, too, will be scrabbling to find the right adjective to describe an equally extraordinary transformation.Plymouth were bottom with 17 points from 20 matches in League One on the morning of 9 December 2017, at which point the club were 5,000-1 for promotion. However, since a...
The much-travelled Celtic forward first made his name with a wonder effort in the FA Cup at Barnet, during a spell on loan at Plymouth from ChelseaIt was quite the calling card. With his team a goal up but under the cosh against lower-league opposition, a 17-year-old with fewer than 50 minutes of first-team football to his name was summoned from the bench and proceeded to settle matters with his first senior goal. And how – seven or eight seconds of carefully controlled chaos, it was one of those show-stoppers worthy of a more prestigious platform, but many among the 5,204 present on that perishing January afternoon left the ground speaking of little else but the moment of improvised brilliance...
Plymouth’s defence was classy and defiant, Ndidi excelled on Leicester debut, Batshuayi proved little and Stourbridge showed romance is alive, even in defeatThe triumphant celebrations after Plymouth Argyle’s 0-0 draw at Anfield were further confirmation that giant-equalling is the new giantkilling. In the modern world of the FA Cup, it is enough for David to draw with Goliath – especially as it means a second payday for clubs often in need of such a financial boost. For Plymouth’s players, it was about more than that. It’s easy to be sniffy about their ultra-defensive approach against the youngest team in Liverpool’s history, but most League Two teams would not have been good enough to pull it off. Plymouth defended with such...
Pilgrims fan and comedian Josh Widdicombe documents his FA Cup awayday at Anfield alongside more than 8,500 Plymouth Argyle supportersIt may be easy for me to say this straight after the match but that was the greatest experience I’ve ever had supporting Plymouth Argyle. I presumed it would be the same for everyone who saw the game but having spoken to some friends I now realise I am out of step with the nation. In reality, it was almost certainly an absolutely awful football match. But, frankly, who cares? Related: Plymouth hold out against Klopp’s young Liverpool to earn FA Cup replay Astonishing scenes! Continue reading...