SEASON

2006-2007

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MANAGER: Ian Holloway.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON: Lilian Nalis.

DEBUTS: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Rory Fallon, Dan Gosling, Peter Halmosi, Barry Hayles, Cherno Samba, Gary Sawyer, Marcel Seip, Krisztian Timar.

FINAL GAMES: Hasney Aljofree, Anthony Barness, Tony Capaldi, Cherno Samba.

LOANS: Kevin Gallen (QPR), Scott Sinclair (Chelsea).

If anyone had expected a quiet summer at Home Park, the reality was anything but. A takeover at Stoke City led to rumours of a departure for Tony Pulis that eventually materialised around the end of May. [Click for more]

If anyone had expected a quiet summer at Home Park, the reality was anything but. A takeover at Stoke City led to rumours of a departure for Tony Pulis that eventually materialised around the end of May. Within a month, a new manager was in place as Ian Holloway arrived at Home Park, although the somewhat protracted saga that delayed the assembly of his backroom team until late November may well have accounted for Argyle’s indifferent early form.

Six new apprentices arrived, including the highly rated Dan Gosling, who would go on to feature regularly in the first team throughout the season, earning himself a call up to the England under-17 European Championship squad for the finals, where they finished as runners-up. Holloway’s first match in charge, despite being a friendly, was the stuff that dreams are made of: a game against the mighty Real Madrid while the Pilgrims were on tour in Austria, the Spanish side triumphing in a narrow 1-0 victory. Disciplinary problems clouded the tour as an incident between Paul Wotton and Chris Zebroski left the skipper needing over a hundred stitches in a head wound. Zebroski was subsequently sacked after an internal investigation, while Wotton regained fitness in time for the start of the league campaign.

Contract extensions for Norris, Doumbe and McCormick raised the spirits of the Green Army as did Holloway’s infectious enthusiasm. Sebastian Ebanks-Blake arrived from Manchester United on a permanent deal and Barry Hayles signed on the dotted line to add experience to the front line. A familiar face was missing from the early skirmishes, however, Romain Larrieu’s serious illness causing much concern among the corridors of Home Park and beyond.

David Byrne was added to the youth set up, taking charge of the under 15s and by the end of the season, Stuart Gibson had departed to be replaced by Gordon Bennett and Mike Pejic. Anthony Mason and his younger brother, Joe, received international honours with the Republic of Ireland’s under-19 and under-16 sides respectively, suggesting that there was a particularly talented crop of youth players coming through. An impressive run in the FA Youth Cup saw the Pilgrims exit at the fourth-round stage, defeated at Home Park by Crystal Palace. Dan Gosling and Luke Summerfield spent a week training with Chelsea in early March, both gaining valuable experience during the trip to Stamford Bridge. In early April the much-vaunted Plymouth Argyle Youth Development (PAYD) ceased trading as Argyle took back control of youth football. The arrival at the end of the season of former Aston Villa captain and European Cup winner, Allan Evans, certainly raised a few approving eyebrows of those watching with interest.

Wins on the road at Sunderland, Coventry and Palace suggested that things were starting to come together, but the wait for a home win until September 23rd was disappointing. By the time that Argyle saw off Derby in mid-October on Sky, however, they had risen to fifth in the table.

Locally, Argyle enjoyed a trip to Truro’s redeveloped Treyew Road ground for a friendly during an international break, while the Reserve side made use of Tiverton Town’s Ladysmead when Home Park was unavailable for home matches.

Despite Holloway’s boundless positivity, injuries and off the field problems beset the team in the build up to Christmas. Wotton was ruled out for the rest of the season after sustaining knee ligament damage at home to Hull, while Lee Hodges, Paul Connolly, Matthias Doumbe, Bojan Djordjic and Nick Chadwick all missed notable chunks of the campaign. Marcel Seip arrived and adapted quickly on the pitch but made the headlines off it for a couple of late-night interactions in the city and Reuben Reid was on the receiving end of Holloway the disciplinarian following two successive aborted loan spells at Kidderminster and Rochdale.

Murmurings surfaced in the press about the possibility of investment from a London-based group of Argyle fans and in December, Plymouth City Council presented Argyle with a Christmas present of sorts, the freehold of Home Park that the club had purchased for a cool £2.7 million. A change in the boardroom in February saw Nic Warren step down as director. Meanwhile, Peter Hall was named as an honorary life Vice-President by Argyle a few days later. The release of the club accounts in March showed a loss of £315,000, the first deficit suffered since the current board took the reins in 2001.

Problems with the waterlogged and then frozen facilities at Harpers Park hampered Argyle’s festive campaign but the New Year saw a flurry of incomings as first Gallen and then a pair of magical Magyars in Halmosi and Timar arrived at the club, joining compatriot Akos Buzsaky in green. Rory Fallon and Ashley Barnes arrived but both struggled to make an impact, while attempts to encourage Tony Capaldi to sign a contract extension proved fruitless. Capaldi, who in early February became the most capped player in Argyle’s history when he took to the field against Wales, obviously felt that his stock was on the rise and the Argyle board were either unable or unwilling to meet his contract demands. The impressive form of Gary Sawyer, who won the Young Player of the Season award, was the perfect antidote to the Capaldi disappointment however, and the young left-back put in a number of eye-catching performances.

Another impressive win on the road, this time at Norwich split a couple of wins in the FA Cup, where another loanee, Chelsea’s Scott Sinclair, scored arguably Argyle’s greatest ever FA Cup goal to secure a 2-0 win at Barnet in the fourth round. If a win in the fifth round, at home to Derby, evoked memories of the 1983-84 run, the draw for the quarter finals suggested that fate was closely watching the Pilgrims this season as Watford came out of the hat and came to Home Park to leave Janner dreams of glory in tatters as they had done at Villa Park, 23 years previously. Argyle had thrown everything including the proverbial kitchen sink at the Hornets, who had goalkeeper Ben Foster to thank for their safe passage to the semi-finals. Always the bridesmaid, Ian Holloway’s side could hold their heads up high and consider themselves more than a touch unfortunate.

A return to the bread and butter of league action saw Argyle complete the double over Crystal Palace, thanks to another Sinclair wonder goal and after a horror week of defeats against Ipswich, Burnley and Leeds, they finished the campaign on a run of five straight wins to finish in a highly commendable 11th place.

It felt, to those of a green persuasion, that Argyle might just be on the verge of something special. Player of the season, Lilian Nalis, swiftly agreed to a one-year contract extension while Timar and Halmosi became fully-fledged Pilgrims. The good ship Mayflower was circling uncharted waters, awaiting a fair wind and clear skies. [Click for less]