Over paid and pampered footballers? – No Money

As a fan I’m as prone as anyone else to getting on my high horse in the local boozer and moaning about the extortionate wages being paid to footballers, but I was reminded at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night that the majority of professional players aren’t actually paid a great deal … and in Plymouth Argyle’s case, nowt!

The Argyle lads haven’t been paid what they are entitled to for two months now and the PFA have even stepped in to help them out.

Most of these players will never reach the dizzy heights of the Premier League and – with a career likely to be over by the time they reach their mid-thirties if they’re lucky – any money they pick up now is very important.

I wonder how many of us would show the same loyalty to our companies as the Argyle boys showed in a spirited display against Rovers.

Two goals down at half time, two key players sold already in the transfer window to pay club debts, six other decent players out on loan to cut costs, a Football League transfer embargo in place, hovering just above the relegation zone in League One – these fellas could have been forgiven for texting their agents (if they could afford one) from the dressing room or feigning injury in order to protect themselves while sorting out a move to a financially secure Conference club, but they didn’t.

In a display that had manager Peter Reid rightly singing their praises after the game, they came out fighting and showed a great deal of professional pride to score three goals and win it.

True, Rovers imploded to a certain extent, but credit where it is due, the Argyle lads were a real credit to their club and their profession.

Anyone who has ever visited Home Park knows that Plymouth is a real sleeping giant of a club and the fact that they made the short list for proposed venues in England’s failed 2018 World Cup bid is no accident. The passion of the football fans on the south coast is up there with the best of them and their team is doing them proud in difficult circumstances.

Of course it’s not just Argyle who are teetering on the brink at the moment, but their players deserve every plaudit going for doing their bit to ensure the situation doesn’t get any worse.

Reid should also be applauded as he has walked into a fiscal nightmare, but is standing shoulder to shoulder with his players to turn things around when he could probably afford to walk away.

It should also be noted that the backroom and office staff at Plymouth aren’t getting their full whack either and so also spare a thought for them if they can’t find your pre-paid ticket or don’t put onions on your burger down at Home Park.

Bristol Rovers 2 Plymouth Argyle 3 - Stunned and Amazed

I was sitting next to a local Plymouth reporter for last night’s encounter at the Memorial Ground and at the break he was bemoaning the fact that Mikkel Andersen had made a superb save low to his left to ensure Rovers went in for their half time oranges two Will Hoskins’s goals to the good.

Even though the home side were head and shoulders above Argyle for most of the first 45 minutes I told the journo that if they scored before Rovers got a third, panic would set in and that’s exactly what happened.

My clipping from today's paper

Bradley Wright-Phillips pulled one back in the 58th minute and then co-striker Joe Mason prodded home an equaliser eleven minutes later as the Gas deflated and imploded.

Midfielder Stephane Zubar stole all three points in the 81st minute poking home from about four yards after team mate had pumped a 45 yard free kick forward to the unmarked Frenchman.

The ‘oles’ that greeted Rovers passing game in the first half we replaced with jeers of derision as the game wore on and the only round of applause was saved for keeper Mikkel Andersen who appeared to be saying goodbye before returning to parent club Reading as his loan deal has now expired.

I left the ground with Mikkel and while he wouldn’t be drawn as to what his plans were, he did say:

“I want to be playing regularly and will be hoping to start against West Brom in the Cup on Saturday.”

It appears he now has is eyes focused on making a claim for involvement at Reading, but he did see some positives for Rovers.

“There are some very good younger players here,” he said “And I thought Elliot Richards was great tonight. In fact a lot quicker than I thought.”

Rovers caretaker boss Darren Patterson saw his own career path fade before his eyes in the second half and groaned:

“We are obviously very disappointed. From probably playing the best football we have done all season we gifted the game away. That’s what we did, absolutely gift it away.

We had to work pretty hard for our goals, but we simply don’t do the ugly side of the game very well and it’s simply killing us.

We have lots of technically gifted players at the club, but maybe we need people who can do the horrible things when we need to protect a two goal lead.”

Patterson understandably refused to even discuss the vacant manager’s position given the result and - after the first question on the subject – made a point of telling the rest of the assembled reporters not to ask it again.

If the players did want him to take on the job full time I’m afraid that they really didn’t do him any favours at all with their second half collapse and with 81% of readers in a local paper stating that they do NOT want him as manager, any interview the board grant him now will be given as a mere courtesy.

Why the board sacked Paul Trollope with no fallback position though remains a key question. With no game this weekend, the board better sort out an acceptable replacement in the next few days before the Gas faithful turn their frustration on them.

Argyle’s players haven’t received their wages from the club now for two months, the club is under a football league transfer embargo and it is selling key squad members to clear debts and so manager Peter Reid praised their fighting spirit after the game.

"The players deserve every bit of credit," said the Argyle boss. "Away from home, 2-0 down and then to get a result speaks for itself. We started slowly. They dominated us early on and we could not get out of our half. But towards the end of the first half we were threatening and I felt if we could get one goal, a foothold, we would be back in it and I was right. It was fantastic. The second half was so exciting.

It’s a balancing act at the moment. We have to sell players to pay off our debts so that we can get the transfer embargo lifted and then try and bring in loan players, but it is what it is and we just have to get on with it and the players have shown a great spirit after what they’ve been through.”