Plymouth Argyle FC

It’s clear that the Pilgrims need new reinforcements after Paul Wotton, Lilian Nalis and Peter Halmosi all left the club this summer. Many fans expect next season to be a tough one at Home Park, especially with Ebanks-Blake no longer around to bang in the goals, as he did during the first part of last season. [click to continue…]

Plymouth Argyle winger Peter Halmosi has been a long-term target of Premier League new boys Hull City, with Tigers manager Phil Brown admitting his interest publically last week.

Brown was met with semi-positive responses from Pilgrims manager Paul Sturrock:

We’re trying to keep our best players, but like everything they’ve all got prices and at the end of the day Peter’s got a price like anyone else.

However, Hull now look to have a battle on their hands, with promotion-gunning Sheffield United entering the race, with Blades gaffer Kevin Blackwell stating:

He is a good player and as such I am always interested in good players. In that regard, then, he would be in a list of good players I would be interested in.

It is thought that the two clubs will now battle it out for the £3million-rated Hungarian’s signature.

Halmosi has not gone public with any comments and it remains to be seen if the 28-year-old would prefer a Premiership relegation battle at the KC Stadium or a Championship promtion race at Bramall Lane. Thoughts?

Upsets left right and centre in today’s FA Cup action. But what was the biggest shock?Coventry somehow managed to obliterate Blackburn 4-1, whilst League One Huddersfield beat Birmingham 2-1. Special mention should also go to Sheffield United who booted out Bolton with a 1-0 win lowly and injury ravaged Oldham, who beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park.

So what was your upset of the day?

Here are today’s 3rd round results in full:

Barnsley 2-1 Blackpool
Blackburn 1-4 Coventry
Bolton 0-1 Sheff Utd
Brighton 1-2 Mansfield
Bristol City 1-2 Middlesbrough
Charlton 1-1 West Brom
Chasetown 1-3 Cardiff
Chelsea 1-0 QPR
Colchester 1-3 Peterborough
Everton 0-1 Oldham
Huddersfield 2-1 Birmingham
Ipswich 0-1 Portsmouth
Norwich 1-1 Bury
Plymouth 3-2 Hull
Preston 1-0 Scunthorpe
Southampton 2-0 Leicester
Southend 5-2 Dag & Red
Sunderland 0-3 Wigan
Swansea 1-1 Havant and W
Swindon 1-1 Barnet
Tottenham 2-2 Reading
Tranmere 2-2 Hereford
Walsall 0-0 Millwall
Watford 2-0 Crystal Palace
West Ham 0-0 Man City
Wolverhampton 2-1 Cambridge Utd
Manchester United LATE KICK OFF Aston Villa

Watch Blackburn live online

Watch Aston Villa live online

The king is dead, long live the King. So said the French in the 15th century (the wonders of Wikipedia know no bounds) as they discussed the replacement of Ian Holloway with Paul Sturrock at Plymouth Argyle.

Paul Sturrock? ‘Didn’t he used to be the manager of Plymouth, the most successful in their history?’ we hear you say (you know your lower-league West Country football). Well, yes he did, two championships and the beginning the ascent Argyle have been making since finding themselves in the basement division in 2001. So why come back? According to thisiswiltshire.co.uk he will be leaving Swindon for Plymouth because…

Plymouth have upped their interest in Sturrock since senior players met chairman Paul Stapleton late last week and discussed his return.

It is understood Paul Connolly, Lee Hodges, midfielder David Norris and club captain Paul Wotton gave their approval for the Scot, who managed them in his first spell.

Returning to the club, like getting back into a comfy old sofa, might sound nice for the players. But will this old pals’ act prove a winner, or is it always the case that YOU SHOULD NEVER GO BACK?

Any regular reader of Caught Offside will know that the writers are often accused of supporting, and (more importantly) hating, whatever team is convenient for to slag them off. Usually this is about as accurate as a James McFadden finish, it happens that this writer couldn’t give a jot about who wins what in the Premier League. However, he will nail his colours to the mast by saying ‘Leicester are a thieving bunch of c**ts, give us our bloody manager back, you have ruined everything!’. Yes, Ian Holloway is moving from Plymouth to Leicester, according to the Plymouth Evening Herald. Adopts funereal tone:

Ian Holloway has resigned as manager of Plymouth Argyle, according to a source close to the 44-year-old.

It is believed Holloway is having talks with Leicester City chairman Milan Mandaric today about taking over at the Walkers Stadium.

Unbelievable, what a terrible decision, everyone knows Milan Mandaric is a nigthmare to work for, NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Holloway, who has been the Pilgrims’ boss since June 2006, did not arrive for work at Home Park this morning.

It was the second successive day the Argyle squad had trained in the absence of their manager as the players were left in limbo about the future of Holloway. Coaches Des Bulpin and Geoff Crudgington, plus physio Paul Maxwell, took the session at the Harper’s Park training ground.

And now the search for a new manager begins, as the Championship descends into farce.

Rumour is rife in the Championship and top of the list is the ‘news’ that Ian Holloway could be Leicester bound. The man who seems so perfect for his current club Plymouth, going to work for Milan Mandaric? Surely not? Well, the Croatian seems confident. Or at least his representative does:

“Ian Holloway would be Milan Mandaric’s preferred choice providing Leicester have permission from Plymouth to speak to him and can settle a compensation package.

“Before the international break, he promised the Leicester fans he would have a new man in place by this Saturday’s game at Bristol City.

“So if he’s going to live up to that promise he’ll have to work fast.”

Having already interviewed Joe Royle, Graeme Souness and Peter Reid it would seem that Ollie is not first choice, but will the increased spending budget and chance of a huge pay-off when he is sacked in 6 months prove just too tasty a proposition?

It’s not been a great year for Auntie, what with losing a load of funding, being found out to be dirty rotten cheats ripping of quiz contestants and Gary Lineker still smirking at the camera. So it with a smile on our face that we bring you better news from White City, the Beeb will be broadcasting Football League matches from 2009. Well, it worked for ITV Digital.

So, what are the details?

The BBC will show Football League and Carling Cup matches from the 2009 to 2012 seasons after winning the contract in a joint bid with Sky.

Oh yeah, the Carling Cup too, we forgot that.

It means Championship matches will be screened live on the BBC for the first time, with 10 first-choice games per season exclusively live on the BBC.

And what’s more…

The Carling Cup final will be simulcast live with Sky, and two semi-final legs shown exclusively live on the BBC.

No, we don’t know what that means either. So, is this a step forward for the Championship or just another sign that BBC sport ain’t what it used to be?

Ian Holloway is a genius and should be knighted. That’s one opinion. Here’s another - Ian Holloway is a village idiot performing like a monkey for media cash. To decide which group you fall into - let’s help you with Ollie’s views of footballer’s burn-out:

Ha ha ha! I wish they were playing too much football - I didn’t see much evidence of that when England played Russia!

Personally I think that’s absolute codswallop. I used to play Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon and Sunday from the ages of 10-14.

My heart bleeds for them - the richest burnt-out people I’ve ever met in my life. Your career’s short - you’ve got to play as many games as you can.

Skimming over the first use of the word codswallop since 1989, it is fair to say Ollie is, like any great comedian, telling us what we all thought. And if you get beyond the silly accent and bad metaphors you will find that he always does. Yet he’s such a nice guy that footballers seem to quite enjoy being on the end of a slagging from him, which is lucky a long and successful media career beckons.

Genius, we say.

For a while it was Kevin Phillips, for ages it was Jason Koumas, there was even some rubbish talked about Robert Earnshaw at some point. But who is currently the best player outside the Premiership? Well, here are some options, but feel free to pick your own?

Kevin Phillips (West Brom) - Is he past it? Probably, but a bit of expeience never hurt anyone.

Darius Henderson (Watford) - Scores a shed load of goal, but is he just a flash in the pan?

Zolton Gera (West Brom) - Top class midfielder, who really should be playing in Premiership soon.

Robbie Fowler (Cardiff) - Stop laughing at the back, he used to be the next Jimmy Greaves, that’s got to be worth something.

Jimbo Beattie (Sheff United) - The only good thing about Bryan Robson’s reign?

Peter Halmosi (Plymouth) - An outsider for the title, this Hungarian winger is leading Ollie’s Argyle revolution.

Any better suggestions?

There are some footballers with great names for headlines writers and then there is Wycombe’s Jermaine Easter, the man who allows sub-editors at the tabloids to head to the pub early everytime scores. But will he do it at a higher level? We’ll soon find out, he’s signed for Plymouth in a loan move. Ian Holloway is confident:

“He scored 17 goals last year, in a lower division, but we believe he will score goals at whichever level he plays. Hopefully, he can do it very quickly here. He will throw something different into the mix for us.”

Goals certainly would be a change, Argyle haven’t had a player score twenty goals in a season since the mid-Nineties. Are the Plymouth fans excited about the lad?