Days Of Old: In a parallel universe I'd be a Pilgrim fan and "Io'd be speakin loike this", I might be a poster on PASOTI, perhaps even as "Otter" which is the name of a Devon based brewery (my avatar was a picture of a beer towel in a hotel bar in Dawlish), rather than the English translation of "Vydra" from Czech. My parents are both from Plymouth, my grandfathers fought with the Royal Navy in WWII, like many other servicemen from the area rather than the army. As a child & teenager my dad would watch matches quite often at Home Park, on occasion so would my mum go with her dad. Two things happened, one genetic, one of disgust, which made my dad change his allegiance to the Hornets. There was a quirk of fate; around the time my dad was 20, he was an apprentice welder in the merchant navy working at Devonport, he wanted to try something different and applied to become a policeman. In the 1960s, however, there was a rule that has since been removed, that he was one inch too short to join the Devon & Cornwall constabulary, he needed to be 5'9" minimum. Undeterred he looked at other options and found that London had a lower minimum height, he applied, did his training and passed. After marrying my mum, they lived in London for a couple of years before looking for somewhere quieter and stumbled across Bushey, where they would live for 52 years (they live near Poole now). Once settled into the area he would go to Vicarage Road very rarely, but he would go in the away end when Plymouth played here in the 1970s, then according to him, he challenged some of the Argyle fans for using racist chants aimed at Luther Blissett, from that point he ditched Plymouth entirely and from point in GT's early days here he firmly became a Hornet. I started going with him in late 1983, later that season the 1984 cup semi final at Villa Park he cheered Watford on to the cup final. Current day: As for Plymouth themselves, they avoided relegation last season on the final (the resulting pitch invasion led to the club being fined £45k it was reported last week), it was their first season back in the second tier since 2010 having won EFL League One with 101 points in the 22/23 season. It was under the watch of Stephen Schumacher they got promoted and last season they were scoring a lot of goals, but last Christmas he was lured away to Stoke (and since been sacked) and replaced my Ian Foster and limped their way through the remainder of the season, only winning 3 of the 16 games he managed. In the summer Wayne Rooney took up the reins at Home Park. After a poor start to the season they pick up a bit before the October international break but only recorded one win (v lowly Portsmouth) in the six games in between the October and November breaks. Their last match was 1-1 draw at Rooney's former club Derby. They currently sit 15th in the table on 16 points, but they have the second worst defensive record in the division. Out last meeting was at the Vic in the second round of the EFL Cup, where two goals from Rajovic saw us go through with a 2-0 victory. Both teams made a number of changes for the game. The last league meeting was at Home Park on New Years Day, a rollercoaster 3-3 draw was played out with goals from Kayembe, Kone and Andrews; Plymouth were managerless at the time. As well as being the southernmost and westernmost club in the English leagues, they are the biggest club to have not played in the top flight. In team news, Festy Ebolsele is suspended for one match having accrued 5 bookings, although he hobbled off at home to Oxford he did play in both of Ireland's matches in the international break. Ryan Porteous returns from his one match suspension, he was an unused sub for Scotland at the end of last week. Plymouth forum PASOTI: https://pasoti.co.uk/forums/plymouth-argyle-fans-forum.30/ Finally on a sad note: While researching I found an article about George Reilly suffering from dementia, probably caused from heading the ball, it was dated 5 years ago, here's the link: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/ex-scots-footballer-calls-action-20732420
Very interesting quirk of fate and subsequent support write up, love hearing random stories like that. Also found it slightly amusing that the way it's worded, you could potentially take the meaning away that the Devon & Cornwall constabulary had a rule on the statue books solely regarding the height of your father; 'Should he wish to join up, Mr Otter Senior is required to be at least 5'9'' in height at time of employ'.
Best wishes to George!!! It was possibly the bit of ear he lost to a non forgiving Plymouth fan who still held a grudge against George for scoring the goal that took us to Wembley, and robbed Plymouth of their biggest ever day at the same time, that helped bring on his dementia LoL
Should have stood on a pedal stool, and in one foul swoop he'd have got the job - no need to wait on tender hooks.
Will never forget that semi in 84, I was 11 and living in North Devon, zero chance of getting anywhere near Villa Park. Kept away from the result all afternoon so I could watch it late on MOTD.
Great preview thank you Otter. All the best to George. I remember there was a story in the media a few years ago about the dangers of "heading the ball" and there was talk about using softer footballs to counter it, but there was a problem with the weight ratio of the air inside or something like that. As for the game, I cannot see past a narrow loss. I really want our away form to improve, but going into this game off an IB is generally when we seem to stay on the coach. We can win of course and I hope we do, but Plymouth are/were good at home and Home Park is one of the few grounds I've yet to see in person. Plymouth fans' seem a likable lot however, and they are very vocal and loyal to their club. Jebbison or Bayo? I think we know the answer to that. Festy will be a miss, and our injury list is growing not reducing. Ngakia is probably a week away. Plymouth 1 Watford 0
A few years ago? It's ongoing: https://www.skysports.com/football/...eased-risk-of-developing-dementia-study-finds
Nothing less than a convincing win, Sissoko back in the squad, TDB hopefully now fit too. A win will take us to having the 7th best away record in the league which goes to show how awful everyone else is too. Plymouth 0-3 Watford.
xG so far this season says you're wrong ! Let's carry on being poor and just assume we'll get lucky again.
Jesus - I thought our away form was dreadful, but if that's the case it really is a poor league this season.
Plymouth have 2 points on the road. Trouble is their home form has been excellent. Porteous not in the Scotland squad tonight - injured?
Really enjoyed ruining their big day out back in 06/07 in the FA Cup QF. Bouazza crashed one in and they couldn’t finish their dinner/Foster kept us in it. The weirdo locals all got a bit upset afterwards and started throwing stones. Hope we realise it’s possible to win away and give the pasty munching yokels a good pumping.
Such high-class entertainment cannot surely repeat itself as a Watford fan? 0-0 in a drab, wet awful game, where we hang on for a point till the 99th minute...
As discussed in August, I got into a chat with his mum who said her son played for Plymouth... ......
Hopefully Rooney's head has turned whilst his Mrs is in the jungle eating kangaroo bum. Unfortunately I dont think our lot will be up to it. 3-1 Plymouth.
Like you both my parents came from Plymouth, and I spent a lot of my holidays with my parents back there. We had a lot of relatives in the area, and it’s great for all the local beaches, but not the weather as I recall. My affinity for the club however ended at the 1984 cup semi final at villa park. It’s hard to like people who chuck rocks at you.
Nice write up @Otter ! Back in the '70s we used to holiday at Whitsand Bay which is just across from Plymouth .
Ha ha ! Back in the day they were just shacks built on the cliff face with no electricity an outside loo and everything running off calor gas . Today you need an awful lot of money to buy one of these chalets!. Helluva trek down to the beach .....but worth it !
I used to spend a week there every year in the school summer holidays until the last of my grandparents died in 1993. Since then I reckon I've been back only about 4 times. I never had any affinity to Plymouth Argyle, I was born in Watford and lived in the area for all my life except my uni/year out days. They're peculiar on the other side of the Tamar!
