Together Green
As we begin the final six games of the season, at the end of a week of change, Rob McNichol looks to Argyle history for inspiration.
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On the evening of 1 April, 2024, the news began to spread: ‘Ian Foster’s leaving today’.
Exactly one year prior to that, we were ensconced in a London hotel, all set for a Wembley encounter with Bolton Wanderers in the Papa Johns Trophy final the following day.
You don’t need me to rake up the experiences of that day. In short, we did not get the job done. The game had barely started, and it was essentially all over. It was all very disappointing.
By this point, you are probably wondering why I am choosing to focus on such a negative moment for the football club, and for us all. It’s a fair question to ask.
The reason is this: we are always going to have bad days. We have them in whichever job we do, we have them in our personal lives and, yes, we have them in football. Everyone has bad days, bad situations – but it is how we react to them that truly defines us.
A year ago, we left the famous arch deflated, but with eight games remaining as we sought promotion. We won seven of them, including the last six in a row. Even after the solitary defeat in that run, a rare home loss, against Lincoln City, we dusted ourselves off and, five days later, won 1-0 at Exeter City. What a day that was.
Later that week, we were 1-0 down after three quarters of a game at Shrewsbury Town and won it 2-1 with Callum Wright’s memorable late winner. Then, we had three tough home games inside a week, and we won the lot.
For a squad to be defeated – heck, let’s say it, to be humiliated – at our national stadium, with the country watching, with 40,000 of the Green Army in attendance, and then to dust themselves off and win the league? That’s character, right there.
A huge number of that squad remain with us. Some have come with us throughout the journey from League Two. They are players like Ryan Hardie, who once missed a penalty in the last minute at Stamford Bridge against the European champions, then reacted by bagging a hat-trick at Crewe three days later. Character.
They are players like Joe Edwards, who failed to register a goal in 2022/23 until 18 April, then scored three in the last five, when we needed him the most. He’s our captain, he’s our leader, and you can bet anything you like he’ll be leading and inspiring the lads as we speak.
It is not just those two. It is the whole squad, the coaching staff, the support team. It is every single one of us.
Talk about a fanbase, by the way. Over 1,400 at Norwich, the best home team in the division at the moment, on a Good Friday, with our form? At the risk of sounding like a Fast Show character – are they quite mad? Maybe they are, but they are the best in the land, and they proved it not once, but twice last weekend.
After backing the lads at Carrow Road, the Green Army swelled inside Home Park, and somehow the collective green hive mind seemed to make a decision that the only way forward – at least, understandably, until the final whistle – was wholesale, fundamental support.
Loads of teams get good support in the good times; that’s the easy bit. I will never forget the times when the Green Army stepped up in the moments when they were most needed. That could be a mobilisation at Notts County when Paul Sturrock had departed. It could be widespread rallying to the cause when our very existence was under threat. It could be the Argyle fireflies lighting up the night when we fell behind in the play-offs against Wycombe Wanderers.
Trust me, the backing against Bristol City was appreciated. I know for a fact it was mentioned inside the home dressing room after the game. And rightly so. The Green Army have given everything for our players this season, and vice versa.
If and when we confirm safety in the Championship, there will be no partying together on the Barbican, no Princess yachts pinging us around the Sound, no open-top bus tours. It does not mean it would not be a significant achievement, though – and it will be one we have achieved together. When we raised a toast to promotion in the city centre, we did it together. That was not mere symbolism. It was real.
How does the song go? Though hard times may come, we will beat on Drake’s Drum. The first time to march shoulder-to-shoulder will be to Rotherham United’s New York Stadium on Friday, and the procession will continue via PL2 on three occasions, with stops in South London and Stoke-on-Trent along the way. It is critical that our faith continues to endure.
At the risk of mixing my transport metaphors, Neil Dewsnip has been steering our ship for the better part of five years, and the trajectory of the tide has been rising consistently over that period. He knows as well as anyone what we have achieved so far, and it would mean everything to him to maintain that.
As for Kevin Nancekivell….well, it would be wrong to divulge details of private conversations, but I’m happy to tell you that I exchanged WhatsApp messages with Nance on Monday evening and, when the chat was over, I wanted to pull on a kit and play for him, never mind our players.
The lads will know what the club means to Nance; he won’t need to tell them. But I suspect he will tell them anyway, because he cares so deeply. Like we all do.
Here we go, then: the run-in. Cliches will abound of must-wins and six-pointers and Great Escapes and six cup finals. The twists will turn and the turns will twist. Brows will be mopped. Nails will be bitten.
We can do little about that. But we can ensure that we do it together.
It’s time to be a part of it, with green right through the very heart of it, as we make a brand-new start of it. See you at the New York.
