Ep 2. Sign the ting

Hardie vs Ennis: how much of a miss will Niall be?

Welcome to Ep.2 of One Team in Devon, the weekly(ish) Plymouth Argyle fanzine – where we try and provide some colour around the happenings at Home Park.

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Dan Scarr extends

We’ll start with some great news. The current owner of the Argyle Magic Hat, Dan Scarr, has renewed his contract with Argyle. Scarr, 28, has pledged his future with a two-year contract, adding some much-needed stability to the Argyle backline ahead of a busy summer.

Scarr’s performances speak for themselves, but 48% of his 30 appearances in the League One 22/23 season were clean sheets, which speaks volumes about his leadership, in the middle of a back three.

Hardie stays, Ennis moves on

There was more good news with Argyle top-scorer Ryan Hardie putting pen-to-paper on a new three-year deal, which keeps him at Home Park until 2026. Hardie was the top scorer last term with 12 goals, although a poor run of scoring form stopped him from adding to that tally late in the season.

The slack was picked up by Niall Ennis, who has rejected a new contract at Argyle and completed a free transfer to Blackburn Rovers. For Ennis to leave for free is disappointing, especially after his scintillating form during the League One run-in.

But who is better? Ennis feels like the better all-rounder (a brilliant battling performance at Ipswich comes to mind), while no one can deny that Hardie can terrorise defences with his pace – and that will be a key attribute in the Championship.

Statistically, the two are very close. Ennis possessed a better goal and assists per 90 mins last season, with a goal contribution (a goal OR assist) every 0.89 minutes, putting him in the 98^th percentile of all strikers in the league.

Looking at xG (which is perhaps useful here), the two were identical with 0.41 expected goals per 90 mins, although Ennis’ is better if you discount penalties.

Losing Ennis is disappointing and he reminded everyone how lethal he could be in the final games of the season.

Perhaps his injury record limited Argyle’s assessment of his value during contract talks, and he got a better deal with Rovers.

Indeed, he spent three spells out with injury in 22/23, and with the budget razer thin for the Championship, we may need to look at a striker that can stay fit.

Yet to renew (perhaps we’ll hear this week)

Jordan Houghton

James Wilson

Brendan Galloway

Key dates for your diary

The transfer window opens: 14 June

Fixture release day: 22 June 2023

Championship start date: 5 August 2023

Carabao Cup R1 - w/c 7 August 2023

The transfer window closes: 1 September 2023 (11pm)

Magic of the play-offs

Congratulations are in order for Sheffield Wednesday, after an extraordinary promotion through the play-offs.

Wednesday led for less than a minute out of 333 minutes of play-off action, and produced a stunning last-second smash-and-grab at Wembley, against a 10-man Barnsley that created the better chances, and should have had a penalty on VAR (the red card has also been up for debate).

That’s after Wednesday produced of the biggest comebacks in EFL history, and notched a record points tally without getting automatic promotion.

No wonder the team got confused and sang ‘Championes’ after the match – despite finishing third.

Finally, what a pleasure it was to see the original custodian of the Magic Hat lifting the play-off final trophy at Wembley.

We’re sure many Argyle fans have a soft spot for Luton thanks to Sonny’s tenure and they are a beacon of hope that Argyle can thrive in the Championship.

And a few heads will be turned by his availability as a free agent this summer – even if Scarr’s renewal seems to close that door.

Oh, and have you seen the entrance to their ground?