Why Argyle have all the ingredients for success – how far can they go?

The factors that lead to success in the South West

What constitutes a successful Argyle team? It’s not going to be riches, we all know that.

But there are currencies at Home Park that go further than sterling.

If the Skybet Championship was ordered by spending, there’d be little point in Argyle getting off the bus – or us fans turning up for a game. But football isn’t played on spreadsheets, and there are enough basketcase clubs, hellbent on self-sabotage, to give less wealthy teams a chance.

Since the great Argyle reset in 2019, a few factors have consistently played a role in success. And in this newsletter, I argue that all those factors are present today.

Caveat time. We’re fewer than 10 games into the season, and there are obvious weaknesses to address. It’s a 46-game season, as we found out last season. Nothing is decided after nine games.

But if we build on these elements, Argyle can be successful. Perhaps more so than we ever imagined.

Underdog super-power

Is there a bigger underdog in football right now than Plymouth Argyle? Written off before a ball had been kicked. Proclaimed to have the worst manager (Second Tier Pod), poorest recruitment (Second Tier Pod), and even a dead cert to go down (everyone, Gab Sutton, Second Tier Pod). I added these links just in case you want to smugly remind yourself what was said.

After the Sheffield Wednesday disasterclass, who could blame people for doubling down on these sorts of predictions? But Plymouth Argyle is most dangerous when the world has written us off.

We were told we couldn’t beat Ipswich to the title. That Wednesday would take our automatic promotion spot, and that we’d bottle the playoffs. That we couldn't stay up in the Championship.

This all suits us perfectly. This team loves proving people wrong. The difference this time is that our manager believes in us.

Togetherness and belief

Rooney was a togetherness appointment, designed to undo (or not repeat) the damage done by Ian Foster.

Rooney’s ideas about the style of play passed muster with the board. But it was Rooney’s personality that sealed the job. Simon Hallett could see that Rooney bought into the One Argyle ethos — and it was deemed more important than managerial win percentages, or xG/xGA analysis that many experts used to point out what a terrible appointment Rooney would be.

The reason for that onus on togetherness is that it’s potentially the most powerful currency at Plymouth Argyle Football Club. The opposite can be true. Bad vibes can quickly cause a rot here. That might be true for every club, but there’s something about Argyle where sheer togetherness seems to cause a palpable energy.

When Rooney and Pete Shuttleworth say that our club is a special place, these are not just pointless platitudes. Argyle is a family. The long distances traveled by both players and fans, the squad living away from their families, in a single-club city, makes for a powerful combination.

There seems to be incredible togetherness within the squad right now. The players are clearly behind Rooney and his ideas.

Keeping this togetherness will be crucial.

Home form and last-minute winners

Credit: Plymouth Argyle

Home form is the bedrock of any successful football team – but it’s especially true for Argyle.

Home Park can be a fortress – and it’s becoming so one once again. It’s a cliché, but the distance and partisan home support makes it a tough place to come.

As I’ve mentioned many times, Nance and Dewsnip didn’t lose a home game over their two Championship tenures last season. Leicester City was slain at Home Park by an Argyle team that couldn’t buy a goal in the league.

After the Stoke loss this season, I was worried that Fortress Home Park was no more. And the team wasn’t capable of last-gasp wins that characterised the Schumacher era. I couldn't have been more wrong. And there are early signs that Rooney is returning Home Park’s English Heritage membership.

Three home wins on the spin against strong sides is the start of something.

And with the ability to capture points at home on the scale of September’s fixtures – huge things are possible.

Fans uniting behind the Argyle Way

When the Greem Army tore itself apart during the Foster era, its effect on the team was pronounced.

The Rooney appointment was risky for this reason. But the club and staff have unified the fanbase in a way I couldn’t have thought possible.

What’s truly remarkable is that even before this run of results, fans could see the formation of an identity. That the Argyle Way was alive and well. Pete Shuttleworth mentioned this during his press conference after the Blackburn game.

It’s been evolutionary, but every Argyle fan could see what the pundits couldn't. That something was building in the South West. That the dismal reports of Argyle’s fortunes bore no resemblance to what we could see on the pitch, with our own eyes.

How far can we go?

Who can tell? Certainly not me. And I’m certainly not going to stick my neck out to make predictions, when any Argyle fan would happily finish the season now in 14th place.

But if — and this is a HUGE if — Argyle could hold a mid-table position until January, stay injury-free, and buy well in the next window (with the budget that looks to be still in place) the ingredients above will make for an unmissable second half of the season.