đ˘ Schuey goes west: An evening with the Plymouth Argyle gaffer in Cornwall
Plus, a double dose of St Austell, with reaction to both the announcement of their multi-million-pound redevelopment and their weekend win over Camelford, as well as words from St Blazey.
âŹď¸ In todayâs newsletter âŹď¸
đ˘ Schuey goes west: An evening with the Plymouth Argyle gaffer in Cornwall
â˝ Midweek round-up
đľ SWPL Premier West
⪠St Austell: âSuper exciting timeâ for Town as grand development plans revealed
⪠St Austell: Ainslie pleased with clean sheet in Camelford victory
đ˘ St Blazey: Green and Blacks learning âharsh realitiesâ of Western League â Richardson
Enjoy. ăă
đ˘ Schuey goes west: An evening with the Plymouth Argyle gaffer in Cornwall
By Colin Bradbury
Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher ventured across the Tamar on Tuesday night for a Q&A session at St Blazey AFC.
Hosted by Plymouth Argyle Cornish Supporters Association (PACSA) chairman John Simmons, the event saw 125 Cornish Greens packing the room for 80 minutes of questions.
Schuey was typically forthright in his answers, with some great insights into the season so far and an inside perspective on the current state of play at Home Park. And for good measure, he also brought the League One trophy along with him.
Here are some of the highlights.
On the season so far and the move up to the Championship
Weâve seen the quality weâre up against. If we donât take our chances, the opposition all have good players who will punish you. But I think weâre doing alright and will get better. Whatâs stood out to me is that sometimes you just have to say, âthat was good playâ. There werenât too many times last year against too many teams (in League One) where youâd say that. If teams got chances against us it was often through a mistake or lack of concentration on our part. But this year itâs just good play. When weâre attacking, some of the blocks the defenders are making are fantastic. Itâs probably not surprising, but itâs just the standard of play. Every team has great players.
Have Argyle got the budget to compete in the Championship?
Our finances are very tight. We were able to spend the money on Bali Mumba and Morgan Whittaker in the summer and that was amazing. We havenât been able to do that for a few years. For us to be at the stage where Simon (Hallett, chairman) is allowing us to do that, for the club to be financially secure is amazing. I canât be going on about getting more money just because weâre up against better teams. It is what it is. Weâve got the budget weâve got.
Zac (Newton, club secretary) is very strict on the budget. If weâre 50 quid over, heâll let me know that we have to make it back with attendances or cup runs or whatever. But weâll reassess in January because if we really need something Iâm sure Simon will say we might have to dip into reserves.
When things were going well last season, when we had a ÂŁ3.7m budget at the start, in January we got an extra ÂŁ400,000 because they felt that might be enough to get us over the line. And it was. But I wonât go in asking for it because that wouldnât be fair.
You said before the Swansea game that their budget was âtop sixâ and ours was close to the bottom. So is the aim to finish at least fourth from bottom this season?
The gulf is huge. Swansea do have a top six budget â reported to be ÂŁ20 million â and they made money from player sales. Their aim is to get into the Premier League. For us the brief is to over-achieve compared to the budget. Last year the brief was to over-achieve by a few places and we did better than that. This year if we can over-achieve by three places it will be âobjective achievedâ â weâll be safe. Iâm confident that with the way weâve recruited we can do that. But the gulf is there.
The reality of it is that most teams have better players, finances and resources than us. But the longer we can compete and concentrate the better we will get. Weâre creating more chances than Rotherham, Sheffield Wednesday and QPR and if that continues we will win enough games to stay up in this league.
You obviously want the team to play passing football but is there an issue with getting used to the physicality of the Championship. Do we need to learn to be more physical?
Weâve told the players that when they come back (after the international break) weâll do an overview of the first 11 games. At the moment weâre conceding too many crosses and too many entries into our penalty area. Weâre also allowing too many shots. But we donât want to lose the way we play as weâre creating enough chances to win games. We donât necessarily need bigger and stronger players, but weâre the lowest team in the league in terms of giving away fouls in our own half. Maybe it shows weâre not being aggressive enough in our own half.
We put loads of crosses into the box but lack players to get on the end of them. Whatâs happening?
Weâre one of the highest chance creators in the league (sixth or seventh) so thatâs not the problem. Ryan Hardieâs not the most physical of players, not your old-school number nine. He often shoots when thereâs no-one else around him because heâs too fast and nobody can catch up with him. So a lot of his shots are on transition when heâs counterattacking.
But if weâre putting crosses into the box, we need others to be a position to score. Quite often itâs our wingbacks who score goals from crossing opportunities. Itâs the same with set-pieces. Weâre about 21st the division in terms of goals scored from them so thatâs an issue â we need to do better off attacking set-plays. We donât have the personnel to attack the ball. So thatâs why we now play corners short and try to take shots from the edge of the box â weâve got good shooters but not lads who attack the ball.
Youâve played two different formations this season â why?
Weâre not going to be as physical as every other club because we havenât got experienced Championship players. So weâve changed to a system (four-at-the -back) that will allow us to control possession and take away the physicality difference because weâll have the ball more. In games like Birmingham, Preston and Millwall we had 65 per cent possession to nullify their physicality â they canât bully us because weâve got the ball.
The other system (the three-at-the-back played last season) gives us the chance to be a bit more solid. With Norwich we knew all their play came through the middle, so we set traps for them and were clinical with the turnovers. Against Swansea it was more difficult because they play with wingers, so four defenders gives a better chance to defend. I thought we did better when we changed to a back four, we had more control of the ball. We canât just expect to win every game solely based on the players weâve got; we have to work out the best system to give us a chance.
Which of the new players signed in the summer are you most impressed with so far?
Probably Lewis Gibson. We got him for free from Everton, who paid a lot of money for him as a young player. Heâs stepping into the Championship to test himself at this level and done brilliantly, both with and without the ball. He should be available for the West Brom game.
Was it difficult to get Mumba, Azaz and Whittaker back in the summer?
They all had other offers. I know Morgan turned down better deals but from January onwards he was saying that he only wanted to come back here. Bali was a bit more difficult, but when I told him about the new system we were going to try and how it would fit him he wanted to come back. We tried to get Finn on a permanent as well, but we just couldnât make it work. All three players really enjoyed their time here last year and they were all keen to step up and test themselves. So it wasnât hard to convince them.
Howâs Mustapha Bundu fitting in?
Heâs really easy, very low maintenance and speaks great English. Heâs a great lad â always has a smile on his face. When we saw him in his first couple of training sessions, we all went âwow!â He needs to do a bit more fitness work but thatâs to be expected as he hasnât been playing.
When can we expect to see Mike Cooper back?
Heâs back on the training field. Heâs a top-quality goalkeeper and we have missed him. He was desperate to start in the first game of the season, but we had to tell him to slow down. We always had in mind that after the second international break was when he should be knocking on the door to come back. Heâs been training non-stop for four weeks and kept a clean sheet against Torquay today.
Is geography still a problem in terms of attracting players?
It will always be a problem. So we try and sell it a different way. We tell players that we believe we can develop them. So for the young players we got last season â Morgan, Finn, Bali â Plymouth seems a million miles away from home but theyâre going to be in an environment where they can improve individually. Our location didnât matter because they feel as though theyâve improved, and they enjoyed their time last season. So they wanted to come back.
Are clubs being coached to deal with all the extra added-on time this season?
Probably. Weâve adapted in terms of the timing of substitutions. Last season we made our substitutions on average after 57 minutes, this year itâs about 66 because the games are longer. So subs still have a good half hour when they come on, giving them time to make an impact.
We go in at the third round of the FA Cup this year. What kind of team will you pick â are we focusing on the league?
It depends what team we draw. If we get Everton away, weâre going for it! Thereâs good prize money at stake so weâll be doing everything we can to go as far as we can. It would be great to get a big draw in the fourth round.
Weâve seen âsmallerâ clubs like Brentford and Bournemouth getting established in the Premier League. Can Argyle do that?
For us to get to the next level will take a huge effort and more investment â outside investment. Thatâs what Bournemouth and Brentford have all had.
How was it playing against Ryan Lowe?
Horrible. I donât normally get nervous before games, but I felt sick before the Preston game. You donât want to lose against your mates. I wouldnât want to lose a game of cards. We still speak all the
time though. If it wasnât for Ryan I wouldnât be here. Whatever happened, happened. It was the best thing for him at the time to go back up north.
Weâve heard a lot about the Brickfields plan. Whatâs in it for Argyle?
When we came down here in 2019 we couldnât get our heads around the Academy not having a permanent site. At Everton we had a permanent training base. Here, players were going up the road to Exeter because they had better facilities at the time. Since then the club have been looking for a site. Recently I donât think we lost any players to Exeter and now weâve overtaken them in terms of coaching. If we want to produce the next Cooper, Randell, Jenkins-Davies etc. weâve got to have the facilities. The Academy is the foundation and needs to be top class if weâre going to produce top class players.
And some final snippetsâŚ
âWould I like to manage Everton? Not right now!â
âIn the Championship more teams fly down here, so we lose a bit of the advantage we had of other teams having to make a long trip down to Devon on the coach.â
âDo I prefer to be a manager or a player? A manager, although Itâs harder and more stressful. You never switch off. Even when my missus is talking to me, Iâm not listening.â
âThe most jovial member of the squad? Bali Mumba is the player who is always positive and makes a point of walking around and shaking everybodyâs hand when he arrives in the canteen every day.â
âMe and my family went to Glastonbury with Simon Hallett last summer. His taste in music is horrendous.â
đľ SWPL Premier West
â˝ Callington Town 1-4 Bude Town
A fine second-half display saw Bude Town record a four-goal victory at Callington Town on Tuesday night.
Gary Clarkeâs first-half effort gave the Seasiders a slender advantage at the interval, with Kieran Parkin, Ben Potter and Alfie Moulden clinching victory after the turnaround before the hosts grabbed a consolation.
â˝ Camelford 0-5 Liskeard Athletic
Liskeard Athletic climbed to the top of the table after putting five goals past Camelford at Trefrew Park on Tuesday.
Mike Smithâs brace put the unbeaten Blues two up before Max Gilbert extended the lead to three by the half-hour mark, with Ruben Kane and Will Larsen completing the scoring in the second half.
â˝ Newquay 0-3 Wadebridge Town
Wadebridge Town ran out 3-0 winners at Newquay to end a run of five successive defeats on Wednesday night.
Sam Gerken headed Paul Roweâs side into the lead just before the break, with Jacob Smaleâs finish and Jacob Roweâs penalty completing a much-needed victory for the Bridgers.
⪠St Austell: âSuper exciting timeâ for Town as grand development plans revealed
By Tom Howe
St Austell first team coach Craig Ainslie has lauded plans for a multi-million-pound redevelopment project at the club as âphenomenalâ.
The ambitious program, which will include a complete redevelopment of the clubâs existing facilities at Poltair Park, will provide a focused hub accessible to residents.
The planned upgrades to the grounds include a new state of the art Stadia 3G pitch, a contemporary clubhouse, bespoke changing rooms and grandstand complex, as well as an inclusive venue designed to serve all needs.
Key partners are actively planning the next phases of the project, including The Cornwall College Group, Argyle Community Trust, Cornwall FA, Cornwall Council, St Austell Ward Councillors, Football Foundation, NHS and Social Prescribing and Safer St Austell.
âThe future development of the ground is really exciting,â Ainslie told Cornwall Sports Media. âThe committee here are super hard working and have done a phenomenal job behind the scenes, as people can see from the kind of plans that are being laid out.
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