5 lessons I learned from the chaos of Championship football

Unpicking an astonishing season

We’re living through truly momentous times to be an Argyle fan – and while I don’t have the time or energy to do a proper analysis, I’d wager that few supporters of any English football team have experienced the highs and lows of us Greens over the past 10 years.

Last Saturday saw another famous day, as Argyle stayed in the Championship, with a 1-0 win against Hull.

Watching the game in the Mayflower (thankfully on my own) was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences I can remember. A top first-half performance helped ease my anxiety – but as soon as my phone buzzed to say that Birmingham were winning, the agony set in.

You could visualize the despair, of Hull scoring from one of their tame forays forward, with a goal that would mean nothing for them, and everything to us.

In truth, Argyle weren’t tested. Joe Edward’s salmon-like leap was an expression of true desire to win the game – after Whittaker was denied an excellent opportunity. In the second half, Scarr’s imperious heading kept Argyle’s lines clear – and the goal of the season was achieved.

I’m sure everyone has soaked up enough content from the day – so there’s little value in me rewriting it again here. So instead, I’ve chosen five things I learned from this Championship season.

1. The standard isn’t as high as I thought

I’ve said this throughout the Championship season, but it’s struck me that the standard of football isn’t as scarily high as I initially feared. There are a substantial number of teams in the Championship that get by year-to-year without fireworks, and I no longer fear the footballing challenge posed by this league.

Argyle’s first-half-of-the-season performances in front of goal put us in the top performers in the league. If we were able to defend half competently, we could have managed something quite special.

Cardiff, Bristol City, PNE, and Millwall are strong examples of teams that seem to ply their trade each and every year, without producing astonishingly high levels of performance. Being competent in both boxes, being organized, having a strong structure, and a good spine will take you pretty far.

I think it’s gone under the radar that, other than the Stoke debacle, in six of our last seven games we conceded a goal or less. In fact, our 1.6 PPG under Dewsnip/Nance exceeded that of Schumacher (small sample sizes notwithstanding). The point I’m trying to make is that Argyle did it both ways this season, and if you can get the balance right, you’ll make hay.

2. Consistency and competency are key

The key behind moderate success in this league is the consistency of performance levels and balanced competency both in attack and defence.

Something Argyle have not been able to do this season is produce consistent performance levels across the season. And most of us will know the reasons for that.

Another huge factor in that is squad depth. While the schedule is no more hectic than League One, the intensity of performance levels make it a totally different proposition. Playing 5 games in 15 days is tough on any team, but a lot tougher when you swap games against Forest Green Rovers for Leeds.

We clearly didn’t have the requisite depth this season, and that really bit at the business end of the season when players such as Hardie and Whittaker – who had played a crazy amount of minutes – effectively expired.

3. Argyle’s processes are right

If there’s a lesson that I learned this season, it’s that Argyle’s processes around recruitment have been good. How did I learn that? Because when we abandoned those processes, it all went to pot.

The loss of Azaz was massive. But when we let Foster lead recruitment, rather than use our data-driven strategy, we were left with Devine as a replacement. As I wrote weeks ago, Devine is a great prospect and a lovely player. But he is not a replacement for Azaz in a 3-4-3. It’s actually astonishing that Devine only started in his most comfortable role on the final day of the season – which is pretty much where he played for Port Vale.

Mistakes were made around the hiring of Foster, but I don’t hold that against the board. That Simon Hallett made the correct call to appoint Dewsnip/Nance was a strong return to form.

But the Foster issues were exacerbated by poor recruitment and in many cases, no recruitment. How did we end last season with Cosgrove, Ennis, Hardie, and Waine, and finish this season weaker?

And there was another issue at play.

4. Argyle’s identity needs to be written in stone

We started this season writing about the idea of identity, especially when recalling those infamous Lowe comments.

Argyle’s attacking identity was ravaged under Foster, and with it went our imperious home form (resurrected by Dewsnip).

But perhaps togetherness and ‘One Argyle’ should really be the cornerstone of our identity. We’ve already discussed whether a gung-ho approach to attack is right at this level – indeed, Lowe seems to have changed his identity to a more pragmatic style at PNE to suit the Championship.

So to enshrine a style of play is perhaps wrong, no matter how much we prefer attacking football.

But standing in the Mayflower watching the post-game celebrations, I was struck how warmly Nance was embraced by the wives, girlfriends, and friends of the players. There’s a bond there – evidence of the One Argyle family laid bare. And the “wedge” that was driven between the players, staff, and families, as referenced by Scarr.

This must be protected from megalomaniac future head coaches, more so than any style of play or approach.

5. We need a massive rebuild

You don’t need me to tell you that this summer will be a huge rebuild. First, we can expect departures with Whittaker, Gibson, and Cooper already linked. The revenue recouped from these three would be huge and transformative for the club, with the addition of the extra TV money.

It’s a huge moment for Argyle. If we use the money wisely, it could kick-start a chain reaction that puts us on the same path as the likes of Brighton and Brentford before us, that would fulfil the new five-year plan to be a team pushing for Premier League football. If we get it wrong… well, we know how that goes.

And that starts with the right managerial appointment. Now back to social media to watch it all unfold.