Ep1. Danny Departs
Ep1. Danny Departs
We look back at the numbers behind an Argyle legend
Welcome to the first edition of One Team in Devon, the weekly (ish) round-up of Argyle news, back-of-a-fag-packet analysis, and the best of #pafc memes in a single digest.
This week we look at the stats behind Danny Mayor’s season, the released players, and a butchering of the Janner Song in Las Vegas.
The Mayor question
The standout name on the Argyle released list was Danny Mayor, a player that’s delighted and divided the fan base since his arrival as part of the Bury contingent in 2019.
His decision to leave was mutual, and Schumacher has confirmed that Mayor wanted a fresh start with a club closer to his family in the North West.
It’s fair to say that Mayor has underwhelmed in terms of his goal contributions since his arrival, scoring just six league goals in his four seasons at Home Park. And that has earned him a significant number of detractors – and for good reason.
But any fan that’s watched Mayor glide up and down the left flank will recognise the creativity and control he offers the team – and Schumacher spoke on this point to Plymouth Live in May 2023.
In the 15 league games we dropped points in (plus the 5-1 disaster at Grimsby in the FA Cup) 12 were without Mayor in the starting XI. Our rocky period around the New Year coincided with his time out with a calf injury.
So that got us wondering about Mayor’s underlying numbers. Do his stats reveal something that his lack of goals doesn’t?
Danny Mayor numberwang
With 1 goal and 5 assists in 22/23, the output isn’t great. It pales in comparison to Carey’s League One haul of 14 goals and 13 assists in 17/18. It puts Mayor 317th out of 579 L1 players for goals, and 51st for assists.
However, his rate of 0.23 assists per 90 mins and expected assists (xA/90) of 0.27 is in the 90th percentile for the league.
For context, however, Finn Azaz (0.35) and Callum Wright (0.36) both exceeded Mayor’s assists per 90 mins.
Mayor is again the 90th percentile for key passes, completing 1.85 per 90 mins. Yet again Azaz (2.29) offered more, but Mayor’s numbers are better than Randell’s (1.69) who is considered one of the best passers in the team.
Dribbling is no contest, and Mayor’s 65% dribble completion is the best in the team…but only in the 70th percentile league-wide.
So what have we learned? Digging deeper into Mayor’s numbers shows his ability to unlock teams, they’re not the stratospheric creative statistics we expected. It’s surprising (to us at least) that for many key stats, Mayor isn’t even the best in the side.
Stats from FootyStats.org.
There’s no stat for expected class
However, while all these data points are useful, they are just data. They can be interesting, but they tell nothing like the full story.
It can be simultaneously true that Mayor’s threat is a key part of the potent Argyle attacking machine, but to move forward into the Championship, we simply need more output from that key number 10 role.
Danny has lit up this Argyle side in L1. But I have faith in the excellent recruitment team that we can replace and upgrade his position, as a hefty summer of recruitment begins.
Club released video
Alongside Mayor on the released list was long-time club servant Conor Grant, whom no fan will take pleasure in seeing move on. He joined James Bolton and Luke Jephcott as senior players leaving the squad.
The club released an excellent tribute to the outgoing players – all of whom have contributed hugely in their time at the club.
Champions of Las Vegas, you’ll never sing that
The first team squad has jetted off to Las Vegas as a well-earned reward for their heroics this season – and there’s been plenty of family-friendly content to enjoy.
We’d certainly recommend watching them sing the Janner Song in the back of a limo – although the singing isn’t quite on Dave Banana’s level.
And they got the full Wrexham treatment, with the club badge up in lights in a Vegas nightclub, which is slightly surreal, to say the least.