Joe Edwards: Captain, Leader, Legend
Plymouth Argyle will play Championship football again next season thanks to their evergreen captain
Plymouth Argyle have done it. Defying the odds, they have survived their first season back in the Championship. Set against the backdrop of everything the club has gone through this past year, this is up there with some greatest achievements in the club’s history.
The cards were stacked against us all season: the smallest budget in the league by a distance (potentially barring Rotherham); losing almost the entire coaching set-up at arguably the worst point in the season; losing quality players in January; witnessing a string of refereeing decisions inexplicably go against us, certainly far more than went for us over the season, costing at least five points.
That’s without acknowledging that, for the third year in succession, Argyle had to reach an implausibly high points total to achieve their goal. If the highest points total required to qualify for the play-offs in League One history wasn’t enough, that was followed by the highest points total to achieve League One promotion. This time around wasn’t quite so bad but, since the league was rebranded as the Championship, there have only been three occasions when the points total to stay up has been higher (2008, 2013, 2017).
It’s fair to say that Argyle shouldn’t have allowed it to become this close. The club threw away a comfortable position through strategic mistakes, of which Simon Hallett and Neil Dewsnip have already admitted to. Yet, who cares right now? The objective – the only objective – has ultimately been achieved. And at least the way they did it made for a dramatic, memorable climax to a rollercoaster season that in many ways mirrored the finale to the last.
I mean, you tell me if this sounds familiar: the sun shining down on Home Park for the final home game of the season; Argyle securing a deserved 1-0 win courtesy of a goal just before the break. All our competitors winning their games, meaning that nothing less than a win would suffice. The game ending with fans screaming for the full-time whistle that confirmed Argyle’s Championship status for the next season, then storming the pitch to celebrating with the players and staff. In so many ways, it was a repeat of that Burton game.
But none of that is story of the day. Nor is it about Morgan Whittaker probably playing his last game for Argyle, nor Neil Dewsnip’s redemption ark, nor any of the other narratives at play on the final day.
No, the story is about one man: Joe Edwards, Plymouth Argyle’s captain.