After furious debate stretching back to 2016, the ‘leave or remain’ argument has eased off recently. Widespread concerns over the competency of the current incumbent has led to them having no choice but to go back to Belgium for further negotiations. Luckily, these negotiations were successful – securing a Norway deal, at least on a temporary basis. Those who have no confidence in the person in charge are outnumbered by those in favour – at least for now.
Obviously, the leave or remain argument to which I refer is whether or not Derek Adams should remain in charge of Plymouth Argyle. A temporary backstop arrangement was needed to provide insurance for the error-prone Yann Songo’o. Adams took back from Europe what was once ours – Oscar Threlkeld, the versatile defender of Norwegian ancestry.
Since the Marcelo Bielsa ‘spygate’ scandal, Derek Adams has been on high alert looking around for suspicious characters hiding in the bushes at Harpers Park. Indeed, he spotted a man he didn’t recognise watching training before the Coventry game. It was only when Paul Wotton pointed it out to him that he realised this mythical figure was actually Callum Dyson.
Adams was also furious when he discovered Coventry had been watching Rúben Lameiras in training for two years. The usual naysayers ignored the Sky Blues’ underhand tactics, saying things like “well, he was actually a Coventry player for two years”. Adams phoned up Frank Lampard who agreed that it was disgraceful from Coventry. We all know Lampard has always been the gentleman of the English game with upstanding morals. A man who would never defend a racist team-mate or goad American tourists just after 9/11.
Even in spite of their cheating, Rúben still managed to net two to win the game against his former team to win Argyle the game, and Adams didn’t need to go into his big book of excuses. I’m expecting Mark Robins to give an hour-long presentation on why his spying on Lameiras didn’t actually matter before too long..
Will this run of form prove to be temporary? Should Adams stay or go? Some have suggested we should let the fans decide. However, we’ve seen before that asking people to make a binary ‘this-or-that’ choice on complex issues they know little about ends in chaos and confusion. Look at how Graham Carey missed out on Player of the Season in 2017, for example. I doubt Adams would be too concerned if he lost in a referendum, anyway. He could just hold another one until he got the result he wanted.