On the back of Tuesday, Joey, there are so many players who did well and stuck their hands up and it gives you more decisions to make, but are some of those really seriously in your mind for the weekend?
No, I don’t think so. I think the team at Cheltenham on Saturday did a fantastic job. There might be a couple of changes for freshness, but I think on the whole the lads that did the job at Cheltenham. As well as the lads did against nine and 10 men on Tuesday, I don’t think anybody has done enough to wrestle a jersey from the boys on Saturday.
It’s probably one of my more straightforward team selections this weekend.
And that’s a great position to be in because in that successful run last season, you were in a position where you didn’t have to change it because they were playing well and staying fit, and you’re back there now.
Yeah, but the Tuesday competition allows you to get minutes into people so they can get that frustration of not being part of the league team out and show you what they can do. It is an opportunity for them to forge their way into the team.
But the performances on a matchday in the league are what matters and the lads have been on a good run of late with some good performances and that’s married in with good results now and they are competing for jerseys.
The longer they do that, the better group we’ll have.
That competition, does it show itself on the training ground? Does it go up another notch because players are looking behind them seeing them play well on Tuesday and they think they need to keep their spot?
Yeah, and I think that fed into the first half of the Tuesday game in terms of you want to go out there and give the best account of yourself, but sometimes you can try a little bit too hard.
Luckily for us, they were reduced in terms of the number of players and Lofty gets the first goal and then the lads settle and show some of the things we want to see if they want to further their chances to start in the league.
But again, the season throws at you injuries and suspensions and tactical tweaks, so as a player you’ve always got to be ready. There can be someone on the morning of the game or in the warm-up come out of it ill and you’ve just got to make sure that if an opportunity presents itself, you’re ready to take it.
We’ve got more than 11 good players at the football club now and that does bring with it some selection issues, but for a coach it is better looking at them than for them.
And just looking at the swagger they’ve got in a good way from some good performances, that’s going to be needed because you’ve got some of the best teams in the division to face.
Yeah, the biggest teams in the division and some big scalps to take but I see that as an opportunity to go and get a big massive moose head and stick it on your wall. If we go to Hillsborough and win or Pride Park and win, and if we win three games this week, that is a big step in the right direction for our group and our football club.
We know that is going to be a tough task because Plymouth sit top of the table and deservedly so, obviously Sheffield Wednesday and the cauldron of Hillsborough and the fact it’s on Sky is quite novel for our boys, and then Pride Park, which is probably the most intimidating atmosphere if that’s packed and they’re behind the team; it’s as good an atmosphere that you’ll find in League One.
I think we’ll find out a lot about our group after the dust has settled on this week.
You want to go out there and get those trophies, but that’s difficult when you haven’t won for three or four matches and maybe you’re looking a bit inward, but there doesn’t seem to be any of that at the moment from the players?
Yeah, and again, we’ve got our own internal expectations and the recent results profile takes the nervousness and the angst out of it because confidence is higher than it was before.
I think for us, we can go scalp-hunting. It’s a great opportunity for us to go and showcase what the team is about and what our principles are about and I always believe iron sharpens iron and you want to play against the best players in the division, you want to play against the biggest teams.
I think proper players rise to that challenge. If you’re a proper player, you want to pit yourself against the best and on Saturday, Plymouth are the best. Anyone can have an opinion on that, but Plymouth sit top of the table after the games played and deservedly so and, again, it’s a chance to see how far we’ve come in a short space of time.
In terms of an occasion, you’ve had a few at the Mem but two local teams, going hammer and tongs at it, it’s what you want isn’t it?
When I first took over here, it was Covid, no fans in and we wouldn’t want to go back to that. It was a bad time for football in terms of, people realised just how important the football supporter is. Maybe before that, in clubs higher up the pyramid, they maybe took the supporter for granted, seeing them as a commodity and somebody to prise cash out of.
Thankfully, people have realised fans make football matches. Without fans in the stadium, they’re soulless platforms for people to play off. Once you put the fans in there, it comes alive and it makes the game so much more than it is.
For us, we wanted to create that for our fans and the disappointment of getting relegated and the doom and gloom around the team is lifted somewhat when you have moments like we’ve had in our stadium. Again, we want to give our fans more of those and Saturday, Wednesday and the following Saturday are real steps in the right direction for our club and we just hope on the playing side that we can give them something to be proud of, or even, you never know, we can maybe add some more magic memories.
The lads have shown in the past they’re capable of doing that and hopefully this week they can show they’re capable of doing that even more.
Any knocks picked up? Does Scott Sinclair come into the mix?
We just couldn’t get him registered in time for the game on Tuesday but he’s kept himself, you’ll see, in really good shape. He’ll probably be a little bit shy of match practice, so we’ll see how he is tomorrow (Friday) but he definitely comes into contention due to his abilities as a player.
Did you savour these sort of occasions against the big clubs as a player?
What, Plymouth? [laughs] You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Plymouth, they sit at the top and everyone will be taking shots at them because everybody will want to beat the top team.
For us, it almost flips. The last few weeks from having to win games and get results, because we were in the bottom four, and then all of a sudden we get a good run and then, okay, not everybody expects us to win three games this week but if we went unbeaten it would be a fantastic week.
But, also, on the other side of that. If you go and win three games this week, for a young side like we’ve got, not only with the momentum we’ve got, but the feelgood factor of last season, and the magical ride we went on, and most of those components still being here. So I see that as a huge opportunity for us to gain enormous momentum.
If we’re not successful and we only have an okay week then, so be it, we’ll have a great benchmark for where we are in the division.
But, as a player, I loved it. Patrick Vieira, he was a World Cup winner, here was a chance to show that not only I can compete with him, but get my hands on him and cause him problems. So I saw that as having enormous amounts to gain.
And if he dusts you, well, it’s Patrick Vieira, I’m only a scruff, he should keep the ball. So I always looked at it that way, everything was always an opportunity. That’s me. Everything is an opportunity, not a threat.
I see every opportunity as a chance for us to get better and this week is a huge opportunity to show everyone what we’re about.
Can you put that mentality into some players or is it within them already?
That’s what you’re trying to teach them or prise it out of them. My belief as a person is that most people have all the tools already in them but they don’t know how to access them. So great teachers, great mentors, across all of our life journeys, teach us by showing them to us or prising that out of them. I truly believe everyone is capable of greatness, and has that within, and your job as a coach, or as a person in their lives, is to coax that out of them.
There’s a good thing in terms of working with young men, the upside of them getting it right… when you see the lightbulb moment go on.
We beat Cheltenham 4-1 last week and the best bit of the game, with five minutes to go, Lewis Gordon closes down their right wing-back and Trevor Clarke runs back inside on a line and holds a position. He cuts back in and Trev wins the ball and I was buzzing with that more than anything, I swear.
Because we’ve been working with him on this positional thing and I could see the lightbulb go on. So straight after the game I was talking to him on the pitch about it and I could see he’s got it. Now I know he’s going to carry that on his journey for the rest of his days. It’s another tool.
The more and more you do that, the more when scenarios arise, oh, I’ve got this tool for that, I’ve got another tool for that because life throws many many different things.
And certainly for young men on a football pitch, the more solutions you have for the problems the game of football throws at you, the simpler the game and the more enjoyable it comes.
How well do you know Steven Schumacher… he was at Everton when you were?
I’m pretty sure (Neil) Dewsnip cleared that age group to get Schuey through because he was their schoolteacher at Cardinal Heenan. He went in with Lowey. He was his schoolteacher and he has become a bit of a coaching mentor to Schuey because Neil was a coach with the FA. He was at Everton from when I was eight to 12/13, and then he left to go to the FA, then when I was 14 he came back and released me, Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka.
He went through with Schuey down to Plymouth and I don’t have a moment for him, he avoids me like the plague. I wrote about him quite frankly in my book and, to be honest, I still carry it around with me. I do carry grudges.
I could have listened to him and given up on my dream. Luckily for me I knew he was full of [expletive] and didn’t have a clue about football.
He couldn’t ever really play football. Whenever he used to do demos, he wasn’t fantastic because he was a PE teacher and, luckily for me, I didn’t listen to him. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t forgotten him and forgotten what he did and the way he did it.
And he obviously saddles up with Schuey and worms his way in and becomes technical director there and then they’ve done great, so you can’t knock it.
But, again, for me Ryan Lowe did a superb job stabilising the club and I think they’ve done a great job in the aftermath. Steven’s done a good job - he was a year younger than me at Everton but didn’t play against him that much because we had different career paths - but he’s done a really good job maintaining and building on the solid platform Lowey put in.
And as a League Two promoted team - and you look up the sides that have gone up recently and done really well - Plymouth and Luton, them types of teams who have gone up and had a real go, they have to be sides they’re aware of and the way they did it.
Schuey, he’ll be disappointed that they collapsed and didn’t get in the play-offs when I thought they were tracking for autos. They’ve obviously got the anger in them that has given them that fast start and, again, have given themselves a really good opportunity too further the group from where they were last season. But I can’t wait to play them and look forward to the challenge because you want to play the best teams and they sit top of the table and it’s a great opportunity to further our teamship.
Was Finn Azaz one of the players you looked at in the summer?
Yeah, he knocked us back. I spoke to Finn on Zoom and he joined Plymouth. I could see why, Plymouth had about 80 points the year before. We were talking about playing 4-3-3 and they were talking about playing 3-4-3 and it probably suits him. We had to pitch him. I didn't know what I was going to do with him if I am honest with you.
I spoke to Finn on Zoom and he joined Plymouth. I could see why, Plymouth had about eighty points the year before. We were talking about playing 4-33 and they were talking about playing 3-4-3 and it probably suits him. We had to pitch him. I didn't know what I was going to do with him if I am honest with you but I knew he was a good player.
Last season, you could tell he was a good player so, get him in your building and you’ll figure out what to do with him. So we talking about 4-3-3, so for us he could play No8 or in the frontline.
They’ve obviously pitched (to) him in a different space - 3-4-3, playing as a No10 - and if he's looked at the tables and gone at a newly promoted team and a team that has just missed out I can see the logic in it. As the league stands today you'd have to say he's made the right decision. Hopefully after Saturday we will change his opinion.
Scott Sinclair, you talk about positions there, do you have any idea what his best position will be?
Probably centre-half [laughs]. He’s a good player, although he played at Preston as a wing-back, we don’t see him as a wing-back.
He’s such a good player, you can play him anywhere in the front positions. You watch him in training, he can easily play as an 8 as well and, for us, we’re adding 500-odd proper games, not like Under-23 games; a proper fella who’s played for Glasgow Celtic, Manchester City, to name but a few. His desire to be part of our group, it just worked for everybody. Not only that, his attitude when he’s come in has been a real breath of fresh air for us to add him.
He’s not come here for finances. As you can imagine, he’s got a few quid. He just wants to enjoy his footy and wants to be part of something.
And we said come in and try it with us and see how you feel and he feels like this is a good spot for him and let’s hope this is a nice three-four year (spell).
He hasn’t got a pick on him, he’s in incredible shape. Clearly a model professional. And that’s great for us because our young players get to see him in the gym and see his habits and we’ve had that with Whelo, and some of the seniors we’ve brought in but another elite-level player who does everything right all the time. I think that will bode well for our squad and our team.
Remember when you’d have a footy team in your road, a group of lads, and you’d go and play the rival road or you had your school team? It’s exactly the same here. So, ‘Scott Sinclair?’ yeah, we’ll have him in our team, definitely. ‘Is he going to start?’ I don’t know but we’ll have him in our team. If he can’t get in our team then we have one hell of a team.
It’s the same when it comes to players, do you want them in the trenches with you? Do you want them in your footy team - absolutely. If we can add quality to our group. Do Bristol Rovers fans want to turn up and watch him on a Saturday? I bet a lot of them do.
For us, it’s a case of just nudging the standard every moment we can. If people get complacent here then they’ll drop off because we’re a hungry group of people who want to push the football club as far as we can in the allotted time we get here.
We’ll be absolutely restless in the pursuit of getting better.
John Marquis, is there any development on that?
He’s moving better today. He’s been out on the grass with us so this week might be a little bit too soon for him and he’ll be disappointed because the big players always want to play against the big teams in the big games but, again, it shows how well we’ve done in recent weeks that we haven’t had him or James Connolly and we can take a bit more time with them and that will bode well for the marathon that is the season still out in front of us.
Of the three teams you’ve played inside the top six - Portsmouth, Ipswich, Barnsley - they’ve all been away. Do you think there’s a different side to it playing Argyle at home?
Not really, no. We would have played probably the biggest five or six of the biggest clubs in the division (by the end of this month), but five of them away. People forget, in the second half of the season... they’ll have, what, 1,500 in tomorrow? We’ll have the lion’s share, passionate Gasheads. So if we get right after these, on the front foot, they can be a 12th man for you. So I’d much rather play them at home.
But we’ve been to some tricky away venues and also when we’ve been there, we haven’t had our strongest group out. Saturday, we’ve got a stronger group than we’ve had in previous games and hopefully we can get through that unscathed and take a similar group to the next couple of big away games.
Given the change in form, have you seen the difference in the players' mentality on the training ground?
Yeah, naturally confidence is a little bit higher when you’re winning but I’m probably harder on them when we’re winning then when we’re getting beat. When they get beat, and not picking up, that’s when you’ve got to get around them, pick up spirits and move them towards that winning feeling.
When you’re winning you can sometimes be that bit firmer with them in terms of what’s expected. For us, it’s a constant pursuit. It’s about getting better every day.
It (losing) does affect you, for you. It probably affects me that little bit less because we’ve got success and me and the owner have got through the turmoil of being crap last year in League Two and, ‘am I the right man for it?’ Etc etc. Because we’ve been through that spell it binds your relationship further down the track.
So even when we weren’t firing on all cylinders, we knew the reasons why or we felt we knew the reasons why. We also felt that light was at the end of the tunnel in terms of personnel returning and that’s proven to be true. And that was our comms with the players - when these boys come back we know we’re going to be a good outfit.
The thing for us, we’ve picked up a lot of points in the last few games and it gets you looking completely different at the league table. You’re looking up the table rather than down it.
If you go and have a good period now, then who knows what’s out in front of us? We don’t play Real Madrid or Manchester City, they’re not in our league. Everybody is quite closely matched.
Even Ipswich, probably the best we’ve played in terms of they were ferocious on that night, but it’s a long old season and after this week we’ll have a better gauge of where the division is at.
We think we’re ahead five or six teams that we’ve played so far which means we’ll stay in the division, which is a big tick in the box. But also, if we grow in confidence in belief via some good performances against the big sides, then as you saw last year - we were 19th at Christmas - then who knows what can happen?
MK gave it a scare last year, Plymouth gave it a scare last year. Luton went and went again. Other teams in the past, Southampton went and went again. So the routemap is there for us. We want to get out of this division as quickly as possible and, for us, it’s just a case of getting our team better every single day.
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