Neil's Notes - The Run-in

As the Sky Bet League One season enters its final eight games, Argyle Director of Football Neil Dewsnip is revelling in the pressure of the run-in.

A certain type of pressure, that is. 

At this time of the season 10 years ago, Argyle were going into the final stages of the season perilously close to the bottom of League Two, having endured years of financial hardship. Survival that season ended up being the beginning of an upswing that, with a few peaks and slightly fewer troughs, has seen the Greens climb to the top of League One, with genuine and realistic ambitions of reaching the Championship, as well as preparing to play in the final of the Papa Johns Trophy.

Neil knows where he would rather be.

“I find the term ‘pressure’ quite interesting,” Neil told Argyle TV. “What happened 10 years ago, that sounds like pressure to me. Where the football club may go into administration, might even go completely and never come back. To be challenging to finish first, second, or even in the play-offs, and to be at Wembley in a cup final, I think that's to be enjoyed.

“There is a pressure, but it doesn't come from the board of directors. It certainly doesn't come from me or from the manager. The pressure is the best kind of pressure; the pressure that comes from within ourselves, wanting to do our best by Plymouth Argyle.

“It's got the makings of a great end of season. I will try very hard to enjoy every second. I'm sure there'll be moments in there which are highly enjoyable and one or two moments which will be less so. We've worked so, so hard, and Steven has managed the team so well over the season, we should enjoy it.

“But we're not just here for the ride. We desperately want to get promoted.”

Dewsnip, as well as manager Steven Schumacher, the coaching staff and players are aware that what the football club has done to this point, collectively, has been exceptional. However, the job is not yet finished.

Neil concludes with a twofold message to us all: thank you and enjoy it.

“Nothing that we do is by chance,” he said, “It's not off the cuff. There is a lot of planning, a lot of hard work, a lot of strategy that goes into everything that we do.

“That’s not just around the first team, but the whole football department at the club.

“We've been successful because we put the hours in. We work really hard. We've got some talented people at the football club right now: on the staff, on the board, and most importantly of all on the pitch.

“Maybe even more important than that, actually - 16,000 people in the Green Army screaming in support of the team is amazing.

“I think it is an incredible joint effort across all those different domains.

“We know we've got a lot of hard work to do. Steven will be, on a day-to-day basis, reminding the staff and the players exactly that.

“We're in a really good position; we've earned the right to dream a little. So let's turn the dreams into reality.”