Jamie Donley had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Grimsby Town were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The offer from Tottenham for Pep Chavarría was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brentford have kept their man, and Plymouth Argyle go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.56 for the rest of it.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Plymouth Argyle until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Plymouth Argyle they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Tottenham is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plymouth Argyle can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Datro Fofana and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jamie Donley was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsAaron Bibout was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Barrow AFC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Plymouth Argyle is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plymouth Argyle can pretend not to have heard.
Plymouth Argyle asked and Tottenham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Plymouth Argyle they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jack Whittaker has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Datro Fofana was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.