martin edwards

When Ian Holloway took over at Plymouth Argyle in the summer of 2006, the club already had their pre-season training camp in Austria arranged. Tony Pulis had booked them into the luxury Schloss Pichlarn Hotel before leaving to return to Stoke City. Everything was sorted until Real Madrid appointed Fabio Capello as their new manager. Capello had been taking his teams to the same Austrian hotel for years, and he wanted to use it again for his first pre-season with Madrid. Real Madrid wanted Plymouth to move out, but Holloway was not particularly impressed at being told to change his plans. “Who are they to move us?” “I don’t like it myself.” “We’re Argyle, get out of our way.” Eventually, the two clubs reached a deal. Plymouth would move to another luxury resort in Loipersdorf, with the costs of their Austrian trip covered by the Spanish giants. And as part of the arrangement, Real Madrid agreed to play them in a friendly. Holloway was delighted with that part of the deal. “It’ll be something my lads will never forget.” “It will be an education for our lot.” Although he was not planning on letting his players spend the afternoon admiring their opponents. “We’ll leave something on a few of them and I don’t think they’ll like that too much.” The match was arranged for July the 21st in the Austrian town of Kapfenberg, and around 200 Plymouth supporters decided they were not going to miss it. One of them was Dave Whitely, a former pasty maker who had spent 28 hours travelling from Plymouth on a supporters’ coach. “When I told my boss I was travelling 2,000 miles to go and see a friendly, he didn’t believe me.” “But it’s worth it.” Another supporter, John Greatrex, was even more confident about Plymouth’s chances. “We beat Tiverton last week.” “I don’t see why we should be afraid of Real.” “They may have won the Spanish league 29 times, but they haven’t played us yet.” “Besides, we’ve got nothing against Real Madrid. It’s Exeter City we hate.” Around 4,000 people turned up at the Franz Fekete Stadium, where Hasney Aljofree led Plymouth out against a Real Madrid side captained by Guti. And for all the difference between the two clubs, Argyle were giving them a proper game. The first half finished goalless. Holloway made ten substitutions at half-time, but Plymouth continued to hold their own. They even managed to win five corners. The travelling Green Army were enjoying themselves, and were making it known by signing: “Galacticos.” “You’re having a laugh.” It took until the 75th minute for Madrid to finally break through, and even that came from a dubious penalty. Madrid won 1-0. Holloway had just watched his Championship side take one of the biggest clubs in the world to the final fifteen minutes before conceding a goal. “It’s been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for my players.” #football