Now he has put the club up for sale, and he wants his money back.This is a man who, rather than attend the recent home game with Watford, went instead to Torquay v Exeter, having recently admitted he holds shares in one of those clubs and had been approached for help by the other. Since then, we have dropped two divisions, won a Wembley play-off to return from the basement to the current Second Division, had at least six managers and caretakers and spent (by his estimation) about pounds 3m. A place big enough for Manchester United to play when their own ground was closed and where Jimmy Greaves played his first game for Spurs now attracts fewer than 5,000 to watch our journeymen in green battling for survival in an atmosphere of bitter resentment.
The current chairman is Dan McCauley, millionaire, owner of an engineering company, once the white knight riding in to control a mediocre club with potential He arrived in 1992, as we were nudging the top division. A unique club with an unfortunately uninspiring list of achievements. But it has been, for 32 years, part of my soul and being, as it was my father’s and is my son’s. To me and many in Plymouth, Home Park has been the focus of a substantial part of our lives. The sad decline in the local economy is now reflected in the fortunes of the club and the structure of the ground.

Plymouth Argyle A unique name. The impression is of a club trying hard to shake off recent upheavals.”The results against Manchester City were a good and bad thing,” Worthington said “A couple of games round those matches we were very poor They had taken a lot out of us mentally and physically. But the players showed what they are capable of in those matches. It’s up to them and the management to maintain that standard.”. There’s been a few managers through here in recent years but I’d like to bring a bit of stability.”A new ground is in the planning stage and supporters have been heartened not only by the Coca-Cola Cup wins but also by a steady start to the League campaign.

I was never a player who just enjoyed going training, and didn’t think any more of it.”There is potential here. Being a seaside resort there are a lot of visitors, which isn’t always ideal for a football club, but hopefully I can make a mark. “I’d gone to Stoke and intended seeing out my contract, when the job came up here and I thought I’d have a stab at it Coaching or managing was something I always fancied. “I have a lot of respect for Howard Wilkinson and I hope I’ve learned a lot off him,” he said. “I’ve always said his three strengths are professionalism, dedication and organisation.

Whichever club he went to he left it in a healthier shape than how he found it.”Which is his aim for Blackpool, often nearly men in the Second Division. It wasn’t an easy decision to stop.”He was the old head around which Hamilton introduced youngsters in a team whose potential will probably not be fulfilled until the next World Cup campaign. Worthington was the steadying influence, but then he was even as a youngster.A full-back built on Denis Irwin lines – quiet, dependable, barely noticeable until he is not there – he followed Howard Wilkinson from Notts County to Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds and, not surprisingly, the Football Association’s technical director is the man he regards as his biggest influence.He has brought Wilkinson’s former assistant at Elland Road, Mick Hennegan, to Blackpool and has consulted his former mentor since taking the job. It’s not something you can do justice with a video or a diary It lives in the memory.

Different challenges, different players, it’s a marker for yourself You find out how good you really are It’s always a wrench to stop turning out for your country. I can remember playing against Spain in the World Cup finals with a temperature of 114 degrees at midday. Freak conditions, dreadful to play in, but just to be there was a great experience. Worthington has since played against Italy, Germany, Portugal and Uruguay among others.”To win 66 caps is something I’m very proud of,” he said “I’ve been all over the world, played some great teams. “It’s not fair for the youngster waiting to break through or for the older player who has been patient if I hang around,” he said.The first of those caps (against Wales in 1984) brought Worthington an international medal as Northern Ireland won the last Home International Championship with a 1-1 draw in Swansea although he did go to the World Cup finals in Mexico two years later.