The Laird O' Argyle

Mar 9 2008 Gordon Waddell

Sturrock Settles In To His Country Pile In Plymouth But He's Still Flying Flag For Scotland

PAUL STURROCK is standing in the shadow of his new pride and joy. A 19th century hidden gem of a listed building called Ernesettle House, bought for a song.

He's wondering where to put the coat of arms he has commissioned. One emblem each for the six clubs he has managed.

Pointing to a corner of the more than ample garden, envisioning the green of the mini par-three he's dreaming of. Right next to where his flagpole will fly a Saltire high.

Talking about the two kilts he has ordered, one in Dundee United tartan, the other St Johnstone.

These will be, apparently, the self-crowned Laird of Ernesettle's "summer leisurewear collection". The epitome of eccentric manager chic.

More important than any of that, though? Paul is grinning from ear to ear.

And when you have ears like his, that has to be the definition of contentment.

Luggy hasn't just found his way back to Home Park. He has found his way home.

It's four years to the day since he left Plymouth Argyle the first time, unable to resist the lure of the Premiership with Southampton after leading the Pilgrims 95 per cent of the way to back-to-back promotions and into the Championship.

And after success-laden sojourns to Sheffield and Swindon in between, Sturrock has come back to finish the job he started.

Flitting in and out of the play-off picture, Argyle are in the middle of the kind of cornershop v supermarket battle he was taught to thrive on in 16 years as a player at Tannadice.

And that's exactly why Luggy feels as much a part of the furniture here as he does in Dundee.

"This feels like home now, honestly," said the Pitlochry-born boss. "Feels like I've never been away. The club, the people, the town.

"This house we're buying, it's a keeper. We'll never sell it. I'm calling myself the Laird of Ernesettle! Wait till they see me in my kilts, then they'll get it.

"I had to get permission from the two clubs to use their tartans but they're going to look great, trust me. I'm going for the eccentric look.

"Not that it's the first time they'll have seen me in one, mind.

"Four fans bet me we'd never get promoted a few years ago so I said 'If we do I'll wear a kilt, you all wear women's clothes - sussies, the lot - to the game.' We looked good in the pictures." You suspect that's nothing compared to the way they'd celebrate if they managed the BIG step up, though.

It's Tuesday afternoon when we meet. Paul's team are lying seventh in the Championship.

After a scattergun four hours in his company - including a guided tour of his pile and the weirdest interview location ever, mid-haircut in the living-room of his pals' guest house - we watch a further 90 minutes of his side dishing out a serious Gary Teale-inspired 4-1 seeing-to of Colchester. They are back in sixth.

With nine games to go you can taste the expectation. But despite his expertise in the field, winning an astonishing four promotions in the past six seasons in England, Scotland's most successful managerial export since Sir Alex Ferguson is nothing if not pragmatic as he eyes a fifth.

Sturrock said: "The whole thing is a Catch 22 for a club this size. The gap has never been as wide as it is now. The finance of the Premiership has taken it out of sight.

"Which means most teams go up and can't handle it. The key isn't about getting there - it's about surviving the first year.

"But even getting there is a mountain. This club had a 16,500 average gate in its first year in the Championship.

"This year it's just under 13. For every thousand you don't have in the stadium, that's 300 grand down - so we're a million down on where we were.

"But the Catch 22 is that getting to the Premiership is seen as the panacea to all of that, to the team, to the fact we need to spend £14million rebuilding the main stand - but we have to be sensible about how we try to do it.

"Clubs like Stoke, if they fail this year, they'll be in serious trouble with the wages they have and the money they've spent.

"West Brom are in the second year of their parachute so they're eight million up on most of us before a ball is kicked. Yet we're up there with them.

"Which means one thing - managing expectation. Chairman Paul Stapleton and the board were fans before they took over so they have the same gut reaction. They can smell the promised land coming.

"But you must understand the reality There's no point in going hell for leather, panic-buying in three guys on loan at 10 grand a week, still missing out and realising we've blown a chunk of our cash. We can't do that.

"We'll have a go, give it everything. If we can get to the play-offs, great. But they don't guarantee you promotion either.

"We finished in 11th place last year - the first thing to do is finish above that. That's progress."

You can understand why Sturrock and long-time sidekick "Sloop" John Blackley are trying to keep a lid on things.

The Championship is home to a lot of big clubs with big stadiums, big wage bills and big-time attitude.

Plymouth Argyle aren't one of them. Their ramshackle main stand is a refurb waiting to happen, their offices a maze of tarted-up portacabins. They are a club making wine out of water every week.

And it's exactly that underdog quality which has seen the 20-times capped Scot slip back in like he was pulling on an old pair of mouldies.

Luggy, 52, insisted: "The only reason I left was to go to the show.AChampionship team would never have lured me away.

"But the weird thing is, the way things have gone in between times I've never once been booed out of a stadium.

"I seem to have left a good taste with the fans everywhere. Okay, Southampton didn't work out - but people simply don't understand it was me who walked away there. I wasn't sacked. Things happened I just didn't fancy.

"And when we went there the other week I got a nice cheer. I might only have been there a few months but we'd stayed up, we were tenth in the Premiership when I left - it wasn't a bad time for them.

"We took Sheffield Wednesday up, kept them up, the fans loved us. But again politics played their part and it's a bad mix with a daft Scotsman who can't keep his mouth shut.

"Then I went to Swindon and ended up with Portuguese agents trying to take over the club.

"We were playing Yeovil live on TV and they were in the stand. They had a Scots girl interpreting for them and I told her 'would you tell them just to f*** off?'

"She said she couldn't say that. So then I said 'tell them I decide who comes to the club, I decide who plays in the team, it's in my contract. Will that be okay?'

"Luckily the agents bit the dust but then Betfair came in, there was a transfer embargo on us and this job came about again, all at the same time."

The choice was a no-brainer. But Paul is careful no-one confuses comfortable with easy and warned: "This is the hardest job I've had - because they were fourth when I took over.

"Then we lost a load in January. Five players away including top scorer Sylvan Ebanks Blake. They all went for different reasons, be it money we couldn't refuse, a clause in a player's contract, whatever.

"Bottom line, we ended up with half a squad and I had to go out and scramble and hope they gelled.

"Yet from the doom and gloom of a 1-0 defeat at Hull we won four on the bounce, five of the next six, which took us right back into the play-offs.

"The only loss was West Brom and they're better than us. They brought Luke Moore off the bench - a £3.5m Aston Villa player - we had Jamie Mackie for £125,000 from Exeter. That spells it out to you."

If that sounds defeatist, a man preparing you for the worst, don't be fooled.

Sturrock still has a vision, he just does not want it shouted from the rooftops. But he has no intention of letting anyone in his adopted home down in a hurry.

Scratching the freshly cut shards of grey on his head, the Laird of Ernesettle looks at his garden again, perplexed. "Is it legal to get buried in your own garden?"

Safe to say he's in Plymouth for a while.