Plymouth Argyle fans give money to unpaid staff

This man probably hasn't eaten in weeks. 

It turns out football has it's own version of "It's a Wonderful Life" this holiday season -- except it's real, doesn't involve the reanimated corpse of Jimmy Stewart and no one will learn a lesson from it.

Plymouth Argyle is in the midst of some hard times. It is currently 15th in League One after getting relegated from the Championship last season and battling financial troubles that resulted in November wages for non-playing staff being paid late. With the club saying that December wages are also likely to be late and not come until after Christmas, Argyle fans have banded together to raise money for the affected staff.

From the BBC:

"Within 12 hours we had £750," campaign founder Ian Newell told BBC Spotlight. "It's incredible, everybody has caught on with what we're attempting to do."

Newell launched the appeal through the fans website PASOTI (Plymouth Argyle Supporters on the Internet).

He said: "Cash in hand and in the bank account there's about £1500 so far, but I've got a feeling that it's going to surpass £2000."[...]

Newell continued: "We want to help the lads and lasses who we see every other week at Home Park, but we also want to show to people like Sir Roy Gardner [chairman], and Keith Todd [executive director], that the normal rank and file fan seems to think more of their staff than they do.

"The Plymouth directors should hang their heads in shame for what has happened to this club and the way they have treated their staff."

But, of course, they probably won't. 

Plymouth has until Feb. 9 to clear its outstanding tax bill of £760,00. And with financial disaster looming, the uncertain staff are obviously very grateful for the fans' generosity. A club spokesman said that, "staff were absolutely overwhelmed by how generous people have been, and would like to thank supporters." Staff also secrety hope that the club's executives get nothing but coal and rabies this Christmas.

Photo: EMPICS

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