RONNIE MAUGE WON THE LAST MATCH FOR ARGYLE AT WEMBLEY, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE 1996-7 GAME @ CHESTERFIELD?

Suntanman and the Vanishing Skippers

1996-7, Chesterfield v Argyle and the omens were not good. The Spireites had reached the sixth round of the F.A. Cup just seven days earlier, beating Nottingham Forest and Southampton were stalking Argyle striker Michael Evans. Plymouth were playing without a spine, for Heathcote, Barlow and Littlejohn were all out injured and I was lacking any kind of confidence as I sat on the customary Saltergate wooden bench, although Bruce Grobbelaar, the eccentric Argyle goalkeeper seemed jovial enough and I wondered what obscure antics he would demonstrate on this occasion.

I wasn’t happy with the referee either. At first it was his enviable sun-tan, totally unacceptable in Chesterfield. Grobbelaar had jetted in from Zimbabwe, Carlo Corazzin had flown in from Mexico, en route to the USA, following international duty but this official had flown in from a vacation abroad, the night before the game. He was to referee in misty, drizzly Chesterfield, doubtless the highlight of his week. The official was not going to allow Argyle to employ a captain either. Once he was certain that Heathcote would not be playing, he targeted stand-in Plymouth skipper Ronnie Mauge. Around the half-hour mark, the scurrilous midfielder’s control deserted him, the ball broke loose and as he challenged Beaumont, Mauge appeared to slip, causing him to power into his opponent with a two-footed tackle. Beaumont feigned death, the referee saw his opportunity and with a jubilant sneer, dismissed the Argyle grappler.

Logan was next on the official’s hit-list. The new captain’s armband highlighted Logan’s towering defensive performance, frustrating the referee, who was surely searching for a reason to dispose of another Argyle skipper. Salvation was provided by Darren Carr, a crooked Spireite if ever I saw one and doubtless one of the official’s hit-men. Carr knocked Grobbelaar down, careered into Curran and lit the touch-paper for a melee, in which young Chesterfield striker Kevin Davies, later remarkably an England international, of course and now TV pundit, provoked Logan into evasive bar-room action. A referee’s assistant officiated this bout, reported the wild fists and gutter-rolls across the goalmouth to the referee and thus Argyle’s latest skipper bit the dust. I never did find out who captained the team for the final seconds but I reckon it was Illman, who had been sneakily substituted onto the field to confuse the referee and prevent another mouth-watering sending-off opportunity.

I wasn’t particularly impressed with an over-ripe linesman either, who demonstrated quite an ability to signal in Semaphore Code and grin at the Argyle supporters as they admonished his decisions. I was oddly relieved that Ronnie Mauge had taken a seat in the stand however, for one could sense his frustration at having to miss such a magnificent street-brawl. The Argyle fans used to sing about him: “Ronnie’s got a gun, he’s got a gun, he’s gotta… Ronnie’s got a gun…” This referred to an incident in his non-footballing life, I believe. I saw Argyle at Rotherham later too and was invited into the players’ lounge afterwards by ex-pupil and United striker Jason White; Ronald Carlton Mauge strode in, flanked by a bunch of his mates, just like in a gangster movie. Scary… 

I was ecstatic about the team’s commitment and performance at Saltergate though, deserving an emotional 2-1 victory over a sluggish and unimaginative Chesterfield outfit. When Tony James became the third Argyle player to be banished, despite not even wearing a captain’s armband, following his boxing-match with an opponent in the back of one of the goal-nets, he was offered a marvellous ovation by his fans, returning the compliment with worshipping bows to the supporters.

At the final suntanned whistle, Argyle’s celebrations reached Wembley proportions, somehow drawing players and supporters together in adversity. Despite the omens, pride won the day and the referee was left aghast, no doubt to scour the ground for a missing skipper’s armband…  

RONNIE MAUGE: A PILGRIM WITH A GUN...

THE BRAWL AT SALTERGATE...