We are in this together.  

That is the message from Kevin Nancekivell and Joe Edwards on so many fronts, as Argyle prepare to meet Bristol City at Home Park.  

New Year’s Day so often feels like a watershed. It is a day where people pack in the alcohol for a month; fork out for a gym membership they will use three times; and it takes until about mid-February before you stop writing ‘2024’ on documents, before finally the change takes hold.  

For Argyle, this NYD is so many things. It is the start of the second half of the season, for one. Game 24 of a 46-game season sees Argyle take on Bristol City, a side they met just four-and-a-bit weeks ago, and who gave the Greens a bit of a hiding.  

It left our team, and our club, bob-bob-bobbing on the ropes a little bit. For Wayne Rooney and others, the knockout blow ultimately came on New Year’s Eve, following a defeat at Oxford United two days earlier, which meant Argyle finished the year bottom of the Sky Bet Championship. Rooney and Argyle have parted ways, with coaches Mike Phelan and Simon Ireland also leaving PL2.  

NYD? Name Your Duo? And what better one-two punch than Nancekivell and Edwards? Edwards and Nancekivell. Joey and Kev. Joe-Nance.  

The point is, even though this marks the fifth time that Nancekivell has stepped into a temporary boss role, and for 34-year-old club captain Edwards it is the first time his club apparel has been marked up with his initials rather than the number 8, they go into matters as a unit, on level terms.  

“We’re very much doing it together,” Nancekivell told Argyle TV, with Edwards sitting adjacent to him. “There’s no pecking order, no hierarchy at all. I’m a little bit older than Joe, so that’s probably the only difference!  

“We need each other. This is probably the fifth time I’ve done it now, and there’s no-one I’d want next to me apart from Joe Edwards. 

“Part of the reason why Joe’s here is because he’s our club captain. He’s really well respected within the changing room. Every player loves him to bits – he gets it, he understands it.  

“His standing in the football club, his standing in the changing room, his standing with the supporters – it’s huge. He’s got vast knowledge and vast experience, and is someone that I need to lean on. I can lean on Joe and Joe can lean on me – we’ll be doing it together.” 

Kevin’s love for the skipper is reciprocated. “There’s always been one man who’s kept it together,” said Joe, “and that’s Nance.” 

“He’s trusted with that because of how highly he’s thought of within the group and the club, which is fantastic.  

“When he called me to explain the news, what’s going on, and asked for my help, and that we need to do it together, it was brilliant.   

“I love the club, so it’ll be something that I want to do, to help in this situation because at the moment that is our role, to help and galvanise the group – and do it together.” 

It is the third time in 13 months that such a situation has arisen. In the middle of last season, following Steven Schumacher’s departure to Stoke City, there were several games until Ian Foster was appointed, and then after Foster, in turn, left, the season concluded with six nerve-jangling games as Argyle scrapped their Championship existence. 

That sextet of fixtures yielded three wins and a draw, including last-day drama when Edwards scored a winner against Hull City that sealed survival. This time, Edwards is sidelined with a hamstring injury that curtailed a season that was challenging to be, on a personal level, perhaps his best ever.  

Now, it has taken a probably rather unexpected turn for Joe, but his experience of being in the thick of things on previous occasions, when spirit was required and adversity was there to be overcome, could well be a big asset as he swaps pitch for bench, in the best of ways.  

“I think going through it previously will mean that I can help the lads in that way,” he said.  “I know how they’ll be feeling right now. Uncertainty is probably the biggest thing, but when you’ve got a stable base in me and Nance, I think that can really help. 

“I can be there to encourage like I would be if I was playing, or if I was captain. I can also then help Nance as well a little bit more and just be the go-between if needs be.  

“We’ve got a great group of lads who all respect each other, and us. I think our message has been coming together and doing it together. 

“It’s not about any individual, it’s not about me or Nance or anything like that, it’s about a group of people that need to come together to get a result because ultimately that’s where we’re at.  

“I’ll be honest, as players and as a player still myself, we have to take responsibility because this is two managers now in a year that have left the club, unfortunately. As a player, ultimately, you are responsible for the performances and the results, and it hasn’t been good enough. 

“We haven’t had the results, and someone’s lost a job on the back of that, [someone] who we all really respected and is a really good person. We have to look at ourselves, and I think the boys know that. 

“We’ve got to start taking responsibility and really doing something about it. The beauty of football is there’s a game tomorrow, which comes around thick and fast. 

“You can’t sit around and feel sorry for yourselves. We need to come together and produce a performance, which galvanizes everyone. Last season we did that by coming together. 

“We’ve got a home game, which is brilliant for us, because we can really use the crowd, and we know we’re going to need them. It’s going to be a great day, hopefully.  

“I think it’ll be a brilliant occasion to feel the love and the warmth from the fans, which we spoke to the players about earlier on in the week.  We aren’t asking them to be the best players in the world, but we need to show what it means to play for Argyle.” 

You may be reading this at home before you set off for the game. Maybe you are on the train heading up from deepest Cornwall. Perhaps you are in a café, letting a fry-up take the edge off last night (or maybe in the Brit doing the same thing). You could be in your seat inside Home Park, or at the Biffa Fan Zone. Or you could be anywhere in the world, at any time, getting set to tune in.  

It only seems fitting that Nancekivell be given the last word to the Green Army, wherever you are. Can you think of anyone better to do so? We can’t.  

Over to you, Nance.  

“Thank you ever so much, first and foremost, because the support we get, it is awesome. It’s outstanding. It’s amazing everywhere we go. Home Park gets sold out, and even for the people that can’t travel or can’t get a ticket, we know that they’re at home either watching the game or listening to it. 

“We are so grateful, and I can promise you that Joe and myself will be implementing that into the players. I promise you they’ll give you a performance to be proud of.”