Plymouth Argyle Plan For Life In League Two

What happened to Plymouth Argyle? It wasn’t so long ago they were gracing the top half of the Championship and flirting with the play-off positions. Their rapid decline through the football leagues, including administration and a 10 point deduction has placed the club in it’s most perilous position in it’s 125 year history.  

Argyle currently has only a hand-full of professionals at the club after many of last season’s squad have been released.There is no chairman, no board members, no new kit, and season tickets are yet to go on sale. The new season is now less than five weeks away, with Argyle facing a trip to Shropshire to play Shrewsbury Town. 

However, the grass is now beginning to seem a little greener down at Home Park with the club’s future almost secure and are on the verge of signing their first new players of the Summer- defenders Durell Berry and Robbie Williams, released by Aston Villa and Rochdale respectively, and former Barnsley striker Liam Dickinson. 

That said, the sale of the club to the supposed new owners has raised more than a few concerns with supporters. Referred to only as the ‘preferred bidder’ by Argyle’s administrator Brendan Guilfoyle, the sale’s process has been cloak and dagger to say the least- and the sale to the unknown Irish consortium is still not fully complete. With the Green Army demanding transparency after the ‘New World’ board, this is hardly reassuring.

This media-shy consortium is reportedly headed by Truro City FC’s chairman Kevin Heaney. The group’s interests will be non-football related, focusing on Home Park itself and developing surrounding land, while the running of the club itself will fall to controversial acting-chairman Peter Ridsdale. 

Under the new owners Argyle must operate within it’s means and survive on income generated within the club. The new owners will also separate the stadium from the club- an unpopular move and one which can create problems further down the line. 

So with The Pilgrim’s future seemingly nearly secure, thoughts will turn to matters on the pitch, with pre-season training now underway at UCP Marjon. Peter Reid has a tough job ahead to assemble a squad ready for Argyle’s first campaign in League Two since winning it in 2002. 

With relegation to the fifth tier of English football for the first time in their history surely unthinkable, the Devon club will be looking for some stability after three unsuccessful seasons and two successive relegations.

The bookmakers currently place them as a promotion contender, which perhaps seems off the mark at the moment, but certainly possible if ‘Saint Peter’ as he has affectionately become known manages to assemble a squad of reasonable quality before the season kicks-off on August 7. 

For Plymouth Argyle; with the start of the new season comes a new start for the club, and the Green Army will be hoping that it won’t be too long before regaining the title of number one team in Devon.

Chris Lloyd