Plymouth Argyle F.C.
| Plymouth Argyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Plymouth Argyle Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Pilgrims, The Greens, Argyle, The Green Army |
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| Founded | 1886 as Argyle F.C. 1903 as professional team |
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| Ground | Home Park Plymouth Devon, England |
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| Capacity | 20,922[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Paul Stapleton |
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| Manager | Ian
Holloway |
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| League | The Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006–07 | The Championship, 11th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- For details of the current season, see Plymouth Argyle F.C. season 2007-08
Plymouth Argyle Football Club (commonly known as the Pilgrims, the Greens, the Green Army or simply Argyle) are an English football team, playing in the Football League Championship.
They are one of only two clubs in the Football League to play in a principally green home strip. (The other being Yeovil Town) It is the most southern and western league club - this has not stopped the Green Army (colloquial name for Argyle fans) travelling in large numbers, despite the nearest away game for the 2006-07 season being Cardiff, at 153 miles away, and the furthest being Sunderland at 412 miles.
Peter Shilton, the former England and Leicester City goalkeeper who played a record 125 times for his country, was Argyle's manager from 1992 until 1995, but despite forming a squad with obvious talent, playing attractive football, he was unsuccessful in trying to arrest a decline which saw the Pilgrims slide from the second to the fourth tier of the league in the space of three years. A number of managers came and went - with the club winning the Third Division Play-off's in 1996 under Neil Warnock before Paul Sturrock arrived in November, 2000. Under a new board and manager it signaled a revival, with the club winning the Division Three title in 2002 and the Division Two title in 2004, before re-establishing themselves in what is now known as the Championship, formerly the First Division.
History
The Plymouth Pilgrims
The club takes its nickname from the groups of people that left Plymouth for the New World. The club crest features the Mayflower, the London based ship, which carried many of the original pilgrims from Plymouth to The New World in 1620. The club mascot is named Pilgrim Pete.
Foundation and formation
The club was founded in 1886 as Argyle Football Club, the first match taking place against Dunheved College (now Launceston College) in Launceston where many of the club's first members had been educated. Poor performance on the pitch led to it going out of existence in 1894 before being resurrected in 1897. In 1898 it became one part of a general sports club, the Argyle Athletic Club. Much speculation and rumour surrounds the origin of the name Argyle. The most popular explanation is that they were named after the nearby Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, an army regiment with a strong football side of its own. Other theories suggest that the name comes from the nearby public house, The Argyle Tavern; where the founder members may have met.
Alternatively they were named after a local street called Argyle Terrace. The club adopted its current name when it became fully professional in 1903 joining the Southern League. They played several friendlies against local rivals, Plymouth United F.C., the first ever football team to have the 'United' suffix. Argyle's first professional game was on September 1 1903[2] against West Ham United resulting in a 2-0 win for Argyle with the first goal being scored by Jack Peddie. In 1920 Argyle entered the Football League Third Division as a founder member. Uniquely, between 1921-22 and 1926-27, they finished second in the Third Division South six seasons in a row, thereby missing promotion.
Club records
Argyle's record victories are 8-1 wins over Hartlepool United and Millwall. On 3 January 2004, this winning margin was equalled with a 7-0 thrashing of Chesterfield, a game which is also notable for it being the fastest first five goals scored in English League football, 17 minutes. The club's record defeat is 9-0 by Stoke City in 1960. Also in 2004, goalkeeper Luke McCormick set a record of seven games without conceding a goal. Argyle's fastest ever goal was scored after 11 seconds by forward, Nick Chadwick, the £250,000 signing from Everton. The goal was scored against Crystal Palace during the 2005/2006 season, 17 December. Plymouth went on to win the game 2-0,
1984 cup run and 1987 promotion challenge
In 1984 Plymouth reached the FA cup semi-final despite being in the third division. After a decent cup run where they beat West Bromwich Albion and Derby County. They lost to Watford in the semi-final. Three years later they finished seventh in the Second Division, just missing the division's new playoff zone - and the chance of First Division football. But they were unable to keep up their good form, and were relegated in 1992 despite the appointment of legendary goalkeeper Peter Shilton as player-manager.
1995 relegation to Division Three
Shilton guided a determined Plymouth side to third place in in the new Division Two during the 1993-94 season, but they lost to eventual winners Burnley in the semi-finals. Their form slumped the following season and they were relegated a short time after Shilton left the club to be replaced (on a short-term deal) by player Steve McCall. McCall's contract was not renewed and in came Neil Warnock as his successor.
Up, then down again
Warnock took Plymouth to Division Three playoff glory in his first season as manager, but he was sacked within a year as the club narrowly avoided being relegated back to the basement division. They went down a year later under Warnock's successor Mick Jones, and Jones's successor Kevin Hodges lasted three years before a failure to attain promotion (or even a playoff place) cost him his job.
The Sturrock Revolution
The appointment of Paul Sturrock as manager in the November of 2000 marked a turning point in Argyle's history, after saving the club from relgation out of the Football League (they where 4th bottom when he became Manager), finishing 11th in his first season, they then collected a club and league record of 102 points to clinch the Division Three title in 2002 and gain promotion to Division Two. They narrowly missed out on the Division Two playoff's in 2003, and Sturrock moved to Southampton in March 2004. Promotion as Division Two champions was sealed weeks later, ironically in Plymouth's first game under the management of Bobby Williamson.
Plymouth in the Championship
Williamson was never very popular with a large portion of Plymouth fans, who found it difficult to accept that Paul Sturrock had left the club. Williamson's tenure lasted just 18 months before he made way for Tony Pulis. Pulis was on his way out of the exit door in even less time, returning to Stoke at the end of the season to make way for Ian Holloway.
Plymouth made a strong start to the 2006-07 Championship campaign, and were soon looking capable of qualifying for the playoff's. The January transfer window saw considerable activity in the transfer market with the arrival of Hungarians Krisztián Timár and Péter Halmosi (initially on loan but both signed permanently in May 2007 as part of an option to buy arrangement), the signing of Rory Fallon from Swansea City F.C., and Kevin Gallen and Scott Sinclair on loan from QPR and Chelsea respectively. Although they finished February in 12th place, a wide gap opened up between them and the teams in the top six, making their promotion bid more difficult than it had appeared earlier in the season. Despite this disappointment, the team made significantly better progress than in recent seasons in the FA Cup, reaching the quarter-finals after beating Championship league leaders Derby County F.C. in the 5th round. In the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup, they were drawn at home to Premiership strugglers Watford, but lost out to a Hameur Bouazza strike against the run of play. After a run of five consecutive wins, Argyle finished the 2006-07 in 11th place, their highest league finish for 20 years.
In late 2006, Viz magazine published a one-off comic strip, "The Pirates of Plymouth Argyle", depicting Plymouth Argyle FC as a shipload of 18th-century pirates. Several of the characters in this strip were given the names of then-current players on the real Plymouth Argyle team.
Stadium
The original ground of the professional club at Home Park, was destroyed by German bombers during The Blitz on Plymouth in World War II. Having been rebuilt after the war, Home Park was largely demolished as part of an extensive process of renovation, and the first phase of a new stadium built by Barrs plc was completed in May 2002. The new Devonport End was opened for the 2001 Boxing Day fixture with Torquay United. The other end, the Barn Park End opened on the same day. The Lyndhurst stand reopened on 26 January 2002 for the game against Oxford United. Plans are currently under discussion regarding the completion of the refurbishment of the ground with the replacement of the Mayflower stand. The club is situated in Central Park, very near to the residential area of Peverell. Towards the end of the 2005/06 English Coca-Cola Championship season the club decided to buy the stadium for £2.7 million off Plymouth City Council, releasing the ground from a 125-year lease. This purchase was concluded in December 2006.
In the summer of 2007, Argyle's failure to persuade the UK authorities [3] of the case for retaining a standing terrace decided to add 3,500 temporary seats to the Mayflower enclosure [4]. This is likely to drop the capacity to just under 20,000 from the previous 20,922 (an exact figure is not yet available) for the 2007/08 season.
Away from Home Park, in the 2004/5 the Argyle fanbase, known as the Green Army, were voted as being the best away fans in the Football League, due to both the numbers travelling and the distance that Argyle's geographical isolation necessitates.
Rivalries
The club's traditional rivals were fellow Devon sides Exeter City and Torquay United (although the fact that Argyle play in 3 leagues above both teams has subdued this rivaly, at least from the Argyle fans' side), the two Bristol clubs Bristol City and Bristol Rovers, and Portsmouth F.C. (the Plymouth-Portsmouth game is known as the Dockyard Derby). The last competitive meeting between Argyle and Exeter was held in 2002 at Home Park in a league game when Argyle won 3-0. Argyle have always been considered a more successful club than Exeter and Torquay, principally due to larger crowds and traditionally higher league position. A distinct rivalry arose between Argyle and Luton Town F.C. after inflammatory comments made by Joe Kinnear who was manager of The Hatters during the 2003-04 promotion season, although this mutual antipathy has now largely abated.
Players
Current squad
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Reserves
The Plymouth Argyle Reserves play in the Pontin's Holidays Combination. The club also entered a team in the South Western League, but withdrew from that competition in 2007.
Player of the Year
Since 1966 the player of the season award has been made by Plymouth Argyle fans to the best player of the past season.
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Team of the century
For the centenary celebrations, an all time best team of Plymouth Argyle players was chosen by fans of the club.[5]
| 1 | |
GK | Jim Furnell |
| 2 | |
DF | Gordon Nisbet |
| 3 | |
DF | Jack Chisholm |
| 4 |  |
DF | Graham Coughlan |
| 5 | |
DF | Colin Sullivan |
| 6 | |
MF | Ernie Machin |
| 7 | |
MF | Kevin Hodges |
| 8 | |
MF | Johnny Williams |
| 9 | |
FW | Paul Mariner |
| 10 | |
FW | Tommy Tynan |
| 11 |  |
MF | Sammy Black & |
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MF | Garry Nelson |
Manager: Paul Sturrock
Club officials
Boardroom
- Chairman:
Paul Stapleton - Vice Chairman: Robert Dennerly
- Board of Directors: Phillip Gill, Tony Wrathall,
- Chief Executive: Michael Dunford
Management
- Manager: Ian
Holloway
- Assistant Manager: Tim
Breacker
- First Team Coach: Des
Bulpin
- Goalkeeping Coach: Geoff Crudgington
- Chief Scout and Strikers' coach: Gary Penrice
- Physio and FA Fitness Coach: Paul Maxwell
- Head of Youth Development: Gordon Bennett
- Head of Youth Coaching: Mike
Pejic
- Centre of Excellence Manager:
Allan Evans - Youth Development Officer: John James
Managerial history
Team managers of Plymouth Argyle and the dates they took over.
| Number | Date appointed | Nationality | Manager name |
| 1 | 1903-08-01 | |
Frank Brettell |
| 2 | 1905-08-01 | |
Bob Jack |
| 3 | 1906-08-01 | Unknown | Bill Fullerton |
| 4 | 1910-08-01 | |
Bob Jack |
| 5 | 1938-04-01 | |
Jack Tresadern |
| 6 | 1948-09-01 | |
Jimmy Rae |
| 7 | 1955-02-01 | |
Jack Rowley |
| 8 | 1961-03-01 | |
Neil Dougall |
| 9 | 1961-11-01 | |
Ellis Stuttard |
| 10 | 1963-10-01 | |
Andy Beattie |
| 11 | 1964-05-01 | |
Malcolm Allison |
| 12 | 1965-05-01 | |
Derek Ufton |
| 13 | 1968-02-01 |  |
Billy Bingham |
| 14 | 1970-03-01 | |
Ellis Stuttard |
| 15 | 1972-10-11 | |
Tony Waiters |
| 16 | 1977-05-01 | |
Mike Kelly |
| 17 | 1978-02-14 | |
Lennie Lawrence (Caretaker) |
| 18 | 1978-03-16 | |
Malcolm Allison |
| 19 | 1979-01-05 | |
Bobby Saxton |
| 20 | 1981-06-01 | |
Bobby Moncur |
| 21 | 1983-10-01 | |
Johnny Hore |
| 22 | 1984-11-01 | |
Dave Smith |
| 23 | 1988-07-06 | |
Ken Brown |
| 24 | 1990-02-06 | |
John Gregory (Caretaker) |
| 25 | 1990-03-01 | |
David Kemp |
| 26 | 1992-03-02 | |
Peter Shilton |
| 27 | 1995-01-02 | |
Steve McCall (Caretaker) |
| 28 | 1995-06-22 | |
Neil Warnock |
| 29 | 1997-02-03 | |
Mick Jones |
| 30 | 1998-06-21 | |
Kevin Hodges |
| 31 | 2000-10-04 | |
Kevin Summerfield (Caretaker) |
| 32 | 2000-10-31 | |
Paul Sturrock |
| 33 | 2004-03-04 | |
Kevin Summerfield (Caretaker) |
| 34 | 2004-04-20 | |
Bobby Williamson |
| 35 | 2005-09-06 | |
Jocky Scott (Caretaker) |
| 36 | 2005-09-23 |  |
Tony Pulis |
| 37 | 2006-06-28 | |
Ian Holloway |
Records
Team records
- Highest attendance: 43,596 v Aston Villa, Division Two, 10 October 1936
- Record league victory:
- 8-1 v Millwall, Division Two, 16 January 1932
- 8-1 v Hartlepool United, Division Two, 7 May 1994
- Record league defeat: 0-9 v Stoke City, Division Two, 17 December 1960
- Record cup victory: 6-0 v Corby Town. FA Cup 3rd round. 22nd January 1966
- Record cup defeat: 1-7 v Tottenham FA Cup 1st round replay 19 January 1910
- Most league points (2 for a win): 68 Division 3 South 1929-1930
- Most league points (3 for a win): 102 Division Three 2001-2002
- Most league goals:
- Highest scorer in one season: 32 Jack Cock Division 3 South 1926-1927
League honours
A list of all major honours that Plymouth Argyle has won over the years.
| Competition | Achievement | Year(s) |
| Division Two (New Format) (3rd tier) | Champions | 2004 |
| Third Division (Old Format) (3rd tier) | Champions Runners-up |
1959 1975, 1986 |
| Third Division South | Champions Runners-up |
1930, 1952 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927 |
| Division Three (New Format) (4th tier) | Champions Play-off winners |
2002 1996 |
| Southern League | Champions Runners-up |
1913 1908, 1912 |
| Western League Division One | Champions | 1905 |
| Western League Division One 'B' | Runners-up | 1907 |
| South West Regional League | Champions | 1940 |
Seasons
Current Season: 2007-08
- Further information: Plymouth Argyle F.C. seasons
Top goalscorers
Top 10 players by goals scored in all competitions.
| Pos | Player Name | Years | Goals |
| 1 | Sammy Black | 1924-1938 | 185 |
| 2 | Wilf Carter | 1957-1964 | 148 |
| 3 | Tommy Tynan | 1983-1985 1986-1990 |
144 |
| 4 | Jack Leslie | 1921-1935 | 134 |
| 5 | Maurice Tadman | 1947-1955 | 113 |
| 6 | Jack Vidler | 1928-1939 | 103 |
| 7 | Fred Burch | 1907-1915 | 95 |
| 8 | Ray Bowden | 1927-1933 | 87 |
| 9 | Kevin Hodges | 1978-1992 | 86 |
| 10 | Mickey Evans | 1991-1997 2001-2006 |
81 |
Shirt Sponsors
| Years | Sponsor |
| 1983-1984 | Beacon Electrical |