Plymouth Argyle F.C.
Plymouth Argyle by season: Paul Stapleton | manager =
Ian Holloway | league =
The Championship | season =
2005-06 | position =
Championship, 14th |
shirtsupplier= Puma |
shirtsponsors=
Ginsters|
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Plymouth Argyle Football Club (commonly known as the
Pilgrims) are an
English football team, playing in the
Championship league. They are one of only two clubs in the
football league to play in a principally green home strip. It is the most
southern and
western league club - this has not stopped the Green Army (colloquial name for Argyle fans) travelling in numbers however, despite the nearest away game for the 2006-7 being Cardiff, at 153 miles away, and the furthest being Sunderland at 412 miles.
Peter Shilton, the former England goalkeeper who played a record 125 times for his country, was Plymouth manager from 1992 until 1995, but 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.
Plymouth have been more successful in recent seasons, winning the Division Three title in 2002 and the Division Two title in 2004. They are currently in the Coca-Cola Football League Championship, the second tier of English football - the highest league they have ever played in.
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 Plymouth ship, which carried many of the original pilgrims. Their mascot is called Pilgrim Pete.
Foundation and Formation
The club was founded in
1886 as Argyle Football Club, the first football 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, and entered the
Football League Third Division in 1920. Uniquely, between 1921/2 and 1926/7, they finished second in the
Third Division South six seasons running, thereby avoiding promotion.
Home Park
|
Outside view of the Devonport Stand |
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 05/06 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.
The current capacity of the stadium stands at 20,922 of which most is seated, though the Mayflower Stand along one length of the pitch is still terracing.
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. 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
Nick Chadwick, the 250K signing from Everton. The goal was scored against
Crystal Palace during the 2005/2006 season, Saturday the seventeenth of December.
Modern Times
In 1984 Plymouth reached the FA cup semi final despite being in the third division. After a decent cup run where they beat West Bromich Albion and Derby County. They lost to Watford in the semi final.
Throughout the
1990s, under chairman Dan McCauley, Argyle had a string of managers.
Peter Shilton,
Neil Warnock and Mick Jones all managed the club, with mixed success.
The club was promoted from
Division Three to
Division Two as champions at the end of
season 2001/02, after attaining 102 points, a club and Division Three record. Traditionally the team play in a white away strip, but this was changed to one which was principally tangerine in colour for the
2002/03 and
2003/04 seasons, an act of
homage to the manager
Paul Sturrock whose former club, as both player and manager,
Dundee United play in a tangerine kit. The tangerine strip, which contained flashes of green engendered a new soubriquet applied to the team, the
tangergreens.
Towards the end of the 2003/04 season, with Argyle at the top of Division Two and several points clear of their rivals, Sturrock was offered, and accepted the post as manager of
Premiership side,
Southampton. He lasted only a few games before being sacked. Sturrock's replacement was the
Hibernian manager,
Bobby Williamson. Argyle finished comfortably clear of the second placed side,
Queens Park Rangers to achieve their second promotion in three years, this time into the
Football League Championship for its inaugural season. Following Sturrock's departure, the club reverted to a white away strip for the
2004-05 season, even though fans had already been asked to vote for one of three tangergreen strips.
Argyle finished in 17th place in their first season in the Championship. In September 2005, after a poor start to the
2005-06 season, Bobby Williamson was sacked, to be replaced by
Tony Pulis. The team finished the season in 14th place, the clubs highest position for 20 years. At the end of the 2005/06 season,
Stoke City F.C. was taken over, and the new owner Peter Coates made an approach to Plymouth Argyle to speak to Pulis about their vacant managerial position. Althouth the board of Plymouth Argyle initially rejected the request, they accepted after Pulis requested to speak to Stoke City and a compensation package (believed to be worth c. £50,000 to £70,000) was agreed. On the 14th June 2006, Tony Pulis was renamed the manager of Stoke City, leaving Plymouth Argyle managerless once again. On
28 June former
QPR manager
Ian Holloway assumed managerial control and promised a new bright dawn for Plymouth Argyle Football Club.
Centenary Season
The 2003/04 season was Argyle's 100th since becoming professional in 1903. The club put on several celebratory events, whilst the team won several awards.
See: Plymouth Argyle F.C. season 2003-04.Team of the Century
For the centenary celebrations, an all time best team of Plymouth Argyle players was chosen by fans of the club.
ManagerPaul Sturrock| width="50%" colspan="2" align="center"|Strikers | - | width="25%" align="center"|Paul Mariner | Tommy Tynan | - |
|
| Left Wing | Central Midfielders | Right Wing |
| Sammy Black / Garry Nelson | Johnny Williams | Ernie Machin | Kevin Hodges |
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| Left Back | Central Defenders | Right Back |
| Colin Sullivan | Graham Coughlan | Jack Chisholm | Gordon Nisbet |
|
| width="50%" colspan="2" align="center"|Goalkeeper | - | width="50%" colspan="2" align="center"|Jim Furnell | }The current Plymouth Argyle first-team squad as of 6 August, 2006.
12 Green Army is not a real player, but was registered by the club as a tribute to the supporters. The idea behind assigning the number 12 was that the great support from fans gives Argyle a similar advantage to having an extra (twelfth) player.Team managers of Plymouth Argyle and the dates they took over.Since 1966 the player of the season award has been made by Plymouth Argyle to the best player of the past season.For full list of players with articles on Wikipedia, click here.
* Fred Binney
*Bruce Grobbelaar
*John Hope Peddie
*David Jack
*Jack Leslie
* Marcus Murphy
*Billy Rafferty
*Peter Shilton
* John Uzzell
*Andy Morrison
*Taribo West who had a brief spell with Argyle just prior to Bobby Williamson's departure*Jennie Bond
* Chris Cooper (radio)
*Michael Foot
*Dawn French
* Davy Saunders
*Trevor Francis
*Clement Freud
* Judith Cumming
* Adam DyerA list of all major honours that Plymouth Argyle has won over the years.*Greatest Victory: 8-1 v Millwall, Division Two, 16 January 1932
*Greatest Defeat: 0-9 v Stoke City, Second Division, 17 December 1960
*Highest Attendance: 43,596 v Aston Villa, Division Two, 10 October 1936* 1898 rulebook
* Home Park
* http://www.pafc.co.uk - Club official website.
* http://www.pasoti.co.uk - P@SOTI (Plymouth Argyle Supporters On The Internet, the main fans' site).
* http://www.greensonscreen.co.uk - A unique and unrivalled site offering comprehensive audio/visual round ups of games as well as many excellent links.
* http://www.semperviridis.co.uk - A complete statistical record of the club from 1903 to date.
* http://www.rubofthegreens.com - Club forum which also has some club news.
* http://www.plymouthargyle-mad.co.uk/ - General news and team info site.
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