It has been a torrid campaign for Plymouth Argyle thus far, with odds being against them having any hope of avoiding relegation to the third tier of English football. They have conceded 85 goals so far this season with two games to go, and many fans are questioning the sides integrity.
Rewind back to 25th May 2024 – Plymouth announced the appointment of former England captain and legend Wayne Rooney as their new Head Coach. This announcement split fans opinions as Rooney was a big part of Birmingham’s relegation last season. However, most fans were excited by the prospect of Rooney leading the Greens into a new season. Unfortunately for Rooney it didn’t work out well as he led Argyle to bottom of the league. After a 2-0 defeat to relegation rivals Oxford, Rooney was dismissed in December 2024.
In what has been a very poor season for Argyle they have also had some special moments;
In the FA cup, Plymouth caretaker manager Kevin Nancekivell and club captain Joe Edwards led them to victory by knocking out Premier League side Brentford through a late Morgan Whittaker strike. The club then announced the appointment of former Cercle Brugge manager Miron Muslic, Argyles first ever non-British manager. Argyle also went on to beat Liverpool in a 1-0 victory over the reds making one of the best results in Argyles history. They later exited the cup after losing 3-1 to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Even though the greens enjoyed a brilliant FA Cup run, the problems in the league still continued. Music’s men have only won one away game all season so far and are still conceding too many goals on average. With two games to go until the end of the season, the margin is looking tighter between them and Derby County who currently sit in the last survival position on 46 points. Argyle are only three points behind them, however had a negative 37 goal difference compared to Derby’s negative nine, which will most likely make Argyles survival hope fizzle out.
One positive for the Pilgrims is that they have won three home games on the bounce, beating Norwich City as well as promotion chasing Sheffield United and Coventry City. However, they have not been able to continue this form into away matches as they have failed to win their previous three away games losing to both Middlesborough and Swansea City, whilst drawing to Watford.
I spoke with Plymouth Argyle Fan Patrick who has been supporting Argyle for the past 71 years and he labelled the season as “beyond disappointing”. He believed that the club haven’t moved on the way they should’ve done based off of last year’s similar struggles in the championship, instead they have become even worse.
Patrick also went onto claim that perhaps in hindsight, appointing Wayne Rooney was too much of a risky move from the board of directors. To conclude the interview, I asked Patrick whether or not he believes Argyle will achieve Championship safety and he stated that the greens “haven’t done enough” to warrant championship survival especially with the away form they have shown throughout the season. Many fans I’m sure will agree with Patrick, however the fight is not over yet, and their championship fate will go down right to the wire.
In addition, I have also spoke with Plymouth Argyle youtuber Cameron, also known as ‘Cam Vlogs’ who has been supporting and covering Argyle for the past 14 years. I asked for his opinions of Argyle throughout the season, and he also commented that Wayne Rooney wasn’t cut out for the job and was a big factor in the Pilgrims downfall. Cameron has been following Argyle home and away for many years now and he claimed that this side is one of the worst he has seen in recent years. Cameron believes that Argyle just haven’t been good enough, and he is convinced the greens will be playing League one football next season. One positive would be that he thinks the current manager Miron Muslic is the right man for the job, however, if the Austrian can keep Argyle up is another question.
Other Plymouth Argyle fans that I interviewed had strong choices of words, but all seemed to agree that former boss Wayne Rooney was the biggest factor as to why Argyle are in the position they are. 21-year-old Jack stated the greens have been “completely below par” and the Plymouth hierarchy have a lot of questions to answer.
Community worker Cory also had strong words for Rooney and believes that the biggest issue was the Plymouth backline. He went on to say that throughout the season Argyles defence has been “lacklustre”.
A running theme for Argyle fans is that every interview I carried out – all agreed that the board, and previous appointments are the turning factor, and the players performances on the pitch simply haven’t been up to standard.
Argyle’s final two matches are massive. They must achieve positive results if they want to survive and remain in this division for next season, but they will also have to hope that their relegation rivals don’t pick up points for the last two games in order for the greens to avoid relegation.
They are away to Preston North End on Saturday 26th April and are closing the season off at Home Park to already promoted Leeds United on Saturday May 3rd. This will be a huge game if their fate of relegation goes to the last game of the season against one of the best championship sides of recent years.
The challenge will be extremely tough for Plymouth; however, they have shown in recent times, especially at home that they will not go down without a fight.
Many people believe that Argyle will not survive. That being said – the ‘Green Army’ will spur their team on in hope to achieve the unthinkable. If Miron Muslic’s side do survive, it will be one of the greatest escapes the championship has ever seen.