[FM14] The Mayflower path to the Premier League.

Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club based in Plymouth, Devon.

The club was founded in 1886 as Argyle Football Club, the first match taking place on 16 October 1886 against Caxton, a team from Cornwall and saw the Pilgrims lose 2–0. Later that week Argyle won for the first time–beating Dunheved College (now Launceston College) in Launceston (where many of the club's first members had been educated) 2–1. They played several friendlies against Plymouth United, but poor performances on the pitch led to the club going out of existence in 1894 before being resurrected in 1897 as one part of a general sports club, the Argyle Athletic Club. In 1898, Argyle F.C. produced its first rulebook. The club's ground was given as Marsh Mills, an area on the edge of the city of Plymouth, which still hosts sports.

Much speculation surrounds the origin of the name Argyle. One explanation is that they were named after the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, an army regiment with a strong football side of its own. Another theory is given the respective geographical placements–suggests the name comes either from the nearby public house, The Argyle Tavern, where the founder members may have met, or the local street named Argyle Terrace. An alternative suggestion is that their initial kit was decorated in the famous Argyle diamond pattern.

The club adopted its current name when it became fully professional in 1903 joining the Southern League, under the management of Bob Jack. Argyle's first professional game was on 1 September 1903 against West Ham United resulting in a 2–0 win for Argyle with the first goal being scored by Jack Peddie. Their first home game as a fully professional club was on 5 September 1903 when they beat Northampton Town 2–0 in front of a crowd of 4,438. Argyle won the Southern League in 1913, then in 1920 entered the Football League Third Division as a founder member, where they finished 11th in their first season.

James Brent Era- Current Era

James Brent's Akkeron Group agreed a deal with the Administrators to buy the club with Peter Ridsdale also confirming that he would leave the club once the deal had been completed.The Football League then banned any loan signings until the deal had been completed on 6 October. Further problems occurred with the Administrators threatening to quit the club. The PFA agreed a repayment plan for the employees to receive their wages as well as former manager Peter Reid agreeing a deal. Argyle also agreed a deal to sell Home Park back to Plymouth council on 14 October for £1.6m and they had to pay £135,000 a year for rent. On 28 October the deal with James Brent was approved and he would take his seat at the club once Home Park was sold.Plymouth officially exited administration on 31 October, after the takeover was complete. The team's form greatly improved after the takeover, and while the eventual League finish of 21st was the lowest in the club's history, they still secured survival with three games to spare, which was quite an achievement considering they had been well adrift at the bottom for the first half of the campaign.

Stadium

Home Park is an all-seater football stadium in the Central Park area of Plymouth, England, and is the home of Football League Two club Plymouth Argyle. The ground, given the nickname the Theatre of Greens by the club's supporters, has been Argyle's permanent residence since 1901. After undergoing considerable development in the 1920s and 1930s the ground suffered heavy damage during the Second World War. It was re-opened in time for the resumption of the Football League in 1945 and underwent further improvements in the 1950s, including the installation of floodlights and a new double-decker Grandstand. The ground remained relatively unchanged until 2001 when construction of three new all-seater stands commenced. The work was completed in February 2002, and after further work the stadium became all-seated in the summer of 2007

Introduction

After being appointed at Plymouth I got accustomed with the surroundings here is the pic

Good stadium good facilities for this level , I would like to re-invest in training ASAP but money is a problem at the club so I will have to make some nice FA cup runs to upgrade tat.

Finances

Here is the bad part about Plymouth all the loans end soon 2015/2016* so its good we will get rid of them but in the short term will mean no investments in facilities.

Tactics Starting XI and Transfers

I will go with the youth no matter what especially Harvey and Purrington

I only really wanted one player in Tibbling , after securing that deal for 71 k and the biggest wage at the club i managed to get on free Dumbarton winger Gilhaney

***Note

I am working on deadlines RL so I might have a lot of updates on a short term then vanish for a bit , hopefully I will have time to put reports daily.

Friendlies and Squad at the start of the Season.

The pre-season was actually a good one , thankfully our goals for this season is mid-table

The squad got only 2 new signings as posted above no loans in , and i just loaned out some youth to skrill premiership teams ,so here is the pic of the Plymouth Argyle for 2013/2014 season . I will try and not abuse the loan system because we have some good youngsters for this level and League one that need growth.

We will start the season with an away game at Southend and the Capital Cup draw was decent we get Ipswich at Home Park , we will try and make some cup runs until the debts are payed for financial stability

August Report

Southend (A) - We had 3 shots scored twice , harvey and reid went down , but i was happy with the clinical finishing displayed , Reid and Morgan scored .

Ipswich (H) With our first 2 options for striker down , we had to put Chadwick as a sub eventhough he is transfer listed and in the u-21 team, we managed to keep Ipswich outside of our penalty box , only scoring from a long range shot and at HF was 1-1 , after that poor condition poor finishing poor defending and Ipswich bagged 4 goals in 20 minutes.

Fleetwood (H) With a deflated morale , we only managed to shoot once , so the results is fair they dominated us all game.

Cheltenham (A) Again we couldnt be a force in the opposite half , but their poor decisions in front of the goal saw us grab a lucky draw morale is sinking fast!

Rochdale (H) Surprisingly we dominated the whole game , problem is the finishing was not there we needed a corner kick to score with Trotman then a IFK so Young can score with a lucky deflection , was pleased with the possesion game we showed.

Morecambe (A) At HT we were down 0-1 , so i used all my subs in min 60 brining in Gurrieri Reid and Hourihane , we scored in min 89 Gurrieri and Reid min 93 , needless to say changes will come in the First XI , i badly the striker to be effective in the tactic i use at Plymouth

Table

1st Fleetwood

2nd Wycombe

Harvey being injured and not fit to play 90 minutes was a big headache i will need him to start bagging in goals in September or else Reid will start games , Tibbling is slowly adapting to the tactical changes and new players , our defending was Ok Purrington was good for a youngster our right flank is the vulnerable one Nelson has an offensive appetite and Berry is just waiting to go in and make a mistake at his first touch .Our wingers showed enough to hope that progress will come once Tibbling will accomodate and his passes will benefit our wingers speed .

Happy we are 10th in the league if we can finish there at the end of the season i will be happy .

September Results :

Bristol Rovers (H)

With morale being high Rovers were in for a tough game , or so we thought . We shuffled a bit the squad Boco and Tibbling were out for international games , Trotman was slighty fatigued and was only a sub , so Harvey was AMC , Reid got the start at striker position and Berry at fullback , needless to say a mistake by Berry gaved the opposition a free-kick and Matt Gill scored from the Free Kick . We managed to equalize from a penalty Blanchard transformed it , the start of second half was all Plymouth til Hourihane got send-off and we conceded a goal immediately after the dismissal , another penalty saved us this time the penalty was bogus , but hey we take whlat we get no complaints , Blanchard did again his job and we saved a point.

Wycombe (H)

What a game , at HT we were down 2 goals , we played horrendous so after some pep talk and some changes (Morgan tooked the ST role) we started playing possession football keeping the ball and being dangerous it tooked us only 20 minutes to bag two goals (Alessandra and Morgan) . After that we keep dominating searching for a win against the top dawg in the division . In minute 90 our poor defending let the opposition striker get 1 vs 1 with Cole and he finished with ease taking all the 3 points.

Scunthorpe (A)

This our tipycal away game , we wanted a point defended well and our counter attacks are atrocious seriously considering moving Harvey as AMC , and letting Reid play striker he can finish and has the speed needed for that position for now. A 0-0 well deserved nothing special just an allround team effort .

Accrington (H)

This game was such a roller-coaster , best fm match in awhile , 0-1 , 3-1 , 3-3 then we grab the winner from a fluke cross flicked on beautiful by Reid. We had shots 8 shots 4 goals , we are starting to finish better , this moves in the playoff hunt.

This was a up and down month we played fantastic at home , away we have no problems trying to get those draws as long as we bring points back doesn’t matter how ugly the games are. We are inconsistent though and this is showing we have spells of great football then we play utter **** and allow stupid goals , I guess lack of concentration is a problem too especially from my midfielders who allow easy runs that penetrate and make goal scoring chances far far too easy.

If we can get one of our striker to a hot streak we can end in January in the thick of the playoff race or even promotion race.

Player of the month for Plymouth gotta be Reid he scored 3 goals and brought us the big victory against Accrington

We are at a very good spot , we can hope for a playoff hunt

1 Wycombe

2 Dag & Red

Octomber Results :

Exeter (A)

Our big rivalry game , started good for us with possession and some wasted chance then the game became a trenches war until a team managed to find a way to finis that deadlock , most of the times a set pieces makes the difference , today was no difference a DFK got Exeter 3 points . The bad part of loosing this rivalry game , our GK Cole is out for 2 months.

Northampton (H)

JPT = The Cup we don’t give 2 cents on it , so we treated the game as a friendly , played with most of the reserves , what can I say Durrell Berry got a 4 match rating , as I said I will not trust him to kick a ball into safety , he will manage to score an own-goal probably.

Gilhaney and a late goal by Reid made the game look “close” in reality we were never in this game , the good part Reid is scoring hopefully this translates in league games also.

Portsmouth (H)

Poor poor game , we couldn’t finish to save our lifes and defending was horrendous I am shocked the scoreline was so low. We are starting to slip away in the table and morale sinking , we need a win or a draw fast.

Hartlepool (A)

Another game lost , a heavy defeat also my entire defence had an average rating of 5.9 !!! , we are in a slump I need a turnaround fast or I will not be in charge in November.

Newport County (H)

The perfect game , I wish we can get lucky all season like that and YEAH HARVEY SCORED woooooooo.

Mansfield (A)

And Harvey scores again this time in the 91 th minute giving a vital point in this away game , what more can I say I am happy we started getting points on the board again and moving out of the relegation battle .

Octomber Review

This was a bloody bad month started awful and we rebounded with that vital win at home against Newpourt we need to start being consistent and stop fluctuating so much with the game we play , the lack of concentration on the pitch for 90 minutes its killing us , I will probably look into signing one or two veterans with good mental too bolster the right fullback position and probably AMC or SC to have a good mentor for Harvey.The finances are tight but I think we can snatch two freebies with the budget we have.

Guys since i am new at this tips or criticism are allowed , also if you need more info or prints about certain things dont be afraid to ask for them i will provide when time allows

November Results :

Northampton (H)

Ugly game that was going to a win for northampton until a bizarre own goal by their defender , oh well we take all we get no complaints.

Gateshead (H)

A very impotant FA Cup game so we treated accordingly , we had possession chances and Harvey scored in the late minutes of the game.

Dag & Red (H)

A very contested game that we managed to win with a impressive goal from Reuben Reid in minute 77 he is really starting to score some cheeky goals

Torquay (A)

Our tipycal away game , we defended very well , and consistent through 90 minutes a well deserved draw.

Burton (H)

This was a poor game , we were down 0-2 in the 85 th minute then a 5 minute magic spell camed and we scored 2 superb goals managing to get a draw from nothing.

Table :

1st Fleetwood 39 pts

2nd Chesterfield 37 pts

9 points from the playoff spot but with one game less played , we can stil hope a good streak will put us in the thick of the playoff spots , but my main concern is staying from the shady zone that’s called relegation battle.

November Review

For the first time we were consistent both at Home Park and on our away games , I was pleased with the effort from the Fa Cup game , we play Lincoln away in the 2nd round we need to play well here to make some much needed money , I didn’t signed anyone I decided I don’t need mentors to my youth players.

December Results:

York (A)

A game we had possession and showed we are no pushovers a nice victory.

Lincoln (A)

Crucial game for us , we managed to impose our will and our gritty type of football and got away with a victory FA 3rd Round draw with Manchester City at Home Park

Chesterfield (A)

We got overmatched and it showed we couldn’t do anything to our opposition today , poor game for us.

Bury (H)

A lucky lucky win despite what the score shows , we hit on the counters and our GK Cole did wonders to keep the score that low.

AFC Wimbledon (A)

We gaved the early goal , then camed back and imposed our style of play and scored two fast games then went on full lethargy mode of playing managing to get the win/

Table :

1st Wycombe

2nd Chesterfield

Back in the playoff hunt

December Review

A overall good month , we qualified for a epic 3rd round FA CUP moneymaker , in the league we did well as long as we stay in the mid table with a little chance for playoff spots I am happy I will look to offload 2-3 players especially our striker Morgan who is on a 1.5 k per week till 2015 .

Injuries updates Boco 3 months out , Nelson 1 month , I need atleast a fullback on loan to get this incoming transfer window.

And our first individual award goes to Young

I didn't know you were Austin Aries.

I didn't know you were Austin Aries.

Wrestling is dying you gotta do what you can

I will post the an update with the january-may period in a bit

January Update

Torquay (H)

We got an early goal and we hit them on the counter late in the game for a nice deserved victory

Manchester City (H)

Just a 1-0 for City against a good starting XI by city including Aguero Silva Dzeko

Southend (H)

A easy home game against a relegation team , dominated we had some problems finishing in the first half but all went well in 2nd half

Oxford (A)

A tricky away fixture decided by a set piece and a goal by Blanchard , we didnt deserved to be honest.

Rochdale (A)

We caught them on 2 counters and then shut the game down , a boring win but 3 points are 3 points.

Fleetwood (A)

We were squashed so bad , i was embarresed to even attend the post match press conference.

Cheltenham(H)

An ugly draw we had morale low from the previous defeat and had 0 offense our GK Cole saved ur arses today/

Newport (A)

A incredible fought game , both sides were digging trenches for a draw , but a superb strike by Reid got us the winner.

January Review

We played excellent football this month even in our FA Cup tie with City we did very well , the Fleetwood game we got obliterated , no chance in hell we could do anything against them , they seem too dominate league 2 with easy this year and they are on a very mean hot streak with lot of goals and clean sheets.

*Sorry for the lack of table posts played a bit in the weekend and i forgot to take a screenshot of the table.

Our only January transfer movement was the Crewe striker Pogba on a season long loan

Other updates will come later in the week , if anybody wants some specific or tips/complain go for it

Wrestling is dying you gotta do what you can

All industries have their ups and downs.

Things seem to be picking up for the Argyle. You got to be happy that Ridsdale isn't anywhere near the club.

Things seem to be picking up for the Argyle. You got to be happy that Ridsdale isn't anywhere near the club.

Yeap hopefully the loans will when expire in 2016 will not let me in a financial mess

February and March were two good months and saw us going up to 6th and with hopes for even a automatic promotion spot , injuries are starting to pile up thought we have no natural DR on the squad so nelson will fill that void like untill our 3 Dr become healthy , Pogba upfront is fantastic and on a hot streak that gaved us some crucial go ahead goals .

Youth Recruitment : I will only highlight the 3 players i actually think will break in the squad if we promote next year in League One

Viveash

A natural DL that i will look into making him into DC due to his height and good attributes for DC.

Edwards

An absolute fantastic gem i got from my youth academy on a position that i was in need.

McDermott

A full-back with great leadership if i manage to mold him into a decent fullback with the leadership he has he will be a pick for the captain armband.

The only bright moment this month was the victory over Burton , even the win against Hartlepool was a fluke , we played bad or we got outplayed , luckily we got thoe 5th position and we will go againt Mansfield in the playoffs.

After a poor ending of the season , we started the play-offs in the same manner , our 2nd leg was truly epic and we managed to sneak in to a playoff final against Wycombe ,unfortunately we were always trailing in that game we didnt manage to keep the game tight and steal a win ,

Final Table

Next Season?

We are in decent financial position to make some acquisitions and to not sell our key players , loans are starting to get payed from this season so if we promote this season the rest of the loans that end in 2016 should let us in a ok position , if we dont promote then we will have some problems and probably finish in the red in 2016

My aim is to promote so for that i will look to bring in some veterans to mold up this young squad.

The pre-season went well 4 wins , Plymouth only scheduled 4 friendlies because of the long break the squad had and the early start of the campaign,we managed to get Blackburn Rovers as our parent club.

Transfers IN

Cheyenne Dunkley- A very rated youngster from the newly promoted Kidderminster (Good SK1 CB)

Mathias Pogba-After a good loan last year we decided to bring him back on a one year contract.

Sido Jombati – The ex Cheltenham fullback joined us for a year will be a good situational guy playing both flanks.

Luke Jones-The former Stevenage man joined us to be the 3rd Cb on the squad and a good veteran presence to mold Dunkley and Nelson.

Sam Togwell-Experienced midfielder brought to balance the offensive tibbling.

Raffaele da Vita-A former youth striker prospect now went a little back on the field to be a good winger , signed from Bradford will be the starting AML

Brice Irie-Bi A midfielder with great physical stats for this level and room to grow up to a good Championship midfielder

Gary Deegan –Another solid midfielder brought in to have competition for Tibbling.

Reuben Reid-Brought for a year back after a successful loan .

Simon Eastwood-A season loan from our parent club Rovers.

Daniel Alfei-Another season loan from Swansea

John Rooney-Wayne’s lil bro , will give a challenge to Harvey at AMC position might tweak our tactics for him if he performs.

Craig Westcarr-Brought in for backup purpose can play a variety of roles , good situational player.

Jack Byrne The former City youth signed with Plymouth scouts think he will be a decent Premier League so I will keep an watch on him and train him properly.

Transfers Out

Only big deal was Hourihane to Falkirk , we sold our captain for a nice upfront sum.

August 2014 Fixtures

A shaddy start at newly relegated Roterham and a league game versus Charlton gaved us reasons to worry about our finishing , we had chances we couldn’t connect.The stevenage game was our turning stone this month fine finishing but poor defending let a stevenage cross in minute 92 and a draw for us, the last 3 games even if the scoreboard for the last two would indicate tight affaris were games controlled by us but the usual mistakes either upfront or at the back-end prevented us in having some bigger scores.

Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club based in Plymouth, Devon.

The club was founded in 1886 as Argyle Football Club, the first match taking place on 16 October 1886 against Caxton, a team from Cornwall and saw the Pilgrims lose 2–0. Later that week Argyle won for the first time–beating Dunheved College (now Launceston College) in Launceston (where many of the club's first members had been educated) 2–1. They played several friendlies against Plymouth United, but poor performances on the pitch led to the club going out of existence in 1894 before being resurrected in 1897 as one part of a general sports club, the Argyle Athletic Club. In 1898, Argyle F.C. produced its first rulebook. The club's ground was given as Marsh Mills, an area on the edge of the city of Plymouth, which still hosts sports.

Much speculation surrounds the origin of the name Argyle. One explanation is that they were named after the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, an army regiment with a strong football side of its own. Another theory is given the respective geographical placements–suggests the name comes either from the nearby public house, The Argyle Tavern, where the founder members may have met, or the local street named Argyle Terrace. An alternative suggestion is that their initial kit was decorated in the famous Argyle diamond pattern.

The club adopted its current name when it became fully professional in 1903 joining the Southern League, under the management of Bob Jack. Argyle's first professional game was on 1 September 1903 against West Ham United resulting in a 2–0 win for Argyle with the first goal being scored by Jack Peddie. Their first home game as a fully professional club was on 5 September 1903 when they beat Northampton Town 2–0 in front of a crowd of 4,438. Argyle won the Southern League in 1913, then in 1920 entered the Football League Third Division as a founder member, where they finished 11th in their first season.

James Brent Era- Current Era

James Brent's Akkeron Group agreed a deal with the Administrators to buy the club with Peter Ridsdale also confirming that he would leave the club once the deal had been completed.The Football League then banned any loan signings until the deal had been completed on 6 October. Further problems occurred with the Administrators threatening to quit the club. The PFA agreed a repayment plan for the employees to receive their wages as well as former manager Peter Reid agreeing a deal. Argyle also agreed a deal to sell Home Park back to Plymouth council on 14 October for £1.6m and they had to pay £135,000 a year for rent. On 28 October the deal with James Brent was approved and he would take his seat at the club once Home Park was sold.Plymouth officially exited administration on 31 October, after the takeover was complete. The team's form greatly improved after the takeover, and while the eventual League finish of 21st was the lowest in the club's history, they still secured survival with three games to spare, which was quite an achievement considering they had been well adrift at the bottom for the first half of the campaign.

Stadium

Home Park is an all-seater football stadium in the Central Park area of Plymouth, England, and is the home of Football League Two club Plymouth Argyle. The ground, given the nickname the Theatre of Greens by the club's supporters, has been Argyle's permanent residence since 1901. After undergoing considerable development in the 1920s and 1930s the ground suffered heavy damage during the Second World War. It was re-opened in time for the resumption of the Football League in 1945 and underwent further improvements in the 1950s, including the installation of floodlights and a new double-decker Grandstand. The ground remained relatively unchanged until 2001 when construction of three new all-seater stands commenced. The work was completed in February 2002, and after further work the stadium became all-seated in the summer of 2007

Introduction

After being appointed at Plymouth I got accustomed with the surroundings here is the pic

Good stadium good facilities for this level , I would like to re-invest in training ASAP but money is a problem at the club so I will have to make some nice FA cup runs to upgrade tat.

Finances

Here is the bad part about Plymouth all the loans end soon 2015/2016* so its good we will get rid of them but in the short term will mean no investments in facilities.

Tactics Starting XI and Transfers

I will go with the youth no matter what especially Harvey and Purrington

I only really wanted one player in Tibbling , after securing that deal for 71 k and the biggest wage at the club i managed to get on free Dumbarton winger Gilhaney

***Note

I am working on deadlines RL so I might have a lot of updates on a short term then vanish for a bit , hopefully I will have time to put reports daily.

Lol nice surprise to Austin Aries appointed manager of Plymouth! Fits in perfectly on the club information screen lol! Good start chap.

Looking good to win the league.

Looking good to win the league.

Yea i am doing my best to secure and automatic promotion spot.

Austin Aries!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Well done on promotion. As an Argyle fan I hope you make it to the Premier League, but don't bet on too many of your starting squad being around when you get there!

Well done going up, even if it's with Plymouth

Cracking thread mate. Well done on promotion.

I've supported Plymouth since I was a nipper, but this year is the first time I'm taking charge of them in FM (I've been posting a little about it in the GP&TG forum). Interesting to see how the promotion to L1 affects your finances. I'm still in the first season in my save, but I can already see the money drifting away as those loan repayments bite.

Glad to see you're keeping the faith with Harvey, Young, Nelson and Purrington. How are they developing for you?

Well done on promotion. As an Argyle fan I hope you make it to the Premier League, but don't bet on too many of your starting squad being around when you get there!

Heh , i think harvey purrington and nelson will be there if its done in 6 years i really like them and if i get sentimental i tend to keep them.

Well done going up, even if it's with Plymouth

Thank you , i think i finally sorted out the layout to the story and its easy enjoyable to read

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Yea was a easy season

Cracking thread mate. Well done on promotion.

I've supported Plymouth since I was a nipper, but this year is the first time I'm taking charge of them in FM (I've been posting a little about it in the GP&TG forum). Interesting to see how the promotion to L1 affects your finances. I'm still in the first season in my save, but I can already see the money drifting away as those loan repayments bite.

Glad to see you're keeping the faith with Harvey, Young, Nelson and Purrington. How are they developing for you?

Financially i am ok , i need to stay in L1 2 years so i get over the financial burdens that i have , i cannot relegate if i do that financially will be a mess for me and squad wise

Nelson

Purrington

Harvey

Young

I intend on building for Championship around this guys , and with Tibbling bought in the first season , they are my core from the first XI

They are looking really good, especially Purrington and Harvey. I'm going to ditch Blackman and his replacement has been a bit rubbish so I think I'm going to throw Purrington in at the deep end - seeing how he has progressed for you has given me hope I can get the same progression from him too.

They are looking really good, especially Purrington and Harvey. I'm going to ditch Blackman and his replacement has been a bit rubbish so I think I'm going to throw Purrington in at the deep end - seeing how he has progressed for you has given me hope I can get the same progression from him too.

Biggest problem i have with him is his off the ball rating that makes him error prone , i am always protecting him with the midfielder coming deep to defend its the only way till he raises a bit there too i only manage to raise 2 points ( i think) there in 2 years.

I had Pogba on my FM13 Plymouth Argyle save, and he did well initially, but faded badly after a few months, and then I got sacked

I had Pogba on my FM13 Plymouth Argyle save, and he did well initially, but faded badly after a few months, and then I got sacked

He has good streakes but then big lumps too , so this is the reason i want to send him away for a nice price , plus he tends to not be active in the games as much as i want for a lone striker.

Making great strides towards the championship