Plymouth Argyle
Full name	Plymouth Argyle Football Club
Shortened names	PAFC Argyle
Nicknames	The Pilgrims The Greens
Formed	1886 as Argyle F.C., football section of Argyle Athletic Club
Turned professional	1903
Ground	Home Park, Plymouth
2004/05 League	Football League Championship
2003/04 position	Division Two champions
Manager	Bobby Williamson
Sponsors	Ginsters
Mascot	Pilgrim Pete

Plymouth Argyle by season: 2001/02 - 2002/03 - 2003/04 - 2004/05

Plymouth Argyle Football Club, also known as the Pilgrims and based in Plymouth, are one of only two football clubs in the English Football League to play in a principally green home strip. 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 their highly successful former manager Paul Sturrock whose supported club, Dundee United play in a tangereen kit. The tangerine strip, which contained flashes of green engendered a new soubriquet applied to the team, the tangergreens.
Following Sturrock's departure; the club reverted to a white strip for the 2004/05 season, even though fans had already been asked to vote for one of three tangergreen strips.

Overview

Team colours
Home	Away

The club takes it's nickname from the vast number 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 original ground 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 old 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 was founded in 1886 as Argyle Athletic Club and 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 Argyll Terrace. The club adopted its current name when it became fully professional in 1903.

Argyle's record victories are 8-1 wins over Hartlepool United and Millwall. On 3rd 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.

Throughout the 1990s, under chairman Dan MacCauley; Argyle had a string of managers. Peter Shilton, Neil Warnock and John Gregory all managed the club, with mixed success.

The club was promoted from English league Division Three to Division Two as champions at the end of season 2001/02, after attaining 102 points, a club and Division Three record.

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. His 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.

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.

Manager Paul Sturrock

	Strikers
	Paul Mariner	Tommy Tynan
Left Wing	Central Midfielders		Right Wing
Sammy Black/Gary Nelson	Johnny Williams	Ernie Machin	Kevin Hodges
Left Back	Central Defenders		Right Back
Colin Sullivan	Graham Coughlan	Jack Chisholm	Gordon Nisbet
	Goalkeeper
	Jim Furnell

1 Romain Larrieu

2 David Worrell

3 Lee Hodges

4 David Friio

5 Graham Coughlan

6 Keith Lasley

7 David Norris

9 Mickey Evans

11 Steve Milne

12 Green Army

13 Mathias Doumbe

14 Tony Capaldi

15 Paul Wotton

16 Hasney Aljofree

17 Lee Makel

18 Nathan Lowndes

19 Marino Keith

20 Steve Adams

21 Blair Sturrock

22 Paul Connolly

23 Luke McCormick

24 Peter Gilbert

29 Stewart Yetton

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 (twelth) player.

Job title	Employee
Manager	Bobby Williamson
First Team Coaches	John Blackley, Gerry McCabe
Youth Coach	Stuart Gibson
Physiotherapist	Paul Maxwell
Chief Scout	John James
Chairman	Paul Stapleton
Vice Chair	Peter Jones
Directors	Michael Foot, Phillip Gill, Nicholas Warren
Community Officer	Geoff Crudgington
Commercial Manager	Andy Budge
Club Shop Manager	Rachel Fry
Club Photographer	Dave Rowntree
Official Webmaster	Steven Hill

Team managers of Plymouth Argyle and the dates they took over.

#	Date appointed	Manager name
1	1903-08-01	Frank Brettell
2	1905-08-01	Bob Jack
3	1906-08-01	Bill Fullerton
4	1910-08-01	Bob Jack
5	1938-04-01	Jack Tresardern
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

Since 1966 the player of the season award has been made by Plymouth Argyle to the best player of the past season.

Season	Winner
1966	Johnny Newman
1967	Norman Piper
1968	Pat Dunne
1969	David Burnside
1970	Derek Rickard
1971	Jim Furnell
1972	Dave Provan
1973	Neil Hague
1974	Ernie Machin
1975	Paul Mariner
1976	Paul Mariner
1977	Neil Ramsbottom
1978	George Foster
1979	Fred Binney
1980	George Foster
1981	David Kemp
1982	John Sims
1983	Gordon Nisbet
1984	Gordon Staniforth
1985	Tommy Tynan
1986	Kevin Hodges
1987	Tommy Tynan
1988	Steve Cherry
1989	Tommy Tynan
1990	Nicky Marker
1991	Kenny Brown
1992	Dwight Marshall
1993	Steve McCall
1994	Steve McCall
1995	Marc Edworthy
1996	Mick Heathcote
1997	Chris Billy
1998	Martin Barlow & Carlo Corazzin
1999	Mick Heathcote
2000	Paul McGregor
2001	Wayne O'Sullivan
2002	Graham Coughlan
2003	Paul Wotton
2004	Mickey Evans

Fred Binney

Bruce Grobbelaar

John Hope Peddie

David Jack

Jack Leslie

Marcus Murphy

Billy Rafferty

Peter Shilton

John Uzzell

• Chris Cooper
• Michael Foot

Competition	Achievement	Year
Division Two (New Format)	Champions	2004
Third Division (Old Format)	Champions Runners-up	1959 1975, 1986
Third Division South	Champions Runners-up	1930, 1952 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927
Division Three (New Format)	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

The ground is located at the north of Central Park, approximately half a mile from the main Plymouth railway station, and about a mile from the coach station.

From the station

By bus

Turn immediately right out of the station, and cross the main road by footbridge. Any bus bound for Milehouse will drop you within 100 yards of the ground.

Walking

Turn immediately right out of the station, and right again under the pedestrian footbridge and railway bridge. You will arrive at a roundabout: in front of you will be a pub, the Pennycomequick. From here you can either walk up Alma Road to the top and turn right at the Britannia pub (the long way) or you can cut across the park about 50 yards up Alma Road, heading right. You will come to a concreted path, follow it uphill and it will bring you past the council-run pitch and putt golf course to Home Park itself.

Arriving by road

Arriving from the east you will (probably) be on the A38 Devon Expressway. As you approach Plymouth, there is a major exit, the Marsh Mills roundabout. Do not take this exit unless you fancy wasting time driving through city-centre traffic. The next exit, the Leigham roundabout, is also sub-optimal. The third exit which will be signposted the A386 for Plymouth City Centre and Devonport is the one you want. Head in the direction of Plymouth city centre. (NB There are speed cameras along the length of this road and the police often have a mobile patrol laser-checking as well). The car-parks are well-signposted, however as Argyle have become progressively more successful, it has taken longer to leave these car-parks after the game...

Arriving by coach

Unless you are on a club coach explicitly bound for Home Park, you will be deposited at Breton Side Bus Station.

By bus

Any bus bound for Milehouse will drop you within 100 yards of the ground.

Walking

Exit the bus station through either of the staircases. If you are immediately outside the St Charles church (or what remains of it, as it was blown up during the Blitz), then turn left and follow the signs for the railway station, and follow instructions as per arriving by rail. If you find yourself outside the Post Office, just head for the St Charles church....

This article is part of the series: Football League Championship 2004/05
Brighton & Hove Albion | Burnley | Cardiff City | Coventry City | Crewe Alexandra | Derby County | Gillingham | Ipswich Town | Leeds United | Leicester City | Millwall | Nottingham Forest | Plymouth Argyle | Preston North End | Queens Park Rangers | Reading | Rotherham United | Sheffield United | Stoke City | Sunderland | Watford | West Ham United | Wigan Athletic | Wolverhampton Wanderers
This article is part of the series: Football in England
League competitions	The FA	Cup competitions
FA Premier League		FA Cup
The Football League (Champ, 1, 2)	England team	Football League Cup
National League System		FA Community Shield
Football Conference (Nat, N, S)	List of clubs	Football League Trophy
Northern Premier League (Prem, 1)		FA Trophy
Southern League (Prem, 1W, 1E)	Records	FA Vase
Isthmian League (Prem, 1, 2)		FA NLS Cup