Other Club Guides

PLYMOUTH ARGYLE have risen dramatically over the past few years after former manager Paul Sturrock transformed a poor Third Division side into a Championship side within four years... 

The Club and The Ground

The club are nicknamed The Pilgrims as The Pilgrims were English separatists who, in the first years of the 17th century, broke away from the Church of England because they felt that it had not completed the work of the Reformation and committed themselves to a life based on the Bible.

One of the separatist congregations was led by William Brewster and the Rev. Richard Clifton in the village of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire. The Scrooby group emigrated to Amsterdam in 1608 to escape harassment and religious persecution, and then moved to Leiden, where, enjoying full religious freedom, they remained for almost 12 years.  

In 1617, discouraged by economic difficulties, the pervasive Dutch influence on their children, and their inability to secure civil autonomy, the congregation voted to emigrate to America.

A small ship, the Speedwell, carried them to Southampton, England, where they were to join another group of Separatists and pick up a second ship. After some delays and disputes, the voyagers regrouped at Plymouth aboard the 180-ton Mayflower. It began its historic voyage on Sept. 16, 1620, with about 102 passengers, and, after a 65-day journey, the Pilgrims sighted Cape Cod on November 19.

Because they had no legal right to settle in the region, they drew up the Mayflower Compact, creating their own government. The settlers soon discovered Plymouth Harbor, on the western side of Cape Cod Bay and made their historic landing on December 21; the main body of settlers followed on December 26.

The term 'Pilgrim' was first used by William Bradford to describe the Leiden Separatists who were leaving Holland. The Mayflower's passengers were first described as the Pilgrim Fathers in 1799.

During 2001 Home Park was transformed, with three sides of the ground being completely re-built. Both the ends and one side of the ground has been replaced by single-tiered, covered, all-seated stands. Most impressively the corners between these stands have been filled so that the ground is totally enclosed on those sides. This just leaves just the Grandstand at one side of the pitch, as the only remnant of the old Home Park. This classic looking stand is partly covered, with seating at the rear and a large terrace at the front. Home Park is the most southerly League Ground in England.

Hatters fans are now housed again in the Barn Park End, which is now all-seated and covered. As you would expect from a new stand, the facilities and views of the playing action are both good. The normal allocation for this end is 1,300 seats, although this can be increased to 2,022 if demand requires it. On the downside though, I have received a number of reports of the stewarding being somewhat over zealous in the away end. One fan described Home Park as a '21st Century stadium, with 14th century stewarding' and on a number of occasions fans have been ejected from the ground, for merely standing up, rather than remaining seated during the game. So make sure you are on your best behaviour. Also be aware that smoking is not permitted in the seated area, only on the concourse behind the stand, which can get quite crowded. The delicious 'Football's Famous Chicken Balti Pie' (£2.20) is available inside the ground.

Ground Guide courtesy of the excellent Internet Football Ground Guide.

History - Plymouth Argyle Football Club

PLYMOUTH ARGYLE FOOTBALL CLUB was born in 1886, when two friends decided the town (as Plymouth was then) needed a football team which local people would be proud to play for and support.

The friends, F Howard Grose and Mr. W Pettybridge, arranged a meeting at The Borough Arms. After a discussion, the name "Plymouth Argyle" was agreed on - and the rest, as they say, is history.

Centre-back Grose became the first captain of the new football club, which had no ground of its own so played its early matches in the 1886-7 season at opponents' grounds.

Shortly afterwards, the fledgling side made its home at a pitch in the Mount Gould area Plymouth.

The team's first game was on 16th October 1886, when they lost 2-0 against Caxton - a team from Cornwall.

For the record, that first team was: Gale, Lumm, Baker, Lew, Grose, Chapman, Dyer, Pettybridge, Boolds, Cornish and Vaughan.

Argyle didn't have to wait much longer for their first win, which came later that week with a 2-1 victory over Plymouth College.

In 1889-90, Argyle moved to a new home at Marsh Mills. Then, in 1901, they moved to their current site at Home Park, which was previously the ground of Devonport Albion Rugby Club.

The next big landmark date was 1903, when Plymouth Argyle became a professional football club. A limited liability company was formed, under the guidance of local businessman Clarence Spooner.

To round off a good year, Argyle were accepted into the Southern League for the 1903-4 season.

Plymouth's first manager as a professional outfit was Frank Brettell.

In their first game as a pro club, Argyle beat West Ham United 1-0 away in the Western League. Their first home game was on 5th September 1903, when they beat Northampton Town 2-0 in front of a crowd of 4,438.

Stand tickets cost 6d and gate receipts were £124!.

Argyle were Southern League champions in 1912-13, and were also runners up on two occasions.

Plymouth Argyle joined the Football League Division Three (South) in 1920, when the manager was Bob Jack. Argyle finished 11th in that first season, having drawn half of their fixtures.

Perhaps the most significant statistic was that the crowds rose dramatically to an average of 12,765 that year.

During the 1920s, Argyle finished runners up in Division Three (South) six times in a row, the first occasion being 1921-22.

Argyle eventually won promotion to Football League Division Two in 1929-30, when they topped Division Three (South). Attendances that season regularly reached 20,000.

Bob Jack was still the manager - and he was to stay on at the helm until 1937, when he announced his resignation.

Things were put on hold during World War II, and Home Park was badly damaged during an air raid.

The club's 20-year stay in Division Two came to an end in the 1949-50 season - despite the best efforts of inspirational skipper Jack Chisholm. Manager that year was former player Jimmy Rae.

But they were back in Division Two again before too long, after winning the Division Three (South) title in 1951-2.

Key players were Chisholm, and lethal goalscorers Maurice Tadman and George Dews.

Floodlights arrived at Home Park in the 1954-55 season...but the lights were soon to go out on the Greens' Second Division - they were relegated at the end of the 1955-56 season.

One of the most bizarre events in Argyle's history came in the spring of 1963, when they went on a mini-tour of Poland.

The Pilgrims were invited to play a game as a warm-up to an international cycle race. Which is why 100,000 saw Argyle that day - the biggest crowd ever to attend a Plymouth match.

Argyle had two big name managers during the 60s - Malcolm Allison and former Hatters hero Billy Bingham. But it was a pretty disappointing decade for Argyle.

One of the high points was in 1965, when they reached the League Cup semi-final, where they lost against Leicester City.

Pele and his Santos team played Argyle at Home Park as part of their European tour in March 1973. Amazingly, Argyle won 3-2 in front of 37,639 people.

Brazil were, of course, the World Champions at that time having won the 1970 World Cup.

In 1974 - with future England striker Paul Mariner now playing for them - Argyle again reached the League Cup semi-final. Argyle drew the first leg against Manchester City 1-1, but lost the Maine Road encounter 2-0.

After far too long in Division Three, Plymouth Argyle finally returned to Division Two at the end of the 1974-5 season.

Argyle finished runners-up to secure their promotion spot under the management of Tony Waiters.

Much of the credit went to strikers Paul Mariner and Billy Rafferty, who scored 46 League goals between them that term.

But they made a swift return to the third division in 1975-76.

Malcolm Allison returned as consultant manager in 1977-8, but he left the following season. Also in 1978-9, Kevin Hodges made his Argyle debut - he was to go on to play more games for the club than anyone else.

Argyle's best ever FA Cup run came in 1983-4, when they reached the semi-final. It was played at Villa Park in front of 43,858 and the opponents were Watford.

Watford were beatable, and this was surely Argyle's best ever chance of making it to an FA Cup Final.

Unfortunately, Elton John's men sneaked a 1-0 win, George Reilly heading in a cross from John Barnes.

Manager John Hore didn't last much longer - he was sacked during the next season and replaced by Dave Smith.

Smith led Argyle back to Division Two in 1985-6, but he left to manage Dundee at the end of the 1987-8 season.

During these years, the goals of Tommy Tynan gave fans hope of promotion to the top flight - Division One, but it eluded the Pilgrims.

Into the 1990s, and a new face took over the club: Businessman Dan McCauley became chairman and his first major decision was to sack manger Dave Kemp and appoint England's record cap holder Peter Shilton as new manager in the 1991-2 season.

But Shilton was unable to halt Argyle's slide down the league and they were relegated at the end of the season.

However, they started the 1992-3 season still in Division Two - but it was the new Division Two following the rejig of the League and the creation of the Premiership.

In 1993-4 Argyle reached the Division Two play-offs, but lost in the two-legged semi-final against Burnley.

Shilton parted company with Argyle during the 1994-5 season after being dogged by bad publicity surrounding his financial problems - and after his relationship with the chairman turned sour.

Things got worse for the Greens when they were relegated to Division Three - the basement League - at the end of the season.

The next season - 1995-6 - was far brighter. New boss Neil Warnock led Argyle to promotion via the play-off final at Wembley - the club's one and only appearance at the stadium.

Argyle beat Darlington 1-0 in the Wembley final, with Ronnie Mauge entering Pilgrims folklore by scoring the winner.

Argyle's ups and downs continued - and down they went again at the end of 1997-8. The next season was the worst in the club's history - they finished 13th in the bottom Division.

Paul Sturrock was appointed manager in the 2000-2001 term, and the turbulent McCauley era came to an end in the following season, 2001-2002.

A new board was established, led by chairman Paul Stapleton, and work finally started on rebuilding the Home Park stadium with the help of the city council.

It really was a year of fresh beginnings, because Argyle won the Division Three title at a canter (they amassed 102 points - the second highest in League history) to return to Division Two at the end of the 2001-2002 season.

Since then, three sides of Home Park has been rebuilt, with only the main stand needing to be replaced.  The club consolidated their position in Division Two in 2002-03 and then never looked back during the 2003-04 campaign as they led the table when boss Paul Sturrock left to take over as Southampton manager in March 2004 - the lure of the Premiership too good an opportunity for Sturrock to turn down.

However, Scot Bobby Williamson maintained their promotion push and the Pilgrims went on to gain promotion to the Championship.  Williamson, however, soon departed and his replacement, former Gillingham and Bristol City boss Tony Pulis, was given the task of consolidating the Pilgrims.

However, with a redeveloped stadium, some highly-rated youngsters coupled with experienced professionals, Plymouth Argyle look to have a bright future.

Luton Town vPlymouth Argyle...

A full rundown of all of the past meetings

Home Matches   Mar 19 1921 D3S D 1 1 9000 Sep 24 1921 D3S W 1 0 10000 Oct 21 1922 D3S W 2 1 11000 Feb 23 1924 D3S L 0 2   Jan 24 1925 D3S D 1 1   Dec 28 1925 D3S D 1 1 9717 Dec 18 1926 D3S D 3 3 8175 Apr 7 1928 D3S D 1 1 10451 Mar 11 1929 D3S D 2 2 8289 Mar 15 1930 D3S W 5 2 9051 Apr 9 1938 D2 D 1 1 11516 Jan 21 1939 D2 L 3 4 13120 Feb 1 1947 D2 L 3 4 15165 Sep 27 1947 D2 D 0 0 19244 Dec 25 1948 D2 W 3 1 17109 Dec 3 1949 D2 D 1 1 13273 Dec 20 1952 D2 W 1 0 13055 Jan 2 1954 D2 W 2 1 9694 Oct 16 1954 D2 W 3 1 15059 Jan 14 1961 D2 W 3 2 13873 Dec 23 1961 D2 L 0 2 8410 Apr 27 1963 D2 W 3 0 6853 Dec 21 1968 D3 W 2 0 10971 Jan 17 1970 D3 L 0 2 12358 Sep 24 1975 D2 D 1 1 9226 Mar 12 1977 D2 D 1 1 12793 Feb 8 1997 ND2 D 2 2 6827 Oct 11 1997 ND2 W 3 0 4931 Feb 2 2002 ND3 W 2 0 9585 Report Feb 26 2002 ND2 W 1 0 7589 Report Mar 20 2004 ND2 D 1 1 8499 Report Statto's Corner

Away Matches   Mar 12 1921 D3S L 0 1 10000 Oct 1 1921 D3S L 0 2 19000 Oct 28 1922 D3S L 0 4 10000 Feb 16 1924 D3S D 0 0   Sep 20 1924 D3S L 0 4   Apr 10 1926 D3S L 3 4 12641 May 7 1927 D3S L 0 1 8142 May 2 1928 D3S L 0 4 4719 Apr 20 1929 D3S L 0 2 8484 Nov 9 1929 D3S L 1 6 15073 Nov 27 1937 D2 W 4 2 18969 Sep 17 1938 D2 L 1 4 15083 Sep 28 1946 D2 L 1 2 27535 Feb 14 1948 D2 W 3 1 22175 Dec 27 1948 D2 D 1 1 32241 Apr 8 1950 D2 D 0 0 16977 Aug 23 1952 D2 L 1 2 28836 Aug 29 1953 D2 D 2 2 22574 Mar 5 1955 D2 L 1 2 25975 Sep 3 1960 D2 D 1 1 21408 Aug 26 1961 D2 W 3 0 15299 Dec 8 1962 D2 L 1 3 9029 Oct 19 1968 D3 L 0 2 12659 Sep 27 1969 D3 W 3 1 14111 Feb 24 1976 D2 L 0 3 13927 Oct 2 1976 D2 L 0 1 12187 Nov 2 1996 ND2 D 3 3 7134 Feb 28 1998 ND2 W 2 0 4846 Sep 29 2001 ND3 L 1 2 5782 Report Aug 17 2002 ND2 L 1 2 10973 Report Sep 13 2003 ND2 L 1 2 9894 Report Statto's Corner

• Stats taken from Lutonfc.com's 'Statto's Corner'

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained on this page, Lutonfc.com excepts no responsibility for any problems or disputes arising from its use.

Please e-mail suggestions or corrections to james_garley@hotmail.com
© Lutonfc.com  2003 - all rights reserved.