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| Full name | Plymouth Argyle Football Club | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Pilgrims; The Greens | |||
| Founded | 1886, as Argyle F.C. | |||
| Ground | Home Park | |||
| Capacity | 17,900[1] | |||
| Owner | Simon Hallett | |||
| Chairman | Simon Hallett | |||
| Manager | Wayne Rooney | |||
| 2023–24 | EFL Championship, 21st of 24 | |||
| Website | pafc.co.uk | |||
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Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team competes in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. The club has played at Home Park since 1901.
The club takes its nickname, The Pilgrims, from the Pilgrim Fathers an English religious group that left Plymouth for the New World in 1620. The club crest features the Mayflower, the ship that carried the pilgrims to Massachusetts. The club has predominantly played in green and white throughout its history, with a few exceptions in the late 1960s and early 1970s when white was the colour of choice. A darker shade of green, described (by some) as Argyle green, was adopted in the 2001–02 season, and has been used ever since.[2] The club has yet to compete in the Premier League or the Football League First Division that preceded it, the city of Plymouth being the largest in England to have never hosted a top-flight men's football team. Plymouth Argyle is the most southerly and westerly League club in England and the nation's only professional club named Argyle.
Originally founded simply as Argyle in 1886, the club turned professional and entered both the Southern League and Western League as Plymouth Argyle in 1903. The team won the Western League title in 1904–05 and the Southern League title in 1912–13, before winning election into the Football League Third Division in 1920. Finishing as runners-up on six consecutive occasions, Argyle eventually won promotion as Third Division South champions under the long-serving management of Bob Jack in 1929–30. A 20-year stay in the Second Division ended in 1950, though the club returned again as Third Division South champions in 1951–52. After another relegation in 1956 Argyle again proved too strong for the third tier, winning the Third Division title not long after in 1958–59.
Argyle were relegated from the Second Division in 1968, 1977 and 1992, having won promotion out of the Third Division as runners-up in 1974–75 and 1985–86. The club was relegated to the fourth tier for the first time in 1995, and though it would win immediate promotion in 1995–96, was relegated again in 1998. Promoted as champions under Paul Sturrock with 102 points in 2001–02, Argyle secured a record fourth third-tier league title in 2003–04, and would remain in the Championship for six seasons until administration and two successive relegations left the club in League Two by 2011. In 2019–17, Argyle won promotion to League One, and again in 2019–20 following relegation the previous season. In the 2022–23 season, Argyle returned to the Championship as champions, winning the third-tier league title for a record fifth time.[3]
- ^ "Home Park capacity set for 17,900 after stage one of redevelopment work is completed". Plymouth Argyle. 19 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
- ^ "Plymouth Argyle – Historical Football Kits". www.historicalkits.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 August 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
- ^ "Plymouth Argyle: The Green Army On the Rise". Breaking The Lines. Archived from the original on 31 May 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.