Plymouth Argyle

Also written as Plymouth.

The club

Plymouth Argyle were founded in 1886 as Argyle Football Club and turned professional under the present name in 1903. They play at Home Park in Plymouth, Devon, a ground that holds 17,900 with around 17,000 in use for matches after the Mayflower Grandstand rebuild, which reopened on 1 January 2020 and had remedial work completed in summer 2023. The club are known as the Pilgrims or simply the Greens, play in green and white, and carry the Mayflower on the crest, a reference to the ship that sailed from Plymouth in 1620. Argyle are the southernmost club in the English Football League, and Plymouth is the largest city in England never to have hosted top-flight football.

Recent seasons

Argyle finished 18th in League One in 2020/21 with 53 points, then seventh in 2021/22 with 80. They won League One in 2022/23 with 101 points. Two Championship seasons followed and both ended badly: 21st in 2023/24 with 51 points, survival by a narrow margin, and 23rd in 2024/25 with 46, which sent them back down. In 2025/26 they were eighth in League One with 73 points from 46 games, 22 wins, seven draws and 17 defeats, 75 goals scored and 63 conceded, missing the play-offs by two points.

Honours and landmarks

Argyle have never played in the top division; their highest finish is fourth in the Second Division in 1952/53. They have won the third tier six times, in 1929/30, 1951/52, 1958/59, 2001/02, 2003/04 and 2022/23, which Wikipedia records as the most third-tier championships won by any English club. They won the Southern League in 1912/13 and the Western League in 1904/05. The club record points total is 102, set in Division Three in 2001/02, with 101 in League One in 2022/23 close behind. Record attendance at Home Park is 43,596 against Aston Villa in a Second Division match on 10 October 1936, which finished 2-2. Kevin Hodges holds the appearance record with 620 games. The club's all-time record win and record defeat, most-goals record, and record transfer fees were not established from the sources read for this file.

Notable scorelines

The one everyone still cites is the FA Cup fourth round on 9 February 2025, when Argyle, bottom of the Championship, beat Liverpool 1-0 at Home Park through Ryan Hardie. That run had already taken in a third-round win at Brentford, and ended with a 3-1 defeat at Manchester City in the fifth round after Argyle had led 1-0, with around 8,000 travelling supporters. In March 1973 Argyle beat Santos 3-2 in a friendly at Home Park with Pelé playing. The club's record victory and record defeat are not established here; no source consulted published them.

Head-to-head notes

Argyle do not publish all-time head-to-head records on their own site in the way some Scottish clubs do, and no reliable published all-time record was found for any 2026/27 League One opponent. The most useful near-term reference point is Exeter City, whom Argyle meet in the Carabao Cup first round on 10 August 2026 and who were relegated from League One in 2025/26, finishing 21st with 49 points. Argyle's opening league opponents, Stockport County, finished third in League One in 2025/26 with 77 points and lost the play-off final 4-1 to Bolton Wanderers. Records against Stockport, Exeter and the rest of the division could not be established.

Right now (2026/27)

Argyle are in League One. Tom Cleverley is the head coach, appointed on 13 June 2025 on a three-year contract after being sacked by Watford on 6 May 2025; 2026/27 is his second season in charge.

The summer has been busy. Goalkeeper James Storer arrived from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a free transfer on 26 June. Centre-backs Wes Harding, from Millwall, and Alex Hartridge, from Burton Albion, both signed on free transfers on 1 July, as did midfielder Harvey White from Stevenage. Goalkeeper Murphy Cooper joined from Queens Park Rangers on 14 July for £250,000 with a further £250,000 in add-ons. Centre-back Alex Mitchell, a former loanee returning permanently, signed from Charlton Athletic on 23 July for an undisclosed fee, and was described as Cleverley's sixth signing of the summer. Winger Xavier Amaechi joined from FC Magdeburg on a three-year deal earlier in the window. Cleverley said in late July that 13 players had come through the door and that another midfielder remained a priority before the window closes on 1 September.

The significant departure was top scorer Lorent Tolaj, sold to Bristol City on 20 July for £4,000,000. Cleverley made clear immediately afterwards that a replacement striker was the club's top priority.

Pre-season took in a 4-1 win over Plymouth Parkway and a 3-0 win at Bath City. Argyle meet Exeter City at Home Park in the Carabao Cup first round on Monday 10 August 2026 at 8pm, a Devon derby to open the competitive season. The League One campaign starts at home to Stockport County on Saturday 15 August 2026.

Sources

Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.