New era begins at Plymouth Argyle

It has been a turbulent winter period at Plymouth Argyle, starting with the departure of manager Steven Schumacher to take up the job as Stoke City boss.

The Pilgrims negotiated a busy Christmas with some thrilling draws against Birmingham City, Cardiff City and Watford before the unveiling of Ian Foster as the new Head Coach at Home Park.

A striker in non-league football during his playing days, Foster moved into a coaching role with the Coventry City Academy and then worked as assistant manager at Portsmouth. His reputation for developing young talent led to a job with the England U17 squad, whom he helped to win the U17 World Cup in 2017.

Foster progressed to work with a number of age groups in the England youth set-up and also held the role of assistant coach to Phil Neville for the England Women’s team. He was most recently working alongside Steven Gerrard in Saudi Arabia when the Pilgrims came calling.

His appointment came less than 24 hours before the visit of Sutton United in the FA Cup, a game Argyle won 3-1 to earn a trip to Leeds United in the next round, but the weekend fixture at Huddersfield Town was his first taste of the Sky Bet Championship.

In the days before the game, Argyle had lost the services of loan duo Luke Cundle and Finn Azaz, both recalled by their parent clubs, but Foster dipped into his contacts to sign talented youngsters Ashley Phillips and Darko Gyabi on loan from Tottenham and Leeds respectively.

Both were included in the starting line-up at Huddersfield and the Greens came flying out of the blocks, Morgan Whittaker converting his seventh goal in the past seven games for an early lead.

Josh Koroma levelled for the home side before half-time and Argyle had to survive some hefty pressure in the second half before Foster could confirm his first point of a new era. A good start for the new boss and his first home game will be the visit of Cardiff on Saturday.

However, there was disappointment on the women’s side of the club, as the Pilgrims were beaten 6-1 by Nottingham Forest to end their adventure in the FA Cup for this season.