Formation and early years (1886–1937) The club was founded in 1886 as Argyle Football Club, the first match taking place on 16 October 1886 against Caxton, a team from
Cornwall and in which the Pilgrims lost 2–0. Later that week Argyle won for the first time, beating Dunheved College (now Launceston College) in
Launceston (where many of the club's first members had been educated) 2–1. The club played several friendlies against
Plymouth United, but poor performances on the pitch led to it going out of existence in 1894 before being resurrected in 1897 as one part of a general sports club, the
Argyle Athletic Club. In 1898, Argyle F.C. produced its first rulebook. The club's ground was given as Marsh Mills, an area on the edge of the city of Plymouth. Much speculation surrounds the origin of the name
Argyle. One explanation is that the club was named after the
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, an army regiment with a strong football side of its own. Another theory is given by the local geography–suggesting the name comes either from the nearby
public house,
The Argyle Tavern, where the founder members may have met, or from a local street
Argyle Terrace. The club adopted its current name when it became fully professional in 1903, joining the
Southern League, under the management of
Bob Jack. Argyle's first professional game was on 1 September 1903 against
West Ham United resulting in a 2–0 win for Argyle. The first home game as a fully professional club was on 5 September 1903 when Argyle beat
Northampton Town 2–0 in front of a crowd of 4,438. Argyle won the
Southern League in 1913, then in 1920 entered the
Football League Third Division as a founder member, finishing 11th in its first season. In the summer of 1924, a Plymouth Argyle team visited South America to play some exhibition football in
Argentina and
Uruguay. Argyle thrashed
Uruguay 4–0 in the first game (the team which went on to win the
first ever World Cup just six years later), before pulling off another shock by beating
Argentina 1–0. Argyle then held Argentine giants
Boca Juniors to a creditable 1–1 draw.
Moses Russell captained the side and played in all nine matches. Russell's style of play caught the attention of the Argentine press; at the end of the tour 'The Standard of
Buenos Aires' commented: "The visit of Plymouth Argyle will be best remembered by the outstanding personality and genius of Moses Russell. His effective style, precise judgement, accurate and timely clearances, powerful kicking and no less useful work with his head...one of the most wonderful backs and one of the brainiest players ever seen on the football field." In the match against Boca Juniors on 9 July 1924, the Boca Juniors supporters invaded the pitch after their team had scored the opening goal and carried all eleven home players shoulder high around the stadium. After a half-hour delay, the referee restarted the match, but a further invasion was sparked when the referee awarded a penalty against the home side. When the match was again restarted, the Argyle players had agreed that
Patsy Corcoran would take the spot-kick and miss, to prevent another
pitch invasion. However, the ultra-competitive Russell was not prepared to accept this, and just before Corcoran was about to take the penalty he was pushed aside by Russell, who took it himself and scored. This prompted a further pitch invasion by the Boca fans and this time the match was abandoned. in 1924 Back in England, uniquely, between 1921–22 and 1926–27, Argyle finished second in the
Third Division South six seasons in a row, thereby missing promotion. Argyle eventually won promotion to Football League Division Two in 1929–30, when the club topped the Third Division South, with attendances that season regularly reaching 20,000. Manager Bob Jack resigned in 1937, having spent 27 years in charge of the Pilgrims. Eleven years earlier in 1928,
David Jack, who began his career with Argyle in 1919 but left in 1920, joined
Arsenal F.C. from
Bolton Wanderers for a fee of £10,890 – which made him the most expensive player in the world at the time. He was also the first player to score at
Wembley Stadium.
1937–1986 After the
Second World War, Argyle's 20-year stay in Division Two came to an end in 1950–despite the efforts of inspirational captain
Jack Chisholm. However, the club was back in Division Two before long, after winning the Third Division South in 1952. The closest the club has ever come to playing in the
Football League First Division (top tier) was in
1952–53, when reaching fourth place in the
Football League Second Division, the highest finish to date. In the
1954–1955 season
floodlights arrived at Home Park, but in 1956 Argyle went down again. The Pilgrims' reputation as a '
yo-yo club' continued after winning Division Three–by now a national league–in 1959. managed the club for over 230 games between 1955 and 1960, and won the
Football League Third Division with the club in 1959 The 1960s started with one of the most bizarre events in Argyle's history. It came in the spring of 1963, when the club went on a mini-tour of
Poland—the Pilgrims were invited to play a game as a warm-up to an international cycle race. Amazingly, 100,000 saw Argyle that day—the biggest crowd ever to attend a Plymouth match. In 1965 Argyle reached the
Football League Cup semi-final, as a 2nd division team, for the first time in its history, but lost to Leicester City. But the decade ended disappointingly as Argyle returned to Division Three after relegation in 1968. In March 1973 a memorable moment in Argyle's history was witnessed by 37,639 people at
Home Park. Argyle played a friendly match against Brazilian giants
Santos FC, who at the time were one of the best teams in the world. That day Santos also had arguably the best footballer of all time in their starting line-up –
Pelé. However, Argyle, then a Third Division side, shocked the world with a 3–2 win. The Greens were actually 3–0 up at one stage (thanks to goals from Mike Dowling,
Derek Rickard and
Jimmy Hinch) but a
penalty scored at the Barn Park End by Pelé helped a Santos fightback. However, in the end Santos came up short and were defeated. There was a huge pitch invasion at the final whistle after a win for The Pilgrims. In 1974 – with future England striker and Argyle manager
Paul Mariner now playing for the team – Argyle again reached the League Cup semi-final, this time as a Third Division side. Argyle drew the first leg at home against
Manchester City 1–1, but lost the
Maine Road encounter 2–0. After spending six years in Division Three, Argyle finally returned to Division Two in 1974–75, under the management of
Tony Waiters. This was mainly thanks to strike partners
Paul Mariner and
Billy Rafferty, who scored a very impressive 46 goals between them. However, the club was back down again in 1977. Although the decade did end on a high note–in 1978–79
Kevin Hodges made his Argyle debut, and he went on to play 620 games for the club–more than any other player. in 1981|left In 1984 Plymouth reached the
FA Cup semi-final despite being in the Third Division. After a successful cup run in which Argyle beat
West Bromwich Albion away, a top division team at the time (1–0 courtesy of a
Tommy Tynan goal after 58 minutes), and
Derby County (the first game at Home Park ended 0–0, but Argyle won the replay 0–1 at the
Baseball Ground), they lost 1–0 to
Watford in the semi-final at
Villa Park courtesy of a
George Reilly goal. However, manager
John Hore was sacked during the following campaign and was replaced by
Dave Smith. In 1985–86, Smith's first full season in charge, Argyle finished as runners-up in Division Three, resulting in promotion. The following season, despite being a newly promoted team, Argyle finished a respectable 7th place in Division Two, thereby narrowly missing the division's new play-off zone and the chance to move to the First Division (now the Premier League). In 1988 Smith surprisingly left to take charge of
Dundee, making way for
Ken Brown to become manager.
Success and into the Championship (1986–2008) In the 1990s a new face took over the club: Businessman
Dan McCauley became chairman, and his first major decision was to sack Dave Kemp and appoint England's record cap holder
Peter Shilton as player-manager in the 1991–92 season. But Shilton was unable to prevent relegation as Argyle finished 22nd in Division Two. Ahead of the 1992–93 season, English football had a revamp. The First Division (top tier) became the Premiership, Division Two (second tier) became Division One, Division Three (third tier) was now Division Two and so on. As a result, Argyle was still in Division Two, but it was now the third tier instead of the second. In 1992–93 Argyle finished in mid-table in the third tier, but Peter Shilton's side finished third the following campaign (as a result of playing some excellent football), thereby qualifying for the play-offs. But Argyle lost in the semi-final against
Burnley, which saw the start of a fierce rivalry between the two clubs. The Pilgrims suffered even more disappointment in 1994–95 as Shilton parted company with the club, which was eventually relegated to Division Three (fourth tier) for the first time in its history. Player
Steve McCall became the club's manager on a short-term deal after Shilton's departure, but at the end of the season his contract was not renewed and
Neil Warnock stepped in as his successor. At the end of the
1995–96 season, Warnock took Plymouth to Division Three play-off glory in his first campaign as manager. The semi-final was a memorable affair. Argyle played
Colchester United and although 1–0 down from the 1st leg, won 3–1 at Home Park in the 2nd, meaning that the Pilgrims were going to
Wembley for the first time in their history. Argyle beat Darlington 1–0 in the play-off final to gain third-tier football once more. But Warnock was sacked within a year as the club narrowly avoided being relegated back to the fourth tier.
Mick Jones became his successor, and, that season, in February 1997 Argyle participated in 'The Battle of
Saltergate' – in a 1–2 win at
Chesterfield. The following season Argyle went down under Jones, and his successor
Kevin Hodges (the club's record appearance holder) lasted three years before a failure to attain promotion (or even a play-off place) cost him his job. At this point Argyle was in danger of insolvency, and it was the lowest point in its history. The appointment of
Paul Sturrock as manager in November 2000 marked a turning point in Argyle's history. He saved the club from relegation out of the Football League (the club was fourth from bottom of the league when he became manager), and finished 12th in his first season. The following campaign proved to be the most successful in the club's history. Argyle defeated
Cheltenham Town 2–0 in the final game of the season to achieve a club and league record of 102 points and clinch the Division Three title. Argyle was one of the favourites to win the Division Two title going into the 2003–04 season, and proved everyone right as the club earned its second promotion in three years. In March 2004
Bobby Williamson was appointed manager. Argyle's first game in the newly re-branded 'Championship' (second tier) saw them draw 0–0 at home to
Millwall, who were
FA Cup finalists the season before. Argyle's strong start continued, and the club briefly reached the top of the table – its highest ever position – after a 0–1 win at
Cardiff City, before plummeting down the table and finishing 17th. The 2005–06 season included some memorable results for the Green Army including the 2–0 win against high-flying
Wolverhampton Wanderers and a 0–0 draw at Leeds United, who went on to reach the play-off final at the
Millennium Stadium before losing 3–0 to
Watford. The Pilgrims finished 14th that season, in the end well clear of the relegation zone. In summer 2006, in one of Ian Holloway's first games in charge of the club, Argyle played a pre-season friendly against
Real Madrid in Austria, as both clubs were training in the country at the time. Holloway's first competitive game in charge was a 1–1 draw at home to
Wolves. The team made significantly better progress than in recent seasons in the FA Cup, reaching the quarter-finals. They beat League Two
Peterborough United. They beat Championship league leaders
Derby County 2–0 in the next, but in the quarter finals, faced Premier League strugglers Watford at home and lost. Argyle finished the 2006–07 in 11th place, the highest league finish for 20 years. Before the start of the 2007–08 season, manager
Ian Holloway said that Plymouth was capable of earning promotion to the Premier League for the first time in its history, and the team made a good start to the new season with a 2–3 win at
Hull City. The club's good start continued as they stayed near the play-off places for the first few months. However, on 21 November 2007 Ian Holloway controversially resigned to take charge of
Leicester City. Striker
Robin Van Persie scored his second of the game five minutes from time to give Arsenal a 3–1 win. The club finished 21st in the league table, five points and one place clear of the relegation places–Argyle's first season which didn't improve its league position for eight years. Paul Sturrock's second stint in charge came to an end on 10 December 2009, when a press conference confirmed he was relieved of his managerial duties due to two years of poor results and fan unrest. However, Mariner lost his first two games–his first fixture resulted in a 2–0 loss at
Preston North End and then Argyle was defeated 1–0 at home to Coventry, leaving the Pilgrims bottom of the table and six points adrift of safety. Argyle ended the season as the second lowest-scoring team in the division. The club's six-year stay in the second tier of the Football League was over. On 20 November, following a 1–2 home defeat to
Brentford, newly relegated Argyle was 20th in League One, just one place and three points above the relegation zone. On 23 November, Argyle came from 0–1 down to beat fellow strugglers
Dagenham & Redbridge 2–1 at Home Park, lifting them up to 15th. However, just 4,960 were present at the game. That was Argyle's lowest league attendance since playing in the bottom tier. Not long after, the Pilgrims were presented with a winding-up order by HMRC and appeared in court on 8 December, only to earn a 63-day adjournment so they could pay the taxes they owed. Relegation was later confirmed on 2 May, following a 3–1 home defeat against
Southampton. James Brent's Akkeron Group agreed to a deal with the Administrators to buy the club with
Peter Ridsdale also confirming that he would leave the club when the deal had been completed. Further problems occurred with the Administrators threatening to quit the club. Argyle agreed to a deal to sell
Home Park back to
Plymouth council on 14 October for £1.6m and had to pay £135,000 a year in rent. The team's form greatly improved after the takeover, and while the eventual League finish of 21st was the lowest in the club's history, the club still secured survival with three games to spare, which was quite an achievement considering it had been well adrift at the bottom for the first half of the campaign. In the following season, the club was again narrowly saved from relegation, and finished 21st for a consecutive season. Sheridan then agreed a three-year contract to continue as Argyle manager, and in his first full season in charge, the club finished 10th. Argyle had a far stronger start to its fourth consecutive season in League 2, winning 4 games consecutively for the first time since 2008. The team had the chance to go up as champions. But the title was handed to
Portsmouth via goal difference. The Pilgrims got off to an appalling start to their
League One campaign, gaining only 5 points in their first 11 games and sitting rock bottom, already 4 points from safety after only 11 games. And a 2–1 defeat at home to
Fleetwood added to Argyle's woes, extending the winless run to 10 games and earning just 2 points from a possible 30 in that time. Some fans disputed the board sacking
Derek Adams even after taking them up in the previous season, due to poor tactics and game management. From December 2017, through 2018 saw Argyle record 16 wins, 6 draws and only 5 losses to escape relegation and finish 7th, only missing out on a play-off spot by 3 points.
Hallett takes over (2018–present) In August 2018, Hallett became the majority shareholder of the club, with James Brent reducing his stake, as well as stepping down as chairman. Hallett had originally appointed
David Felwick CBE as Argyle's chairman-elect, but he cited "
personal reasons" for being unable to takeover, so Hallett took over as chairman on 1 November 2018. At the end of the
2018–19 season, Argyle was relegated to
League Two. in 2021 Ahead of the
2019–20 season, Hallett appointed
Ryan Lowe as
Derek Adams's successor, signing the then 40-year-old Liverpudlian and his assistant manager
Steven Schumacher from
Bury. The change in management was a success as that season, Argyle finished in third place, gaining promotion back to
League One. Albeit, the next season the team struggled to find their footing in the third tier, and finished 18th on 53 points. The following season was an improvement, and in December 2021
Ryan Lowe was replaced by his assistant,
Steven Schumacher leading the club into 7th place for the
2021–22 season. Argyle enjoyed its best season since
2008 in
2022–23, with the new Mayflower stand fully built, the capacity of
Home Park rose to 17,900, and the club regularly saw 16,000 fans turning up to support the team. The club won the
EFL League One title, clinching it in an away win at
Port Vale, and finishing the season on 101 points. In their first season back in the second tier in thirteen years, Plymouth finished in 21st position, avoiding relegation on the final day of the season. In the
2024–25 season, Plymouth, who were sitting at the bottom of the league table, defeated Premier League leaders
Liverpool 1–0 at Home Park in the fourth round of the FA Cup with a goal from Ryan Hardie, having previously defeated Premier League Brentford in the third round at the
Gtech Community Stadium.They then went on to lose 3-1 at Manchester City in the 5th round despite taking a shock 1-0 lead. 8,000 Argyle fans made the trip. ==Sponsorship==