ObjectiveBadger796 - Comments

Hello, thanks for visiting. This is where I’ll be chronicling my Plymouth Argyle save on FM 20 (yes, 20). The two main things you’re probably wondering are firstly, why Plymouth? And secondly, why FM 20?

The first is more straightforward; I’m taking the reins at Plymouth due to my support of the club. I’m going back to FM 20 to do so because I’ve never taken Plymouth from League Two to the Premier League, and I wanted to finally do that. Also, in this world there is no Covid, and Ian Foster and Wayne Rooney never end up managing the club. Simpler times.

Background:

At the beginning of the 2019-20 season, Plymouth Argyle find themselves in League Two. Having still been playing in the Championship in 2010, the Pilgrims tumbled down the leagues with back-to-back relegations, going into administration in 2011, and came incredibly close to dropping out of the Football League, if not out of existence, altogether. Having returned to League One in 2017 after stabilising under the chairmanship of James Brent, and coming close to making the playoffs in the 2017-18 season, they were relegated back to League Two in 2018-19, resulting in manager Derek Adams’ departure from the club after four years. With that, new Chairman Simon Hallett made his first appointment: not ex-Bury manager Ryan Lowe, but myself.

I’ve set a variety of goals for myself, big and small:

• Reach the Premier League for the first time ever, with a commitment to playing progressive, attacking football along the way.
• Invest in the club’s infrastructure to provide us with leading training and youth facilities, along with top youth recruitment and coaching, to help develop the West Country as a hotbed for footballing talent and provide the first team with more homegrown players.
• Expand our stadium, Home Park, whenever possible to become the leading stadium in the West Country.
• Focus recruitment on younger talent to develop with resale value, bringing the right characters into the club, spending wisely and avoiding going for older and more established ‘big names’ on big wages for the most part. I may be tempted to bring back former Pilgrims to the club if the opportunity presents itself, though.
• Help other teams in our area to prosper, like Torquay and Truro, with loans and friendlies and (hopefully) the aforementioned overall development of the West Country. Exeter is obviously not included in this, though.
• Provide former and retiring Pilgrims with coaching opportunities wherever possible, e.g. in the under-18s, to help develop their new careers.

2019/20 Squad Report:

Goalkeeper:

We begin the season with two strong options in Alex Palmer, on loan from West Brom, and homegrown talent Mike Cooper, who has appeared once in each of the last two seasons and has bags of potential (as demonstrated in real life). With Palmer only being on loan, Cooper will be first choice, with Palmer playing in cup competitions. He may not be thrilled about this so I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t last the full season with us.

Defence:

We’re fairly well stocked in defence. We’ll be playing with three centre-backs the majority of the time, with our starters for the beginning of the season set to be veteran captain Gary Sawyer, Niall Canavan and Scott Wootton. We also have Will Aimson, who is injured to start the season, and Chelsea loanee Josh Grant will also see some time. I would ideally like a bit more height and pace across the entire back line, with Sawyer's legs in particular starting to go, but it’ll do until January at least.

We’ll also be playing with wing-backs; on the right, new signing and vice-captain Joe Edwards, who in 2025 is now a club legend, will be first-choice, though I will probably also use Byron Moore, a new arrival from Bury who is also predominantly a winger, there too. Over on the left, Callum McFadzean, another new signing from Bury, will be in competition with George Cooper, who is on loan from Peterborough and a winger by trade, to start.

Midfield:

We’ll predominantly be playing with two in the middle and one in attacking midfield. Box-to-box midfielder Antoni Sarcevic, who in real life has gone on to become a promotion specialist in getting out of League Two, is a lock in midfield, and Conor Grant and Bristol City loanee Tyreeq Bakinson will be vying to start alongside him in the deep-lying playmaker role. I’m also particularly keen for young homegrown talent Adam Randell (who left for Bristol City IRL this summer after our relegation from the Championship) to see a good amount of playing time this season, having not yet made a league appearance for the club.

In the number ten role, ex-Bury man Danny Mayor will be the main man, and natural winger Joel Grant looks to be the closest thing to a back-up in that position, as he doesn’t seem overly comfortable with being a wing-back.

Attack:

We’ll be playing with two strikers for the most part, with another arrival from Bury, Dom Telford, leading the line along with Blackpool loanee (and future IRL Argyle legend) Ryan Hardie, who will operate as more of a pressing forward and will hopefully become a permanent Pilgrim in the future. Homegrown forward Luke Jephcott, who made a few league appearances the previous season in League 1, will be pushing for a place, and veteran target man Ryan Taylor will provide a different outlet if needed.

Tactics:

Based on the personnel we have, we will mostly play in a 3-4-1-2 this season, with 3-4-3 and 4-2-3-1 tactics also being trained. Our game will emphasise quick, attacking football with wing-backs bombing down the flanks, and an energetic pressing game, which is about everything the Green Army could ask for. We’ll only compromise on our front-foot approach to games when faced with opposition from the higher leagues.

Preseason and the first half of the season to follow. COYG!