Football Season Guide

Plymouth Argyle have endured a difficult summer after suffering play-off heartbreak for the second season in succession. The Pilgrims were beaten 5-3 on aggregate in a two-legged play-off semi-final by Wycombe Wanderers a year ago and it saw the end of John Sheridan, who resigned as manager for “family reasons” at the end of May. The club made a surprise and brave choice to name former Ross County boss Derek Adams as Sheridan’s successor and he added to the strong squad he had been left with by signing a trio of players from Scotland. Midfield playmaker Graham Carey made an immediate impact as the Pilgrims made a superb start to the new season, winning nine of the opening 13 league games and lead the table until the end of January when things started to go wrong. The pitch at Home Park had already deteriorated before Christmas due to algae affecting the surface and injuries to key players didn’t help. They slipped out of the automatic promotion places to eventually finish in 5th place in the League Two table. They beat Portsmouth 3-2 on aggregate in a two-legged play-off semi-final to reach Wembley for the first time in twenty years but were beaten 2-0 by AFC Wimbledon to miss out on promotion to League One. There has been a significant fall-out since then with a whole host of influential players leaving the club including centre-backs Curtis Nelson and Peter Hartley, midfielder Carl McHugh, winger Gregg Wylde and striker Reuben Reid. Adams has spent the summer trying to replace them with the likes of defenders Karleigh Osborne and Sonny Bradley, winger Ryan Donaldson and strikers David Goodwillie and James Spencer. With so many changes it is likely to take time for the team to gel and with expectations high in Devon, the Pilgrims may have to settle for a season of consolidation this time around.