With his move to Schalke complete, Miron Muslic has joined a long list of managers who have left Plymouth Argyle in recent years for a bigger challenge.
The prospect of attempting of reviving the Gelsenkirchen based club, who have fallen into Bundesliga 2 in recent years, proved to be too good an offer to turn down for the Bosnian-born Austrian Muslic, who can count SV Ried in Austria and Belgian side Cercle Brugge amongst the previous clubs he has managed.
Despite not being able to keep the Pilgrims in the Championship, Muslic can claim to have written his own chapter in Argyle history with the club's FA Cup third round win over Liverpool.
Nevertheless, life after Plymouth Argyle has not always been plain sailing for all managers who have left Home Park for employment at higher profile clubs.
Towards the end of the 2003-04 season, after leading the Pilgrims to the brink of the Division Two title, Paul Sturrock left to join Southampton, who were then in the Premier League. Unfortunately, Sturrock was sacked early on in the 2004-05 campaign, and later had spells with Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon Town before returning to Argyle in 2007-08.
It was during his second stint with the Pilgrims that it was revealed that Sturrock was suffering from Parkinson's Disease. After briefly being promoted to an upstairs role following the arrival of Paul Mariner as head coach, Sturrock left Home Park in 2010 and later took charge of Southend United before finishing his managerial career at Yeovil Town in 2015.
Tony Pulis completed an admirable job in keeping Argyle in the Championship during the 2005-06 campaign before he left to return to his former club Stoke City in the summer of 2006, who he guided to the Premier League in the 2007-08 season. Three years later, he led the Potters to the FA Cup final where they were beaten by Manchester City.
Since leaving the Brittannia Stadium in 2013, Pulis carved out a career as a 'red adair fire fighter' figure with teams battling relegation such as Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion.
Pulis' successor Ian Holloway was able to build on the foundations that he left behind in 2006, and after leading Argyle to a 11th place finish in 2006-07, there was genuine optimism that the Pilgrims could finally make it to the promised land of the Premier League.
However, following Holloway's move to Leicester City during the 2007-08 season, Argyle finished 10th, after being fourth at the time of his departure. For Holloway, the grass didn't turn to be greener with the Foxes, as they were relegated to League One at the end of the campaign. Nevertheless, he bounced back with Blackpool in 2009-10 and led them to promotion to the Premier League with a play-off final victory over Cardiff City - leaving the Green Army wondering what might have had he stayed at Home Park. Holloway later repeated the trick with Crystal Palace in 2012-13, and later managed Millwall, returned to QPR for a second spell before managing Grimsby Town. He is currently in charge of Swindon Town in League Two.
After leading Argyle to promotion from League Two in the Covid-19 hit 2019-20 season, Ryan Lowe helped to re-establish the Pilgrims in League One before he left for Preston North End in December 2021. Following league finishes of 13th, 12th and 10th, Lowe was dismissed after one game in the 2024-25 campaign. Lowe will be returning to Home Park next season in his current role as Wigan Athletic manager.
Lowe's assistant Steven Schumacher was chosen to replace Lowe and he would lead the Pilgrims to the League One title in 2022-23 with a record points haul of 101. Then, after a strong start in the Championship in 2023-24, Schumacher also left Home Park to head north - this time to Stoke City. However, he wasn't able to revive their fortunes and he was sacked after five games in the 2024-25 season. Like Lowe, he will also be returning to Home Park as an opposition manager - when he brings his Bolton Wanderers side to the Theatre of Greens.
Whether Miron Muslic proves to be a success with Schalke, but it is worth remembering that life after Plymouth Argyle hasn't always been plain sailing for many of predecessors.
