Saturday, 6 August 2011

SEASON PREVIEW # PLYMOUTH ARGYLE

Plymouth Argyle

Ins: Robbie Williams (Oldham Athletic), Luke Daley (Norwich City), Durrell Berry (Aston Villa), Tom Hitchcock (Blackburn Rovers) Loan, Jake Cole (QPR), Ladji Soukouna (Creteil), Conor Hourihane (Ipswich Town), Ben Gibson (Middlesbrough) Loan), Warren Feeney (Oldham Athletic)

Outs: Steven MacLean, Bondz N'gala & Rory Fallon (Yeovil Town), Chris Clark & Kari Arnason (Aberdeen), Yala Bolasie (Bristol City), Damien Johnson (Huddersfield Town) Loan, Joe Mason (Cardiff City), Luke Summerfield (Cheltenham Town), Anton Peterlin (Walsall), Karl Duguid (Colchester United), Ryan Leonard (Southend United), Rory Patterson (Linfield) Season Long Loan, Jim Paterson, Marcel Seip, Kristzian Timar, Liam Head

Plymouth Argyle will begin the 2011-12 season in Administration as Administrator Brendan Guilfoyle awaits to complete a deal with Bishop International that will see Peter Ridsdale become Chairman.
Unsurprisingly there have been a number of departures from Home Park during the close season as a number of players' contracts have come to an end.
Also amongst those departing were the highly talented Yala Bolasie and Joe Mason to Bristol City and Cardiff City respectively, Bolasie left for an undisclosed fee, whilst Mason earned the Pilgrims a valuable £250,000.
Manager Peter Reid has done his best to build a squad capable of competing in League Two and has drafted in a host of new faces, including Northern Ireland international Warren Feeney and highly promising loanees Tom Hitchcock and Ben Gibson, from Blackburn and Middlesbrough respectively, and goalkeeper Jake Cole who will provide some competition for long serving keeper Romain Larrieu.
Perhaps more importantly, Reid has been able to retain the services of skipper Carl Fletcher and keep defender Stephane Zubar, who signed a two-year deal in the close season. Highly rated Curtis Nelson also remains a Pilgrim- for the time being at least.

Player to Watch: Carl Fletcher
In a season in which he was forced to go without pay for long periods, Argyle skipper Carl Fletcher conducted himself impeccably both on and off the field. Earlier in his career, he won promotion from League Two with Bournemouth in the 2002-03 season and his experience of that campaign could prove invaluable as Peter Reid attempts to lead what is a young Argyle side back into League One.