Plymouth Argyle F.C.

Plymouth Argyle

Full name	Plymouth Argyle Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Pilgrims
Founded	1886; 138 years ago (1886), as Argyle F.C.
Ground	Home Park
Capacity	17,900[1]
Owner	Simon Hallett
Chairman	Simon Hallett
Manager	Vacant
League	EFL Championship
2023–24	EFL Championship, 21st of 24
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team competes in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. They have played at Home Park since 1901.

The club takes its nickname, The Pilgrims, from an English religious group that left Plymouth for the New World in 1620. The club crest features the Mayflower, the ship that carried the pilgrims to Massachusetts. The club has predominantly played in green and white throughout their history, with a few exceptions in the late 1960s and early 1970s when white was the colour of choice. A darker shade of green, described (by some) as Argyle green, was adopted in the 2001–02 season, and has been used ever since.^[2] The club has yet to compete in the Premier League or the Football League First Division that preceded it, the city of Plymouth being the largest in England to have never hosted a top-flight men's football team. Plymouth Argyle are the most southerly and westerly League club in England and the nation's only professional club named Argyle.

Originally founded simply as Argyle in 1886, the club turned professional and entered both the Southern League and Western League as Plymouth Argyle in 1903. They won the Western League title in 1904–05 and the Southern League title in 1912–13, before winning election into the Football League Third Division in 1920. Finishing as runners-up on six consecutive occasions, they eventually won promotion as Third Division South champions under the long-serving management of Bob Jack in 1929–30. A 20-year stay in the Second Division ended in 1950, though they returned again as Third Division South champions in 1951–52. After another relegation in 1956 they again proved too strong for the third tier, winning the Third Division title not long after in 1958–59.

Argyle were relegated out of the Second Division in 1968, 1977 and 1992, having won promotion out of the Third Division as runners-up in 1974–75 and 1985–86. They were relegated into the fourth tier for the first time in 1995, and though they would win immediate promotion in 1995–96, they were relegated again in 1998. Promoted as champions under Paul Sturrock with 102 points in 2001–02, they secured a record fourth third tier league title in 2003–04, and would remain in the Championship for six seasons until administration and two successive relegations left them in League Two by 2011. In 2016–17, Argyle won promotion to League One, and again in 2019–20 following relegation the previous season. In the 2022–23 season, Argyle returned to the Championship as champions, winning the third tier league title for a record fifth time.