So, it’s finally happened. After a valiant effort in the last few months to starve off survival, Plymouth Argyle have been relegated to League One.
Our latest article, written after the end of season defeat by Leeds United is from lifelong Argyle fan and one of the founders of Argyle Life, Sam Down.
At the moment, we’re still in the processing phase. It’s raw and it’s difficult to see the club appear so fallible after years of seemingly unstoppable progress.
The last time I wrote for Chronicle readers with reports of Argyle’s progress, it was the start of March. I spoke about how ‘Muslicball’ hung in the balance. It was capable of brilliant defensive masterclass performances but also staleness and did not show adaptability.
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I thought long and hard about how to write this article. Do we look at the story as it’s developed or do we look at what Argyle need to do? Ultimately, the two topics are opposite sides of the same coin.
Despite the gut wrenching relegation, Miron Muslic has arguably proved himself to be Argyle’s greatest asset. We might not have stayed up but we gave it a great shot. The final chapter of our Championship story is the best possible blueprint going forward.
What Happened?
Things had to get worse before they could get better. Following the euphoria of the Man City game, came two back to back fixtures where Argyle reached what was perhaps their lowest ebb.
A crunch trip to relegation rivals Hull: Argyle never got going and it was such a dismal effort that we didn’t even register a single shot until the 75th minute mark. The Greens lost 2-0 as Hull registered only their third home win of the season. The following Saturday at home to Sheffield Wednesday certainly STARTED better but we still didn’t have a shot on target after the 34th minute. A tepid 0-3 loss was only slightly less embarrassing than the 4-0 battering by the same opponents on the opening day.
Something had to change and it had to change fast. The murmuring among critical fans was that Muslicball had had its day- was useful for nothing except smash and grab wins vs superior opponents.
We were back in the doldrums again. Back where we were after the Burnley thumping where all faith seemed lost. The same problems were apparent – the inability to open teams up or to so much as tweak our playing-style.
The win that followed against Pompey couldn’t have been more crucial. It wasn’t our best performance. But it was a brilliantly worked win with a fine team goal. It was our first away win in the league all season – to paraphrase the manager after Sunderland away – ‘signs of life’.
Argyle then lost 2-3 at home to Derby the game after the international break. However, even despite the implications of that loss for our season, the performance gave us hope. Muslic re-integrated Bali Mumba into his best position of wing back and we played the better football on the day.
After the international break, we knew that hope of survival were slim. It was more like an audition ultimately – for the players and maybe even for the coaching team.
What followed was a run of form tantalisingly close to great escape. The only reason we didn’t quite get there was the fact of Derby, Hull and other sides finding enough form to (once again) raise the bar to an unusually high total for survival.
I won’t break down every game in detail. But, the describe Swansea aside, almost every game was a vast improvement. While Argyle’s style was still direct, we played the ball out to wide areas to find a better outlet (rather than the first time hoof).
Whilst there still wasn’t much possession, we managed to control matches and pin teams back before opening them up with rapier-like passing moves. Three very creditable home wins against Norwich, Sheffield Utd and Coventry demonstrated the new Argyle with a swagger in their step.
The game that deserves the most credit though is the away match at Preston. In heartbreaking fashion, Argyle just found out that they’d been relegated just minutes before kick off following a late Luton goal in the early kick off to win 1-0. Argyle came out and ruthlessly dispatched of a Preston side with everything on the line for them. To respond to adversity with such a clinical and professional performance is testament to Miron Muslic’s impact and the standards he has raised since his arrival.
A creditable performance in the loss at home to Leeds closed out the season and that was that. Or was it?
What Next?
Given the gushing tones of my recent paragraphs, you might be forgiven for thinking that we are going down in a good place. Players like Ryan Hardie, Bali Mumba, Adam Randell and (especially) Mustapha Bundu are ending the season in absolutely fine settle. Muslic’s points per game record would have been enough to secure a lower mid table finish. His record since the Match international break is even better still.
You might sense a ‘but’ coming’ – and you’d be right to. It seems like Argyle fans can’t even have a bittersweet ending without a sting in the tail. Miron Muslic’s recent media interviews make for concerning listening.
He’s repeatedly failed to confirm he will be here next season. In a shocking press conference just before the Leeds game, he gave a punchy response. He bemoaned the fact that the club have still not filled the vacant roles of Sporting Director or indeed Head of Recruitment.
Most importantly, he expressed his concern that key players who are either out of contract or rumoured to have relegation release clauses haven’t yet been tied down to extended contracts. It was inarguably a shot across the bow at the board of directors for what he deems to be inadequate support.
At this point, and with all due respect to the ownership who’ve worked hard to get us to this level, you have to question the common denominator. If Muslic does go (and by the time of print, he may well have done so) then it will be the third Argyle manager to think that the grass is greener on the other side since the end of 2021. Ryan Lowe, Steven Schumacher, now Miron Muslic?
To lose one talented young coach is unfortunate, to lose two could be coincidence. To lose three – well, as the quote goes, that looks like carelessness.
I believe that Simon Hallett has done a wonderful job in raising the ceiling of this club’s potential. But the board and the CEO have serious questions to answer about the last year and a half. Hiring Miron Muslic has been about the only good decision made on the football side of the club since the end of 2023.
I’ll be honest – I’ve not always been his biggest fan. His critics say he’s trying to manoeuvre an exit and they may well be right. That being said, we will never know whether Muslic would be more amenable to staying if the club didn’t make decisions at such a glacial pace.
As a convert to the cult of Muslic rather than a believer from the offset, my message is this. Keep this man at all costs (within reason). He’s showed himself to be an excellent coach and has acutely diagnosed many of the problems that have plagued us since Schumacher’s departure.
If there’s any way of mediating the differences, we need to do so. Get that new contract on the table and if needed, give him the title of manager rather than head coach.
He’s not perfect: many disapprove of his use of the media and compare it to the old tricks of Jose Mourinho back in the day. It may be true that he’s a Mourinho in a world that caters to Guardiolas. But he’s our Mourinho – Argyle need to take every chip they have, put it on Miron Muslic and hope for the best. I can’t think of anyone better suited to get us back up.
