Plymouth Argyle transfer flopped miserably - Norwich City warning signs were there | OneFootball

When Plymouth Argyle paid Rangers £200,000 for Alan Gow, they were spending money they could ill-afford to lose, but the transfer didn't work out.

Plymouth Argyle were heading towards a financial crisis in 2009, when they spent £200,000 that they could ill-afford on an attacking midfielder who'd only impressed in fits and starts, and sure enough, Alan Dow wasn't the answer to the Pilgrims' prayers.

On the 4th March 2011, with debts threatening the very existence of the club, Plymouth Argyle collapsed into administration. And as the administrators sifted through the wreckage of the club's accounts over the previous couple of years, they'll have seen a litany of failure over the previous couple of years. There were serious concerns that the club might not even be able to complete the 2010-11 season.

In terms of the club's total financial losses, the £200,000 that they'd wasted on one particular player might have felt like a drop in the ocean, but Plymouth's financial collapse was the story of those drops building up to a level that almost drowned the club altogether. There was no huge spending splurge that had caused this collapse, just a build-up of unsustainable spending over a period of time. With the benefit of a decade and a half's hindsight, Alan Gow was a symptom of big problems to follow, at Home Park.

Blackpool manager Simon Grayson felt Alan Gow had "that bit of magic"

Born in Clydebank, Alan Gow started his playing career with his local club before going on to Airdrie United, going on to make over 100 appearances for them and catching the eye of Rangers, whom he joined in 2007.

Gow didn't quite settle at Ibrox, and in 2008 he was loaned to Blackpool for the first half of the 2008-09 season. At Bloomfield Road he caught the eye, scoring five times in 17 appearances for the Tangerines. The Blackpool manager Simon Grayson, who described Gow as having "that bit of magic", wanted to make the switch permanent, and it had been reported that Blackpool had agreed a fee with Rangers for that to happen in the event that he impressed his new club.

But it didn't happen. The following January, it was confirmed that Rangers had instead agreed a fee with Wolves for Gow, only for the deal to collapse when a medical threw up an unexpected issue, and instead he was sent to Norwich City on loan for the second half of the 2008-09 season.

Alan Gow cost Plymouth Argyle £200,000 that the club could ill-afford

The move to Carrow Road didn't work out for either party. Alan Gow failed to score in 13 league appearances for Norwich City, and at the end of the 2008-09 season the club were relegated into the third tier for the first time since 1960.

That summer, Gow signed for Plymouth Argyle for £200,000. Despite the failed medical at Wolves, and despite being an uninspiring part of the first Norwich City team to be relegated to League One in almost half a century, Plymouth - who'd only finished one place above Norwich themselves - decided to drop an amount of money they could ill-afford on a player whose previous season had been a bit of a disaster.

Briefly, it looked as though it might work. Gow scored in each of his first two League appearances for Plymouth, at home to Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday. But the clue was in the result of those two matches, both of which the Pilgrims lost 3-1. The team sunk to the Championship's relegation places.

Those two goals, meanwhile, turned out to be the only ones that Gow scored for his new club. In December 2009, Paul Sturrock was replaced as the Plymouth manager and Gow fell from contention for a first-team place, and in January 2010 he was sent on loan to Hibernian. Gow wanted a permanent deal at Easter Road, but none was forthcoming, so he returned to Home Park and was released instead.

His next destination was shrouded in controversy. He'd agreed personal terms with Swindon Town but, according to the Swindon Advertiser, "Gow returned to the club later in the day demanding a “considerable rise” on to his already-agreed basic wage", and three days later signed for Motherwell instead. But Gow disputed this version of events, telling the BBC: "I never agreed any terms. I said I would go down and have a look at the place - now someone's crying a wee bit in the paper about it."

Back in Devon, meanwhile, Plymouth Argyle's financial situation was only going from bad to worse. The team was struggling in League One following relegation, and on the 4th March 2011, the directors resigned en masse and the club was put into administration.

It was touch and go about whether they'd even be able to complete the season, with administrator Brendan Guilfoyle telling the press: "The funding requirement is substantial. You’re talking about something north of £2m and south of £3m to get to the end of the season. It’s wages, predominantly, and the state of the company’s cash reserves are just woeful. There is absolutely nothing there."

It would be unfair to say that Alan Gow was a cause of Plymouth Argyle's financial crisis, but it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that he was a symptom. He had impressed at Blackpool, but his Norwich loan spell had been uninspired and the collapse of his transfer to Wolves was also a red flag.

And while they were able to move him on loan to Hibernian for the second half of that season, they released him the following summer, only halfway through his contract. £200,000 and at least half a season's wages spent on 14 appearances and not a single goal.

This sort of financial sloppiness was a big part of the reason why, within a year of Alan Gow's departure from Home Park, Plymouth Argyle were fighting for their financial lives. It's a signing that few at Home Park will look back upon with any warmth.