Disastrous Plymouth Argyle appointment could've been avoided with Chesterfield raid | OneFootball

Plymouth Argyle could've avoided the disastrous appointment of Ian Foster with a move for Paul Cook instead.

Plymouth Argyle had an absolute disastrous time of things by appointing Ian Foster as their new manager at the start of 2024 - could they have avoided it all by going for a steadier hand in Paul Cook instead?

When Steven Schumacher opted to leave the Pilgrims in December 2023 in favour of a move to Stoke City, it was clear that the next appointment had to be spot-on from Simon Hallett and Neil Dewsnip.

They opted to appoint former England youth coach and number two to Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq, Ian Foster. He arrived at Home Park as a highly-regarded coach, but things quickly went south.

Over the next few months, Foster won just three games in charge of Argyle and oversaw five successive home defeats without a single goal scored. This saw him sacked in early April, as the club teetered on the edge of the relegation zone.

Whilst Plymouth ultimately survived in the Championship, this disaster could've been avoided by opting to appoint someone with Championship experience such as Paul Cook, rather than taking a punt on the inexperienced Foster.

Ian Foster's Plymouth Argyle stint was nothing short of a disaster

It's been somewhat of a managerial merry-go-round at Home Park in recent years, with the Devon-based club currently under their fifth permanent manager in the last 18 months.

The one who holds the least fond memories for all supporters though is certainly Foster, who won just three of his 16 games in charge of Argyle, and oversaw five consecutive home defeats without scoring a single goal.

When Schumacher left the club in December, the Greens were 16th and had a comfortable gap to the relegation zone. By the time his successor was sacked, Plymouth were one point and one place above the relegation zone with just six matches to play.

Fortunatey, director of football Dewsnip took interim charge of the final six matches, winning three and keeping the club afloat in the Championship by a single point.

It's fair to say that the appointment of Foster was the turning point in the season for the Greens, as after a brief new manager bounce at the start of his reign, the club's run of form very nearly saw them relegated.

It was a disappointing end to what was an optimistic gamble from the club's hierarchy, as they were left with no choice other than to relieve the new head coach of his duties just three months into a long-term plan.

A move for Paul Cook could've reshaped the last 18 months at Home Park

Something that came as a big surprise after Schumacher's departure from Home Park was a report from Football Insider that the Chesterfield manager, Cook, was under consideration for the vacancy.

At the time, the Spireites were in the National League, but the 58-year-old had plenty of Championship pedigree under his belt, which could've made him a more appropriate choice for the job at Home Park.

Many were shocked when Cook opted to drop down into non-league football and re-join Chesterfield in 2022 - his previous job at Ipswich Town of course ended in the sack, but he'd won promotions from League One and Two with Wigan and Portsmouth respectively a few years prior, and was still probably a manager capable of working in the second or third tier of English football at the time.

An experienced manager who has proven his worth over the years, appointing Cook could have prevented the disastrous stint that befell Foster, and could've changed the course of the next 18 months.

Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but given the amount of change over the last 18 months at Home Park, you wonder what would've happened if Argyle had opted for a more experienced boss in Cook, rather than taking a huge risk on Foster.

There appeared at the time to be a Scouse theme running through the club, and perhaps coincidentally, both director of football Dewsnip and the eventual head coach Foster both hailed from the Liverpool suburb of Whiston.

Cook would've been another Liverpool-based choice if he were to have landed the job, but not many would argue that he would've done a better job with the squad at hand than Foster did.