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Plymouth Argyle Football Club, commonly known as Argyle, or the Pilgrims, is the most southern and western Football League club. Although Plymouth is 75 miles away across the "border" in Devon, Plymouth Argyle Football Club is Marazion's local Football League club.

Plymouth Argyle plays in the Football League One, the third division of the English Football League system. The team strip is a dark green shirt with white trim and white shorts.

Plymouth Argyle takes its nickname from the group of Pilgrims that left Plymouth for the New World in 1620 and the club crest features the Mayflower, the ship that carried them. The club mascot is named Pilgrim Pete.

Plymouth Argyle Football Club's Stadium, Home Park, is located in Plymouth's Central Park adjacent to the A386. Three sides of the stadium (the new Devonport End, the Barn Park End and the Lyndhurst Stand) were completely rebuilt in 2001/2002. These sections of the stadium are now single tiered, covered all seated stands. The fourth side, the Mayflower Stand, dates back to the late 1940s. This stand is partly covered, with seating at the rear and a large terrace at the front. Plymouth Argyle Football Club has plans to replace this stand in due course. The overall capacity of the stadium is 19,630.

Plymouth Argyle fans, known as the Green Army, are very loyal. Because of Plymouth's geographical isolation, they often have to travel long distances to fixtures. Despite this, they turn out for away matches in large numbers. In 2004/5, the Plymouth Argyle fans were voted as being the best away fans in the Football League for their dedication.

History

The club was founded in 1886 as Argyle Football Club. The Club adopted the name Plymouth Argyle Football Club when it became fully professional in 1903 joining the Southern League. Plymouth Argyle's first professional game was against West Ham United resulting in a 2-0 win for Argyle.

The origin of the name is a little unclear. Some fans believe that the name stems from Argyle Street (or the Argyle Hotel or Tavern), where the original committee for the club used to meet. Others claim that the name Argyle came about because the founders admired the footballing skills displayed by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, then stationed in the area.

In 1920, Plymouth Argyle entered the Football League Third Division as a founder member. In 1930, the Club finally won promotion to the Second Division; they struggled in their first season, but went on to finish fourth in 1932. In 1950, the Club was relegated and spent the four decades bouncing between the two divisions, the high point being third place in the Second Division in 1994.

In 1984, Plymouth reached the Football Association Cup semi-final despite being in the Third Division. After a successful cup run in which they beat West Bromwich Albion, a top division team at the time, and Derby County, they lost to Watford in the semi-final.

In 1995, Plymouth Argyle was relegated to Division Three, which, following the creation of the Premier League in 1992, was the bottom division of the English league. The following year the Club returned to Division Two with a memorable play-off final victory at Wembley Stadium. However, it was not to last; two years later Plymouth Argyle were again playing in Division Three.

The appointment of Paul Sturrock as manager in November 2000 marked a turning point in Plymouth Argyle's history. He saved the club from relegation out of the Football League, and then went on to gain promotion to Division Two in 2002 and to the First Division in 2004. To the annoyance of many fans, Paul Sturrock then left the club to move to Southampton.

For the 2004-2005 season, the Football League First Division became The Football League Championship.

In November 2007, Paul Sturrock rejoined Plymouth Argyle, and guided the Pilgrims to 10th place in the table, their best ever Football League result.

In the FA Cup 2007-08, Plymouth Argyle were the only team to score against Portsmouth, the eventual winners.

Paul Sturrock's second stint in charge came to an end on 10 December 2009, when he was relieved of his managerial duties and has taken up a "business support" role, working alongside the chief executive. Head Coach Paul Mariner was placed in charge of team affairs.

Towards the end of the 2009-2010 season the Pilgrims performed poorly on the field with the result that they were relegated to Football League One.

On 24 June 2010, former England manager Peter Reid was appointed Plymouth Argyle manager for the forthcoming 2010-11 season, in which the team will hope to return to the Football League Championship.