"Dire" - Plymouth Argyle regret over 2024 decision pinpointed | OneFootball

The Pilgrims hired Foster in January 2024, but he lasted just three months at Home Park.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Plymouth Argyle's 2023/24 campaign was not quite what supporters had hoped it to be after winning the League One title the season before.

The Pilgrims had adjusted to playing in a higher division relatively well, and were being helped by Morgan Whittaker's fantastic goal-record that saw them through matches at points.

However, what had been a good start, nearly turned to dust after manager Steven Schumacher joined Stoke City in December 2023.

Plymouth hired Ian Foster in the hope that he could continue their fight against relegation, with Schumacher leaving Argyle while they were 16th in the table.

However, it was a move that never truly worked out, and nearly led to an unceremonious exit from the Championship at the first opportunity.

Plymouth will always regret hiring Foster

Foster had previously been working as Steven Gerrard's assistant at Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia, but the chance to manage a team the size of Plymouth was extremely enticing for the 47-year-old.

The now former Pilgrims boss had very good credentials heading into the job, having led England-U19s to the European Championship title in 2022, before taking over the role with the U20s.

But, all the good that he had done before could not be replicated at Home Park, and it led to a relegation scrap.

Football League World's Plymouth Fan Pundit, Chris, believes that hiring Foster is the club's biggest regret after he nearly destroyed everything that Argyle had worked towards in the previous years.

He told FLW: "Looking back over Argyle's history, there aren't too many real regrets to consider. Of course, there are player transfers which have been brought in and haven't worked out, but there have also been players and managers who we wish Argyle pulled out the chequebook for and invested in, such as Finn Azaz before he went off to Middlesbrough.

"One regret that stands out, however, is the appointment of Ian Foster as our head coach in January 2024. He was brought in after Steven Schumacher had left to join Stoke.

"Ian Foster, when he was appointed, was handed a team which was showing positive confidence and was playing some attacking football and also had a range of players who all got on well with each other."

Chris continued: "By the time he left, the team was demotivated and in dire trouble at the bottom end of the table, as well as in a situation where some of the first-team players were being shunned out of the team, causing great rifts within the rest of the squad.

"I think that during Ian Foster's tenure, we were put it into a very dire position and if it wasn't for some last-minute goals and some last-minute efforts from the team, we would have certainly been relegated.

"I think the board acted at the right point to get rid of Ian Foster's because if they wait any longer, we would certainly be playing League One football right now."

The start of the new season has been difficult for Plymouth

After Foster was sacked at the start of April, Plymouth were able to survive, beating Rotherham United, Leicester City and Hull City, while also picking up a point against QPR in their final six games of the campaign, under the watch of Neil Dewsnip and Kevin Nancekivell.

They secured their survival on the final day of the season against Hull, and many had hoped that in 2024/25 they might have been able to progress.

However, under the management of Wayne Rooney, they have struggled in their opening games. But a victory at home to Sunderland, who had won all four of their matches before their trip to Home Park, has got supporters on side for the coming weeks.

The green half of Devon has an extremely vocal and passionate fanbase, and if results start to go their way, they will continue to back their manager more and more with each passing game.