Plymouth Argyle must turn to John Eustace if Steven Schumacher joins Stoke City: View | OneFootball

Highlights

Steven Schumacher is edging closer and closer to the switch to Stoke City.

The Plymouth Argyle manager can do no wrong at Home Park but fans of the Devonshire club have devastation waiting in the wings once again.

Argyle will be tasked with quickly making a new appointment if Schumacher is to depart, and here is why John Eustace should be the name at the top of their list.

Plymouth Argyle fans were hugely disgruntled when Ryan Lowe left the club and took over at Preston North End out of the blue.

His backroom staff stayed put down south though and a certain Steven Schumacher then grasped a hold of the reins.

The rest is history as they say with the Pilgrims going on to collate 101 points in League One last term, winning the title in the process.

Schumacher has continued to excel at the Argyle helm upon their return to the Championship, claiming some notable scalps.

Beating Norwich City 6-2 and Sunderland 2-0 are the biggest wins of the campaign thus far, not to mention that Argyle overcame Stoke of all teams as well, thanks to Adam Randell’s strike at the death.

Ryan Lowe enjoyed 889 days in charge of Plymouth Argyle whilst Schumacher is on 742 and counting.

The pair have proven, statistically, to be two of the best managers in the recent history of the club.

Lowe accumulated 1.55 points per game and Schumacher reached 1.83, these being amongst the best returns of the 21st century alongside Paul Sturrock and Ian Holloway, a pair of club legends.

If this is to be the end of the relationship between Schumacher and Argyle, then the club owes him so much and the supporters will be able to look back on his tenure fondly.

Football is a revolving door business at the end of the day and so Plymouth Argyle will be forced to plan for the future if Schumacher is to make the move over to Stoke City.

Speculation has begun already as to who could be the next manager to grace the Home Park technical area.

John Eustace is one coach that is very much available and the Argyle hierarchy should be doing all they can to snap him up.

In his days on the pitch, Eustace played for the likes of Stoke and Watford, and his first managerial role at this level came with Birmingham City.

The 44-year-old took charge of 63 matches and averaged 1.24 points per game, with the peak of this coming at the beginning of this season.

Birmingham won five and drew three of their first 11 Championship outings in the 2023/24 campaign. In spite of this very strong start, the powers that be made the inexplicable decision to replace him with Wayne Rooney, a call that has proven to be a mistake to date given that the Manchester United legend has only won two league games.

Eustace may not boast a lengthy track record of managerial excellence but there was good football being played at St. Andrews during his spell in charge and Schumacher himself was even more of an unknown when he stepped up to the plate.

There is an attractive project setup in Plymouth that saw the club break their record transfer fee in the summer twice, Morgan Whittaker and Bali Mumba arriving from Swansea City and Norwich City respectively for seven-figure fees.

A couple of names being thrown around aren’t hugely inspiring but Eustace is a fascinating proposition who would be given the breathing room to learn more on the job, so this seems like a perfect fit if Schumacher is to depart.