Plymouth Argyle: Simon Hallett reveals impact Ian Foster sacking will have on transfer plans | OneFootball

Plymouth Argyle chairman Simon Hallett has revealed that Plymouth Argyle’s transfer plans for the summer will be impacted by the sacking of Ian Foster.

Foster was relieved of his duties on April 1st, following their 1-0 loss at home to Bristol City on Easter Monday.

The former England U20s manager had been in charge at Home Park since early January, having left Steven Gerrard’s coaching staff at Saudi side Al-Ettifaq to take up the role. He took over from Steven Schumacher, who had left to join fellow Championship side Stoke City in December.

Foster’s appointment did not go to plan at all. Having started well, his tenure ended poorly as Argyle won just one of their last 11 Championship games.

The 47-year-old became vastly unpopular with Plymouth fans, with many calling for him to lose his job for weeks before the news was confirmed.

Foster had signed a contract until 2027 when he was appointed, so Plymouth would have had to face a large payout to let Foster go.

Hallett confirms that transfer budget will be impacted by Foster’s sacking

Speaking to the Plymouth Herald, Hallett confirmed that Foster’s sacking will directly impact Plymouth’s transfer budget this summer

“Of course. Anything when money goes out unexpectedly it impacts the future. Yes, absolutely.”

When asked about exactly how much impact Foster’s sacking would have on the Pilgrims’ transfer budget in the summer, he said: “We will see.

“As everybody knows we are looking for a new investor, so when we think about it now we have to have four budgets - we have to have a Championship budget with a new investor, a Championship budget without a new investor, a League One budget with a new investor and a League One budget without a new investor.

Foster’s tenure will go down as one of the worst, and will affect Argyle in the future

Foster’s reign in Devon did not go to plan in the slightest and was a poor move for all involved.

Replacing Schumacher was always going to be a hard task. He was popular with the fans and had taken Argyle up to the Championship last season after winning League One, and when he left he had them in a fairly stable mid-table position.

Foster’s hiring looked a good one at the time too - a young coach who played a progressive brand of football and who had experience working with young players.

But it did not go well for many reasons.

He completely changed the style of football they played from what it was under Schumacher, which many of the squad did not adapt to quick enough. His responses in adversity and the way he communicated with fans was also poor, so he never truly had the fans on his side.

This led to him winning just four of his 16 games in charge, losing all of his last five home games, without even scoring a goal.

There is still a good coach in there, but man-management may be something he needs to work on. Foster would probably work better coming into a club in the summer rather than mid-season, so he has time to embed his style into a squad of players.

Regardless though, Foster’s sacking will undoubtedly have a big impact on the transfer budget, as Hallett alluded to.

Argyle are one of the smaller clubs in the Championship, and only broke their transfer record to sign Morgan Whittaker last summer.

The priority will be staying in the Championship, and once the season is over, they can reassess. But if they do stay up, sacking Foster will definitely make it a tough job to go again next season on a shoestring budget.