Plymouth Argyle landed a 43-goal striker for just £55k - He's now a Pilgrims hero | OneFootball

Tommy Tynan arrived at Plymouth from Newport County for £55,000 in 1983, and went on to become a Home Park legend.

Plymouth Argyle got more than a bargain when they signed striker Tommy Tynan for £55,000 in 1983.

When Plymouth signed Tynan from Newport County in 1983, they knew they were getting a proven goalscorer, but they might not have realised that he would also end up a club legend.

Over three spells with the club, Tynan ended up making more than 250 league appearances for them, appearing for them in an FA Cup semi-final and helping them to promotion along the way.

Tynan had proved himself before he arrived at Home Park

Tynan had a somewhat unusual route into the professional game. He arrived at Anfield after entering a competition to get a trial for the club in the Liverpool Echo.

He scored all five goals in the five-a-side match set up for him and he ended up on the books at Anfield, but he wasn't able to break into the first team and, after brief loan spells at Swansea City and in the North American Soccer League for Dallas Tornado, he moved on to Sheffield Wednesday in 1976.

But it was at Newport County that he first truly made his name. In 1978, he moved from Wednesday to Lincoln City, and then, after just nine appearances for the Imps, on to Newport, who were then in the lower reaches of the Fourth Division.

His goals would help power them to promotion to the Third Division in 1980 and the following year, as holders of the Welsh Cup, all the way to the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup before losing narrowly to Carl-Jeiss Zena.

Tynan helped fire Plymouth all the way to an FA Cup semi-final

A lethal striker with a brilliant eye for goal, Tynan's influence at Home Park upon his arrival from Newport for £55,000 in 1983 was almost immediate.

Plymouth struggled in the league in his first season there, finishing in 19th place, but they shone in the FA Cup, going all the way to the semi-finals before losing narrowly to Watford at Villa Park, with Tynan scoring the goal which beat then-top-flight West Bromwich Albion away from home in the Fifth Round on the way.

Despite Tynan finishing the 1984/85 season as the joint-top scorer in the entire Football League with 31 goals, Argyle only saw a modest improvement to 15th, and at the end of that season he had a shock in store for them when he requested a move to Rotherham United. He'd scored 43 League goals for them in his two seasons with the club.

Figures from Greens on Screen

But he was back before the season was out, re-signing for Plymouth on loan in April 1986 until the end of the season. With Argyle pushing for promotion to the Second Division, his impact was again immediate, scoring ten goals in nine games to get them up as runners-up behind champions Reading.

The signing was made permanent again that summer, and this time Tynan did stay. Over four further years at Home Park, he scored another 73 League goals in 173 appearances in the Second Division before leaving in 1990 to take on a role as player-coach at Torquay United. He was only at Plainmoor for one season before moving to Doncaster Rovers, and hanging up his boots in 1992.

Tommy Tynan certainly hasn't been forgotten at Home Park. A 2019 fan poll confirmed him as number one on their list of the greatest ever strikers. Argyle might have known that they were getting a striker with a deadly eye for goal when they spent £55,000 on him in 1983, but they probably didn't realise that he'd end up a club legend, still very fondly thought of more than three decades after playing his last game for the club.