PLYMOUTH ARGYLE owner Simon Hallett made a “Freudian slip” during last night’s fans’ forum by inadvertently admitting that his club are getting relegated.
Chairman Hallett took questions from supporters alongside Argyle CEO Andrew Parkinson.
During the event, Hallett and Parkinson were asked about the club spending money on infrastructure, “rather than the playing squad”.
Parkinson revealed that increased revenue generated via improved infrastructure is used to fund the playing squad – pointing to the fact that the club’s wage expenditure has gone up from around £2.5million annually 4-5 years ago to being “just under £15million” now.
After building on his colleague’s point, Hallett then made an unfortunate slip of the tongue.
“It’s generating revenues that can go into the football squad for many, many years,” the Argyle owner said.
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“This is why when we go down to League One… if we go down to League One – oh God.”
Host Charlie Price interjected calling Hallett’s gaffe a “Freudian slip”, before the chairman added: “Oh God… get it right. If we go down to League One, we will be one of the strongest clubs in League One, financially.
“The last time we got promoted from League One we were in the middle of the pack.”
Suggesting inevitable relegation again, Hallett added: “When we go back we’ll be at the top.”
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Argyle have had four permanent managers in the last 15 months.
League One title-winner Steven Schumacher left for Stoke City in December 2023, with the Pilgrims opting for former England youth coach Ian Foster as his successor.
Foster was sacked after just three months at the helm, with Wayne Rooney eventually appointed as his successor.
After a promising start Rooney’s tenure soured, with the Manchester United legend sacked on New Year’s Eve as Argyle sat bottom of the Championship.
Argyle subsequently pivoted to new boss Miron Muslic, who guided them to a famous FA Cup victory over Liverpool earlier this month.
The Pilgrims opted for a style change in Muslic, who favours a direct style of football, rather than reappointing title-winner Schumacher.
‘WE WERE SO BAD’
On the decision, Hallett said: “Clearly Steven was in consideration during the process that Andrew described.
“At the end of the day we decided, among the people on the shortlist, which is not to say that Steven was on the shortlist at all, we ended up going with Miron because we felt we had to do something different.
“Coming with any manager, not just Steven, with a similar style to what we had… we were so bad both in attack and defence, that trying to do the same thing but a bit better would be inadequate to increase the probability of survival.
“So one of the attractions of Miron was that he was very different. I mean all the other attractions are obvious.
“The guy is a fantastic communicator, he’s a wonderful human being, he has that emotional intelligence to be able to deal very well with the players, they all love his clarity of thinking, his ability to communicate, all of that stuff is fantastic.
“But in some ways, the core issue is that we were trying something different.”
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Argyle drew 1-1 with bottom side Luton Town at Kenilworth Road on Wednesday night.
They are 23rd in the Championship table with 15 games remaining.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
