Departing Coventry forward walking into chaos at new club as chairman clearly livid
Jamie Paterson has been left without a manager and investment has fallen through just a week after signing for his new team
Jamie Paterson has walked into chaos at Plymouth Argyle after leaving Coventry City.
The 33-year-old forward, who spent the second-half of the season helping his hometown club reach the Championship play-offs on a short-term contract, had been quick to sort out the next chapter of his career and spoke just last week about his excitement to work with “really likeable character” Miron Muslic, as manager.
But now Muslic has packed up and gone – agreeing to become new manager at Schalke in Germany. A clearly disappointed Argyle chairman Simon Hallett has also confirmed, in an 1,800-word message to supporters, that prospective new investment has fallen through.
It leaves newly-appointed head of football operations David Fox immediately looking for a new boss. Fox will be supported by former Norwich City sporting director Stuart Webber, who has been drafted in as an adviser.
Hallett, in the wake of relegation to League One, wrote: “We are disappointed at Miron Muslic’s departure – not at his joining a club with a profile such as Schalke, but in the timing and manner of his leaving.
“We hired Miron in January, giving him a three-and-a-half-year contract. Shortly after his joining us, we also hired the staff he requested, in an assistant head coach, head of elite performance, performance analysis and, a little later, a set-piece coach. A recruitment team was in place for the season, augmented by our securing the services of Stuart Webber, a very experienced and well-regarded sporting director, to assist with the post-season rebuild of our squad, along with Tom Randle, who has subsequently joined us on a full-time basis as head of recruitment.
“After the season ended, and with rumours flying that Miron was attracting interest from other clubs, I called him personally and he assured me that he was 100 per cent committed to Argyle. As a result, Miron continued to take part in all recruitment meetings and was involved with interviewing and recruiting players until just last week. His colleagues had no indication that he wanted to leave.
“Last Saturday, Miron informed the club that he wished to speak with Schalke with a view to joining them. Under his contract, a club wishing to speak with him needs Argyle’s prior permission. We were unwilling to give such permission, but Miron informed us that under no circumstances was he going to return to Plymouth. Thus, we reluctantly gave the necessary permission.
“By making clear his intention never to return, Miron gave us no choice but to move on. We could have insisted on the full compensation and gone to court to enforce his contract but would not have had his services as head coach, and progress on recruiting a replacement would have been blocked.
“Rather than get mired in a protracted, and highly disruptive, process we settled for an amount of compensation that, while below the contracted sum, is a strong financial outcome for a League One head coach, enabling us to move on positively.”
Plymouth made the journey from League Two to the Championship from 2020 to 2023 but had two difficult seasons in the second tier. Hallett is convinced the club can be sustainable at that level but knows he needs extra financial help to think bigger.
He wrote: “As you know, we have been in talks with a prospective new investor in our club for over a year. Those talks led to an application for approval of that investment being lodged with the EFL in February. Unfortunately, negotiations have taken too long and the key information that both we and the EFL required to complete the deal has not been forthcoming. I no longer believe that news of the new investor is imminent.”
He added: “I completely understand that this will be very frustrating for fans, as it is extremely frustrating for me and the rest of the Argyle board. I have said constantly that my resources can enable us to be a sustainable Championship club, but that if we wish to aspire beyond that we would need new investment. I can provide some of that new investment, with the Holliday family’s and Argyle Green’s help, but not all.
“While progress towards a transaction in its current form looks to have stalled, we will continue to explore alternative routes, including being open to revised terms with other investment groups. It is important that we get the right investor, not the quickest investor, and this may take some time. We are committed to this, but in the meantime, current shareholders can (and will) support the club through its next stage of development.”
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