Preparing Plymouth Argyle

“There is no pressure at Plymouth Argyle,” says technical director Neil Dewsnip. It is a surprising statement given the way they won League One last season.

Week after week, month after month, Steven Schumacher’s team needed consistency to the point of perfection as they held off Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday in a three-horse race for automatic promotion. All three went up anyway — Argyle as champions, Kieran McKenna’s side as runners-up and Darren Moore’s team via a remarkable play-0ff run.

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As all three prepare for much-anticipated returns to the Championship, the odds once again will be against Plymouth. They were not the fancied side a year ago and few will rate their chances again in the second tier — but to underestimate their planning and organisation would be a mistake.

“We had a five-year plan to get into the Championship,” Dewsnip says. “We did it a year early. I was about to say don’t tell anybody, but actually, do tell them. We did it early — that means we need a new plan. There is no pressure here and that stems from an environment (majority owner) Simon Hallett has created and (CEO) Andrew Parkinson leads minute by minute, day by day. I don’t think any of us feel as though we’ve got to do this or that for any particular reason. If there is pressure, it’s from ourselves.”

Ahead of schedule, turning record revenues (£11.3million; $14.6m) and on the back of a 101-point title-winning season, Plymouth Argyle are back in the Championship just four seasons after playing in League Two and 12 since being in administration. This is how they are preparing for the next step.

Two contrasting seasons bookend Argyle’s decade-long rebuild. In 2012-13, their status as an EFL club was under threat as they