Pilgrims begin their search for a successor to Muslic

WITH Miron Muslic set to join the fallen giants of German football, Schalke, as their new head coach, the search for his successor now starts for Plymouth Argyle.

- STUART JAMES

That responsibility will fall in the hands of David Fox, the former midfielder recently appointed as the club’s new head of football operations. Usually, he would have an idea of who he may want in the event of a managerial departure, but these are unprecedented circumstances with the 41-year-old in his role for only a matter of days before Muslic informed Argyle he would not be returning to England.

Perhaps I am doing Fox a disservice. He is a football man after all and will no doubt have his finger to the pulse on what's hot and what's not in the ruthless world of professional football. Here are five potential candidates for the Home Park hotseat.

STEVEN SCHUMACHER

Strongly linked with a return to Home Park before Argyle opted for Miron Muslic, Schumacher has since found employment at Bolton Wanderers, who will be battling it out with Argyle in League One next season. But he is already the odds-on favourite with many leading bookmakers.

The 41-year-old possesses an outstanding record at Home Park where he won 57 of his 108 games in charge, guiding Argyle to the League One title in 2022/23 with 101 points. But when Stoke City came knocking, the temptation was too much for Schuey, who departed Home Park in December 2023.

Schumacher kept Stoke up in his first season but despite a summer rebuild and starting the next season with four wins and four losses, he was dismissed having overseen just 32 games in charge.

RUBEN SELLES