John Uzzell

John Uzzell grew up in Plymouth, as an Argyle fan, and perhaps the perfect compliment to his career in green and white is that in each of his 354 appearances for Argyle, he played with the pride of a lifelong fan. 

And with no little skill. Uzzell was adept at playing at left-back or in central defence, and performed with great distinction across a dozen years as a Pilgrim. 

Born in 1959, Uzzell came through the Argyle ranks, alongside the likes of Kevin Hodges, and played 54 games in his first season, as a teenager. Uzzell had been given his debut, and his break, by manager Mike Kelly, but Kelly left in February 1978, and the next two permanent bosses, Malcolm Allison and Bobby Saxton, selected John sparingly over the next three seasons. 

Persistence paid off, though. Bobby Moncur became Argyle manager in the summer of the 1981, and so began Uzzell’s best spell in an Argyle shirt. Playing regularly over the four seasons, first for Moncur, and then for John Hore, Uzzell became a fixture in the team. 

In the incredible 1983/84 season, Uzzell played 60 games, 18 in the cup, as the Greens famously reached the semi-final of the FA Cup. What it must have meant for a Plymouth boy to be an integral part of one of the club’s most famous days. 

Injury ruled John out of much of the promotion season of 1985/86, but he returned to the fold and earned a testimonial match in November 1986, which was played against Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest. 

By the time of his departure in the summer of 1989, Uzzell – or, to use the full name given by the Green Army: ‘Uuuuuuzzzzzell’ -  had passed 350 appearances, and moved to Devon neighbours Torquay United, where he finished his career. 

Still local, and still a familiar face at Home Park, Uzzell now takes his rightful place as a Forever Green Icon.