Many Happy Returns

DEREK Adams celebrated his 40th birthday on Thursday by...

...making his first signing as Argyle manager, bringing former Pilgrim Gary Sawyer back to Home Park.

Defender Gary will return to Argyle following a five-year absence, after agreeing a one-year deal which begins when his current contract with Leyton Orient expires at the end of June.
 
Sawyer, who celebrates his own - 30th - birthday next week, comes back to the club for which he signed as professional terms as a 17-year old in 2002 and for who he made 96 appearances between 2006-2010.
 
The London-born, Bideford-raised left-back, who can also play in the heart of defence, joined Weymouth on a short loan a year after graduating to the Greens' pro ranks before spending two seasons on loan at then non-league Exeter City. 

Gary played 62 times for the Grecians – including both of their famous FA Cup ties against Manchester United – impressing Pilgrims’ boss Ian Holloway enough to become a regular feature in his team for the 2006-07 season.


 
Twenty-two games and a new two-and-a-half year contract later, Gary had made the left back position at Home Park his own, picking up the Most Promising Player of the Year award for that season and playing 35 times in the 2007-08 Championship campaign, during which he netted the first of his five goals for the club.

He scored three times the following campaign, including the winner in a 1-0 victory at Blackpool, but his most famous goal came in his final season at Home Park, 2009-10, when he netted the Boxing Day winner against Cardiff in the Bluebirds' new Cardiff City Stadium.
 
The arrivals of Chris Barker and Onismor Bhasera made first-team games harder to come by for Gary and, after a loan spell with Bristol City in 2010, he joined Bristol Rovers on a two-year deal. 

A pair of impressive seasons with the Gas earned him a move to Leyton Orient, for who he played 69 times before being released from the O’s, alongside 11 other players following their relegation from Sky Bet League 1.
 
Welcome back to Home Park, Gaz.