First Return

DEREK Adams will make his first return to Home Park since leaving Argyle at the end of last season and, such is the fluid nature of professional football, it will be a very different team to the one he left behind.

After four years at the Pilgrim helm, a spell that included promotion to League One and some great times, Derek left as we dropped down to League Two last season, taking up the manager’s job with Morecambe last month.

Ryan Lowe stepped into the Home Park role in the summer and, while there is great respect for Derek from all of us at Argyle, it is now all about winning points in a new era.

“Derek did a good job here, he won promotion and maybe his time was up at the right time, but it’s not about me or Derek Adams,” said Ryan. “He’s professional about his job and he’ll be coming here to get some points, the same as we’re looking to get points.

“He is a respected manager, he did a fantastic job here and maybe his time was up, but I don’t know whether he feels aggrieved. When you get a promotion on your CV with a football club, I am sure there is some generosity to say thanks.

“I don’t think the fans will be overly concerned about Derek, they’ll be concerned about helping us to get three points.”

For the Pilgrim players signed by Derek, it may seem like a strange experience to play against a former manager but it is part of life in the professional game.

“It’s what happens in football, managers come and go. If you have a 15-year career, you will probably work under 10 – 12 managers, maybe even 15 these days,” said Ryan.

“There might be one or two who weren’t playing under him and now are playing, so they might want to prove a point and show they were good enough, but I don’t think Derek will be worried about that and my players won’t be either.

“There is always going to be change when a new manager comes into a football club.”