Schumacher hopes Keith Downing will Stay

Steven Schumacher hopes Keith Downing will continue Plymouth Argyle coaching role

The Link wrote:

Steven Schumacher is hoping that Keith Downing will continue as Plymouth Argyle's first team head coach next season.

Downing, 56, signed a short-term contract when he was appointed by Schumacher in December after his promotion to the role of Pilgrims' boss from assistant manager following the departure of Ryan Lowe to Preston North End.

Talks are now taking place about whether Downing will return for the 2022/23 League One campaign, with Schumacher admitting that his experience and knowledge had been a big help for him.

Downing had not previously come across 38-year-old Schumacher during his career but the connection between the two of them came through Rob Kelly, the former Leicester City manager.

Kelly had worked with Lowe and Schumacher at Bury, and is also good friends with Downing.

Schumacher said: "Keith only signed a short-term deal when he first came in but he has loved it, and we have loved having him.

"He's a character, he's a brilliant coach and he has been such a help to me. We are having conversations.

"Where he lives, and his situation with his family and whatever, he needs to make sure all that's right, but hopefully he will be here next year."

Downing worked alongside Kevin Nancekivell, Mark Hughes and Darren Behcet as the coaching staff for Schumacher.

Hughes, 35, retired as a player at Bristol Rovers to take up his role at Home Park in January and he, too, has benefited from having Downing around.

Schumacher continued: "It's Keith's experience, just his knowledge, the things he has seen and done, and his little bits of advice.

"He's like how I worked when I coached, there is nothing too scientific or anything about it. It's just good, and it's structured and it's planned.

"It's exactly how he is. He's methodical with how he works, and that's how I like to work.

"He was brilliant for me, he took a lot of the stress off because obviously my role changed pretty quickly and I was getting dragged in different directions.

"I just felt it was important having Keith there, knowing that things were getting taken care of the way I like to do them. He was amazing.

"Mark has come in as well and has learned off him. Nance and Darren have all enjoyed working in that office together - it gets a bit rowdy next door sometimes!"

Downing was always able to carry out the planning for each training session, allowing Schumacher to concentrate on other part of his job as manager.

Schumacher said: "I was always on the training ground but it's just that hour, the lead in, the prep, making sure the numbers are right, the pitch sizes, the teams, the messages.

"You have got to plan and if the plan isn't done right then the players see right through it.

"One thing I would say about our team and probably the reason why we did so well throughout the whole season is we are organised.

"Everybody knows what they are doing, their roles and responsibilities when we have got the ball are clear.

"The information that they get on the opposition is to the finest detail, and that's something Keith hadn't seen before. He was 'I quite like the way you do these meetings' so he learned something off us.

"It was part of the reason why we had a successful year. If we stick to that plan next year and add a bit more quality then hopefully we will have another good one."

Hope he stays as Schuey will need him next season thats for sure.

And hes gone

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The club better have someone equal or better lined up as schuey is not ready to fly solo without someone alongside him like Downing with coaching and managerial experience till he's had a season or two under his belt and found his sea legs to have someone like Mark Hughes or whoever as his number two in future.

Good news must be coming next week i hope as so far im not getting excited for the new season and we arent making moves to build on the previous season to go one better.

Angry wrote:

And hes gone

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The club better have someone equal or better lined up as schuey is not ready to fly solo without someone alongside him like Downing with coaching and managerial experience till he's had a season or two under his belt and found his sea legs to have someone like Mark Hughes or whoever as his number two in future.

Good news must be coming next week i hope as so far im not getting excited for the new season and we arent making moves to build on the previous season to go one better.

I’m excited and relaxed about incomings, I’m sure the club has a succession plan re coaching and playing staff, might see more activity after the playoffs

Graiser wrote:

Angry wrote:

And hes gone

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The club better have someone equal or better lined up as schuey is not ready to fly solo without someone alongside him like Downing with coaching and managerial experience till he's had a season or two under his belt and found his sea legs to have someone like Mark Hughes or whoever as his number two in future.

Good news must be coming next week i hope as so far im not getting excited for the new season and we arent making moves to build on the previous season to go one better.

I’m excited and relaxed about incomings, I’m sure the club has a succession plan re coaching and playing staff, might see more activity after the playoffs

i hope they do im sure they have.
I just dont see it as a good start to the preparations for the new season when already after 2 weeks of the last season ending
a key player wants out over signing a new deal,
an injury prone donkey wants out and we will struggle to recoup what we paid for him or get him off the wage bill if hes loaned out especially when he seems more interested in partying with love island stars than playing football again.
and today an experienced assistant manager with a good coaching pedigree to a rookie manager opts to leave also and replacing him will be tough

The only new news coming out is no football related in a makeover for the horseshoe, an eco friendly car park, a vidi screen that's taking away from capacity when demand for tickets is going up and the club signs a new pasty deal and makes a song and dance about changing its twitter handle to @argyle.

There is alot of work to do and the players are back in pre season soon!

Angry wrote:

Graiser wrote:

Angry wrote:

And hes gone

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


The club better have someone equal or better lined up as schuey is not ready to fly solo without someone alongside him like Downing with coaching and managerial experience till he's had a season or two under his belt and found his sea legs to have someone like Mark Hughes or whoever as his number two in future.

Good news must be coming next week i hope as so far im not getting excited for the new season and we arent making moves to build on the previous season to go one better.

I’m excited and relaxed about incomings, I’m sure the club has a succession plan re coaching and playing staff, might see more activity after the playoffs

i hope they do im sure they have.
I just dont see it as a good start to the preparations for the new season when already after 2 weeks of the last season ending
a key player wants out over signing a new deal,
an injury prone donkey wants out and we will struggle to recoup what we paid for him or get him off the wage bill if hes loaned out especially when he seems more interested in partying with love island stars than playing football again.
and today an experienced assistant manager with a good coaching pedigree to a rookie manager opts to leave also and replacing him will be tough

The only new news coming out is no football related in a makeover for the horseshoe, an eco friendly car park, a vidi screen that's taking away from capacity when demand for tickets is going up and the club signs a new pasty deal and makes a song and dance about changing its twitter handle to @argyle.

There is alot of work to do and the players are back in pre season soon!

Early days yet angers, think we’re going to be pleased in the weeks to come, but my cup’s usually half full !!

Ray Lewington will be looking for a job now his old boss has retired.

Grovehill wrote:

Ray Lewington will be looking for a job now his old boss has retired.

hes retirig too and we would never be able to afford his wages

Argyle to do list,
Sell Camara,
Install big screen for the prawn sarnie lot,
Replace all those tired seats they have to look at,
Revamp the directors car park,
Replace coaching staff,
Sort out the catering (again),
Replace Cam and Broom with players of equal ability for free.

No wonder Graiser is excited promising to be a hell of a season Liverpool must be shitting themselves.

Earwegoagain wrote:

Argyle to do list,
Sell Camara,
Install big screen for the prawn sarnie lot,
Replace all those tired seats they have to look at,
Revamp the directors car park,
Replace coaching staff,
Sort out the catering (again),
Replace Cam and Broom with players of equal ability for free.

No wonder Graiser is excited promising to be a hell of a season Liverpool must be shitting themselves.

Earwegoagain wrote:

Argyle to do list,
Sell Camara,
Install big screen for the prawn sarnie lot,
Replace all those tired seats they have to look at,
Revamp the directors car park,
Replace coaching staff,
Sort out the catering (again),
Replace Cam and Broom with players of equal ability for free.

No wonder Graiser is excited promising to be a hell of a season Liverpool must be shitting themselves.

The same happy clappies who were relaxed when sonny bradley left who were relaxed when connor hourihane left for a pittance, cant even keep a coach after the manager bigged him up ffs! relegation battle next season looks on the cards, same old argo

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

Earwegoagain wrote:

Argyle to do list,
Sell Camara,
Install big screen for the prawn sarnie lot,
Replace all those tired seats they have to look at,
Revamp the directors car park,
Replace coaching staff,
Sort out the catering (again),
Replace Cam and Broom with players of equal ability for free.

No wonder Graiser is excited promising to be a hell of a season Liverpool must be shitting themselves.

The same happy clappies who were relaxed when sonny bradley left who were relaxed when connor hourihane left for a pittance, cant even keep a coach after the manager bigged him up ffs! relegation battle next season looks on the cards, same old argo

You two deserve each other.

Earwegoagain wrote:

Argyle to do list,
Sell Camara,
Install big screen for the prawn sarnie lot,
Replace all those tired seats they have to look at,
Revamp the directors car park,
Replace coaching staff,
Sort out the catering (again),
Replace Cam and Broom with players of equal ability for free.

No wonder Graiser is excited promising to be a hell of a season Liverpool must be shitting themselves.

Are you Freathy's son?

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

Earwegoagain wrote:

Argyle to do list,
Sell Camara,
Install big screen for the prawn sarnie lot,
Replace all those tired seats they have to look at,
Revamp the directors car park,
Replace coaching staff,
Sort out the catering (again),
Replace Cam and Broom with players of equal ability for free.

No wonder Graiser is excited promising to be a hell of a season Liverpool must be shitting themselves.

The same happy clappies who were relaxed when sonny bradley left who were relaxed when connor hourihane left for a pittance, cant even keep a coach after the manager bigged him up ffs! relegation battle next season looks on the cards, same old argo

And you must be the Grandson.

the club wont replace him and will look to move around current coaching staff to take on his role...

big mistake and stinks of the cheap option... Schuey needs an experienced number 2 at this stage of his career and isnt ready to go it alone with another rookie coach in mark hughes and a coach who is no assistant in nance,,,

Well done ATD-over a week of speculation about a coach and Wotton and Coughlan not mentioned once!

Did Lowe have an experienced number 2

Angry wrote:

the club wont replace him and will look to move around current coaching staff to take on his role...

big mistake and stinks of the cheap option... Schuey needs an experienced number 2 at this stage of his career and isnt ready to go it alone with another rookie coach in mark hughes and a coach who is no assistant in nance,,,

I think Darren Way was a little miffed at being passed over when Mark Hughes came in, so don't think you are far off the mark.

I think feelers have been put out about tempting Rickler to take the job.

Grovehill wrote:

I think feelers have been put out about tempting Rickler to take the job.

He's too busy hero worshipping Hallett to do anything else at all.

Clodagh Rubbish wrote:

Angry wrote:

the club wont replace him and will look to move around current coaching staff to take on his role...

big mistake and stinks of the cheap option... Schuey needs an experienced number 2 at this stage of his career and isnt ready to go it alone with another rookie coach in mark hughes and a coach who is no assistant in nance,,,

I think Darren Way was a little miffed at being passed over when Mark Hughes came in, so don't think you are far off the mark.

i would be too but to be fair hes doing a good job in the academy we cant afford to loose him from there at the moment. Plus he didnt exactly set the world alight as yeovil manager so i dont think he would be ideal for schuey's assistant, coaching team yes but not assistant.

Angry wrote:

Clodagh Rubbish wrote:

Angry wrote:

the club wont replace him and will look to move around current coaching staff to take on his role...

big mistake and stinks of the cheap option... Schuey needs an experienced number 2 at this stage of his career and isnt ready to go it alone with another rookie coach in mark hughes and a coach who is no assistant in nance,,,

I think Darren Way was a little miffed at being passed over when Mark Hughes came in, so don't think you are far off the mark.

i would be too but to be fair hes doing a good job in the academy we cant afford to loose him from there at the moment. Plus he didnt exactly set the world alight as yeovil manager so i dont think he would be ideal for schuey's assistant, coaching team yes but not assistant.

I think he see's his long term ambitions as slightly higher than that. There was some talk of him joining Lee Johnson at Hibs, not sure if anything is going to become of that

Confirmed Mark Hughes is the new assistant manager....

This not going to end well no matter how much spin is put on it by avivas and the board. A unproven coach who was coaching the defence to mixed results assisting a manager who is starting his first full season in charge and still learning the role strikes me of the club being too cheap to find a decent assistant to schuey or schuey foolishly thinks he knows it all to go solo...

Angry wrote:

Confirmed Mark Hughes is the new assistant manager....

This not going to end well no matter how much spin is put on it by avivas and the board. A unproven coach who was coaching the defence to mixed results assisting a manager who is starting his first full season in charge and still learning the role strikes me of the club being too cheap to find a decent assistant to schuey or schuey foolishly thinks he knows it all to go solo...

Looks like that was the plan all along, I suppose a natural progression as was Schumacher stepping up when Lowe bailed out.
Schumacher’s choice so we’ll have to see how it pans out.

Graiser wrote:

Angry wrote:

Confirmed Mark Hughes is the new assistant manager....

This not going to end well no matter how much spin is put on it by avivas and the board. A unproven coach who was coaching the defence to mixed results assisting a manager who is starting his first full season in charge and still learning the role strikes me of the club being too cheap to find a decent assistant to schuey or schuey foolishly thinks he knows it all to go solo...

Looks like that was the plan all along, I suppose a natural progression as was Schumacher stepping up when Lowe bailed out.
Schumacher’s choice so we’ll have to see how it pans out.

its a choice he will have to justify if we arent pushing for the play offs come christmas and the honeymoon period with the fans starts to die which it will as the bar has been raised despite the club's best efforts to kill expectations with these cheap announcements and the potential sale of 3 key players.

Angry wrote:

Graiser wrote:

Angry wrote:

Confirmed Mark Hughes is the new assistant manager....

This not going to end well no matter how much spin is put on it by avivas and the board. A unproven coach who was coaching the defence to mixed results assisting a manager who is starting his first full season in charge and still learning the role strikes me of the club being too cheap to find a decent assistant to schuey or schuey foolishly thinks he knows it all to go solo...

Looks like that was the plan all along, I suppose a natural progression as was Schumacher stepping up when Lowe bailed out.
Schumacher’s choice so we’ll have to see how it pans out.

its a choice he will have to justify if we arent pushing for the play offs come christmas and the honeymoon period with the fans starts to die which it will as the bar has been raised despite the club's best efforts to kill expectations with these cheap announcements and the potential sale of 3 key players.

Tbh I’d sooner see fresh young faces rather than regurgitate the same old faces, for instance whoever heard of Liam Manning, Ben Garner and Kieran McKenna and when they were appointed their fans were a bit hacked off, but they’re not now.
I’m waiting more for the player recruitment which is I think being a bit held up because of the uncertainty over Camara’s future