Dewsnip convinced that the Schu fits for Pilgrims
Director of football delighted with manager despite final day heartache at Home Park
NEIL Dewsnip never had any doubts that Steven Schumacher would make a success of being Plymouth Argyle boss.
However, what has surprised the club’s director of football is how quickly the 38-year-old first-time boss has settled into the role and the impact he has had.
It was a massive blow for everyone at Argyle that they dropped out of the League One play-off positions on the final day of the regular season following a 5-0 trouncing by MK Dons at Home Park on Saturday.
But Dewsnip thought the continued noisy support of the Green Army during the second half was a good indication of how they have appreciated the work done by Schumacher since he stepped up from the No 2 role in December.
His record as Argyle manager is 44 points from 26 games with 13, five draws, eight defeats, 35 goals scored and 26 conceded.
Dewsnip said: “When your team is losing 5-0 at home in such a major game the disappointment is immense all round the stadium.
“Yet the supporters were singing happy birthday to him and singing ‘Schuey’s at the wheel’ so I think that says it all really.
“He has made a huge impression on everybody. I never had any doubts that he could do the job, what has surprised me is how well he has done so quickly.
“Steven has got a lot of potential to become a really good manager and he’s learning his trade at Plymouth Argyle. Hopefully as Argyle continues to grow Steven is going to grow with it.”
Now the season is over, Dewsnip can turn his attention to strengthening the Argyle squad for the 2022/23 League One campaign with the aim of improving on their seventh place finish this term.
Dewsnip said: “If we are lucky the board will enable us to grow a little bit more. We are in the middle of all those discussions as we speak.
“We look as though myself and Steven will be having really deep and meaningful conversations about target players.
“We have ourselves organised for that already. I guess we were waiting to see where we were and now we know so we can get to work.”
The vast majority of the Argyle squad are either under contract for next season or the club have an option on them so there are unlikely to be a large number of arrivals and departures.
Dewsnip said: “Last year I think we brought in 10 in the summer. I don’t think it’s going to be like that this time.
“It will be fewer in number but it doesn’t mean to say we are not looking for exactly the right ones. We know where we can get better and we are going to try and do that.”
Argyle were hard hit by injuries over the closing weeks of the campaign and that stretched an already relatively small squad to breaking point so having a larger number of players would make sense.
Dewsnip said: “I think that will be part of the discussion, and has been already. Looking at MK, they brought on one substitute who has played in the Premier League and has been worth an awful lot of money in his prime (Connor Wickham).
“There was also Dan Kemp, who won a competition with me in my time as an England coach. So they have got good depth, and the quality of that depth is important.”
Last year, Argyle made their first summer signing as early as May 20 when defender James Wilson completed a move from Ipswich Town.
When asked whether they would be doing something similar this year, Dewsnip replied: “We have our targets. If we can move quickly, we will do, absolutely yes.”