When Plymouth lost talismanic head coach Ryan Lowe to Preston North End in December 2021, not even the most optimistic Argyle supporter could have imagined that, just a year-and-a-half later, his former assistant would be one game away from smashing the 100-point barrier in League One.
But that is the reality. The mesmerising, scarcely-believable reality; Plymouth bouncing back from Wembley defeat by Bolton Wanderers in the Papa John’s Trophy final by storming to promotion. Beat Port Vale on Monday – The Valiants have nothing to play for either – and both the League One title and a place amongst the Centurians will be theirs.
“If you could break the 100-point mark that would be an incredible achievement,” Schumacher, who’s Plymouth side were in the fourth-tier as recently as 2020, tells BBC Sport.
“That’ll be the message to the players. They’ll already go down in folklore, they’ll never be forgotten. And if they can get over 100 points, well, not many teams ever do that.
“They should try and go for it because that doesn’t happen too often in their careers.”
West Brom and Huddersfield wanted Steven Schumacher
Unlike Lowe, who felt that an opportunity at Deepdale was too good to turn down, Schumacher has been rewarded for his loyalty to the Devon outfit. It’s not as if he hasn’t had interest from further up the EFL pyramid either; The Sun reporting that West Brom had identified the Liverpool-born 39-year-old as a potential replacement for Steve Bruce back in October, shortly after Schumacher had distanced himself from the Huddersfield Town post.
“(The speculation) wasn’t a distraction. I found the first one (links with Huddersfield) quite amusing. I was like ‘Okay, where has that come from?,” Schumacher smiled.
“I found that quite amusing when there had been no real conversation. Certainly on my part. It wasn’t a distraction, no. I just thought it was part and parcel of football.
“It’s probably to be expected when someone is doing well. And I’m sure it won’t be the last time.”
Plymouth will soon be a Championship side for the first time in over a decade. Schumacher is proof that you don’t necessarily need a change of scenery in order to fulfil your ambitions of working at a higher level.
For the legendary Neil Warnock, who eventually did take over at Huddersfield and guided the Terriers to survival in midweek, you’d be hard pressed finding a manager who has done a better job than him over the last 10 months.
“He should be manager of the season, him,” Warnock tells talkSPORT (5 May, 11am).
“To be in front of Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday (in League One) is incredible. He’s done an amazing job.”
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