Plymouth Argyle: 'Underdogs' have 'nothing to lose' on return to Championship

Plymouth Argyle return to the Championship after 13 years in the lower levels of the EFL

Plymouth Argyle boss Steven Schumacher says his side have "nothing to lose" on their return to the Championship.

The Pilgrims upset the odds to pip Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday to the League One title last season and returned to the second tier for the first time since 2010.

They begin the campaign with Saturday's home game against Huddersfield Town.

"We know we're up against it, we know it's going to be a real tough league," Schumacher said.

"Everyone who I read and listen to say this is the strongest Championship we've had for a few years with the calibre of club that got relegated from the Premier League and the ones who went up from League One.

"So we know it's going to be difficult, but we've got nothing to lose, we're going to be positive and be brave and try and attack every game as best as we can."

Steven Schumacher stepped up from assistant manager to take over as Argyle boss in November 2021, winning 49 and losing just 19 of his 84 games in charge

Argyle twice broke their transfer record last month as they spent more than £1m each on Bali Mumba and Morgan Whittaker, while another former loanee in Finn Azaz also re-joined the club this week on a season-long loan from Aston Villa.

But compared to the sums spent by their rivals, and the money the former Premier League sides have available to them in the form of parachute payments, Schumacher is realistic about where his club are in the Championship pecking order.

"We all understand where we sit financially on the pyramid, so naturally you're going to be the underdog," he added.

"I think last season we proved a lot of people wrong and no-one gave us a chance and always spoke about Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich in particular and that was okay, we were comfortable being in that situation because we knew internally how good our players were.

"It's going to be the same this year, obviously we're playing against even bigger clubs than Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town, so we've got to make sure we've got that same mentality.

"We know that we're going to have to work hard, we're going to have to be really well-organised when we haven't got the ball, but when we do we're going to have to be brave and express ourselves and have that confidence to show again how good we can be."

Plymouth Argyle's impressive home support could prove key if the club are to stay up this season

Schumacher says games at Home Park, where the club won 20 of their 23 matches last season, will be key to the club's success this term.

"We've managed to build an aura for teams coming down to the south west, it shouldn't be easy to come and play against us here," he added.

"Our crowd play a huge part in that, and then the players play a massive part in it as well because they've got to set the tempo and get the performances right to try and get the wins that we're going to need to do well in the Championship.

"We will be looking to focus on that, but in every game we're going to have the attitude where we think 'let's have a right good go and try and win it'."