Plymouth Argyle: Squad will 'move on' after Steven Schumacher exit, says Jordan Houghton
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Jordan Houghton returned to Plymouth in the summer of 2021, six months before Steven Schumacher took over as manager
Plymouth Argyle midfielder Jordan Houghton says the playing squad will move on after manager Steven Schumacher left the club this week.
Schumacher, 39, joined Stoke City on Tuesday having guided the Pilgrims to the League One title last season with a record points haul.
Plymouth do not expect to appoint a successor until after Christmas.
"He had great success over the last couple of years, but we move on now," 28-year-old Houghton said.
"We're now focusing on the games coming up and the mentality hasn't changed and the perspective of the season hasn't changed, no matter being with or without a manager.
"He (Schumacher) is a top coach, you can't hide away from that, and I felt like as a unit, as a club, we were going in the right direction.
"But now that direction's going to be the same way, but just with someone else."
Schumacher had been linked with a number of vacant roles in the Championship before finally leaving Argyle for Stoke - who the Pilgrims beat 2-1 at the start of December.
It was part of a run of three successive home wins for Argyle who have since moved up to 16th in the Championship despite having one of the league's smallest budgets.
"We knew he was getting a lot of attraction in terms of the success that's come from the last couple of years," Houghton added to BBC Sport.
"He's a young coach that's done really well and he's a top coach, and I'm sure he'll go on to do great things, but I think it is a compliment to us as well that we've got a team that are really playing the right way.
"Maybe the league table hasn't quite justified the way we've been playing, but I think that is just us getting our foot into the league with a lot of young players.
"We're hopefully consolidating in the Championship and building, and even in the three or four months of this season we've seen that, so I don't see any reason why that wont happen going into the rest of the season."