Cleverley secure in Argyle role after Adams return

Tom Cleverley's Plymouth Argyle side have lost their last six games in all competitions

Tom Cleverley says his role as Plymouth Argyle head coach is not under threat despite former boss Derek Adams' return to the club.

Adams - who led the Pilgrims to promotion to League One in 2017 - was named the club's new director of football on Tuesday.

He will oversee all football operations and be responsible for recruitment at Argyle.

The Pilgrims are bottom of League One and have lost their last six matches including Tuesday's 1-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers in the Vertu Trophy.

"I'm not silly, it's externally what you would think," Cleverley said after being asked about whether Adams had been appointed in case his job was under threat.

"I'm big enough, I'm man enough, but I'm also secure enough in the work that we're doing internally, that we're doing the right processes.

"Anything a head coach does publicly is wrong if you're losing football games, but internally, I think the work that we're doing is seen as developing over a long period of time under a very, very hard set of circumstances at the minute."

He added: "Derek's coming in to be a soundboard for me.

"He's had promotions in the lower leagues before and I'd be silly not to reach out for any words of wisdom or how to build a squad that can be competitive at this level and I think they're real key things that we need to be advised by Derek."

Cleverley will meet Adams, who was Argyle boss between 2015 and 2019, for the first time on Wednesday, along with director of football operations David Fox.

Argyle's behind the scenes team has been in flux for a number of months - head of recruitment Tom Randle left last month after just a few months in the role while Fox arrived in the summer following Neil Dewsnip's departure as director of football.

The club has also recently appointed a new chief executive in Paul Berne, who gave his backing to Cleverley earlier this month despite the club's poor run of form.

"I think David's probably doing by himself what is a two to three man job at the minute with no head of recruitment in place,” Cleverley said.

“So I think it's normal that we've brought someone in. I think Derek knows the club, he knows the level, he's very experienced even though not in that role.

“I think he'll be a good addition to our backroom staff and be a really good soundboard for myself and the coaches as well as for David, the academy, and I'm looking forward to working with him.”

Cleverley impressed despite EFL Trophy defeat

Bristol Rovers' late goal consigned Plymouth Argyle to a sixth successive loss in all competitions

Argyle's latest defeat came in difficult circumstances at Bristol Rovers.

Plymouth were reduced to 10 men after just two minutes when Kornel Szucs was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity.

The Pilgrims held out until the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time when Kamil Conteh got the winning goal after a mistake by goalkeeper Luca Ashby-Hammond but still finished second in their group and earned a place in the knockout stages.

"To have a man sent off after two minutes, game plan out the window, so then it becomes about reshuffling the pack quickly and players resilience, application, honesty, pride to wear the shirt," Cleverley told BBC Radio Devon.

"We saw all those things tonight. The way it's been going, the result, the players are not going to get the rewards or the satisfaction out of that performance that they probably deserve.

"But the main thing for me is there's been a long hangover since the Exeter game, of course it's been six defeats, but there was one that really, really had long-lasting effects, and it was that game.

"The players' confidence took a real hit and it's taken a long time to come back.

"I saw 40 minutes on Saturday and 93 minutes today that proved to me it's coming back and the application was the main thing."