Competitive Mobility Project

England

Plymouth Argyle

2025/26: 8th in League One

How high can Plymouth Argyle realistically go?

Based on finishing 8th in League One in 2025/26

About 4 in 10

Of the 152 times a club finished in the top half of League One without going up between 2004/05 and 2020/21, 58 went up within five seasons.

58 of 152 (38%); likely range 26%–50%, 52 different clubs.

Reached the top flight within ten seasonsabout 1 in 6
17 of 108; range 5%–28%

Plymouth Argyle itself: none of the last 10 seasons in the Premier League.

How do we know?

We took every season since 2004/05 in which a club finished in the same part of the same league, and followed each club forward. The figure is the share that reached each goal. Ten-year goals use finishes from 2004/05 to 2015/16, five-year goals from 2004/05 to 2020/21, so every case has had the full time to play out; results run to the end of 2025/26.

It describes what happened to clubs in this position, not a forecast for one club. A club with much more money or history than is usual for its position has better chances than the figure suggests, which is why the club's own record is shown underneath.

The likely range is a 95% interval worked out by resampling clubs rather than seasons, because the same club often appears several times. It is wide where only a few clubs have been in a position, and two leagues whose ranges overlap may not really differ. Reserve teams such as Barcelona B or Real Madrid Castilla are left out of these counts, because they cannot be promoted into their first team's division.

Counts: went up within five seasons: 58 of 152; reached the top flight within ten seasons: 17 of 108.

The story so far

Plymouth Argyle has played 34 seasons in the divisions covered here since 1992/93: 8 in the Championship, 14 in League One and 12 in League Two. It has been in League One since 2025/26 (1 season), after 2 seasons in the Championship. Its best finish was 10th in the Championship, in 2007/08. Its biggest climb took five seasons: from 12th in League Two in 2000/01 to 14th in the Championship in 2005/06. It has been promoted 6 times and relegated 6 times.

Final position each seasonRinged dots are titles
2025/262021/222017/182013/142009/102005/062001/021997/981993/941stPremier LeagueChampionshipLeague OneLeague Two
How to read this chart

Every club in the divisions covered is placed on one ladder each season: the champions are 1st, and the top club of the second division comes straight after the bottom club of the first. Shaded bands are the divisions. Hover over or tap a dot for the season.

34seasons since 1992/93
0seasons in the Premier League
0league titles
0top-four finishes
6promotions
6relegations

Against the money

Not enough seasons with published wage figures in the top two divisions (0).

Clubs with a similar path

Clubs whose finishing positions over the last 15 seasons were closest to Plymouth Argyle's, with recent seasons counting more.

In England

PortsmouthEngland · 18th in the Championship, 2025/26Wycombe WanderersEngland · 11th in League One, 2025/26Oxford UnitedEngland · 22nd in the Championship, 2025/26Lincoln CityEngland · 1st in League One, 2025/26

Compare Plymouth Argyle with another club

Sources