Muslic appointment is a risk says Argyle chairman

Plymouth Argyle chairman Simon Hallett says the club has taken a risk appointing Miron Muslic as their new head coach.

The Austrian joined the club last week on a three-and-a-half-year deal as successor to Wayne Rooney.

The former England captain left the club on 31 December with Argyle bottom of the Championship.

The former Cercle Bruges boss got the role ahead of former Pilgrims manager Steven Schumacher and took charge for the first time on Tuesday in Argyle's 1-1 draw with Oxford United.

"Schuey was fantastic when he was at Argyle, but we're very happy with the choice we made," Hallett told BBC Radio Devon.

"I'd prefer not to go into comparing Miron with Schuey, it would be unfair on Schuey I think.

"Maybe Schuey would've been the safe choice, but we're risk-taking club, and you have to take risks in order to do well on a limited budget."

Hallett feels Muslic, who had never spent time in English football before joining Argyle, will fit well with the club.

The 42-year-old was praised by fans after a video of his passionate first speech to the Plymouth squad went viral.

"One of the interesting things about Miuon is that he comes from the European model where the head coach is very much a head coach, rather than a manager, and is used to working with a recruitment team," added Hallett.

"I think I saw on one of the jokey websites that Plymouth needs reconstruction after citizens have spent the day running through walls, which was a great joke.

"We've got the complete package, but we don't need to be overly swayed by how fantastic he is in front of a camera or fantastic he is in the dressing room; he is perfect for Argyle in almost every respect.

"I have to say that all our final candidates were really good, and I don't think any of them would have been bad choices."

Rooney brought 'unity' to Argyle

Muslic is the third new head coach Hallett the club have appointed in the past year.

Former England youth coach Ian Foster joined last January for an ill-fated three months that saw the Pilgrims tumble towards the relegation places.

Rooney, who had been sacked by Birmingham City in December 2023, was brought in to replace him despite his relatively poor record as a head coach.

Despite his lack of success on the field at Home Park - he guided the club to just four league wins in his half season in charge - Hallett says the former England star played a vital role at the club in the aftermath of gaining Championship survival on the final day of last season:

"To pay tribute to Wayne, we'd had a period when the unity of the club was starting to fray.

"Wayne did a remarkably good job very, very quickly in restoring the unity at Argyle, but we just couldn't get it done on the pitch.

"There were mitigating factors. Wayne is a very, very good person; you could see in his impact around the squad, his impact around the club, and indeed his impact around Plymouth that he's a very, very nice person and was very gracious throughout the whole parting process."

'Unfinished business' with Liverpool

Muslic's appointment comes in an eventful month for Argyle - director of football Neil Dewsnip left the club not long after Rooney, and the Pilgrims then broke their transfer record to sign Ghana attacker Michael Baidoo from Swedish side Elfsborg.

Having not won an away game since April, Argyle upset the odds last week when they were 1-0 winners at Premier League side Brentford in the FA Cup

They went on to secure a fourth-round tie at home to top-flight leaders and six-time European champions Liverpool - a side that beat the Pilgrims 1-0 in a replay in the third round of 2017 after a 0-0 draw at Anfield.

"It's going to be a fantastic day; we've got unfinished business," American-based Hallett said of the draw.

"They managed to sneak a lucky win against us eight years ago, so I think we have got unfinished business, and it's time we sorted them out.

"Of course we can cause an upset. Look at what happens every time in the FA Cup; you know Tamworth nearly turned over Tottenham."

He added: "It's a shame that we can't get 100,000 people in the ground, but we can't.

"The city will be a buzz. I hope that people can watch at home or watch in the pubs if they can't get a ticket.

"It's going to be very exciting. It's going to be good fun."