Editing Plymouth Argyle F.C. (section)

===1937–1986===
After the [[World War II|Second World War]] Argyle's 20-year stay in Division Two came to an end in 1950–despite the efforts of inspirational captain [[Jack Chisholm]]. However, the club was back in Division Two before long, after winning the Third Division South in 1952. The closest the club has ever come to playing in the [[Football League First Division]] (top tier) was in [[1952–53 Football League|1952–53]], when reaching fourth place in the [[Football League Second Division]], the highest finish to date. In the [[1954–55 Football League|1954–1955]] season [[Floodlights (sport)|floodlights]] arrived at Home Park, but in 1956 Argyle went down again. The Pilgrims' reputation as a '[[yo-yo club]]' continued after winning Division Three–by now a national league–in 1959.

[[File:Jack Rowley.jpg|thumb|258x258px|[[Jack Rowley]] managed the club for over 230 games between 1955 and 1960, and won the [[Football League Third Division]] with the club in 1959]]

The 1960s started with one of the most bizarre events in Argyle's history. It came in the spring of 1963, when the club went on a mini-tour of [[Poland]]—the Pilgrims were invited to play a game as a warm-up to an international cycle race. Amazingly, 100,000 saw Argyle that day—the biggest crowd ever to attend a Plymouth match. In 1965 Argyle reached the [[Football League Cup]] semi-final, as a 2nd division team, for the first time in its history, but lost to Leicester City. But the decade ended disappointingly as Argyle returned to Division Three after relegation in 1968.

In March 1973 a memorable moment in Argyle's history was witnessed by 37,639 people at [[Home Park]]. Argyle played a friendly match against Brazilian giants [[Santos FC]], who at the time were one of the best teams in the world. That day Santos also had arguably the best footballer of all time in their starting line-up –[[Pelé]]. However, Argyle, then a Third Division side, shocked the world with a 3–2 win. The Greens were actually 3–0 up at one stage (thanks to goals from Mike Dowling, [[Derek Rickard]] and [[Jimmy Hinch]]) but a [[Penalty kick (association football)|penalty]] scored at the Barn Park End by Pelé helped a Santos fightback. However, in the end Santos came up short and were defeated. There was a huge pitch invasion at the final whistle after a win for The Pilgrims.<ref name="Argyle 3 Santos 2">{{cite web|url=http://www.greensonscreen.co.uk/santos72H.asp|title=Argyle 3, Santos 2|publisher=Greens on Screen|access-date=5 June 2010|archive-date=1 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801060936/http://www.greensonscreen.co.uk/santos72H.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1974 – with future England striker and Argyle manager [[Paul Mariner]] now playing for the team – Argyle again reached the League Cup semi-final, this time as a Third Division side. Argyle drew the first leg at home against [[Manchester City F.C.|Manchester City]] 1–1, but lost the [[Maine Road]] encounter 2–0. After spending six years in Division Three, Argyle finally returned to Division Two in 1974–75, under the management of [[Tony Waiters]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Story of Plymouth Argyle 1974/75 {{!}} Plymouth Argyle - PAFC |url=https://www.pafc.co.uk/video/player/0_pbfht0zb |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=www.pafc.co.uk |archive-date=11 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240711053037/https://www.pafc.co.uk/video/player/0_pbfht0zb |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tony Waiters R.I.P {{!}} Plymouth Argyle - PAFC |url=https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/2020/november/tony-waiters-r.i.p |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=www.pafc.co.uk |language=en |archive-date=5 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505074113/https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/2020/november/tony-waiters-r.i.p |url-status=live }}</ref> This was mainly thanks to strike partners [[Paul Mariner]] and [[Billy Rafferty]], who scored a very impressive 46 goals between them. However, the club was back down again in 1977. Although the decade did end on a high note–in 1978–79 [[Kevin Hodges]] made his Argyle debut, and he went on to play 620 games for the club–more than any other player.

[[File:Home Park, Plymouth - geograph.org.uk - 1229431.jpg|thumb|Match at [[Home Park]] in 1981|left]]

In 1984 Plymouth reached the [[FA Cup]] semi-final despite being in the Third Division.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Errington |first=Chris |date=2020-03-14 |title=On this day: Argyle reached FA Cup semi-finals for first and only time |url=https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/day-plymouth-argyle-reached-fa-3950537 |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=PlymouthLive |language=en |archive-date=5 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505074116/https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/day-plymouth-argyle-reached-fa-3950537 |url-status=live }}</ref> After a successful cup run in which Argyle beat [[West Bromwich Albion F.C.|West Bromwich Albion]] away, a top division team at the time (1–0 courtesy of a [[Tommy Tynan]] goal after 58 minutes), and [[Derby County F.C.|Derby County]] (the first game at Home Park ended 0–0, but Argyle won the replay 0–1 at the [[Baseball Ground]]), they lost 1–0 to [[Watford F.C.|Watford]] in the semi-final at [[Villa Park]] courtesy of a [[George Reilly]] goal. However, manager [[John Hore (footballer, born 1947)|John Hore]] was sacked during the following campaign and was replaced by [[Dave Smith (footballer born 1933)|Dave Smith]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dave Smith: 1933-2022 {{!}} Plymouth Argyle - PAFC |url=https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/dave-smith-1933-2022 |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=www.pafc.co.uk |language=en |archive-date=14 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914004051/https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/dave-smith-1933-2022 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1985–86, Smith's first full season in charge, Argyle finished as runners-up in Division Three, resulting in promotion. The following season, despite being a newly promoted team, Argyle finished a respectable 7th place in Division Two, thereby narrowly missing the division's new play-off zone and the chance to move to the First Division (now the Premier League). In 1988 Smith surprisingly left to take charge of [[Dundee F.C.|Dundee]], making way for [[Ken Brown (footballer born 1934)|Ken Brown]] to become manager.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greatest Managers: 20-16 {{!}} Plymouth Argyle - PAFC |url=https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/2019/july/greatest-managers-20-16 |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=www.pafc.co.uk |language=en |archive-date=5 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505073150/https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/2019/july/greatest-managers-20-16 |url-status=live }}</ref>