Welcome!

Welcome to the website of the Plymouth Argyle Supporters Training and Development Trust. The Trust funds the Argyle youth scheme and with Plymouth Argyle Youth Development ensures that there is a steady supply of young players at the club.

The Argyle youth scheme has produced some great players - Martin Hodge, Gary Megson, Mike Trebilcock, Dave Phillips, Colin Sullivan, Norman Piper, Nicky Jennings, Martin Barlow and Kevin Hodges, to name but a few. The current team benefits enormously from the performances of players such as Paul Wotton, Mickey Evans, Luke McCormick and Paul Connolly. The club would be poorer without its flow of young players.

But what about the local youngsters who go elsewhere to make their first footballing steps - players like Trevor Francis, Nigel Martyn and Craig Taylor? What could the Greens achieve if these stayed in the South West to learn their trade? There's no doubt that the long term future of Argyle requires a strong youth programme and that's what the Plymouth Argyle Supporters Training and Development Trust is all about.

In 1995, a group of Argyle supporters took the unprecendented decision to take over the running of the club's youth scheme for youngsters under the age of 16. This involved the setting up of a registered charity (the Plymouth Argyle Supporters Development and Training Trust) and a wholly owned company (Plymouth Argyle Youth Development Ltd) to administer the scheme and its associated trading. These bodies are self funding and self regulating and organise the Argyle centres of excellence and the Argyle Hotel (which offers subsidised/free accommodation and subsistence to youngsters when they visit Plymouth for inter-group football, combined training or group lectures). The history and activities of the trust and PAYD are outlined on the Argyle trust page.

The activities of the Trust and PAYD have their main short-term expression in the performances of the various Argyle youth teams. The most prominent of these is the under-19 team, which plays in the South West and Wales Under 19s Youth Alliance League. It has been extremely successful and has won both league and cup championships on numerous occasions. The club also has youth teams playing at the under-17 and under-15 levels. The performances of these and information about their rising stars can be found on the youth teams page.

From its outset the running of the trust and PAYD have involved the various Argyle supporters branches, most notably the Avon, Cornish, London and Northern branches, the Argyle Travel Club, the Vice Presidents, the Shareholders Association, the Senior Greens and P@SOTI (Argyle Supporters on the Internet). Information about each of these and how you can link to your local branch is given on the branch page.

Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of supporters' interest in becoming involved in the running of their clubs. Groups like Shareholders United, and the independent supporters associations at clubs like Bournemouth, Northampton and Brighton have had major effects on the directions of their clubs. Many clubs now have supporters representatives on their club boards. The advent of the government-funded Supporters' Direct is a body attempting to extend this initiative. The supporters trust page outlines the supporters' trust movement and provides links to Supporters' Direct and a number of the other supporters' trusts.

The Argyle trust is self-funding and its activities can only be continued, let alone expanded, if we all put our hands in our pockets and help finance them. You can help by becoming a friend of the trust. This will not only help the trust but also makes you a member of PASOTI and thereby gives you access to online discussions with leading figures at Home Park. Go to the trust friends page to see how you can help your club ensure a steady supply of stars for the future.