Plymouth Argyle's first season in the Coca Cola Championship proved a lucrative one, with the Home Park club announcing record profits of over £1 million for the year ending May 2005. It's the fourth year in a row that Argyle have posted a profit, and club chairman Paul Stapleton believes they are on course for realising their dream of reaching the Premiership. Plymouth made £1.1 million in the season ending May last year, which enabled the club to boost the squad. Among the players brought in was record signing Akos Buzsaky, a Hungarian international who is believed to have cost around £300,000.
 | | Paul Stapleton |
Mr Stapleton said the Greens are now well placed to take the giant step up to the Premiership: "It's the highest ever profit achieved by Plymouth Argyle, and it is mainly due to the fact that our fans came and supported us in our first year back in the Championship after an absence of so many years. "The average attendance of 16,600 was the highest since 1960. If we had that every year, there is no reason why we shouldn't be towards the top of the Championship. "The Promised Land of the Premiership is there and we can see from what we have done this season, with the right appointments in the rights areas, we can get there. "We're building a platform to go forward, providing a period of stability so we can go on pushing towards first the play-off area, and then the Premiership. "I think we have shown this year, particularly since Tony Pulis has arrived, that we are attracting better players.
 | | Plymouth Argyle manager Tony Pulis (Empics) |
"The team has improved; the quality of the football has improved; and, if the fans can see progress on and off the pitch, hopefully they will come with us and we can keep going until we reach the Promised Land. "The balance sheet of this football club when we took over was in an adverse position of about £1.3 million – now it's £2 million in the black, so we have turned around the fortunes of the football club significantly." However, the Plymouth chairman issued some words of warning, after this season's drop in attendances: "We increased the wages budget by £1m. "We knew very well that the average attendance would not keep up, but we did not expect it to drop off as much, which has been a bit of a shock to the system. "I always budget for a reduction, but not as significant as it has been, and I am hoping that our fans will come between now and the end of the season to push the average back up. "We are in the Championship now, we knew we had to increase wages by at least £1m and we will need to increase it again if we can, to go forward." He added: "It's just as well that we had this solid platform achieved last year, to enable us to get through this year. "This year has been much harder. It wouldn't surprise me if we have to use some of that profit and declare a controlled loss." As part of Argyle's bid to become a Premiership club, they intend to complete the redevelopment of Home Park. A statement about plans for the final phase - the Mayflower Stand side of the ground - is due before the end of this season. | 
