Plymouth Argyle: The key summer dates for the Green Army to know about

It has been a quiet time at Plymouth Argyle since Wayne Rooney was appointed as the club's new head coach on FA Cup final day, May 25.

Nathanael Ogbeta has been confirmed as the first new signing of the Rooney era at Home Park, with the 23-year-old joining from Championship rivals Swansea City, while defender Brendan Galloway has agreed a new two-year contract to extend his stay with the Pilgrims.

Apart from that, and a few transfer rumours, it has been a pretty uneventful couple of weeks, with a lot of the Argyle players and staff enjoying a summer break - but it will not stay that way for too much longer. It will soon start ramping up towards the beginning of the 2024/25 Championship campaign, which will be on the weekend of August 9, 10 and 11.

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SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW

The summer transfer window will open this Friday (June 14) and close at 11pm on Friday, August 30. Argyle have a sizeable number of their players from last season still under contract but Rooney is sure to want to make some additions of his own to try to improve and strengthen the squad he has inherited.

You would imagine with the contacts that Manchester United's record goalscorer will have around football that could help open some doors to potential new recruits, particularly on loan from Premier League clubs, which is an area that Argyle have looked to explore a lot in recent years, and with quite a lot of success too.

The winter transfer window will open on January 1, 2025 and close at 11pm on Monday, February 3, 2025.

FIXTURE RELEASE DAY

The fixtures for the 2024/25 Premier League will be released on Tuesday, June 18, but fans of all EFL clubs - including Argyle - will have to wait a little longer than that.

Fixture lists for Championship, League One and League Two clubs will not be announced until 9am on Wednesday, June 26. It is likely, but not confirmed, the first round draw of the Carabao Cup will take place on the same day.

PRE-SEASON TRAINING

Argyle's players will report back for the start of pre-season training on Tuesday, July 2 - so just three weeks tomorrow - under Rooney and his backroom staff.

Nowadays, many professional footballers start working on their fitness levels before pre-season even begins, just to get themselves up to speed and ready for ball work in training sessions as soon as possible.

That will be particularly important for Argyle this year because the more time Rooney has to get across his ideas of the way he wants them to play the better. A warm weather training camp in Marbella from July 6-15 will be especially valuable in that regard.

PRE-SEASON GAMES

Argyle will play at least one game during their trip to Spain against yet to be confirmed opposition. After they return to Plymouth they will have four matches in the build-up to the Championship campaign.

None of them will take place at Home Park, though. That is because of work on a new, state-of-the-art playing surface, improved pitch surroundings, and integral installed LED advertising boards.

First up for the Pilgrims will be a visit to League Two side Cheltenham Town on Saturday, July 20 (3pm) followed by a game against National League South club Torquay United, under new manager and Argyle legend Paul Wotton, at Plainmoor on Saturday, July 27 (also 3pm).

Argyle will be away to League One outfit Bristol Rovers on Tuesday, July 30 (7pm) before they travel to MK Dons, of League Two, on Saturday, August 3 (3pm).

THE BIG KICK OFF

Under the new five-year £935 million EFL-Sky Sports broadcast deal, all games on the opening weekend of the Championship campaign will be televised live.

Two will be played at 8pm on Friday, August 9, another eight on the Saturday that will all kick-off at either 12.30pm, 3pm or 5.30pm, and then two more on the Sunday at a time to be confirmed.

The '3pm Saturday blackout' for live TV coverage will not apply in this case because the Premier League season does not begin until the following weekend.

INTERNATIONAL BREAKS

There will be four designated international breaks during the 2024/25 season. That means Argyle will not be in action on the weekends of September 7-8, October 12-13, November 16-17 and March 29-30.

With three international breaks before mid-November, it means the start to the campaign will be a bit of a stop-start affair before clubs enter the winter period.