Chairman takes aim as Leeds United's former Championship rivals lose boss to European side

Leeds United’s former Championship rivals but now League One-bound Plymouth Argyle have lost boss Miron Muslic to a European side.

Muslic, 42, was appointed Pilgrims boss in January following the sacking of Wayne Rooney and the side’s results improved in their bid to beat the drop.

Muslic was ultimately unable to keep the Greens up and Plymouth were essentially already relegated ahead of May’s final game of the season at home to already promoted Leeds.

The Whites, though, needed a 92nd-minute Manor Solomon winner to clinch a title-sealing victory and Plymouth had high hopes of a bright future under their Austrian-Bosnian boss.

Muslic, however, has now departed the club to become the new head coach of 2. Bundesliga side FC Schalke 04 - much to Plymouth’s frustration.

The club released a statement earlier this week revealing that they had “reluctantly allowed Muslic to open talks with a 2. Bundesliga side after he expressed his desire to speak with the German team and not return to England.”

The statement read: “Despite regular communication since the end of the season, and no mention of any issues, Miron has now made it clear that, after extended periods away from his family, this opportunity provides him the chance to be closer to them after four years on the road.

“We are frustrated by this decision, having implemented clear structures, processes and personnel to aid Miron and his coaching staff as we look to return to the Sky Bet Championship at the earliest opportunity.

“Not only that, the club have also moved quickly to bring in new signings and received repeated verbal promises from Miron that he was committed to Argyle and would do everything to help the club bounce back to the second tier.

“Muslic joined the Greens in January 2025, on a three-and-a-half-year contract, after a period out of the game having departed Cercle Brugge. He will now leave Argyle just four months into that long-term commitment. We wish him the best for his future career. We will be making no further comment at this stage.”

The club then posted a statement on Saturday morning with a message from chairman Simon Hallett.

He wrote: “We are disappointed at Miron Muslic’s departure – not at his joining a club with a profile such as Schalke, but in the timing and manner of his leaving.

“We hired Miron in January, giving him a three-and-a-half-year contract.

“Shortly after his joining us, we also hired the staff he requested, in an assistant head coach, head of elite performance, performance analysis and, a little later, a set-piece coach.

“A recruitment team was in place for the season, augmented by our securing the services of Stuart Webber, a very experienced and well-regarded Sporting Director, to assist with the post-season rebuild of our squad, along with Tom Randle, who has subsequently joined us on a full-time basis as Head of Recruitment.

“He assured me that he was 100 per cent committed”...

“After the season ended, and with rumours flying that Miron was attracting interest from other clubs, I called him personally and he assured me that he was 100 per cent committed to Argyle.

“As a result, Miron continued to take part in all recruitment meetings and was involved with interviewing and recruiting players until just last week. His colleagues had no indication that he wanted to leave.

“Last Saturday, Miron informed the club that he wished to speak with Schalke with a view to joining them.

“Under his contract, a club wishing to speak with him needs Argyle’s prior permission. We were unwilling to give such permission, but Miron informed us that under no circumstances was he going to return to Plymouth. Thus, we reluctantly gave the necessary permission.

“By making clear his intention never to return, Miron gave us no choice but to move on. We could have insisted on the full compensation and gone to court to enforce his contract but would not have had his services as head coach, and progress on recruiting a replacement would have been blocked.

“Rather than get mired in a protracted, and highly disruptive, process we settled for an amount of compensation that, while below the contracted sum, is a strong financial outcome for a League One head coach, enabling us to move on positively.”