“Would managing Liverpool one day be a dream come true? Of course it would,” says Ryan Lowe, an ardent Liverpudlian who grew up in Anfield, just yards from The Kop.
“But you have to respect the level you’re at and how you go about your business. I want success at Plymouth Argyle and our aim is to become a sustainable Championship club within five years.
“That’s what I’ve been brought in to achieve and we got promoted at the first attempt last season. I’m loving it here.”
Indeed, he should be. The former striker, who enjoyed a successful playing career in the lower leagues, including three spells with Bury, takes his Plymouth side to Bramall Lane on Saturday for a tantalising FA Cup clash with Premier League strugglers Sheffield United.
Lowe made his name in management at Bury, helping them to promotion from League Two as player-boss before a financial crisis saw him depart for Plymouth in June 2019.
The Pilgrims had just been relegated but Lowe, who took five players from Bury and several trusted backroom staff with him to Home Park, steered them straight back up last term.
The 42-year-old’s partner and two children remain on Merseyside, but Lowe tells i: “They come down when they can and I’m home where possible. But you have to do right by your employers and I certainly do that.
“You can’t just turn up and pick up your wages. You need to immerse yourself in the area and the culture if you are to be successful.
“When I walk into the supermarket, people say ‘alright gaffer’, which is nice because we’re a community-based club.
“Plymouth Argyle has always been a sleeping giant which has maybe lacked ambition in the past.”
Plymouth transformation
Now, though, desire stirs within the Pilgrims and their passionate “Green Army” fanbase. Just over a year ago, an impressive new £8million grandstand was completed at Home Park and on Tuesday, Lowe’s men won at Sunderland to move within six points of the play-off places.
They will now face the Premier League’s bottom side in Sheffield United after winning at Huddersfield a fortnight ago to reach the FA Cup fourth round for the first time since 2008.
“We’re a young group and relatively inexperienced, but we will always compete,” says Lowe. “There is a fantastic work ethic among the players and they are buying in to what we’re trying to do. When that pays off, it’s even better.”
Striker Luke Jephcott, 20, has scored 15 goals this season and is attracting interest from rival clubs. Former Bury player Danny Mayor provides a touch of class in midfield and Liverpool left-back Adam Lewis recently arrived on loan.
Lowe adds: “We’re also getting some fantastic players coming through our academy now, with the likes of Jephcott, Mike Cooper, Adam Randell and others.
“We knew Jephcott was a goalscorer but we sent him on loan to Truro City. He came back fitter and stronger and hasn’t looked back since.”
Lowe grew up dreaming of playing for Liverpool and was on their books twice as a youngster.
“I was at the centre of excellence when I was 13 or 14 but broke my ankle,” he remembers. “I then came back a year later and I didn’t really enjoy it. I was playing for a cracking Sunday League side at the time called East Villa.”
Lowe went on to play Southport’s youth side before signing for semi-professional outfit Burscough.
“Burscough was a fantastic grounding with some fantastic people who I still speak to now,” says Lowe.
He combined playing with a job working at the family gym in Liverpool.
“It was on Seel Street and all the old boxers went there,” he smile. “It was a great place to learn and I saw people bareknuckle fighting!
“I was getting paid to work in the gym while playing part-time at Burscough.”
A trial at Everton came to nothing but Colin Harvey recommended Lowe to Shrewsbury Town, then managed by Goodison great Kevin Ratcliffe.
Lowe spent five seasons with Shrewsbury before spells at Chester City, Crewe, Bury, Sheffield Wednesday, MK Dons and Tranmere. He is a long-standing friend of former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and has mixed with Jurgen Klopp.
Lowe still follows his boyhood team home and away and was in Madrid when they beat Tottenham in the 2019 Champions League final.
“I’ve been to Melwood to watch Liverpool train and picked Jurgen’s brains on a few things,” he said. “For me, he’s the best and I try and take as much from him as possible.
“I obviously watch Liverpool whenever I can and listen to all Klopp’s interviews, so he’s someone I look up to.
“Stevie and I have been mates for years and in 2005, when Liverpool beat AC Milan in Istanbul, he got me into the team hotel for the party afterwards!
“Now we speak about players and our respective teams, and with Bury we played Stevie’s team at Ibrox in a pre-season friendly.
“Rangers are going so well at the moment and long may it continue.
“I speak to Karl Robinson and Paul Cook quite a bit too. I’ll pick any manager’s brains and why wouldn’t you?”
Lowe’s success at Bury and Plymouth has caught the eye and beating the Blades would add another huge notch to his managerial CV.
“Is it a free hit for us? Possibly, because we’re taking on a Premier League team and no-one expects us to win anyway,” he said.
“But we think ‘let’s go toe to toe and give a good account of ourselves’. That’s what we’ll try to do.”
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