Ryan Lowe's Plymouth Argyle debut as manager will see him return to Crewe Alexandra

Plymouth Argyle’s season-opening away game against Crewee Alexandra will have special significance for their new managerial duo Ryan Lowe and Steven Schumacher.

Not only will it be their first competitive Pilgrims’ fixture, it will see both of them return to one of their former clubs.

Between them, Lowe and Schumacher made close to 200 appearances for the Railwaymen.

So they will be in very familiar surroundings when Argyle kick off their League Two campaign on Saturday, August 3.

Lowe had three spells as a striker for Crewe, the first of which was from 2006 to 2008.

He scored one goal, assisted another and was man-of-the-match in his debut, a season-opening 2-2 draw at home to Northampton Town.

Lowe made a total of 57 starts and 17 substitute appearances for Alex and netted 17 times before re-signing for Chester, the club he had left to move to the Alexandra Stadium two years earlier.

He returned to Crewe for a short loan spell from Bury during the 2015/16 season, getting two goals in six games.

Lowe then completed a permanent move to the Railwaymen from Bury the following summer.

He went on to make a total of 23 starts and five substitute appearances, scoring nine times.

Then, in January 2017, Lowe took up a player-coach role at Bury, which ended his third stint at Crewe.

As for Schumacher, he had three seasons as a midfielder with the Railwaymen.

He signed from Bradford City in the summer of 2007 and scored eight goals in 80 games before moving on to Bury in 2010.

Lowe said about Argyle's opening fixture: "It will be good going back to my old stomping ground.

"I had a good time there and have kept in touch with the chairman and the staff."

Lowe and Schumacher are not the only Argyle personnel with links to Crewe.

Midfield duo Conor Grant and Antoni Sarcevic have both played for the Cheshire club earlier in their careers.

Grant had an 18-game loan spell with Crewe from Everton during the 2017/18 season.

Sarcevic started his professional career with Alex and made a total of four starts and 12 substitute appearances, scoring one goal, before leaving for Chester in 2011.

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