Plymouth Argyle: Ian Foster comments won’t sit well amid Ryan Lowe needle - View | OneFootball

A familiar face, in the form of Ryan Lowe, returned to Home Park this weekend as the manager of Preston North End.

His side got the better of Plymouth Argyle and the slump that his former employers are enduring continues as a result.

Current Argyle boss Ian Foster made an interesting comment about his predecessor, and it has rubbed the fanbase up the wrong way once again.

What Ian Foster had to say about Ryan Lowe

In the wake of yet another Argyle defeat, the pressure on Foster’s shoulders reached new heights.

PNE substitute Liam Millar scored the only goal of the game as the fortress that was once Home Park bore witness to another underwhelming performance.

After the game, the manager had a number of interesting things to say to the media.

“Ryan won a Championship here, and he got booed onto the pitch, which is strange,” was a fascinating comment to make, particularly given that the Preston man didn’t win a title with Argyle, and he had also completely disregarded the circumstances of his departure.

The relationship between Foster and the Argyle fanbase is frail as it is, so to make a remark like that, which is clearly aimed at those who pay their hard-earned money to watch this team, is bold at the very least.

Speaking to Plymouth Live, Foster also had this to say: "I get the frustration, I get it, I do. If they want to turn the frustrations onto myself that's fine. Does it help? Not really. It doesn't help me, it doesn't particularly help the players either because we are all one team."

On a human level, there is a sense of empathy that most will direct towards the manager because it can’t be easy to be under such intense pressure, but at the same time, he does regularly fail to endear and do himself any favours.

Ryan Lowe weighing in on Plymouth situation

This defeat to Preston means that the Pilgrims have lost seven of their last 10, with the only victory coming away at Middlesbrough in that time.

The slide down towards the relegation zone is certainly ongoing, a mere two points separate Argyle from 22nd placed Huddersfield Town.

"Fozzy is a good guy and that's a tough job to follow Steven Schumacher, first and foremost, for what he did. Patience is key. He's a top man, I know him personally, he's a fantastic coach and it's just finding that solution to collect points," were the words of Lowe on the man in the spotlight.

He went on to offer up something of a plea to the supporters regarding the treatment of Foster: "I get the frustration for the fans but please get behind him and stick with him. You are going to need him, he's not going anywhere."

Neither of these coaches were particularly popular at Home Park on Saturday afternoon, so Foster’s decision to align himself with Lowe does raise further question marks.

Everyone in Plymouth should be united as the club battle to stay in the Championship and a rallying cry from the manager would be well-suited right about now.

Instead, though, he cuts a downtrodden figure and is regularly saying and doing things that further isolate him from the thousands and thousands in the Green Army.