Crystal Palace, Southampton made Plymouth Argyle look foolish over player treatment | OneFootball

Jason Puncheon was never given the chance to unleash his full potential during his time at Home Park

When it comes to Jason Puncheon, Plymouth Argyle fans can only have regret that they didn’t get to see more of the midfielder during his time with the club.

Having been a standout star in the lower leagues, the Greens got their hands on the playmaker in the summer of 2008, as they continued to try and make their mark during their time in the Championship.

With Paul Sturrock back in charge of the club that he got to the second tier earlier in the decade, the Pilgrims had just finished tenth in the top rung of the Football League, but had seen a mass exodus of talent months before, as a number of top stars departed for pastures new.

Puncheon was deemed to be a replacement in the forward areas for the likes of Akos Buzsaky and David Norris, who had left Devon months before, but was given short shrift from his new boss, who barely gave him the time of day at Home Park.

A dazzling career straddled across the Championship and Premier League was to follow, but not in the green of Argyle, leaving the club with egg on their face as they failed to make the most of the talent at their disposal.

Jason Puncheon barely gets a chance after Plymouth Argyle move

Puncheon was a player catching plenty of attention during his time at Barnet in League Two, with a highlight reel of eye-catching strikes, as well as an ability to shift the ball into dangerous positions with his magical left foot.

Argyle were well-enamoured with the creative midfielder, and stumped up £250,000 to bring him to the club, with Sturrock keen to see his talents in the second tier after making the move to Home Park.

The Argyle boss told the club’s website, via the BBC: “We have watched him two or three times and we are confident that he can make the step up to the Championship.

"He is an exciting player who will bring something different to our squad."

Such is the case with summer signings, the excitement to see them in league action is what every football fan lives for, and it was no different with Puncheon, who was thrown in from the off.

After coming on as a late substitute for his first appearance of the season, the midfielder was a regular starter throughout August, before being given the hook after just 35 minutes in a clash with Norwich City at Home Park, after a red card for defender Krizstian Timar.

Whether it was a reaction to his early replacement, or Sturrock simply deeming him not good enough for the second tier, but Puncheon was barely seen in a green shirt again after that moment, with that sliding doors moment changing the course of Argyle history.

Instead, he was loaned out to one of his former clubs: MK Dons, where he played with freedom and got back to scoring and creating in the second tier, and proved to Sturrock and Argyle what they were missing out on.

One further appearance for his parent club came in the days after Christmas in 2008, as he almost appeared out of nowhere to play 77 minutes at Cardiff City, before rejoining the League One side when the new year began.

While their own player was causing mayhem in the league below, the Pilgrims were struggling to keep their head above water in the second tier, with a relegation battle on their hands, and goals proving hard to come by.

For all his wonderful traits as Argyle boss, Sturrock’s [pictured] stubbornness is something that those at Home Park would come to rue at times during his time in Devon, and the treatment of Puncheon is one scenario which they must wish the Scot had dealt with differently.

Another MK loan followed in the following campaign, before high-flying Southampton finally gave the player permanent refuge at St Mary’s; a place he would call home for the next four years.

Southampton, Crystal Palace success leaves Plymouth Argyle regretting Jason Puncheon action

With the Saints in League One at the time, Puncheon had taken one step back to make two steps forward; something he did within a year of leaving Home Park behind, with the Premier League within his sights.

In fact, the midfielder played in the top three divisions of English football within the same season during he 2010/11 campaign, as he started at St Mary’s, before having a brief stint with Millwall in the second tier, before finishing the campaign netting for Blackpool in the top flight.

Having been unable to get a game at the Theatre of Greens months before, Puncheon was now mixing with the best that the country had to offer, while the Pilgrims were heading very much in a different direction, with successive relegations leaving them in the fourth tier.

It was a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face with Argyle and Puncheon, with the creative spark being allowed to depart the club - likely due to a clash of personalities with the magisterial Sturrock - with the Greens left with lesser players plugging the gaps as a result.

Not that the player was concerned, for he was back in the Premier League with Southampton before too long, with the south coast side rampantly running through the divisions at the start of the last decade, with six goals in 32 top flight games proving his worth at the top level.

Lo and behold, a reported £1.75 million move to Crystal Palace soon followed, with Puncheon calling Selhurst Park home for six years; scoring against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City, while Argyle were trying to maintain their status as a football club, as well as stay in the Football League.

How different things could have been if player and manager saw eye to eye. Alas, the Green Army never got the chance to see the full potential of Jason Puncheon, and were all the worse off for it.