Plymouth Argyle have hit a rough patch of form and therefore questions over Tom Cleverley’s future may well be stemming from inside the club rather than whether or not he will continued to be pursued by those in the league above.

Last month, following the sacking of Paul Heckingbottom, it was reported that Preston North End had shortlisted Tom Cleverley to be his replacement.

Instead, Cleverley stayed put at Home Park with Preston opting to bring club legend Graham Alexander back to the club after his impressive time of it at Plymouth’s League One rivals Bradford City.

A relief for many and a belief that Cleverley would help Argyle sustain a promotion challenge; The Pilgrims have found it tough in recent weeks – and that has led our FLW Fan Pundit to believe he will not be going anywhere anytime soon.

It would be a surprise if Tom Cleverley departs Plymouth soon

Having started the season well, Plymouth most recently succumbed to a 3-0 hammering at Stevenage to make it back-to-back-to-nil losses after a 2-0 defeat at home to Huddersfield Town.

Those losses have seen Plymouth setback in their pursuit of top spot in the third-tier, albeit they remain in fifth position in League One and just a win off Stockport County and Huddersfield in first and second.

Amid previous links to a Championship job, FLW’s Plymouth Fan Pundit Harry Jones-Barnett believes Cleverley will stay put at Argyle for the longer-term, while also believing he needs to prove himself in Devon first.

Harry says: “In terms of Championship moves and potentially going and leaving for a bigger club in the future; first of all, I think Tom Cleverley needs to sort out his own job at the moment.

“We are in quite a bad run of form. Three in four are losses so I think that is something that really need to be sorted out before he can even consider any Championship jobs.

“Lets say hypothetically we get to January and he has stabled the ship, I can’t see him leaving, to be honest.

“He’s said on multiple occasions that he thinking about Argyle for the long-term and he seems like a very loyal guy.

“So, potentially you could say that maybe he would want to go back up north to live with his family but also he feels that Plymouth feels like home.

“I think it would probably be less likely and he needs the stability to improve as a manager and it works well because we need stability after losing so many managers in recent years.”

Plymouth finished well last season and should challenge in League One

Despite those defeats against Huddersfield and Stevenage raising questions as to whether or not Plymouth can sustain a promotion challenge in League One, they do still have a strong squad for the level that should compete.

In the first half of last season, Plymouth badly struggled and flirted towards the bottom four and the relegation places before Bim Pepple formed an excellent partnership with prolific striker Lorent Tolaj to aid Plymouth’s propulsion towards the top six and the play-off places.

Missing out on the final day of the campaign and finishing eighth, Plymouth then lost Tolaj to Bristol City but with Pepple still at the club and the signing of Will Evans from Mansfield Town, the feeling was that their form in the second half of the season should be maintained this time around.

Performances have veered from brilliant to woeful, as was the case against Stevenage, but they are in a much better position than they were this time last year and should have a foundation to kick on.

Kicking on and challenging is something Cleverley should do to prove himself as a genuinely exciting young coach, having endured that underwhelming first half to last season after a mid-table finish while in charge of Watford – which does begin to look better and better as The Hornets struggle down at the bottom end of the second-tier after failing to kick on following his departure last season.

There are still things for Cleverley to work out and recent defeats have brought about some criticism from supporters but there is clearly something to build on for both himself and Argyle as they seek a return to the Championship.