PLYMOUTH Argyle chairman Simon Hallett has expressed his ‘disappointment’ following the departure of Miron Muslic to join 2. Bundesliga side FC Schalke 04.

Muslic joined Argyle in January, overseeing 23 matches, including the memorable victory against Liverpool in the Emirates FA Cup. Despite his best efforts, however, he could not stave off relegation with Argyle dropping to Sky Bet League One on the final day of the season.

Having reluctantly agreed to let the 42-year-old depart Home Park, Hallett released a statement to the club’s supporters. It read: “We are disappointed at Miron’s departure – not at his joining a club with a profile such as Schalke, but in the timing and manner of his leaving.

“We hired Miron in January, giving him a three-and-a-half-year contract. Shortly after his joining us, we also hired the staff he requested, in an assistant head coach, head of elite performance, performance analysis and, a little later, a set-piece coach. A recruitment team was in place for the season, augmented by our securing the services of Stuart Webber, a very experienced and well-regarded sporting director, to assist with the post-season rebuild of our squad, along with Tom Randle, who has subsequently joined us on a full-time basis as head of recruitment.

“After the season ended, and with rumours flying that Miron was attracting interest from other clubs, I called him personally and he assured me that he was 100 per cent committed to Argyle. As a result, Miron continued to take part in all recruitment meetings and was involved with interviewing and recruiting players until just last week. His colleagues had no indication that he wanted to leave.

“Last Saturday, Miron informed the club that he wished to speak with Schalke with a view to joining them. Under his contract, a club wishing to speak with him needs Argyle’s prior permission. We were unwilling to give such permission, but Miron informed us that under no circumstances was he going to return to Plymouth. Thus, we reluctantly gave the necessary permission.

“By making clear his intention never to return, Miron gave us no choice but to move on. We could have insisted on the full compensation and gone to court to enforce his contract but would not have had his services as head coach, and progress on recruiting a replacement would have been blocked.

“Rather than get mired in a protracted, and highly disruptive, process we settled for an amount of compensation that, while below the contracted sum, is a strong financial outcome for a League One head coach, enabling us to move on positively.”

Hallett also addressed the latest in regards a prospective new investor for the club, he added: “We have been in talks with a prospective new investor in our club for over a year. Those talks led to an application for approval of that investment being lodged with the EFL in February.

“Unfortunately, negotiations have taken too long and the key information that both we and the EFL required to complete the deal has not been forthcoming. I no longer believe that news of the new investor is imminent.

“As a result, existing shareholders (I, Argyle Green and the Holliday family) will provide the funds to ensure that we stay on course with our plans. This means making funds available to ensure we have a competitive football budget to aim to return us to the Championship as soon as possible, as well as continued investment in Foulston Park. Our budget next season will be twice that we had the last time we were in League One.

“These additional funds equate to the same level of financial support that was written into the investor plan for year one.

“I completely understand that this will be very frustrating for fans, as it is extremely frustrating for me and the rest of the Argyle Board. I have said constantly that my resources can enable us to be a sustainable Championship club, but that if we wish to aspire beyond that we would need new investment. I can provide some of that new investment, with the Holliday family’s and Argyle Green’s help, but not all.

“While progress towards a transaction in its current form looks to have stalled, we will continue to explore alternative routes, including being open to revised terms with other investment groups.

“It is important that we get the right investor, not the quickest investor, and this may take some time. We are committed to this, but in the meantime, current shareholders can (and will) support the club through its next stage of development.

“This current situation is disappointing, obviously, but honesty and transparency are important to us. It’s been a long, ponderous process, but one we thought would come to a successful conclusion. It has not, but we remain in a very strong financial position.

“Over the past five or six years, we have set out a clear pathway to achieving success at Argyle. In that time, we progressed from League Two to the Championship, where we spent two seasons, before suffering relegation. Our mission has been, and remains, to be a sustainable and competitive Championship club, but some of the decisions we have made in the last two seasons have not worked as we had hoped.

“Those decisions obviously contributed to our relegation, but were decisions made by the entire board, and it is entirely unfair to blame any individuals. Unfortunately, in sport, as in life, decisions made do not always work out. We are sorry and will do everything we can to put it right.”