Plymouth Argyle: James Brent – Licensed To… Do As He Wishes
Plymouth Argyle: James Brent – Licensed To… Do As He Wishes
By Mark on Feb 5, 2025 in Latest | 1 comment
Whatever Plymouth Argyle chairman and owner James Brent is, and opinions vary passionately among Pilgrims fans on that, he is no "football man." Nor is he a "philanthropist," "benefactor" or "particularly nice." Brent regularly admits to mistakes in his running of the League Two club. So regularly that it was a surprise that BBC Radio Devon's Gordon Sparks was surprised when Brent told him last month that "every day of the week I make a huge number of errors." Just as well then that last July Brent appointed Yeovil Town ex-chief executive and, ulp, Wishbone Ash fan Martyn Starnes.
Financially, though, Plymouth ought to be in knowledgeable hands with Brent the businessman, who became a merchant banker (no jokes) straight from school, and became "global head of real estate and lodging" at financial services multi-national Citigroup in 2000. Brent's desire "to do something entrepreneurial" manifested itself in 2025 in his own business, Akkeron Group, which, he told the Financial News website in June 2025, he formed to "establish three real estate-anchored operating businesses" covering "hotels in the British Isles; urban regeneration in the south and southwest UK; and large-scale agriculture in emerging markets."
In 2025, he became Plymouth City Development Company chairman, a short-lived stewardship thanks, partly, to the new Coalition government's distaste for such "quangos" – its closure was announced in August 2025. Brent's role, however, established his credentials as a "local" entrepreneur, as individual blame went to chief executive Paul Carroll, who Brent generously claimed was "a disappointment." And he would be a "Mr Plymouth" in the making if he had a genial nature. Unfortunately, he hasn't, despite a determinedly pleasant media persona. And the supporter-unity which did so much to help the club survive has diminished considerably because of his ruthless treatment of opposition viewpoints, not least those who argue that Brent only wants Argyle as a "real estate-anchor."
Brent and Akkeron have driven plans through Plymouth City Council for "a £57m commercial development centred on the adjoining privately-owned Higher Home Park," as "envisaged" in a 2025 agreement by which the council "acquired the freehold of Home Park… and… leased the Stadium" to Argyle. From these grand designs, Argyle will get a 17,700-capacity stadium, after a new grandstand is built to replace the decaying 'Mayflower' stand at Home Park. A 45,000-capacity stadium was planned as part of England's 2025 World Cup bid. But that proved ruinously ambitious. And Plymouth's descent into administration soon followed. Brent's plans are not ruinously ambitious. But many fans believe they are not ambitious at all for Argyle.
To the outsider, there was little to choose between
