GoS: Player Details

Greens on Screen started its life in 1999 before many of the football sites that we are familiar with today, including Plymouth Argyle's own official site. Greens on Screen is dedicated to the sights, sounds and history of Plymouth Argyle Football club. It is owned and run by the Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive, a charity dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and display of the heritage of our great football club.

The site owes its existence to Steve Dean. Without Steve's dedication and commitment for over 25 years, GoS would not exist and be the valued and loved resource for all football fans that it is today. The site is truly the envy of many clubs, and we owe a huge debt to Steve for his tireless work, and continued support behind the scenes.

Greens on Screen's first page was published in January 1999. Its early purpose was to bring Plymouth Argyle a little closer to those unable to see their team, and whilst it has changed a great deal over the years, its core themes - sights and sounds for Westcountry exiles - still stand. The site was very lucky to take on the content of Trevor Scallan's Semper Viridis in the summer of 2007, and in 2009 launched GoS-DB, a wealth of facts and figures from PAFC's history. A year later, we embarked on a complete history of Argyle, with much-valued contributions from chapter authors. Greens on Screen was taken over by its new custodians, The Argyle Archive, in 2024.

Greens on Screen is an amateur website and proud of it. It is run by a team of volunteers from the Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive (Argyle Archive). Without the hard work and much-valued contributions of these volunteers, running the site would not be possible. Greens on Screen is self-taught and as a result, a little bit quirky.

Greens on Screen remains advertisement free, which means we are grateful for the generous support of our donors and the work of our volunteers to help keep it free of promotions. If you would like to support the work of Greens on Screen, please consider donating to the Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive.

GoS's sole aim is to be a service to fellow supporters, and we look forward to continuing to celebrate Argyle'ss history for many years to come.

Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive.
April 2024

Thanks to Dave Rowntree for many of the player images after 1984.

Can you help? This page is the result of the best endeavours of all concerned. If you spot a mistake or know of facts to add, or have a better photo, please get in touch using 'Contact Us' (top, right).

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MARK SAUNDERS

Born: 23 July 1971

Came from: Tiverton Town Went to: Gillingham

First game: 22 August 1995 Last game: 02 May 1998

Appearances: 81 (65/16) Goals: 11

Argyle's record at plucking rough diamonds out of the local football scene and turning them into gems is not perhaps as good as it should be, but Mark Saunders was undoubtedly one of the rare success stories.

Born in Reading, Saunders ended up moving to North Devon and went on to become the star player at Tiverton Town - the local club of Argyle's then chairman, Dan MacCauley. Whether influenced by his chairman or not, Neil Warnock decided to sign the 24-year-old in the summer of 1995 - though he rather slipped through the backdoor unnoticed as Warnock made a host of high-profile signings for relatively big money. Indeed, the unassuming Saunders made only four starts as Argyle won promotion out of the basement division through the playoffs, but was more or less an integral part of the team for the next two seasons.

A tireless midfielder with a tasty tackle and an eye for goal, Saunders was one of the few Argyle players to emerge with any credit from the relegation season of 1997/98 under Mick Jones. Despite not finding the net until Christmas, Saunders had scored seven goals by the end of the season and his worth was only truly realised by Argyle fans after he had left Home Park to sign for Gillingham on a Bosman free transfer. He spent eight seasons at Priestfield, becoming a crowd favourite in the process, and after spells at Folkestone and Maidstone, he re-signed for Tiverton 13 years after he left.

YOUR CONTRIBUTION

If you can add to this profile, perhaps with special memories, a favourite story or the results of your original research, please contribute here.

APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]

The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.

I'm very grateful to many who have helped write GoS-DB's player pen-pictures, and to Dave Rowntree, the PAFC Media Team and Colin Parsons for their help with photos. Thanks also to staff at the National Football Museum, the Scottish Football Museum and ScotlandsPeople for their valuable assistance.

The following publications have been particularly valuable in the research of pen-pictures: Plymouth Argyle, A Complete Record 1903-1989 (Brian Knight, ISBN 0-907969-40-2); Plymouth Argyle, 101 Golden Greats (Andy Riddle, ISBN 1-874287-47-3); Football League Players' Records 1888-1939 (Michael Joyce, ISBN 1-899468-67-6); Football League Players' Records 1946-1988 (Barry Hugman, ISBN 1-85443-020-3) and Plymouth Argyle Football Club Handbooks.