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Failed World Cup Bid

In August 2009 the club announced plans for wholesale development of the stadium and regeneration throughout the area. The club declared that the city of Plymouth would be submitting an application to the Football Association to be a host venue for England's 2018 FIFA World Cup Bid. The eye-catching plans were released to the public on 14 December 2009, two days before the FA would announce which candidates they had selected for the bid. The plans, designed by Populous, include developing the stadium into a 46,000 capacity all-seater area, with a 5,000-seat indoor facility and hotel built into the complex, at a cost of at least £50m. The build would be done in three stages. The First Phase, a new Mayflower Stand, will become a reality regardless of the bid, increasing the capacity to 27,000. The Second Phase, an additional 8,000 seats, and the Third Phase, an additional 11,000 seats, would be completed by the 2014–15 season should Plymouth's application and England's bid be successful, giving the stadium a capacity of 46,000 all-seated by this stage.

"If one were to classify Britain's 'sleeping giants' in order, Cardiff might be top for self-destruction, but Plymouth, surely, has the ground location which most clubs would die for."

The city presented its bid at Wembley Stadium in November 2009 with numerous businesses and sports clubs from Devon and Cornwall fully behind it. A selection of those included the city's rugby union and basketball clubs, Plymouth Albion, and Plymouth Raiders, and local football clubs Exeter City, and Torquay United. Plymouth was selected as a part of England's 2018 FIFA World Cup Bid, alongside 11 other cities on 16 December 2009. Plymouth Argyle director Paul Stapleton described himself as being overwhelmed, going on to say that getting over the first hurdle "gives our supporters belief that we can achieve things", while the bids chairman, Douglas Fletcher, described the bid as one "for the people of Devon and Cornwall". A day later the club revealed that the stadium could possibly be renamed for sponsorship reasons as a part of funding for the project which shall begin in the summer of 2010.

However, on 2 December 2010 England lost its world cup bid to Russia. Following the failure of the world cup, the consortium that had taken controlling interest in the club in 2009 quickly lost interest now property speculation was out of the question and a few months later the club entered administration.