Plymouth have appointed Ian Foster as their new head coach.

The 47-year-old was most recently assistant manager to Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia and has been tasked with continuing Argyle's impressive return to the Championship.

Foster has also worked with a number of junior England sides as well as assisting Phil Neville with the senior women's team.

Plymouth director of football Neil Dewsnip said: "I have spoken openly in the past few weeks about how we would wait for the right person for the job and in Ian we believe we have found exactly that.

"He has incredible pedigree as a coach and working with young players and we feel he is the perfect person to take forward this incredible group of players we have.

"Now is the time to look to the future and I am excited to see Ian get to work on the training pitch immediately and to help us achieve our aims, both this season and beyond."

Foster replaces Steven Schumacher, who left for Stoke last month.

He inherits a side that has scored more goals than any team outside the top four of the second tier, despite the fact they sit 18th in the league table.

Argyle's chairman Simon Hallett said: "I am thrilled to welcome a coach of Ian’s calibre to Plymouth Argyle as our new head coach.

"He was the perfect candidate to lead our great football club forward as we embark on our next five-year mission."

Plymouth host Sutton in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.