Forever Green Member - 491

Forever Green Icon - Class of 2024

Mike Bickle’s story, of being a local boy coming through regional football to star for his hometown club, is a classic tale which resonates with so many football fans.

One of our greatest ever goalscorers, Mike played 195 times for the Pilgrims, scoring 74 goals, although he would not feature for Argyle until the age of 21.  Bickle caught the eye playing for St Austell in the South Western League, was offered the chance to prove himself at Home Park – and he took it. 

Perhaps Mike’s most well-remembered goalscoring achievement was his four-goal haul in a 6-0 victory over Torquay United at Home Park on Boxing Day, 1969, in front of more than 17,000 fans. Along with an emerging Norman Piper, Bickle helped dismantle the Gulls in a game that lives long in the memory for many Argyle supporters. 

The four-goal feat was Bickle’s second in an Argyle shirt; he had scored four times in a 7-1 win over Cardiff in October 1966. Mike is one of only two men to have scored four or more in a game for Argyle twice. The other is Maurice Tadman. 

Bickle was forced to retire aged 29, and in May 1973, Home Park staged the Mike Bickle Testimonial Match, against First Division side Manchester City. More than 12,000 attended the fixture, an indication of what a beloved figure Bickle was among the Green Army. 

Until his death in 2023, Mike was a regular visitor to Home Park, and will always be talked about in the same breath as the litany of great forwards to have graced the Theatre of Greens through the years.