Grab a cup of tea, I love a long post!
We're now a week or so in to the Ben Garner reign, OK the first game was disappointing but with the really rather good Ipswich result and draw with the Posh I could see the Wimbledon result coming.
So I think we'll allow Ben that one, not enough time to get his feet under the desk and on the training pitch with a team of probably tired, tactically exhausted players
I'll kick off by saying I never really liked GC.
I can happily hold my hands up and say I was a huge fan of Darrell Clarke. I would have left him in charge even though it looked like we were going to get relegated. The bloke to me was the best manager we've had since I started supporting the gas and that was back in the Holloway player/manager days which were great for attacking football. But I was proven wrong and now can look back and see it was the right time to part ways.
But any way, i had previously posted that we needed to give Coughlan a chance, he was un-likeable to the fans, he stepped in to very big shoes and didn't make it easy for himself. I didn't gel with his personality but I could see what he was trying to build. A big, strong, physical team that could out muscle and defend against the best in the division. He didn't get the budget to do quite that but he made the best of what he had available and was successful at doing so. We were in 4th place in the league and within striking distance of moving up to 2nd.
I hate to say this as he's left us under a cloud that can never be recompensed, but he kept us up last season and built on that to bring us up to a lofty position.
I was going to say a position that we don't perhaps deserve to be in, but that would disrepect the effort of the squad we have. Even without the "big guns" (JCH, THD, Davies, Little, Ogogo etc.) we still performed as a team/squad and were getting results. At times bloody awful to watch! But we were getting results from a small squad even with injuries & suspensions. Who could have predicted the step up by Kilgour, Menayese etc and filling the gap very, very well? Ok we know they have potential but they are exceeding that so far.
Anyway moving on! GC left & we hate him now, he'll go in the book with the snake... (OK not quite so bad as the snake!)
The appointment of Ben Garner to me has been a fairly brave move by the board.
Here we have a manager with no experience at managing, however a glowing CV and references from many, many high profile people.
To me this season is now probably a write off in terms of promotion. BG will probably quite sensibly keep a similar style to his predecessor but i think we'll trail off a bit now.
This however is possibly not a bad thing, if you've bothered to read this far stick with me!
How many people will hold their hands up here and say "yes, i really liked the football this season under GC, thoroughly entertaining"? Probably not many of you.
Aside from the results, we've been playing some pretty dire football. I mean this in terms of excitement and ease on the eye.
As said, I grew up as a kid watching Holloway's attacking teams, some amazing strikers coming through the ranks (Ellington, Hayles, Cureton, Roberts etc.) and some really exciting football, Wally Walters, the latvian... Fun times but invariably we fell short at the last hurdle.
In terms of the appointment of BG. He is very, very highly respected as a coach in the game. He's worked with some fantastic managers and coaches and worked his way up to essentially the highest qualification you can get as a football professional, the Uefa Pro licence.
Don't get me wrong, I know this doesn't mean anything in terms of on the pitch results, heck even Ian Atkins has got one.... (pro licence)
This appointment to me shouts development and long term planning.
I see BG as someone who was going to get his shot at management with someone very soon. Whether that be us at Rovers or another team, it was inevitable that he would be given a chance somewhere.
If he can be given the time to put his ideology down and into the club, this could prove to be a very shrewd appointment. But and a very big BUT! Football is a very cut throat world and you are dealing with a squad of players that need to be man managed and on board with said ideology and you are, at the end of the day, judged on your results.
This could be our downfall in terms of progression this season as I think in an ideal world BG would not play a GC style football and he has just inherited a team that is very on board with said "GC" style of football.
I do think though that his previous experience at Palace and West Brom will give him enough nouse to be able to work with a more direct style of football akin to what we have been doing all season.
I will be watching with interest to see who comes in, who leaves, who gets upset and left out of the squad and where we go tactically. But for me, as Alan Sugar would say, "it is with regret" that I think this season is now unlikely to result in promotion.
It does not however mean I am disappointed with the managerial choice.
All I can say is let's give the guy a chance, yes we had a very good opportunity to get promoted this year with GC but my god it was awful to watch at times!
For me football is about entertainment, I want to see a team that gives 100% to the cause (which admittedly we were clearly doing), but I don't want to get neck strain watching the ball being pinged forward to Nichols..., I wan't attacking football with exciting players. Before you say it I know I am dreaming in league 1, it's not the Premier League!
To summarise!
GC : Bad football - Get results, possibly get promotion
BG : Potentially some good football in the long term, but unlikely this season to get promoted
I will be VERY happy to be proved wrong this year, I'd love to look back and say "Pah, who was that Coughlan joker? Garner has become the new Mourinho of League 1 we're playing everyone off the park" (unlikely I know...!)
We'll see what happens, I do look forward to hopefully the guy being given a chance, he's worked wonders with young home-grown players. Something in our financial situation we need to exploit and all fans love "one of their own" coming through the ranks.
So Up the Gas! Lets get behind him, fill the Mem, forget about the board and off-field antics, support the boys in blue and fingers crossed have ourselves a very good season. It's been a drama again since DC left and you can't say supporting Rovers is an easy job but would we have it any other way?!
I realise this is a long read... so to make up for it here is a laugh for you.
This is me receiving my "prize" for winning a half time penalty shoot out at our first game at the mem from the legendary Vaughan Jones... I did grow in to those ears... eventually...!