Presumably I am dreaming.... ?
Mar 10, 2016 14:43:37 GMT
WeAreTheGas, Antonio Fargas, and 6 more like this
Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2016 14:43:37 GMT
I must be surely?
This is Bristol Rovers. Bristol Rovers that I love with every ounce of my being, but things like this don't happen to Bristol Rovers...
Bristol Rovers is the club who have the Santa's Grotto that is a portaloo, we are the club that have had a PA system that hasn't worked for 10 years, we are the club who were relegated by a team wearing our own kit, we are the club who sign 'past it' players on stupid contracts, we are the club that sign world beaters but who can't play more than 5 games before being injured, we are the club that gets planning permission for a new stadium but then the buyer changes his mind, we are the club that agrees a move to a temporary home whilst ours is being redeveloped only for bottom to fall out of the market and for everything to fall through......
I could go on, but essentially, we are 'Rag Bag Rovers' and we have been for my entire 25 years watching the Gas.. From my first game at 'home' to Peterborough at Twerton Park in a ground we borrowed on a short term basis whilst we found a suitable home back in Bristol, to our first game back in Bristol in a rugby ground where the changing rooms were two portacabins in the corner next to the pitch....we have always been Rag Bag Rovers.
But on the pitch there has been a shift over the last two years.. Gone are the days of old hat managers who demand we "get the ball long and build off the big man" and journey man footballers who clearly didn't give a monkeys about the club. These have been replaced by a young manager with a fantastic footballing brain and a group of players who would clearly run through a brick wall for him and for the club. How refreshing! But not only that, these boys can play! Players like Tom Lockyer, Lee Brown, Matty Taylor are so far from what we have grown used to over the last decade or two..
Don't get me wrong, it hasn't all been bad! Paul Trollope was another talented young manager who built a very good team, but we couldn't sustain the progress he was making and eventually we started to slip backwards, the period that followed his sacking is probably the worst in the entire history of the club! When I think of managers like McGhee & Buckle I can't help but cringe, even now! But that was then and this is now....
Whilst on pitch achievements are obviously what we are all ultimately here for, off the pitch activity is of course in the big scheme of things far more important. Well, where to start with this.... Nick Higgs is a man I actually have a lot of respect for, he is a man who had made himself a small fortune through his own personal ventures and rather then doing what most of us probably would have and retiring to a huge villa in Italy, Nick decided to dedicate his time and money to Bristol Rovers, the club he loves.
Now having said all of that, the simple fact of the matter is of course that sadly, Nick's tenure steering this pirate ship was an unequivocal disaster both on and off the pitch! He was in charge when we lost our league status for the first time, he employed probably the worst two managers we have ever had (for very different reasons) and he saw the club increase it's debt year on year. Not a great CV really..... BUT, for all of his faults Nick clearly loved this club and I have no doubt that despite his failings, he was always doing his best for the club.
But again, that was then and this is now... We now find ourselves in the hands of a very rich owner, but also a man who clearly knows what he is doing. Almost instant appointments of various experts in their fields was a real statement of intention.. Here is a man with a vision for this club and the means to see it through. He is also a man who appreciates that you cannot be an expert in every filed and sometimes delegation is the key to success.
Along with the employment of new financial and construction staff we have also seen small changes round the ground start to happen already. The new scoreboard, the freshened up club bars.. These are all small and yet significant clues that suggest the new regime are here to stay and deadly serious when they say they want to take us to the top!
So with all of the above in mind, does anyone else have that horrible feeling you get when you realize that the amazing time you are having is actually just a dream and soon you will wake up? Or that this is a massive wind up somehow orchestrated by Steve Lansdown who will soon rip off his Wael Al-Qadi mask and reveal his dastardly trick?!
Surely all of this is just too good to be true? I mean after all, we are Bristol Rovers, things like this just don't happen to us... Do they?!
This is Bristol Rovers. Bristol Rovers that I love with every ounce of my being, but things like this don't happen to Bristol Rovers...
Bristol Rovers is the club who have the Santa's Grotto that is a portaloo, we are the club that have had a PA system that hasn't worked for 10 years, we are the club who were relegated by a team wearing our own kit, we are the club who sign 'past it' players on stupid contracts, we are the club that sign world beaters but who can't play more than 5 games before being injured, we are the club that gets planning permission for a new stadium but then the buyer changes his mind, we are the club that agrees a move to a temporary home whilst ours is being redeveloped only for bottom to fall out of the market and for everything to fall through......
I could go on, but essentially, we are 'Rag Bag Rovers' and we have been for my entire 25 years watching the Gas.. From my first game at 'home' to Peterborough at Twerton Park in a ground we borrowed on a short term basis whilst we found a suitable home back in Bristol, to our first game back in Bristol in a rugby ground where the changing rooms were two portacabins in the corner next to the pitch....we have always been Rag Bag Rovers.
But on the pitch there has been a shift over the last two years.. Gone are the days of old hat managers who demand we "get the ball long and build off the big man" and journey man footballers who clearly didn't give a monkeys about the club. These have been replaced by a young manager with a fantastic footballing brain and a group of players who would clearly run through a brick wall for him and for the club. How refreshing! But not only that, these boys can play! Players like Tom Lockyer, Lee Brown, Matty Taylor are so far from what we have grown used to over the last decade or two..
Don't get me wrong, it hasn't all been bad! Paul Trollope was another talented young manager who built a very good team, but we couldn't sustain the progress he was making and eventually we started to slip backwards, the period that followed his sacking is probably the worst in the entire history of the club! When I think of managers like McGhee & Buckle I can't help but cringe, even now! But that was then and this is now....
Whilst on pitch achievements are obviously what we are all ultimately here for, off the pitch activity is of course in the big scheme of things far more important. Well, where to start with this.... Nick Higgs is a man I actually have a lot of respect for, he is a man who had made himself a small fortune through his own personal ventures and rather then doing what most of us probably would have and retiring to a huge villa in Italy, Nick decided to dedicate his time and money to Bristol Rovers, the club he loves.
Now having said all of that, the simple fact of the matter is of course that sadly, Nick's tenure steering this pirate ship was an unequivocal disaster both on and off the pitch! He was in charge when we lost our league status for the first time, he employed probably the worst two managers we have ever had (for very different reasons) and he saw the club increase it's debt year on year. Not a great CV really..... BUT, for all of his faults Nick clearly loved this club and I have no doubt that despite his failings, he was always doing his best for the club.
But again, that was then and this is now... We now find ourselves in the hands of a very rich owner, but also a man who clearly knows what he is doing. Almost instant appointments of various experts in their fields was a real statement of intention.. Here is a man with a vision for this club and the means to see it through. He is also a man who appreciates that you cannot be an expert in every filed and sometimes delegation is the key to success.
Along with the employment of new financial and construction staff we have also seen small changes round the ground start to happen already. The new scoreboard, the freshened up club bars.. These are all small and yet significant clues that suggest the new regime are here to stay and deadly serious when they say they want to take us to the top!
So with all of the above in mind, does anyone else have that horrible feeling you get when you realize that the amazing time you are having is actually just a dream and soon you will wake up? Or that this is a massive wind up somehow orchestrated by Steve Lansdown who will soon rip off his Wael Al-Qadi mask and reveal his dastardly trick?!
Surely all of this is just too good to be true? I mean after all, we are Bristol Rovers, things like this just don't happen to us... Do they?!