A First XI of Learning Points - the season so far

My latest writings are given below.

what do you think?

I probably missed off loads of valid points, but had to stop myself at 11!


A First XI of Learning Points

by Martin Bull

Ever since John Ward left in May 2014 there hasn’t been a dull moment following Rovers.

Whilst Ward changed formation once a season, Darrell Clarke changes once a game, and would probably snog Greg Clarke (Chairman of the FA) if basketball style substitutions were allowed into football.

So, after ten League games, and three cup games, all squeezed into a jam packed seven weeks, what can we discern from the season so far? Can we pick a first XI of learning points?

NOTE - this was written before the Northampton match, which improved the stats even more, especially numbers 2 and 4.


1 - The narrow wins of League Two are the draws at a higher level

Although supporters would love to think that the momentum from two promotions could easily be transferred into a third campaign, the reality is that League One does seem to be a considerable step up from League Two, with many clubs boasting higher budgets, attendances and players with more experience at the higher levels. The games we narrowly won last season are now more likely to be draws at a higher level.

Four draws in a row was still a surprise though considering we only had seven in the whole of last season. In fact we got all the way to Christmas before we saw our fourth draw in League Two, a 0-0 dull fest at AFC Wimbledon on St. Stephen‘s Day. Stephen was the first Christian martyr, stoned to death for wearing a Saint-Etienne top in the wrong part of downtown Jerusalem.

A draw at Swindon Town would have equalled the club record of five consecutive draws, which was achieved, if that is the right word, in 1967 and 1975. For 75 minutes it looked like that draw wasn’t going to happen, and then within 60 seconds the prospect came, said hello, and wafted off out like Warren Beatty at a swanky party.


2 - Rovers haven’t lost one vital capability

At the end of last season I wrote a Top 10 of golden themes or moments in an unprecedented second promotion in two seasons for BRFC. At the top of the pops was ‘rescuing 20 points from losing positions’.

If 20 rescued points in 46 games was amazing then this season’s nine rescued points so far seems positively stratospheric, especially as I wrote above that the games we narrowly won last season are now more likely to be the games where we only earn a point at a higher level.

Our start may have been a bit frustrating, and the draws too frequent, but already coming from behind five times is an indication that the celebrated resilience and fight within the squad is still there in abundance.


3 - Two draws are still worth less than a win and a loss.

The late Jimmy Hill proposed the three points for a win system and it was introduced in England in 1981. It didn’t really catch on elsewhere, and certainly none of the ’big’ leagues used it until after it was adopted for the 1994 World Cup Finals.

Football teams have had 35 years to get used to it.


4 - We finally have a goal threat from central defence

Last season seemed to be the straw that broke the camels back for DC. With Lee Brown being the only defender to score all season it left him determined to find a centre back who could provide a goal threat from set pieces or when pushed up front in search of a vital goal.

When Peter Hartley was signed from Plymouth Argyle, pundits and the Green Army legions were unanimous in agreeing that he was a decent, hard working, old school centre back who will guarantee you several goals a season, and could get you out of a jam in the same way Guy Branston was the right man to turn to when the defence was all in a pickle.

Hartley has not disappointed so far, with two goals and a brace of assists.


5 - The weakness is probably at the back, not the front

Despite some criticism of negative line-ups and strange formations, Rovers must be doing something right as we scored in each of the first 12 League and cup games before finally grinding to a halt at Sheffield United.

At the other end there has only been one clean sheet though, and that was at home to Cardiff City, managed by the ever cautious, and soon to be relieved of his responsibilities, Paul Trollope.


6 - Not so mellow yellow

One conundrum that I have no real answer for is the spate of yellow cards we’ve had this season. 28 so far, including five at Bradford City, and six at Swindon Town, the latter earning an automatic FA fine and being told to stand in the naughty corner for 30 minutes. The only obvious pattern is that just 14 yellows have come in the seven home matches, whereas 19 have been collected in six away days, plus Jermaine Easter‘s red at Bramall Lane.

Last season Rovers had the second best disciplinary record in League Two, with 57 yellow cards, and no Rovers player was lost to a suspension in the whole season. This time it’s still September and Easter will get a three match ban and Stuart Sinclair has incurred a one match suspension for picking up five yellow cards, although it has to be said that inclusion of the yellow card collected at the abandoned Swindon game is still one of the weirdest rules there is in football.

It would be fair to suggest there is little evidence that Rovers are, in general, a dirty team. Last season the only two red cards received were both rescinded on appeal. In fact until Easter’s elbow no Rovers player has been legitimately sent off since Andy Monkhouse was dismissed in the last few minutes of the game at AFC Telford United on the opening day of November 2014, and even that was considered questionable at the time.


7 - Captaincy is rarely a simple issue

Deciding who should be captain must be quite a difficult job. Traditionally it was always given to a very experienced and long serving player, one of the first names on the team sheet and usually playing down the spine of the team.

In modern times the honour has more often that not become a GCSE Psychology experiment, given to calm a player down, aid a youngster to grow up quickly, or to weld a disgruntled player back into the warm bosom of the team.

There is a concern that Tom Lockyer’s first forays into League One football may not be the right time to give a relatively quiet 21 year old added responsibly. But with a regularly changing line-up, increased use of loan players, and the current absence of senior players like Lee Mansell, Mark McChrystal and Steve Mildenhall, there may not be that many faces to choose from at the moment.

Lee Brown, as usual, is the only ever present starter this season, and Tom Lockyer has missed just the Reading U23 game. Although Peter Hartley (nine starts), Chris Lines (ditto), and Matty Taylor (seven) have all been regulars, each one has something slightly against them as a choice for the armband.

The other main candidate is therefore probably Stuart ‘Beard’ Sinclair, who has defied armchair critics yet again to start all bar two of the games so far, and who, whilst undertaking a precise job for his manager, certainly lives up to his anagram ‘Saint Tribal Crusader’.


8 - There is life in the old dog yet

If Jermaine Easter was a German war time secret code, I doubt that even the collective minds of Bletchley Park could have broken it yet.

‘Jamma’ came to us in January 2015 off the back of a consolation goal in front of 26,714 at Carrow Road in his final appearance for Ian Holloway’s Millwall. A few weeks later he hobbled off after just eight minutes of his Conference debut, in front of 1,832 at Dartford, and almost half of them were Gasheads.

After struggling with heavy pitches and injuries Jermaine managed only five Conference appearances and it was left to Chris Lines to become the talismanic higher level import who helped push us to promotion. The moaners came out in force, suggesting that we were back to the old days of trying too hard to entice higher level ‘names’ to the club, and that if they accepted it was usually for the wrong reasons anyway.

Despite Jermaine’s prominent start to the League Two season, with five strikes in his first 12 starts, blanks in his next eight outings (six starts and two as sub) seemed to be the catalyst that led to the recruitment of Rory Gaffney, the man who replaced him as a regular starter.

He did however find a role as DC’s new ‘go to’ sub, as if taking over the role from Ellis Harrison, racking up 23 sub appearances and remaining as an unused sub only twice.

Jamma became slicker and faster as the season progressed. By the Stevenage match in April he was one of our brightest sparks, chasing balls with short burst of paces that many never expected the 34 year old was still capable of, and using his experience and intelligence wisely, like a maturing malt.

But alas the season finished just as Jermaine was really getting into his stride.

When asked which players were in our top three for appearances last season most Gasheads would not expect Jermaine to be up on the podium, with 47 out of a maximum 50, just behind the two ‘50 men’; Lee Brown, who remarkably played every second of all 50 matches, and Matty Taylor, who started 41 and came on as sub for the other nine matches of the season.

Several observers wrote him off again this summer when faced with a strength sapping season in yet another higher division, but Jamma has looked extremely sharp and seems to be proving an old adage correct; that classier players can function better in the higher leagues.

What a shame that self-inflicted red card could knock him out of his stride again.


9 - I never want an easy life if me and she were ever to get there

Following Rovers is rarely dull, unless John Ward and Paul Trollope ever formed an unholy alliance.

And to be honest, if it was an easy ride we would most probably miss the drama and the palaver.

In the first two months of this season we’ve already had a game abandoned due to a freak deluge in August and seen play suspended for a few minutes due to a drone overhead. The former truly was anomalous as I was only 25 miles away from Swindon at the time and we had very little rain that afternoon. The latter was believed to be the first time ever a commentator could declare ‘drone stopped play’, unless they were sitting next to Jonathan Pearce of course.

Rovers have also played Chelsea for the first time in 35 years, been on live TV, played on every day of the week except a Monday and a Friday, endured a highly contentious match against an Academy team where stay away fans forced a new record low home attendance, been entrusted with four Premier League loanees, beaten Cardiff City for the first time since 1995, witnessed the annual August dropping of Steve Mildenhall, been involved in more boycotts than an Irish land war, and had two players (Chris Lines & Lee Brown) celebrate their 250th appearances for the club.


10 - Lies, damned red lies, and statistics

Whereas we once moaned that Rovers never got penalties, and even when we did we missed a few, they seem to be flowing nicely at the moment, with four so far this season, and all confidently tucked away.

Strangely the reds across the river seem to think this is astonishing, but statistically it’s no more than many teams this season, and our paltry four in 50 games last season was a long way off Morecombe’s staggering 15 spot kicks in League Two, and even less than City‘s handful.

The quantity of 12-yard kicks is not the point anyway, it is the quality of the despatch, with numerous confident takers in the team and now having scored our last 14 penalties, including the five at Wembley. You have to go back to Matty Taylor’s thump on the woodwork at Grimsby Town on Valentine’s Day 2015 to find one that didn’t hit the back of the net. Lee Tomlin take note.

Seven different takers are on the roll of honour since that day: Ellis Harrison (5), Matty Taylor (4), Angelo Balanta (1), Lee Brown (1), Jermaine Easter (1), Chris Lines (1) and a certain Lee Mansell if anyone can remember his one?

To offer some contrast Oxford United were awarded 13 penalties in League Two last season and scored only seven of them.


11 - It’s good to leave bad news until last

I hate to bring this up but ignoring it won’t help.

Each time there has been speculation that DC is being looked at by other clubs I always sought solace in the exact reasons I have liked him since year dot. In June 2014, just a month after John Ward left, I wrote, “Given the continued arrogance and hand washing of the Board, I feel we only have one chance to restore our reputation at the moment, and his name is Darrell Clarke. This man has a plan and he is the only one showing any humility and morals at present. His mentality of human and financial discipline, and the pursuit of hungry non-league players, is admirable for our present state. Mark my words, Darrell will do very well somewhere. Let's make sure it is at BRFC and that he isn’t chased away by either the fans, the players or the Board”.

In August 2015 DC said, "I want to kick on, move the club forward and keep building success. As a player I wanted to play at the highest level and as a manager I want to manage at the highest level. For me, there is unfinished business here and I want to get Bristol Rovers into the top half of League One and then I will feel as if I've achieved."

I’ve always believed that Darrell is a man of his word so I was never anxious that he would leave us this summer.

But six points in two games suddenly propelled us into the giddy heights of the top half of League One, and technically he has fulfilled his promise. I’m not suggesting he will now be looking to leave, but it is almost unfortunate how rapidly he has concluded his ‘unfinished business’.

Has he restored Rovers back to where we ‘belong’? Well, just to be clear I don’t go in for this arrogant ‘where we belong’ claptrap, but I do believe in statistics, and our average position over our original 94 year stint in the Football League was 10th in the Third Tier, which just happens to be exactly where we are today.

So, yes, it is tinged with sadness that I have to whisper that DC has done what he said he would, and that it has only taken him a little over two seasons!