Post by Cantankerous Gas on Apr 30, 2017 19:03:02 GMT
Bristol Rovers manager Darrell Clarke has made it very clear he feels the club must progress on the field this summer and not tread water settling for a midtable finish in League One.
Rovers ended their first campaign back in the third tier with an entertaining 4-3 defeat to Millwall which saw them finish the season in 10th place - seven points outside the play-offs.
Clarke has already revealed he wants to add 10 or 11 new players to his current first team squad having let a number of players leave earlier in the week.
While off the field developments continue with a new training ground and fans waiting expectantly for news on a new stadium, Rovers have spent very little money on new signings during any of the last three campaigns.
"There comes a time doesn't there?" said Clarke about the clubs need to invest on the pitch.
"That time is now," he added.
"We need to kick on with the footballing side of things. If we want to stand still for the next three or four years that's fine. We can build the infrastructure in the background but fans will get frustrated and I'll get frustrated, because we want that drive.
"I've been here three years and we've made a lot money from transfers. We've just finished 10th in League One, we've got to kick on."
Although the season has now drawn to a close, Clarke's work is far from over as he admitted he faces a "manic summer." The Rovers boss is due to meet with the board within the next few weeks to discuss the transfer budget for this summer.
"The owners are fantastic, they're very supportive," said Clarke.
"I just chuck my case forward of what I think we need and where we are. It's about how we can move forward."
With Rovers in the market for a whole raft of new players this summer, Clarke was under no illusions as to how players heads are turned these days.
"Players will go where the money goes. If a player gets offered £500 a week extra somewhere else, he's going somewhere else.
"You can't stand still when it comes to recruitment and as always in recruiting players - money talks. If you want the best players to play you've got to pay, the budgets now are big.
"But I know there's a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes and hopefully we can all have a good positive summer and move on and improve the squad."
Rovers ended their first campaign back in the third tier with an entertaining 4-3 defeat to Millwall which saw them finish the season in 10th place - seven points outside the play-offs.
Clarke has already revealed he wants to add 10 or 11 new players to his current first team squad having let a number of players leave earlier in the week.
While off the field developments continue with a new training ground and fans waiting expectantly for news on a new stadium, Rovers have spent very little money on new signings during any of the last three campaigns.
"There comes a time doesn't there?" said Clarke about the clubs need to invest on the pitch.
"That time is now," he added.
"We need to kick on with the footballing side of things. If we want to stand still for the next three or four years that's fine. We can build the infrastructure in the background but fans will get frustrated and I'll get frustrated, because we want that drive.
"I've been here three years and we've made a lot money from transfers. We've just finished 10th in League One, we've got to kick on."
Although the season has now drawn to a close, Clarke's work is far from over as he admitted he faces a "manic summer." The Rovers boss is due to meet with the board within the next few weeks to discuss the transfer budget for this summer.
"The owners are fantastic, they're very supportive," said Clarke.
"I just chuck my case forward of what I think we need and where we are. It's about how we can move forward."
With Rovers in the market for a whole raft of new players this summer, Clarke was under no illusions as to how players heads are turned these days.
"Players will go where the money goes. If a player gets offered £500 a week extra somewhere else, he's going somewhere else.
"You can't stand still when it comes to recruitment and as always in recruiting players - money talks. If you want the best players to play you've got to pay, the budgets now are big.
"But I know there's a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes and hopefully we can all have a good positive summer and move on and improve the squad."
