Get behind our manager

You know what I think in some ways you're right, this team is probably a better side than that of the last 2 seasons.
My problem with Clarke is the hot air he's full of. Wish he'd reign in the big talking a bit as there's no way he can live up to it. Wish his mantra was to slowly improve and stabilise rather than telling us all how wonderful we're gonna be.

We appointed someome who isn't part of the usual manager circuit. Thinking outside of the box is a good thing

I agree -  everything improves when you watch a game with Jon the Stripe

Seriously, Though-

The players look in good condition and fit
Corners/Free Kicks have improved
You can see some Training Ground movements
They all seem to have a good work ethic
A team spirit seems to be building, but in my mind will take a while.

I think as supporters we need to realise the standards of Football are down another level and even on a good day we are unlikely to see attractive football, it's not gonna be pretty.


And let's face it yesterday wasn't anything special, but......

We went to watch our team play a game of Football, they competed and they Won.

IMO - that's as good as it's gonna get in the Conference. UTG

The fact is that DC may not be the right man to take this club forward - but only time will tell; and that's what he deserves to be given.

I've been very supportive of DC on the whole but, I must admit, following the Braintree result, for the first time I did start to have my doubts.

At the end of the day though, we have sacked manager after manager for as long as I can remember now. Ok, that's not a reason to keep a manager in the job if he clearly isn't up to it - but has he had long enough to prove he isn't up to it? IMO no.

As Hugo points out, some things have DEFINITELY improved under Clarke - so in that sense we are moving forwards (even if it is slowly). There are some things we haven't yet moved forward with that are disappointing - i.e. inject pace in to the side and some much needed creativity; but Rome wasn't built in a day.

I think despite all of our talk, we (the BoD, the manager, the players and - let's face it - some of the fans) were not ready for the Conference. Try as we might, we couldn't help but underestimate the "quality" of some of these sides and we expected to turn up and smash most teams just because "we're Bristol Rovers and we are far too big for this division". At the end of the day, whilst I don't think we should make excuses for losing to part-time outfits when we are a full-time club with a far bigger budget, we have to respect those teams and beat them because we are better - they are not going to jus roll over and let us tickle their belly.

DC deserves until Christmas at least. We had a very hard start on paper and we're still nearish the playoffs. For all we know, two months from now we could be sat at the top of the table wondering what all the fuss was about.!

DC deserves the opportunity to prove he is the man to take us forward and IMO that is another 15 games or so.

Again, as Hugo says, there are signs that we are moving forward (albeit slowly) - but I'll take that after years of moving backwards.

All of this, I think everything is slowly coming together, the sort of problems we've had aren't sorted out overnight, and I think that's half the problem, far too many people want improvements NOW and aren't prepared to wait a second let alone 10-15 games or even half a season or so.

Our home record is bloody good atm and I honestly don't think we'll lose more than 2-3 games there, we just need a couple of wins away from home to really get us going, with turley hopefully coming in and balanta getting fit I honestly think we're heading in the right direction.

At the same time that i agree we have to accept poor quality football at times at this level we also have to accept a hangover supporter wise from the dissapointment and anger at what has taken place over the last few years.

I agree with DCs comments in his interview about the nervous vibes on the bench and pitch as a result of the fans but he has to accept his share of the blame. If he delivers on the pitch he will quickly win the fans over.

It's a two way thing, some need to give him the chance to win them over as well rather than being too quick to criticise.

I'd say that about Telford too though