As my time as a Bristol Rovers supporter comes to an end by a form of mutual consent, it is worth saying why and how it came about.
If you had said to me in the early 2000s that my emotional attachment to the club I have supported since my early teenage years had all but disappeared, I would have laughed in your face. Even with the club on its knees, facing a desperately uncertain future, we really were all in it together. I would have done almost anything to keep the club alive, Bristol Rovers was one of my overriding passions.
A small little group of us tried to raise funds, encourage people to drink in the bars. Another little group of us tried to make a scheme whereby the Supporters Club owned a substantial part of the club. I went to every home game, every home reserve game, every youth team game.
It had all started in 1999. My playing career, such as it was, had come to an end some five years before. For 25 years, I had plied my trade on the public parks of Bristol, watching the Rovers whenever I could, but knowing that nothing beats the feeling of playing, even when you are rubbish. I knew from an early age that there are two types of fans: those who can’t play and those who are told old to play. By 1999, I was both. The wonderful paradox is that the biggest critics of professional footballers are those who have never kicked a ball in anger, usually berating those who do it for a living! Funny old game!
I was invited to write for the programme, asked if I would like to help out with the fund-raising social side of the club. Of course I would. I’d always wanted to write. Maybe the programme would lead to other things? Oh, it certainly did that, all right.
In 1999, Ian Holloway was the manager and Rovers were starting a new era, homecoming king leading his team to the Championship. And we saw good times with Barry Hayles, Jamie Cureton, Jason Roberts; some of the best Rovers football I ever saw.
But 2001, Ollie had left and Rovers were relegated. We worked even harder to save the club. In 2006, the board split, the supporters split, the club was torn in half. I took the side of those who wanted change, wanted the club to be better, to have a sustainable plan for the future. I lost, got booted off the programme and then – mysteriously (although I know now precisely why and how) – removed from my Bristol Evening Post column, an ambition, a life ambition, taken away. I no longer feel bitter about what happened and why I was fired but it changed the way I felt about the football club and some of those who run it forever.
I was later restored to writing for the programme but just when things seemed to be getting better, the club decided to ban my friend Kevin Spencer from attending matches at the ground and later prevented him from attending a wake.
I have done all I can to build my bridges with the club and to end the rancour but my pleas have fallen on deaf ears. I have written to four different directors, three have not even bothered to reply including the chairman, one said it was not a matter for him.
I still think those who wanted to change the club were right and the regime who clung to power were wrong and none of the events since 2006 have suggested I was wrong. But it’s history and so are my feelings for the club.
I am sure the chairman Nick Higgs really thinks he is doing his best for the club and I am certain he is a true fan. The fact that he remains unassailable as Rovers chairman and owner suggests that most people agree with him. Even a humiliating relegation to the Conference has not shaken people’s faith in the club or its owners. As someone who has long lost faith with the owners, I have to accept the inevitable. It’s time to move on.
You really have to give due credit to those who spend their lives, as I once did, supporting a lower league, or they are now, a non league club and I hope they once find peace and league status. Their incredible loyalty deserves nothing less.
But there are three things for sure in life: death, taxes and at some stage Rovers will be in crisis again. Let us hope that when the next crisis comes it doesn’t finally overwhelm the club. At least there will be 5000+ supporters there whatever happens.
