The big news at Bristol Rovers today is that Jamie Turley, who has been training with the club for some time now, has signed for Eastleigh.
There can only be one reason for that: money. And for once we should be glad.
Bristol Rovers has been known for some years as a club that pays well. Too well. Average, and some less than average, have come and gone, often on excessive salaries over long contracts. It’s one of the reasons – although there are many more – why we are in the Conference today.
I have no inside knowledge as to what has happened but Eastleigh, a club clearly living beyond its means on gates that are dwarfed by, well Bristol Rovers, have probably paid what Rovers are not prepared to pay. I can imagine his Mr 10% saying, ‘Eastleigh have offered my client £X. You will need to pay £X+ if you want him.’ And we have replied, ‘Good luck, then.’
I am not saying that Turley wouldn’t be an asset. The boy can obviously play but let’s put this in perspective. Because of his broken arm, he wasn’t signed by any club this season, until today, and certainly not be a league club. If he’d been an indispensable part of Rovers’ jigsaw for the new season, and beyond, we might feel slightly aggrieved but the truth is he wasn’t and he wasn’t an indispensable part of anyone else’s jigsaw until Eastleigh moved today (or more likely, a good few days ago).
Darrell Clarke is right when he says he wants players who want to play for the Rovers and to win things. Money obviously matters and I don’t blame Turley from chasing the money but hunger is an important part of a successful team. Not literally hunger where the players are scratching around eating bread and dripping sarnies, but a hunger for winning. Not all professionals have that, as we know to our cost.
And don’t feel down that we may have been outbid by a much smaller club. Feel glad that we’re no longer, apparently, a soft touch for pushy agents and greedy players.
And maybe at last Rovers have worked out that the club needs to be sustainable and it can’t go on running up large losses, covered by directors’ loans, that will one day need to be repaid, whether the debt is internal or not.
It’s all ifs and buts, I know, but if Rovers have not been prepared to pay what they consider to be over the odds then it’s a step in the right direction.
Of course, he might not have been made an offer at all!
