“It’s the little things in life that matter”, sang Steve Porcaro on the Toto song “The Little Things”. Bristol Rovers, finally, seem to have noticed this. Little things, easy wins, quick hits – call them what you like but the truth is the club has moved in a brand new dynamic and very welcome positive direction under its new owners.
I’ve been over some of the “little things” in previous blogs so I won’t repeat them again, but how about the latest one? Getting to the Memorial Stadium by bus. How come no one ever thought of that before? Without raking up the past, it’s because either nobody could be bothered or it simply didn’t occur to anyone.
I suppose if you are driving to the game in your brand new state of the art motor car and have a special place reserved in the car park, it might not occur to you that it’s a real bugger trying to park anywhere near the ground. It doesn’t affect me because I cycle to home games (and therein lies another positive Rovers story) but it affects thousands of others. If you do not normally use buses, and I don’t, you might not know which buses serve the football ground so what do Bristol Rovers do? Why, they give the numbers of all the services passing the ground so you can work out yourself which one to get, that’s all. Not only that, the website article is linked to the First Bus website, so specific information is a single click away. This is not rocket science but it is excellent business and customer service. (Perhaps I should refer to “supporter service” since I do not regard supporters as customers, unlike the Premier League.)
Buses are big news at the Rovers at the moment given the cock up involving the Bristol Rovers Supporters Club (BRSC) coaches that somehow managed to arrive late at Chelsea for last week’s EFL Cup game, thus depriving large numbers of supporters the opportunity of seeing the early part of the game which, for many, would be a highlight of their supporting lives. We do not yet know who was responsible or whether this situation was preventable and we should welcome the organisation’s efforts to establish facts. This is a dramatic change in an organisation which, quite frankly, was locked firmly in the past until recently has to be warmly welcomed and if it transpires BRSC was in any way to blame I would like to see supporters appropriately reimbursed. I can only imagine the frustration and stress caused to fans as their bus inched nearer to Stamford Bridge and it dawned on people they might miss part of the game. However, I am not anticipating the result of the investigation. Let’s give them a chance to establish the facts and then look to put things right.
Having spent years in utter despair at Ragbag Rovers, it is pleasurable to be able to write in positive terms about the way things are now going. Little things, like apologising for non availability of the new kit, do matter to people. It makes them feel more confident that the people at the top know what they are doing and where they are going.
In the months and years ahead, Bristol Rovers will be making decisions on matters of huge substance which will shape and define the club for future generations. It gives us all confidence that if the owners and senior staff can successfully and professionally sort out the little things, the big things will take care of themselves.
