Never say never again

It’s been coming up to three years since I last saw my formerly beloved Bristol Rovers play. The off the field shenanigans took their toll and eventually, to save what was left of my sanity, which was not much, I walked away, never to return. But as with James Bond, never say never again.

To date, I have managed to avoid the temptation to attend the Memorial Stadium, not difficult since it’s been closed to fans for nearly a year now. Yet, from time to time, I find I am still interested in my old club. Something, God knows what, keeps calling me back. And it happened again this week as the Gas tumbled to a 6-1 defeat at the hands of mighty Accrington Stanley.

It’s not as if I know any of the current players, at least not in Rovers shirts. But, having too much time on my hands, I tuned into the second half of Radio Bristol’s commentary. I have been to more upbeat funerals.

The first team are, from all accounts, crap. They’re not trying, or if they are trying, then mere effort is not enough. And it being Bristol Rovers, the fans know who to blame: the manager.

Paul Tisdale has barely been in the job two minutes. He had a fine record at Exeter City where he was given time to build not just a team but structures which endure to this day. His next job was at Milton Keynes and that ended in tears. It was a surprise to me when Tisdale turned up at BS7.

Rovers, I suspect, had bet the house on former boss Ben Garner rebuilding the club and taking it into the Championship. Garner, it turned out, was a fine coach but a crap manager. He’s gone now but he’s still drawing a salary. Enter Tisdale.

It seems that the new boss inherited the players and the lack of budget of the old manager. Owner Wael al-Qadi handed him a turd and told him to polish it. No one told him that you can’t polish a turd.

From all accounts, Rovers performance at Accrington ranked among the worst of all time and Geoff Twentyman’s post match ‘sack the manager’ phone-in was as angry as it was predictable. Some callers questioned the Director of Football, Tommy Widdrington, one caller dared to criticise chairman Martyn Starnes. No one raised so much as minor criticism towards the sainted Wael. He can do no wrong, even when he can.

We have been here before. Hardly anyone at my old club questions the governance. Every path leads to the revolving manager’s door and never beyond it. If the manager has been there for many years – almost unheard of at the Rovers – or just over two minutes like Tisdale, the buck stops there and never the people at the top. This is why Rovers are standing still, or worse going into reverse.

Paul Tisdale never felt like the right manager for Rovers. I know nothing about him, other than what I see on TV and hear on the radio but he comes across as far more cerebral than your standard manager. He is smart, intelligent and probably has a long term vision of how he would like things to be. But this is Bristol Rovers and the team is, not for the first time, a long way up Shit Creek. And, again, not for the first time. the club has appointed someone who is not what they need at the moment, which is a firefighter.

When and if Tisdale gets the sack, and the club appoints his successor, it is entirely conceivable that they will be paying three managers at the same time. Luckily, Wael has promised to plug the financial gaps, presumably forever, so if he is as good as his word they can afford it. It makes no sense though. What happens when they appoint a new manager who can’t get the players to play? Do they sack him too and end up paying four managers? And then five? Christ, we will soon have as many managers as players.

I am hoping that Wael and his hand-picked team of directors, not one of whom is a Gashead, have some kind of grand design, some plan for the future. Wiping out the debts and building a training ground are positives from the Wael era. But has anything else really changed?

Tisdale may well be the wrong man at the wrong time, but looking at the structure of the club, he’s not the only one. Rovers don’t do long term. That’s why it always ends up like this.