Keep calm and carry on, that's what the board of Bristol Rovers must do following the clubs relegation down to League 2 and the first big decision they must make comes with the appointment of a new manager. The man who came so close to helping Rovers survive has thrown his name in the hat and there are sure to be other candidates who would love the chance to take over the Gas.
Current caretaker player-manager Stuart Campbell confirmed his interest in taking the job permanently following the draw with Sheffield Wednesday that all but sent his team down. After the game he spoke to bristolrovers.co.uk and said:
"I have really enjoyed being manager, but it is out of my hands, I don't know what the future holds but I would like to lead Bristol Rovers next season."There is no doubt that Campbell is swiftly making his way to legendary status among the Rovers fans, he has spent nearly seven years at the club and captained the side for almost five before taking over after the sacking of Dave Penney in March and he swiftly turned results and feelings around. From watching the games that followed you could tell the players spirit was back, they had a person they all respected in charge of them, a leader and an all round, genial nice guy who is known to have taken some of the players aside individually for chats, telling them what they are good at and bringing back their footballing self-worth.
Campbell is not perfect, however, and the football being served up, though better than what was seen under Penney, can at best be described as 'Trollope-esque'. The midfield are sat far too deep and there is no width being utilised whatsoever and some of the tactical decisions have been slightly bemusing too, the away game at Bournemouth being a prime example of this. Down to ten men after David McCracken's red card away to Bournemouth the management team of Campbell and Hinton decided to put 5' 5" attacking midfielder Wayne Brown at left back, taking away one of the teams most potent attacking threats, Brown having already given Rovers the lead.
Campbell was then forced off with injury and JP Kalala replaced him in the defensive midfield role, despite having the ability to play in the full back position which would have allowed Brown to remain in midfield. Harry Pell could have perhaps come on in central midfield and replaced Jo Kuffour who actually played the rest of the game at left midfield, a position from which he posed very little attacking threat, and with Kuffour and Brown making up Rovers left side heaven only knows what would have happened if Lee Bradbury had told his threatening wide man Liam Feeney to switch wings.
But if it isn't Campbell who takes over who else would be mad enough for the job? Danny Wilson's name has been touted and he would certainly bring a lot of experience to Rovers. Early in his managerial career he took Barnsley to the Premier League before a quiet spell at Sheffield Wednesday, one of the clubs he had previously played for. He moved onto Rovers rivals Bristol City in 2000 and in 2004 guided them to the then Division 2 play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, a game they lost 1-0 to Brighton.
A short stint at MK Dons was followed by winning promotion from League 2 with Hartlepool before he went to another west country club in Swindon Town, initially saving them from relegation before assaulting the promotion places in 2010, eventually getting the Wiltshire Robins to Wembley for another play-off final defeat. Wilson resigned in March with Swindon looking like cannon fodder for the rest of the league, though he did have to put up with key players such as Billy Paynter, Gordon Greer and Charlie Austin being sold from underneath him.
Recently sacked from Coventry one man seen watching Rovers game against Wednesday was Aidy Boothroyd. The former Rovers player took Watford on an adventure in the Premiership in the 2006/07 season after winning promotion to the big time. He managed Colchester for the best part of a season, briefly flirting with the play-offs, before he was given the opportunity at Coventry, a job he was eventually released from after a run of one win in sixteen. Though he had success at Watford and did a reasonable job at Colchester the poor run at Coventry will do him no good at all and his direct, physical approach would not impress a set of fans who have seen their fair share of ugly football over the past few seasons.
Campbell remains favourites with bookmakers Victor Chandler at evens with current Exeter City first team coach and Rovers record signing Andy Tillson sat second in the list at 6/1, though both are inexperienced at full managerial level, Tillson is known to be a good coach and has seen Exeter go from strength to strength alongside Paul Tisdale, but what Rovers need is someone to come in and put the squad and backroom staff through a filter, weed out those who don't want to be there, keep hold of the key players and have some nous in the transfer market, recognising what needs to be improved and doing it in a timely manner.
My personal choice would be a slightly unpopular one, Jim Gannon. He did not endear himself to the Rovers fans with his comments following a postponed game that was set to be played between his Stockport side and the Gas and the Rovers fans looked gleefully on as they kept County out of the end of season play-offs. Since then Gannon won the following years play-off final and got Stockport promoted and has managed at Motherwell, where he won plaudits for his attractive football but was let go after failing to get on with the clubs directors, apparently looked at jobs at other clubs and not being fully commited to the Well.
He then went on to manage Peterborough and with the club looking already relegated when he was appointed restored some pride to the Posh fans before stepping aside to allow Gary Johnson to take over. It is not all good on the Gannon front, though, as his short time in charge of Port Vale proved how his feisty and unrepentant nature can go against him. In little over two months he took Vale from a comfortable play-off place to languishing just outside the top seven and was eventually sacked after becoming highly unpopular with the players and fans alike.
Overall, however, Gannon would make a quick impression on Rovers and certainly kick the club into life. It may not be pretty but given a full pre-season I'm sure he would get the job done. Some of the players may not like his man-management style but the way he sets his sides up to play football is attractive and would no doubt help improve attendances and, with some of the players at Rovers disposal, could potentially garner superb results.
This is all pie-in-the-sky though, one of the reasons he didn't take over permanently at Peterborough and turned down the job that was surely to be offered to him at Brighton was because he didn't want to move his family away from Stockport, so even if Rovers came out and made him their marked man they may not get the reply they would be looking for.
But whoever takes over has a big job to do, changes need to be made to the footballing staff at the club with good time left before the season starts, chairman Nick Higgs stated in a recent interview that we could expect some news 'in the next couple of weeks'. With Campbell's appointment seemingly being the last throw of the dice the board have had a long time to think about their new man and with the pre-season period just over the hill a decision needs to be made in a timely fashion.
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