‘Rovers are getting things right’

Before I refer specifically to the latest action at Bristol Rovers, may I refer briefly to a loosely associated event that happened on my patch last Thursday? On 31st March 2015, Ben Hiscox died several days after being involved in a freak accident whilst playing for Stoke Gifford. A year on, a commemoration and celebration of Ben’s life was held in my local, the Beaufort Arms. There was a huge turn out of family and friends – Ben was hugely popular and much loved – but there was a greater surprise on the guest list: two Rovers players.

Ben’s lovely mum Gloria works for a large supermarket in Bradley Stoke and one of her regular customers is Gas midfielder Stuart Sinclair. Being a massive Rovers fan she invited Sinclair to the pub for the event, he said he would do his best. And he did his best, appearing with skipper Mark McChrystal. And what a credit they were to the football club.

If you are waiting for stories of drunkenness and debauchery, you would probably have been in the right place last Thursday, but not with the two Rovers players. Not a drop of alcohol passed their lips although I can report that most villagers more than made up for it. No snippets of gossip, either, not that I would have reported on them here. Two top lads, great professionals. Thanks for coming.

Rovers’ latest win against Crawley came as no surprise to anyone. Although Crawley were durable for a while, it looked inevitable that once the levee broke, a flood of goals would come, and so they did. Someone described Rovers’ season as a ‘roller coaster’ which would suggest it has been a series of ups and downs. Has it heck! It has been campaign of building momentum, of hard work, belief, graft, hunger and desire. Oh, and a bit of skill too.

I do not think the rush of enthusiasm at the club is unconnected to the new owners and directors all of whom seem far more clued up, open and ambitious than the old guard, who largely treated supporters as mushrooms. The ‘we know best, let us get on with it, without us you would not have a club so be grateful’ attitude has long gone. Goodbye to all that, here comes tomorrow.

And these are the good days. If you have been watching lower league football for as long as I have, they do not come along very often. Sometimes, it’s mid table mediocrity, or it’s a grim struggle, like most of the Higgs years, and occasionally, just occasionally, you get times like these.

I very much endorse Wael Al-Qadi’s vision of evolution rather than revolution. I know that the new owner have had to put a few million into the pot in order to clear up the legal mess left by the old board, but I suspect the new kids on the block want to build sensibly and sustainably.  You need strong foundations, not a vision built on sand.

Having said all that, I have revised my predictions for this season. With Oxford and Plymouth in wobbles – and don’t hesitate to remind them at all times – my guess now is second place. I know chairman Steve Hamer has suggested play offs are the club’s likely destination but he probably knows better than I do that automatic promotion is in our hands. He may be right and let’s not pile pressure on the players, but it does no harm to dream.

Once again, Rovers are getting things right on and off the pitch. I say once again but I can’t remember a time when they got either of them right for all that long. Long may it last.