Should he stay or should he go?

SMALL town in Devon that masquerades as a City 2, Sixth biggest City in England 2.
And my emotions have been up and down like a bungee jumper on acid all day.
I couldn't go to Exeter but I admit I had nagging fears about what the outcome might be.
In fact, I had voiced them to the Saints fan earlier that day.
Trying to place a bet that would guarantee him retirement in his early to mid 30s, he had asked me simply: "Reckon your boys will win today?"
And though I wanted to scream, "Lord, yes, of course they will" I found myself muttering, "No, not a chance."
Negative? You bet.
But I had my reasons.
You see, for Exeter City it was a bit more than just a football match.
Fans of the Grecians were gathering at their home, the far less well known St James's Park, to salute their sadly departed former striker Adam Stansfield, who had died from cancer at the age of 31.
It was going to be an emotional occasion, with a minute's applause to commemorate his life. And we were going to be bit-part players.
Well, let's face it, the life of a Gashead involves playing the supporting role rather a lot.
For instance, we were the fall guys on the last day of the previous season when over 40,000 fans had turned up at Elland Road to watch Leeds United complete their inevitable march back up to the Championship.
We didn't disappoint.
Despite being 1-0 up and seeing them go down to 10-men we eventually learnt the script and rolled over 2-1, securing us safe passage home and a token mention in the Sunday papers the next day.
On this occasion, Exeter's manager Paul Tisdale had sent out a rallying call to his team. "Do it for Adam". They were going to be completely fired up for this one. No motivation from the boss would be necessary. How could our boys compete?
Nine minutes past 3 and Sky Sports confirmed the inevitable. We had gone 1-0 down.
But, joy of joys, my gloom lifted after 44 minutes. It was 1-1, Jo Kuffour equalising on the stroke of half time. My fellow office workers looked stunned by my sudden shriek.
Better was to follow. Early in the second half an Exeter player was sent off and they were down to 10 men. But I kept my elation in check by reminding myself that Rovers NEVER beat teams who go down to 10 men early in the game.
I had even witnessed a game a few years back when visiting Luton were actually reduced to eight men at the Mem. We drew 1-1.
Hold on, though, our new striker Will Hoskins has scored and made it 2-1.
Nothing can go wrong now.
I can, in fact, see the table at the end of the day. Rovers are pushing up towards the very summit. Six points from three league games so far this season. We are getting it right.
Except I don't really feel it.
Because I just know they will equalise.
Call it pessimism, realism, or just being a Gashead.
And I'm right. There is an equaliser with 15 minutes to go.
I can tell you, those last 15 minutes were hell and in the end I was relieved to see we held on for the draw.
I envisaged their 10-men piling on the pressure and us somehow withstanding it to sneak back to Bristol with a point.
Was it like that? I don't know. I've just seen it all before.

Later that day the message boards are working overtime.
"Trolls must go" says one poster. "Trolls must stay" counters another, then gets angry when people who want the manager to get the sack start posting on HIS thread. "Stick to your own thread, this is for people who want him to stay," he argues.
And this, for a Rovers fan, appears to be the biggest debate of the moment.
Three games into the season, four points out of a possible nine, and there are two distinct camps.
So do I sack the manager.
Or back the manager.

My dad used to wax lyrical about a player he revered.
His hero played 368 consecutive games as fullback for Swindon Town, a run which only ended when he broke his arm against Hereford United.
At the end of his career at the County Ground he had made a total of 770 appearances for the same club.
The man was a legend. A beacon of loyalty.
His name was John Trollope.
I mention him simply because his son Paul is manager of Bristol Rovers. Has been for five years.
And with a father like that he must know something about loyalty.
How to show it, and how to instill it in those who play for him.
At the moment he needs all the loyalty he can muster.
I can see merits in both the pro-Trolls and anti-Trolls arguments.
My heart tells me that with genes like that this man can conquer any challenge thrown at him.
He will persevere, he will learn from his mistakes and, eventually, he will get it right if given time.
Getting it right means producing a team which will claw its way up the table until we genuinely become challengers for a place in the Championship. Hopefully, in doing so, we will play entertaining football. But if we don't always manage that, at least we will look like a team... hard to beat, capable of scoring, never admitting we are fighting a losing cause.
One for all, all for one.
Unfortunately with genes like that it could mean something different. It could mean he is stubborn, unbending, inflexible.
I'm afraid to say that the evidence I have seen with my own eyes (not enough over recent years, granted) and heard second hand from close friends and Gasheads of many years standing has left me struggling to see a team developing.
We are not hard to beat, quite often we don't look capable of scoring from open play and on occasion we let our heads go down too early when we have fallen behind and don't seem to be able to change our game plan to respond to the situation.
It's a sad fact of life that when those weaknesses occur, the blame must be laid at the feet of the man in charge.

For my sins, I know a few things about management.
And before people yell "oh yeah, who did you play for then? show us your medals" it's not football management, I grant you.
But whether you manage a football club, a bank, a kwik-fit centre, a corner shop or a newspaper sports desk, as I did, the same principles apply.
People will say you cannot learn how to manage. They are talking bollocks.
In fact, it is a pretty scientific process.
And it is all designed to get the very best out of the people around you, the people you manage.
If they do the job right, then you get the chance to bathe in the reflected glory.
If they do it wrong, then it is your head on the chopping block.
It is not an exact science, however. You can develop your own style of management, as long as it gets the right results.
The keys for me are recruitment, motivation and loyalty.
You have to pick the right people, the ones you can mould into a team to get the results you want. Then you need to find their motivation and get them to run through brick walls for you.
People say that you should treat them all the same.
Wrong.
No person is the same. One may respond to a kick up the backside, another might respond to an arm around the shoulder. Your job is to understand what makes them tick, and press those buttons.

I think the players Paul Trollope has at his disposal want to do a good job. None of them want to play badly.
At least they SHOULD want to do well. For personal pride, for their families and, surely, for the thousands of supporters who are just waiting for a chance to laud them as heroes.
I'm just not sure he has the right ones.
And, if he has, whether he has done enough to motivate them.
Thirdly, are they loyal to him?
The jury is out but when a team collapses as it did in the first half at Oxford and, despite a talk with the manager at half time, still goes out and shows no sign of second-half improvement I truly wonder.
There are players who have been signed by the manager - Mark Wright, Andy Williams, Daryl Duffy - who have just not fitted in. Were they the wrong recruits? Or has he just failed to find what makes them tick?
Wright, certainly, seems to be doing everything on loan at Shrewsbury that we, the fans, wanted him to do for us. He is sending in crosses, creating goals and taking on defenders.
Mind you, if he had done it at the Mem who would he have aimed his crosses at? None of our strikers are over 5ft 9.
We need goals and Duffy can score them. But he is out of favour.
So was he a bad recruit? Or has he just been treated badly?
It's another question that has raised its head frequently over recent weeks.
Still, I have my own theory on Trolls.
He has just taken all the badges he needs to qualify him as a top coach.
He now knows his 4-4-2 from his 4-5-1 and his 4-3-3.
He can make players run around brightly coloured cones and teach them how to lean on the back of strikers in the penalty area without being seen by the ref.
But on these courses do they teach you how to manage people? Or is he just moving brightly coloured disks around a luminous board, like Andy Gray does on a Sunday night.
When you are a team like Bristol Rovers, not blessed with money, a decent stadium, history in a top-flight division or the best players, you need - above all - a top manager.
Paul Trollope might be a damn fine coach, but he is NOT a manager.