WHAT am I thinking?
It's a night off.
Monday.
Wife's gone out for dinner with friends.
Baby is tucked up in bed.
The world's my oyster.
Among the more printable options open to me are Law and Order UK on the box, or a few episodes of Mad Men on DVD.
I could even enjoy some sports fan's porn - the box set of England's two home Ashes wins in 2005 and 2009.
Or converse with fellow Gasheads on the Bristol Rovers fans' forum.
But, no.
Tonight, Matthew, instead of all those things I am sat in front of the TV watching a Sky Sports 1 Football special. Greater Manchester meets Merseyside.
But hardly Manchester United v Liverpool.
It's a little matter of Oldham Athletic v Tranmere in League One.
And what a choice of game Sky have come across here.
Nationwide appeal? To be honest you would struggle to fit the fan base of both sides into a phone booth.
Clash of the season between two exciting, in-form teams? Oldham have scored two goals in their last 12 games. Tranmere have only won once in eight matches. My enthusiasm for the action at Boundary Park shows no boundaries.
So why can I not reach for the remote control and swiftly change channels to something more interesting - like Strictly Come Paintdrying?
Because the Gas have at least a partial interest in the game in that, if we somehow managed to go on a record-breaking winning run, Tranmere are one of the sides we could possibly leapfrog in the battle for League 1 survival.
Hence, I am hoping for Oldham to break their barren scoring run and at least grab a goal to keep Tranmere within our reach.
I suspect I am not the only one. This is what your ordinary, lower league football fan does when his side appear doomed to relegation.
Snatches at every straw available to you, in the hope you can find that glimmer of light that will direct you to safety.
My reward for this selfless, nay masochistic act . . .
Boring Old Team from Lancashire 0 Equally Boring team from Merseyside 0
It means Tranmere are six points above us, with a massively better goal difference, and have games in hand as well.
Still a chance of catching them, though, the more optimistic of my brethren will be thinking.
And I must admit I find it amazing how some within the Gashead ranks can put a positive spin on almost ANYTHING.
I was pretty happy with our 2-2 draw at home to Peterborough on Friday night, if only because it was a point against a side who would probably have hammered us a couple of weeks ago.
It meant we have taken seven points from the last 12 since become a Social People's revolution under Worker/manager Stuart Campbell.
Then came a nervous Saturday waiting to see how our relegation rivals got on.
The way Orient had been playing I was extremely hopeful they would see off west country rivals Yeovil. But by half time the Yokels were 3-0 up having played against 10 men from the 14th minute.
It couldn't have been worse. They finished up winning 5-1 and we play them next.
However, this might be to our advantage one loyal rose-tinter told his fellow Gasheads on the fans forum.
We have Yeovil up next at Huish Park and perhaps they have used up all their luck in front of goal in one game and that they will now dry up when it comes to taking on the side with the leakiest defence in the division. Umm, not sure of the logic there.
Dagenham, meanwhile, fought back to draw 1-1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday. Not good enough, argues another.
They have a really tough run in and are going to slip up inches from the finishing line, just like when Devon Loch famously did the splits when in sight of Grand National victory. Good theory. But does it really take into account that the Daggers are on a run of six games unbeaten and have games in hand of us, too?
Too many games, according to this eternal optimist. Their players will be worn out and finally collapse, collectively, at the key point of the run-in.
Of course, I cling to the hope that these theories are insightful rather than blindly optimistic.
But somehow I think that if we are to achieve escape it will be brought about by a miracle of our own making . . . a magnificent winning run of the kind that saw us sneak into the League 2 play-offs and earn promotions with victory at Wembley over Shrewsbury four years ago.
Here's hoping.
Tuesday 29 March 2011
Monday 21 March 2011
Keeper comforts
WELL, that was probably the most nervous weekend I've had to endure this season.
Normally it is bad enough keeping your fingers crossed on both hands while trying to type.
But when you're also trying to keep an eye on Sky Soccer Special and the dubious information filtering through from the BBC sport website it gives multi-skilling a whole new dimension.
I reckon it's far easier actually standing on the terraces watching a game than trying to keep track of it via various media outlets when you actually have no clue as to how your team is performing.
It's my fault, I guess, for landing a job in which being able to work Saturdays is a pre-requisite.
Anyway, with my beloved Gas languishing in bottom place at the start of the day it was pretty clear a point was the minimum requirement for what appeared to be a tough trip to Notts County.
Still, as the day wore on I remained hopeful. For a start we weren't 3-0 down within the first 20 minutes and another plus point was that two of our main relegation rivals, Walsall and Yeovil, were both losing.
And things got better when Walsall went 2-0 down at home to Hartlepool, while Yeovil were trailing 2-1 at Exeter to a brace of goals from ex-Gashead Jamie Cureton when half time came.
Still 0-0 at Meadow Lane, though as the second half wore on it appeared we were surviving on our nerves a bit. The little graph on the Beeb which tells you how much possession your team is enjoying had swung to 56-44 in favour of County and every snippit seemed to involve their side laying siege to our goal. (I don't always trust that graph. In the game at Brentford it told me we were having 89 per cent of possession, yet we lost the game 1-0).
The shock came midway through the second half. Suddenly on Sky came a goal flash - Notts County 0 Bristol Rovers 1 (Hoskins). I leapt out of my seat and punched the air, prompting a number of polite inquiries about my sanity and a few cockney drawls of "Siiiiiiddddowwn!"
As time wore on all seemed good on the Gas front.
Mind you, Walsall had somehow fought back and even taken the lead. Yeovil, too, were level now at their local rivals. Even more important for the Gas to hang on to three points.
Then I saw it.
BBC flash: Chris Lines fouls Febian Brandy in the area. Penalty to Notts County.
(It wasn't actually Lines, it was Jeff Hughes, but the Beeb never get much right).
And Yeovil had now gone ahead 3-2.
I waited . . . and waited . . . But part of me actually realised the Gas had survived. Sky Sports always have the news about five minutes before the Beeb website and I hadn't seen a goalflash yet.
Then the Beeb announced: Conrad Logan saves penalty.
Wow!
And we held on. Every second, every minute, of those last 20 minutes seemed like an hour.
My forehead was a mass of worry lines, my palms sweaty, my concentration non-existent.
The final result was now the only thing that mattered.
Rivals Walsall were now 5-2 ahead, Yeovil looked like holding out and other relegation contenders Dagenham and Redbridge and Tranmere were both winning.
Just to hold on to the three points amounted to treading water, but to lose would have been another nail in the coffin.
When the final score came through I swear my heart stopped.
Then calm returned.
The other team in Nottingham 0 Stuart Campbell's Communist Revolution 1
And we fight on!
We may have sacked manager Dave Penney after just 13 games, but we may be thankful to him for one thing in particular come the season's end.
This guy Logan is turning into a Gas legend after just a handful of games.
That's his second penalty save in two matches and though the one against Huddersfield ultimately counted for nothing, this one could make all the difference at the final reckoning.
The goalkeeping shirt at Rovers lately has been used like the prize in a football version of musical chairs.
Previous boss Paul Trollope's decision to rely on loan signings means that we started the season hoping a West Brom reject in Luke Daniels would be our number one.
Then after two days with us in pre-season he got injured and we had to return to Reading with the begging bowl to borrow great Dane Mikkel Andersen to replace him.
But Andersen couldn't play every game because he had international commitments with the Danish Under 21 side so on the odd occasion we had to call up reserve Mike Green.
And when Reading recalled their loanee in January Daniels was fit again to return.
Unfortunately, his confidence didn't stand up to a few heavy beatings in his early games and it was Penney who decided prompt action was needed, going to Leicester to secure Logan's services.
And now the call is going out for our loan star to be enticed to join us on a permanent deal.
Nine games to go. Nine cup finals.
If we escape from the pit we have dug for ourselves we could be calling our journey to safety "Logan's Run".
Normally it is bad enough keeping your fingers crossed on both hands while trying to type.
But when you're also trying to keep an eye on Sky Soccer Special and the dubious information filtering through from the BBC sport website it gives multi-skilling a whole new dimension.
I reckon it's far easier actually standing on the terraces watching a game than trying to keep track of it via various media outlets when you actually have no clue as to how your team is performing.
It's my fault, I guess, for landing a job in which being able to work Saturdays is a pre-requisite.
Anyway, with my beloved Gas languishing in bottom place at the start of the day it was pretty clear a point was the minimum requirement for what appeared to be a tough trip to Notts County.
Still, as the day wore on I remained hopeful. For a start we weren't 3-0 down within the first 20 minutes and another plus point was that two of our main relegation rivals, Walsall and Yeovil, were both losing.
And things got better when Walsall went 2-0 down at home to Hartlepool, while Yeovil were trailing 2-1 at Exeter to a brace of goals from ex-Gashead Jamie Cureton when half time came.
Still 0-0 at Meadow Lane, though as the second half wore on it appeared we were surviving on our nerves a bit. The little graph on the Beeb which tells you how much possession your team is enjoying had swung to 56-44 in favour of County and every snippit seemed to involve their side laying siege to our goal. (I don't always trust that graph. In the game at Brentford it told me we were having 89 per cent of possession, yet we lost the game 1-0).
The shock came midway through the second half. Suddenly on Sky came a goal flash - Notts County 0 Bristol Rovers 1 (Hoskins). I leapt out of my seat and punched the air, prompting a number of polite inquiries about my sanity and a few cockney drawls of "Siiiiiiddddowwn!"
As time wore on all seemed good on the Gas front.
Mind you, Walsall had somehow fought back and even taken the lead. Yeovil, too, were level now at their local rivals. Even more important for the Gas to hang on to three points.
Then I saw it.
BBC flash: Chris Lines fouls Febian Brandy in the area. Penalty to Notts County.
(It wasn't actually Lines, it was Jeff Hughes, but the Beeb never get much right).
And Yeovil had now gone ahead 3-2.
I waited . . . and waited . . . But part of me actually realised the Gas had survived. Sky Sports always have the news about five minutes before the Beeb website and I hadn't seen a goalflash yet.
Then the Beeb announced: Conrad Logan saves penalty.
Wow!
And we held on. Every second, every minute, of those last 20 minutes seemed like an hour.
My forehead was a mass of worry lines, my palms sweaty, my concentration non-existent.
The final result was now the only thing that mattered.
Rivals Walsall were now 5-2 ahead, Yeovil looked like holding out and other relegation contenders Dagenham and Redbridge and Tranmere were both winning.
Just to hold on to the three points amounted to treading water, but to lose would have been another nail in the coffin.
When the final score came through I swear my heart stopped.
Then calm returned.
The other team in Nottingham 0 Stuart Campbell's Communist Revolution 1
And we fight on!
We may have sacked manager Dave Penney after just 13 games, but we may be thankful to him for one thing in particular come the season's end.
This guy Logan is turning into a Gas legend after just a handful of games.
That's his second penalty save in two matches and though the one against Huddersfield ultimately counted for nothing, this one could make all the difference at the final reckoning.
The goalkeeping shirt at Rovers lately has been used like the prize in a football version of musical chairs.
Previous boss Paul Trollope's decision to rely on loan signings means that we started the season hoping a West Brom reject in Luke Daniels would be our number one.
Then after two days with us in pre-season he got injured and we had to return to Reading with the begging bowl to borrow great Dane Mikkel Andersen to replace him.
But Andersen couldn't play every game because he had international commitments with the Danish Under 21 side so on the odd occasion we had to call up reserve Mike Green.
And when Reading recalled their loanee in January Daniels was fit again to return.
Unfortunately, his confidence didn't stand up to a few heavy beatings in his early games and it was Penney who decided prompt action was needed, going to Leicester to secure Logan's services.
And now the call is going out for our loan star to be enticed to join us on a permanent deal.
Nine games to go. Nine cup finals.
If we escape from the pit we have dug for ourselves we could be calling our journey to safety "Logan's Run".
Wednesday 16 March 2011
Pass masters
SO the Campbell bounce lasted one game.
A wonderful 1-0 triumph at Tranmere was followed by a brave but ultimately futile attempt to derail Huddersfield's promotion push.
We conceded a goal after just five minutes and although our on-loan keeper Conrad Logan saved a penalty and we had two attempts disallowed it was all to no avail.
Players' Democratic Republic of Bristol 0, Yorkshire Terriers 1
A great initiative from the board of directors - to allow each season ticket holder to bring one guest free - pushed the gate above 7,000 and, by all accounts, the fans really got behind our team and their fourth manager of the season.
But, despite the words of hope from supporters who felt we did enough to have won the game, by Tuesday night I was sinking into the depths of misery again.
Plymouth - that team which had 10 points deducted after going into administration - climbed above us on goal difference thanks to a last-minute equaliser at Carlisle.
And now we are bottom of the pile again, with 10 games to save our League One status.
But, still, there is hope on the horizon.
Our centre back Danny Coles, who has been helping out Captain fantastic Campbell since he took over the side, says that we are going to "pass our way out of trouble".
This sounds a very worthy sentiment and one which I am sure all Gasheads will applaud.
The only problems I see are two fold:
1. We were supposed to be playing a "passing" game when we were getting thumped by the likes of Oxford, Peterborough and Southampton at the start of the season under manager no 1 Paul Trollope.
2. We are not Barcelona.
I've seen some very good Rovers sides who liked to pass the ball in the past. Our former manager David Williams produced a very exciting and entertaining team to watch and was very unlucky to go agonisingly close before missing out on promotion in three successive seasons.
It shouldn't be too hard to do, after all.
You see a player wearing the same coloured shirt as you and give them the ball. Then you move into a position where you might be able to receive it back.
Unfortunately the Rovers side of which Danny Coles now plays haven't managed to do that very often this season.
In fact, I would suggest one of the reasons we are where we are is that we have tended to give the ball to the opposition far too often, allowing them to score a hatful of goals against us and leaving our goal difference so badly in the negative you might think we were a basketball side.
I know why this has come up. It is because the team which Dave Penney was managing were accused of just playing "hoofball". This is a game where you pick the ball up in your own half then boot it as far down the field as possible.
It's not attractive to watch and, to be fair, under Mr Penney it wasn't very successful either.
But it does leave me to ask another question.
Did Dave Penney actually tell his players: Don't pass the ball to each other?
Because I cannot believe that was the case.
Every footballer likes to think of themselves as a Xavi or Iniesta in the making. But, to be fair to those Barcelona geniuses, look how hard they work to win back the ball.
So unless you can marry the two qualities together you are on a hiding - as Rovers have been far too often.
Yes, I want to see us pass the ball to team mates. But I also want us to fight to win it back when we have lost it.
And even once we have done both those things we need to put it in the back of the net which, since our star striker Will Hoskins' goals have dried up, is something we are doing far too infrequently.
Ten games to go. Ten cup finals, as Stuart Campbell points out.
Mind you, we've never been very successful in cup finals.
The only one we have actually won was in the Watney Cup back in 1972.
And that was on a penalty shootout.
You don't get those in league games.
So maybe we should re-think that policy, maybe pretend they are FA Cup third or fourth round games against top flight opposition. We've done much better in matches like that.
Notts County up next, away from home.
They play in black and white stripes.
Perhaps our caretaker boss should convince his troops we are facing Newcastle United.
Howay the Gas!
A wonderful 1-0 triumph at Tranmere was followed by a brave but ultimately futile attempt to derail Huddersfield's promotion push.
We conceded a goal after just five minutes and although our on-loan keeper Conrad Logan saved a penalty and we had two attempts disallowed it was all to no avail.
Players' Democratic Republic of Bristol 0, Yorkshire Terriers 1
A great initiative from the board of directors - to allow each season ticket holder to bring one guest free - pushed the gate above 7,000 and, by all accounts, the fans really got behind our team and their fourth manager of the season.
But, despite the words of hope from supporters who felt we did enough to have won the game, by Tuesday night I was sinking into the depths of misery again.
Plymouth - that team which had 10 points deducted after going into administration - climbed above us on goal difference thanks to a last-minute equaliser at Carlisle.
And now we are bottom of the pile again, with 10 games to save our League One status.
But, still, there is hope on the horizon.
Our centre back Danny Coles, who has been helping out Captain fantastic Campbell since he took over the side, says that we are going to "pass our way out of trouble".
This sounds a very worthy sentiment and one which I am sure all Gasheads will applaud.
The only problems I see are two fold:
1. We were supposed to be playing a "passing" game when we were getting thumped by the likes of Oxford, Peterborough and Southampton at the start of the season under manager no 1 Paul Trollope.
2. We are not Barcelona.
I've seen some very good Rovers sides who liked to pass the ball in the past. Our former manager David Williams produced a very exciting and entertaining team to watch and was very unlucky to go agonisingly close before missing out on promotion in three successive seasons.
It shouldn't be too hard to do, after all.
You see a player wearing the same coloured shirt as you and give them the ball. Then you move into a position where you might be able to receive it back.
Unfortunately the Rovers side of which Danny Coles now plays haven't managed to do that very often this season.
In fact, I would suggest one of the reasons we are where we are is that we have tended to give the ball to the opposition far too often, allowing them to score a hatful of goals against us and leaving our goal difference so badly in the negative you might think we were a basketball side.
I know why this has come up. It is because the team which Dave Penney was managing were accused of just playing "hoofball". This is a game where you pick the ball up in your own half then boot it as far down the field as possible.
It's not attractive to watch and, to be fair, under Mr Penney it wasn't very successful either.
But it does leave me to ask another question.
Did Dave Penney actually tell his players: Don't pass the ball to each other?
Because I cannot believe that was the case.
Every footballer likes to think of themselves as a Xavi or Iniesta in the making. But, to be fair to those Barcelona geniuses, look how hard they work to win back the ball.
So unless you can marry the two qualities together you are on a hiding - as Rovers have been far too often.
Yes, I want to see us pass the ball to team mates. But I also want us to fight to win it back when we have lost it.
And even once we have done both those things we need to put it in the back of the net which, since our star striker Will Hoskins' goals have dried up, is something we are doing far too infrequently.
Ten games to go. Ten cup finals, as Stuart Campbell points out.
Mind you, we've never been very successful in cup finals.
The only one we have actually won was in the Watney Cup back in 1972.
And that was on a penalty shootout.
You don't get those in league games.
So maybe we should re-think that policy, maybe pretend they are FA Cup third or fourth round games against top flight opposition. We've done much better in matches like that.
Notts County up next, away from home.
They play in black and white stripes.
Perhaps our caretaker boss should convince his troops we are facing Newcastle United.
Howay the Gas!
Wednesday 9 March 2011
Fantasy land
I am manager of a fantasy football team.
It's not doing badly.
We're fourth in the table at the moment and I can pick whoever the hell I choose.
I came back from a day out with the wife and child and sat down to monitor my team's progress.
But thought I'd have a quick glance on twitter to see if I had missed any breaking news.
And sat in stunned silence for so long my wife thought I'd done a runner out of the back door.
Sacked.
Dave Penney.
Our manager for all of 13 games and just under two months.
Gone. Along with his assistant Martin Foyle.
The men who had been brought in "for the long term" to sort out our plight.
Penney, the man who "was the best candidate for the job by a long way".
Who "knew everything there was to know about the lower divisions."
Replaced by Stewart Campbell - the reliable, long serving, club captain.
All I can think is the world has gone barmy.
Don't get me wrong. I love Campbell.
All Gasheads do.
He epitomises the spirit of the club, plays through all manner of injuries, and never short-changes the team on the pitch.
But managerial experience? None.
He's doing a few coaching badges. That's it.
Admittedly, Penney hadn't exactly set the world alight.
He had come with baggage.
An unsuccessful stint at Oldham whose fans were quick to tell us that his style of football was prehistoric and uninspiring.
It meant that he had little leeway when he took up the hot seat.
Succeed, and a lot of people were going to say that any manager worth his salt should be able to rescue us from the dim recesses of the League One relegation zone.
Fail, though, and he was always going to be considered a cheap option. A reject from the managerial bargain bin.
He weighed up the size of the task and was pretty soon aware that it was a more difficult test than he first thought.
He immediately set about strengthening the squad with an odds-and-sods assortment of loan signings, out-of-contract players and young hopefuls.
But results didn't go well. Played 13, won 2, drawn 2, lost 9. Our goal difference tumbling to -30.
Only Plymouth, a team stripped of 10 points by the Football League because of their financial woes, below us.
The outcry was, to my mind, out of proportion.
He was described as "the worst person ever to manage Bristol Rovers", a disciple of "hoofball", a clueless tactician.
No doubt you could have cut and pasted those comments from the Oldham fans website if you wanted to spare your typing fingers.
For our board of directors, though, worried about falling attendances and the prospect of being marooned once more in League 2, a home defeat to struggling Dagenham was the final straw.
They acted "swiftly". A word which is hardly synonymous with the group of businessmen in charge of my beloved club.
Did they "listen" to the fans? Well, that would be unprecedented, according to the majority.
For God's sake, there is even a "Black and Gold" campaign on facebook accusing them of doing exactly the opposite.
Were they upset with the quality of football? Surely if that was the case our previous boss Paul Trollope would have been sacked a year and a half ago.
I have two theories. One is that they "chickened out" of backing their prime candidate for the very reason that they were upset by the publicity generated by "Black and Gold" and wanted to prove they "do" listen to fans.
But the other, which is much stronger, is they were alarmed by Penney's refreshing brand of honesty in the media.
Every week he was saying that "the players couldn't defend" and "We don't have a good enough squad with enough fighters in our ranks when things go wrong".
Perfectly valid points.
But the Penney was finally dropped when he came out after the Dagenham game with a phrase which, I imagine to most directors anywhere in the land, is completely taboo.
With 12 games left, including some important matches at the Mem from which the board needs to get people through the doors to generate much needed revenue, the manager admitted: "It looks like we are going down."
Now, we fans can say that, and have been for some time.
But for a manager to come out and admit defeat is just not acceptable.
How many times have you heard a football boss, his side totally doomed to the drop, saying: "There are still points to fight for and we won't accept we're down until it is mathematically certain."?
There's one just down the road at Plymouth. Peter Reid, his side plunged to the bottom after that 10 point deduction for going into administration, said: "We won't give up."
His best players have gone, the others haven't been paid for months, but he hasn't accepted defeat. And they have won their last three games.
As soon as Penney said those fateful words I imagine his fate was sealed.
A quick call to Campbell, "help us out lad, can you take over".
A true, dyed in the wool Gashead, it was an offer he could hardly refuse.
So we went to Tranmere, with captain fantastic as manager and two of his longer serving colleagues, Danny Coles and Byron Anthony, assisting.
And guess what? We won. 1-0.
A rare clean sheet. A spirited Rovers performance. A committed display by every Rovers player.
These included James Tunnicliffe, the on-loan signing from Brighton who has been described as "No better than a non-league player" and with the turning speed of a "heavily laden oil tanker".
Chris Lines, the much-maligned midfielder who, some suggest, has gone missing so often in games I'm surprised his nickname isn't Lord Lucan.
Gary Sawyer, a fullback whose inability to combat crosses make him a candidate to appear in the next sequel of Twilight.
All performed out of their skins, Lines got the important goal, and there was a mass celebration at the end.
Poor relations on Merseyside 0, Workers cooperative of North Bristol 1.
Fantastic result. Fantastic performance. And hope springs eternal.
So what could Campbell manage that Trollope and Penney couldn't?
Well, for a start, he hasn't spent the season telling the players they aren't up to scratch.
He has sat on the coach with them, no doubt listened to their moans and grumbles, and turned it to his favour.
He has a complete clean slate.
Trolls had his favourites. Penney had hammered into them they weren't good enough.
"Grandad", as the players affectionately call their captain, was the shoulder to cry on.
And they wanted to repay him.
Whether that continues, I admit I'm sceptical.
One off performances have been the stock in trade of Rovers' season.
It's the consistency that has been lacking.
One good display, followed by two or three bad ones.
If we DO go down, then where is the long-term plan?
I was quick to salute the board over Penney's appointment, because I think given a summer to build his own team he might have turned things around in League 2.
After all, I well remember Sir Alex Ferguson and Howard Kendall being one game from the sack before going on to build dynasties at their famous clubs.
For now, though, I'm a deliriously happy Gashead because we've given ourselves a chance.
Fantasy football? Who needs it.
It's not doing badly.
We're fourth in the table at the moment and I can pick whoever the hell I choose.
I came back from a day out with the wife and child and sat down to monitor my team's progress.
But thought I'd have a quick glance on twitter to see if I had missed any breaking news.
And sat in stunned silence for so long my wife thought I'd done a runner out of the back door.
Sacked.
Dave Penney.
Our manager for all of 13 games and just under two months.
Gone. Along with his assistant Martin Foyle.
The men who had been brought in "for the long term" to sort out our plight.
Penney, the man who "was the best candidate for the job by a long way".
Who "knew everything there was to know about the lower divisions."
Replaced by Stewart Campbell - the reliable, long serving, club captain.
All I can think is the world has gone barmy.
Don't get me wrong. I love Campbell.
All Gasheads do.
He epitomises the spirit of the club, plays through all manner of injuries, and never short-changes the team on the pitch.
But managerial experience? None.
He's doing a few coaching badges. That's it.
Admittedly, Penney hadn't exactly set the world alight.
He had come with baggage.
An unsuccessful stint at Oldham whose fans were quick to tell us that his style of football was prehistoric and uninspiring.
It meant that he had little leeway when he took up the hot seat.
Succeed, and a lot of people were going to say that any manager worth his salt should be able to rescue us from the dim recesses of the League One relegation zone.
Fail, though, and he was always going to be considered a cheap option. A reject from the managerial bargain bin.
He weighed up the size of the task and was pretty soon aware that it was a more difficult test than he first thought.
He immediately set about strengthening the squad with an odds-and-sods assortment of loan signings, out-of-contract players and young hopefuls.
But results didn't go well. Played 13, won 2, drawn 2, lost 9. Our goal difference tumbling to -30.
Only Plymouth, a team stripped of 10 points by the Football League because of their financial woes, below us.
The outcry was, to my mind, out of proportion.
He was described as "the worst person ever to manage Bristol Rovers", a disciple of "hoofball", a clueless tactician.
No doubt you could have cut and pasted those comments from the Oldham fans website if you wanted to spare your typing fingers.
For our board of directors, though, worried about falling attendances and the prospect of being marooned once more in League 2, a home defeat to struggling Dagenham was the final straw.
They acted "swiftly". A word which is hardly synonymous with the group of businessmen in charge of my beloved club.
Did they "listen" to the fans? Well, that would be unprecedented, according to the majority.
For God's sake, there is even a "Black and Gold" campaign on facebook accusing them of doing exactly the opposite.
Were they upset with the quality of football? Surely if that was the case our previous boss Paul Trollope would have been sacked a year and a half ago.
I have two theories. One is that they "chickened out" of backing their prime candidate for the very reason that they were upset by the publicity generated by "Black and Gold" and wanted to prove they "do" listen to fans.
But the other, which is much stronger, is they were alarmed by Penney's refreshing brand of honesty in the media.
Every week he was saying that "the players couldn't defend" and "We don't have a good enough squad with enough fighters in our ranks when things go wrong".
Perfectly valid points.
But the Penney was finally dropped when he came out after the Dagenham game with a phrase which, I imagine to most directors anywhere in the land, is completely taboo.
With 12 games left, including some important matches at the Mem from which the board needs to get people through the doors to generate much needed revenue, the manager admitted: "It looks like we are going down."
Now, we fans can say that, and have been for some time.
But for a manager to come out and admit defeat is just not acceptable.
How many times have you heard a football boss, his side totally doomed to the drop, saying: "There are still points to fight for and we won't accept we're down until it is mathematically certain."?
There's one just down the road at Plymouth. Peter Reid, his side plunged to the bottom after that 10 point deduction for going into administration, said: "We won't give up."
His best players have gone, the others haven't been paid for months, but he hasn't accepted defeat. And they have won their last three games.
As soon as Penney said those fateful words I imagine his fate was sealed.
A quick call to Campbell, "help us out lad, can you take over".
A true, dyed in the wool Gashead, it was an offer he could hardly refuse.
So we went to Tranmere, with captain fantastic as manager and two of his longer serving colleagues, Danny Coles and Byron Anthony, assisting.
And guess what? We won. 1-0.
A rare clean sheet. A spirited Rovers performance. A committed display by every Rovers player.
These included James Tunnicliffe, the on-loan signing from Brighton who has been described as "No better than a non-league player" and with the turning speed of a "heavily laden oil tanker".
Chris Lines, the much-maligned midfielder who, some suggest, has gone missing so often in games I'm surprised his nickname isn't Lord Lucan.
Gary Sawyer, a fullback whose inability to combat crosses make him a candidate to appear in the next sequel of Twilight.
All performed out of their skins, Lines got the important goal, and there was a mass celebration at the end.
Poor relations on Merseyside 0, Workers cooperative of North Bristol 1.
Fantastic result. Fantastic performance. And hope springs eternal.
So what could Campbell manage that Trollope and Penney couldn't?
Well, for a start, he hasn't spent the season telling the players they aren't up to scratch.
He has sat on the coach with them, no doubt listened to their moans and grumbles, and turned it to his favour.
He has a complete clean slate.
Trolls had his favourites. Penney had hammered into them they weren't good enough.
"Grandad", as the players affectionately call their captain, was the shoulder to cry on.
And they wanted to repay him.
Whether that continues, I admit I'm sceptical.
One off performances have been the stock in trade of Rovers' season.
It's the consistency that has been lacking.
One good display, followed by two or three bad ones.
If we DO go down, then where is the long-term plan?
I was quick to salute the board over Penney's appointment, because I think given a summer to build his own team he might have turned things around in League 2.
After all, I well remember Sir Alex Ferguson and Howard Kendall being one game from the sack before going on to build dynasties at their famous clubs.
For now, though, I'm a deliriously happy Gashead because we've given ourselves a chance.
Fantasy football? Who needs it.
Sunday 6 March 2011
Dagger to the heart
I'M noticing strange things happening around me.
I guess it reached a crescendo at about 3.45pm on Saturday.
I just happened to mention that I was going out for a "breath of fresh air" and spotted something out of the corner of my eye.
One of my work colleagues - not realising I was paying attention - nodded his head in my direction, whispered to the boss and pointed to his eye.
You know, like that moment in Italia '90.
Midway through extra time of the semi-final between England and Germany.
The bit where Gary Lineker fixes Bobby Robson with a stare, points at Gascoigne and then puts his finger to his head.
"He's gone", he is saying.
Perhaps my colleague thinks I'm gone.
No doubt it's because I have just heard the awful, or Ifil, news. Our centre half of the moment Jerel Ifil (about the 20th to be tried in that position this season) has been sent off.
Worse still, from the resulting free kick my beloved Gas have gone 1-0 down to Dagenham and Bloody Redbridge in our collosal relegation clash at the Mem.
And maybe it's because, as a consequence of this, I have found myself singing a verse from Bristol Rovers' anthem Goodnight Irene. Not the first verse, the well known one we all sing on the terraces, but the lesser known one.
The one that says: "Sometimes I live in the country, sometimes I live in the town, sometimes I take a great notion, to jump in the river and drown."
After all, 13 floors below me and just a hop and skip away are the dark waters of the Thames.
I think my workmates are expecting this awful latest twist in the Bristol Rovers tragedy to push me over the edge.
Not yet. Even with 10 men we might be able to achieve a remarkable turnaround with 45 minutes to go.
And with 10 minutes left we appear to be still in the game. In fact, judging by the BBC feed I have to rely on we actually seem to be pushing forward quite a bit.
Then Sky wakes me up to the fact - 2-0 Dagenham. Game over.
I am destroyed.
Whipping boys of Bristol 0,
Home of that bird who finished in the top six of the X factor 2.
I have a three-hour journey home in which to digest this latest news. To consider the fact that even our manager Dave Penney is now admitting that we will almost certainly get relegated to League football's dingy basement.
It makes matters worse when a section of the poxy M4 is closed and I'm diverted around the wilds of Wiltshire, extending my journey even further.
How did we get here? What has gone so terribly wrong?
And I have to concede that the writing has been on the wall for a long, long time - not just the 13 games that the underfire Mr Penney has been in charge.
I think back to all the promises made by our board of directors that promotion via the play-offs at Wembley in front of more than 30,000 loyal gasheads was "just the start".
The ambition was to carry things on to the next stage, become established in League One and then aim for the Championship.
Maybe even developed our OWN purpose-built stadium, something the club has never possessed in its history.
Not sure what the timescale was for our glorious elevation to the Championship, but I don't think three years was pushing it.
Other teams in recent times have done it, of course. Blackpool are the shining example, but Swansea City and Doncaster both push them close.
There may be others, too.
But somehow the conviction never rang true with Rovers, however much I wanted to believe it.
Better teams inhabit the third tier of the football league these days. Even when we went up we had to contend with the likes of Leeds.
We've also had to encounter Southampton, Leicester, Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday - all massive football names with massive football budgets.
In comparison we rely on the goodwill of a few local businessmen, have NEVER really had a professional backroom operation, play at what looks like a glorified cattle market pen and on a churned up paddy field of a rugby pitch, and rely very heavily on the amazing fanatasism and goodwill of an extremely dedicated and loyal fanbase.
If success did come our way it would be a miracle on a par with satisfying the hunger of an entire Glastonbury crowd with five cans of Carling and two bags of pork scratchings.
Paul Trollope and Lennie Lawrence did what they could but, let's be honest, if it hadn't been for a few clubs being docked points we could have been back down at the first time of asking.
They managed to get us to the lofty heights of 12th next season - and I must admit I was pretty excited about what might follow. After all, the one constant was that we had a prolific goalscorer in our ranks called Rickie Lambert, who was helping us to punch above our weight.
Sadly, just one game into the next season he had gone. To Southampton for a decent fee.
We were told the money would be made available to replace him but we never did.
And, despite a decent early spell to season 2009/2010 it soon became clear that all was not rosy.
A 5-1 defeat at Norwich was followed by six successive defeats (including one in the cup) and though we managed to recover thanks mainly to a couple of decent loan signings in February, our season petered out with another shambolic set of results.
In the summer Lennie departed, leaving us with Trolls and our youth manager promoted to the post of assistant coach.
And despite the assertions that we would be pushing for the play-offs, I harboured fears of what was to come. The squad was pretty small, experienced players had been replaced by relatively young men, and there didn't seem to be an abundance of seasoned battlers in the ranks.
Outwardly I was excited about the season.
Inwardly, I am not sure whether it was natural pessimism or cold hard realism that told me it was going to be a struggle.
Ah, this season. Where to start? Well, perhaps leave that for another day.
Feelings are too raw at the moment, my mind too numb.
It would be easy to call for ANOTHER managerial sacking, another upheaval, another straw to clutch - as many are already doing on the message boards.
But for the moment I've got duties to perform at home, like put out the bins.
That's if I can find my shoelaces.
My wife seems to have removed them from every piece of my footwear in the house.
I guess it reached a crescendo at about 3.45pm on Saturday.
I just happened to mention that I was going out for a "breath of fresh air" and spotted something out of the corner of my eye.
One of my work colleagues - not realising I was paying attention - nodded his head in my direction, whispered to the boss and pointed to his eye.
You know, like that moment in Italia '90.
Midway through extra time of the semi-final between England and Germany.
The bit where Gary Lineker fixes Bobby Robson with a stare, points at Gascoigne and then puts his finger to his head.
"He's gone", he is saying.
Perhaps my colleague thinks I'm gone.
No doubt it's because I have just heard the awful, or Ifil, news. Our centre half of the moment Jerel Ifil (about the 20th to be tried in that position this season) has been sent off.
Worse still, from the resulting free kick my beloved Gas have gone 1-0 down to Dagenham and Bloody Redbridge in our collosal relegation clash at the Mem.
And maybe it's because, as a consequence of this, I have found myself singing a verse from Bristol Rovers' anthem Goodnight Irene. Not the first verse, the well known one we all sing on the terraces, but the lesser known one.
The one that says: "Sometimes I live in the country, sometimes I live in the town, sometimes I take a great notion, to jump in the river and drown."
After all, 13 floors below me and just a hop and skip away are the dark waters of the Thames.
I think my workmates are expecting this awful latest twist in the Bristol Rovers tragedy to push me over the edge.
Not yet. Even with 10 men we might be able to achieve a remarkable turnaround with 45 minutes to go.
And with 10 minutes left we appear to be still in the game. In fact, judging by the BBC feed I have to rely on we actually seem to be pushing forward quite a bit.
Then Sky wakes me up to the fact - 2-0 Dagenham. Game over.
I am destroyed.
Whipping boys of Bristol 0,
Home of that bird who finished in the top six of the X factor 2.
I have a three-hour journey home in which to digest this latest news. To consider the fact that even our manager Dave Penney is now admitting that we will almost certainly get relegated to League football's dingy basement.
It makes matters worse when a section of the poxy M4 is closed and I'm diverted around the wilds of Wiltshire, extending my journey even further.
How did we get here? What has gone so terribly wrong?
And I have to concede that the writing has been on the wall for a long, long time - not just the 13 games that the underfire Mr Penney has been in charge.
I think back to all the promises made by our board of directors that promotion via the play-offs at Wembley in front of more than 30,000 loyal gasheads was "just the start".
The ambition was to carry things on to the next stage, become established in League One and then aim for the Championship.
Maybe even developed our OWN purpose-built stadium, something the club has never possessed in its history.
Not sure what the timescale was for our glorious elevation to the Championship, but I don't think three years was pushing it.
Other teams in recent times have done it, of course. Blackpool are the shining example, but Swansea City and Doncaster both push them close.
There may be others, too.
But somehow the conviction never rang true with Rovers, however much I wanted to believe it.
Better teams inhabit the third tier of the football league these days. Even when we went up we had to contend with the likes of Leeds.
We've also had to encounter Southampton, Leicester, Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday - all massive football names with massive football budgets.
In comparison we rely on the goodwill of a few local businessmen, have NEVER really had a professional backroom operation, play at what looks like a glorified cattle market pen and on a churned up paddy field of a rugby pitch, and rely very heavily on the amazing fanatasism and goodwill of an extremely dedicated and loyal fanbase.
If success did come our way it would be a miracle on a par with satisfying the hunger of an entire Glastonbury crowd with five cans of Carling and two bags of pork scratchings.
Paul Trollope and Lennie Lawrence did what they could but, let's be honest, if it hadn't been for a few clubs being docked points we could have been back down at the first time of asking.
They managed to get us to the lofty heights of 12th next season - and I must admit I was pretty excited about what might follow. After all, the one constant was that we had a prolific goalscorer in our ranks called Rickie Lambert, who was helping us to punch above our weight.
Sadly, just one game into the next season he had gone. To Southampton for a decent fee.
We were told the money would be made available to replace him but we never did.
And, despite a decent early spell to season 2009/2010 it soon became clear that all was not rosy.
A 5-1 defeat at Norwich was followed by six successive defeats (including one in the cup) and though we managed to recover thanks mainly to a couple of decent loan signings in February, our season petered out with another shambolic set of results.
In the summer Lennie departed, leaving us with Trolls and our youth manager promoted to the post of assistant coach.
And despite the assertions that we would be pushing for the play-offs, I harboured fears of what was to come. The squad was pretty small, experienced players had been replaced by relatively young men, and there didn't seem to be an abundance of seasoned battlers in the ranks.
Outwardly I was excited about the season.
Inwardly, I am not sure whether it was natural pessimism or cold hard realism that told me it was going to be a struggle.
Ah, this season. Where to start? Well, perhaps leave that for another day.
Feelings are too raw at the moment, my mind too numb.
It would be easy to call for ANOTHER managerial sacking, another upheaval, another straw to clutch - as many are already doing on the message boards.
But for the moment I've got duties to perform at home, like put out the bins.
That's if I can find my shoelaces.
My wife seems to have removed them from every piece of my footwear in the house.
Friday 4 March 2011
Penney tossing
IT'S desperate times.
We've changed our manager.
We've changed our team.
We haven't changed our collision course with relegation to League Two.
And now it seems the cry is going out for us to change our manager - again.
Dave Penney's first 12 games in charge have hardly set the world alight.
Played 12, won 2, drawn 2, lost 8.
I'm sure in his wildest dreams he would have expected to do a lot better.
After all, he's been allowed to bring in new signings (most of them on loan) and had time to stamp his own philosophy on the team.
I must admit that I approached Tuesday night's clash with Colchester United at home with some confidence.
We'd stemmed the tide of goals conceded, having beaten Oldham 1-0 and then gone down to an unlucky 1-0 defeat at Brentford.
But on a pretty cold night at the Mem, the Gas never managed to raise the temperature and lost to a comedy goal when new keeper Conrad Logan kicked the ball against the back of one of our defenders and a stray Colchester striker reacted first to thump the only goal of the game.
Pride of Bristol 0, Pokey little town in Essex 1
And I find myself asking: Where do we go from here?
I felt the attitude - certainly from most of our players - was right, but unfortunately there didn't seem to be any sort of game plan in place to break the opposition down.
At times we tried to get up a head of steam, only for the final ball to be woefully lacking.
And I find myself clutching at straws now, trying to see a way out of what is becoming a pretty desperate predicament.
I guess it's this way for all fans when their teams are staring into the relegation abyss.
Your thoughts start turning to cold Tuesday nights in the northern outposts of Morecambe, Accrington and Bury where football journeymen hoof the ball into the night sky and it seems to take an age to come down.
Where the muscle men thrive and the skillful players struggle to survive.
And where, if you go into it thinking you are going to bounce straight back up again, you can have a pretty rude awakening.
Still, is it really worth going back to the drawing board and chosing ANOTHER manager?
I believe our new man was handed a bit of a thankless task, and some of his signings have just been to paper over the cracks and bring our squad up to a decent size to compete and cope with injuries and suspensions.
He says his aim is to play pressing football in a 4-4-2 formation with two wingers, defending from the front.
Well, the only winger we have at the club at the moment is still too inexperienced and lightweight to command a permanent place in the side.
Hopefully Ben Swallow will get better with time, but playing in a perpetually losing side can't help him or his confidence.
Penney might have used his time in the loan market to seek out wide men, but he had more pressing issues. The fact that we were conceding goals at an alarming rate meant he first had to look at blocking up the defence and providing them with a decent shield in midfield.
Recent results - only having conceded two goals in the last three games - suggest he has managed to do that to a fashion, but at the expense of attacking ambition.
Clubs can keep changing their managers, but what good does it do? It tends to be the clubs that keep tinkering at the top who end up on a helter-skelter nosedive towards oblivion.
I don't think Penney can save us from the drop now.
But until we see the team moulded the way HE wants it - not just one that has been patched up to solve the myriad problems that existed before - it's too early to judge his real abilities.
As Gasheads we can moan all we want about the horrors of relegation, the indignity of it, the frustration.
Yet to heap all the blame on a manager who has had barely two months to assess the true scale of our plight seems just a tad bit unfair.
We've changed our manager.
We've changed our team.
We haven't changed our collision course with relegation to League Two.
And now it seems the cry is going out for us to change our manager - again.
Dave Penney's first 12 games in charge have hardly set the world alight.
Played 12, won 2, drawn 2, lost 8.
I'm sure in his wildest dreams he would have expected to do a lot better.
After all, he's been allowed to bring in new signings (most of them on loan) and had time to stamp his own philosophy on the team.
I must admit that I approached Tuesday night's clash with Colchester United at home with some confidence.
We'd stemmed the tide of goals conceded, having beaten Oldham 1-0 and then gone down to an unlucky 1-0 defeat at Brentford.
But on a pretty cold night at the Mem, the Gas never managed to raise the temperature and lost to a comedy goal when new keeper Conrad Logan kicked the ball against the back of one of our defenders and a stray Colchester striker reacted first to thump the only goal of the game.
Pride of Bristol 0, Pokey little town in Essex 1
And I find myself asking: Where do we go from here?
I felt the attitude - certainly from most of our players - was right, but unfortunately there didn't seem to be any sort of game plan in place to break the opposition down.
At times we tried to get up a head of steam, only for the final ball to be woefully lacking.
And I find myself clutching at straws now, trying to see a way out of what is becoming a pretty desperate predicament.
I guess it's this way for all fans when their teams are staring into the relegation abyss.
Your thoughts start turning to cold Tuesday nights in the northern outposts of Morecambe, Accrington and Bury where football journeymen hoof the ball into the night sky and it seems to take an age to come down.
Where the muscle men thrive and the skillful players struggle to survive.
And where, if you go into it thinking you are going to bounce straight back up again, you can have a pretty rude awakening.
Still, is it really worth going back to the drawing board and chosing ANOTHER manager?
I believe our new man was handed a bit of a thankless task, and some of his signings have just been to paper over the cracks and bring our squad up to a decent size to compete and cope with injuries and suspensions.
He says his aim is to play pressing football in a 4-4-2 formation with two wingers, defending from the front.
Well, the only winger we have at the club at the moment is still too inexperienced and lightweight to command a permanent place in the side.
Hopefully Ben Swallow will get better with time, but playing in a perpetually losing side can't help him or his confidence.
Penney might have used his time in the loan market to seek out wide men, but he had more pressing issues. The fact that we were conceding goals at an alarming rate meant he first had to look at blocking up the defence and providing them with a decent shield in midfield.
Recent results - only having conceded two goals in the last three games - suggest he has managed to do that to a fashion, but at the expense of attacking ambition.
Clubs can keep changing their managers, but what good does it do? It tends to be the clubs that keep tinkering at the top who end up on a helter-skelter nosedive towards oblivion.
I don't think Penney can save us from the drop now.
But until we see the team moulded the way HE wants it - not just one that has been patched up to solve the myriad problems that existed before - it's too early to judge his real abilities.
As Gasheads we can moan all we want about the horrors of relegation, the indignity of it, the frustration.
Yet to heap all the blame on a manager who has had barely two months to assess the true scale of our plight seems just a tad bit unfair.
Tuesday 1 March 2011
Once upon a time in the west
THERE is a big game on tonight.
Huge.
You wouldn't know it.
Most of the newspapers and radio stations seem to be blabbing on about the little matter of Chelsea v Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
Billionaire's plaything in London versus worldwide brand in the North West.
I couldn't really give a stuff.
Because 200 miles or so to the west my beloved Gas will be playing Colchester United in a crunch match in our relegation fight.
Win it, and we could actually lift ourselves out of the bottom four for the first time since Paul Trollope departed as manager.
Lose it, and we are going to be staring head long into the abyss that is League Two.
As a bloke whose glass is always half empty, I am quietly confident.
From the evidence of our last two games - a 1-0 home win over Oldham and a controversial 1-0 reverse at Brentford (controversial because the winning goal was a debatable penalty) - the players seem to have developed some spirit and backbone.
Of course, we aren't talking about the same players who began the season.
In fact, possibly only four - but at a push five - of the players that Trolls selected for the away match with Peterborough on August 7, 2010, will make the starting line up tonight.
That team - for those who care - was: Andersen, Anthony, Coles, Tunnicliffe, Sawyer, Brown, Campbell, Blizzard, Hoskins, Kuffour, Hughes.
Many of us Gasheads had high hopes for their chances of doing well this season - but others were concerned about the lack of experience in the ranks. And even more so on the bench.
Yes, there was Chris Lines and Carl Regan - two first team regulars the previous season - plus the out-of-favour striker Darryl Duffy.
But the others were Mike Green (reserve goalkeeper without a first team game of any note), Eliot Richards (young striker), Charlie Reece and Ben Swallow (elevated from the youth team having shared a handful of first team appearances between them the previous season or so).
I imagine Danny Coles, Gary Sawyer, Will Hoskins and Jeff Hughes may start tonight (and Byron Anthony if he has recovered from injury) but what of the others?
Our dependable loanee goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen was recalled by Reading in January.
James Tunnicliffe, our season-long loan signing from Brighton, has not been good enough to get into a team with even our poor defensive record.
Skipper Stuart Campbell is injured.
Wayne Brown, our trumpeted signing from Premier League Fulham, has upset someone, because he's barely had a sniff of the first team.
Dominic Blizzard has proved so disappointing, from a confidence and fitness perspective, that Rovers want to offload him and Jo Kuffour, handy though he can be from the bench, isn't consistent enough to command a first-team place.
It's an easy job, with hindsight, to see how this pretty thin squad was always going to struggle, shorn as it was of the experience of players like centre back Steve Elliot and Aaron Lescott.
And it hasn't taken new manager Dave Penney long to realise that the vital ingredient - football nous - was needed and fast.
So tonight at the back we are likely to see the experience of Conrad Logan, who was keeping goal for Championship Leicester earlier this season, Danny Senda (whose been around the block with the likes of Wycombe and Millwall) and Jerel Ifil (a man mountain with a good reputation from his days at Swindon).
Meanwhile in midfield Gavin Williams (Highly rated ex-Bristol City midfielder) and JP Kalala (Congolese international hardman who performed consistently for Yeovil) have come in to strengthen the squad.
They may be waifs and strays, discarded by their own clubs, but the key is that they have something to prove.
Senda is desperate to get his career back on track after an horrific injury which had left him kicking his heels in Torquay.
Logan has had his nose put out of joint by star worshipper Sven Goran Eriksson, who signed Portuguese international goalkeeper Ricardo when he arrived at Leicester.
Ifil was released by Aberdeen after an ignominious spell in the Scottish Premier League
And Williams hadn't had a sniff of Championship action across the other side of Bristol.
They all want to earn themselves contracts beyond the end of this season.
We are banking on that hunger to pull us clear of the dreaded drop.
It may not happen, but I for one will salute Penney for trying. Not every player will necessarily work out, but you know they won't be just sitting around waiting for their next wage packet to arrive, or feeling sorry for themselves.
It's about self-preservation, a will to succeed, a never-say-die attitude. I hope they all have it.
If not, then we will be down among the dead men this season.
And it is quite possible we will be joined by three of our west country neighbours.
It would only take a spurt of form from Walsall and Dagenham to leave the four relegation places looking like this (in no particular order): The Gas, Yeovil, Swindon, Plymouth.
Oh well, at least there will be some local derbies to look forward to.
And in times when fuel prices are going through the roof, that would a godsend for paupers like us.
Huge.
You wouldn't know it.
Most of the newspapers and radio stations seem to be blabbing on about the little matter of Chelsea v Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
Billionaire's plaything in London versus worldwide brand in the North West.
I couldn't really give a stuff.
Because 200 miles or so to the west my beloved Gas will be playing Colchester United in a crunch match in our relegation fight.
Win it, and we could actually lift ourselves out of the bottom four for the first time since Paul Trollope departed as manager.
Lose it, and we are going to be staring head long into the abyss that is League Two.
As a bloke whose glass is always half empty, I am quietly confident.
From the evidence of our last two games - a 1-0 home win over Oldham and a controversial 1-0 reverse at Brentford (controversial because the winning goal was a debatable penalty) - the players seem to have developed some spirit and backbone.
Of course, we aren't talking about the same players who began the season.
In fact, possibly only four - but at a push five - of the players that Trolls selected for the away match with Peterborough on August 7, 2010, will make the starting line up tonight.
That team - for those who care - was: Andersen, Anthony, Coles, Tunnicliffe, Sawyer, Brown, Campbell, Blizzard, Hoskins, Kuffour, Hughes.
Many of us Gasheads had high hopes for their chances of doing well this season - but others were concerned about the lack of experience in the ranks. And even more so on the bench.
Yes, there was Chris Lines and Carl Regan - two first team regulars the previous season - plus the out-of-favour striker Darryl Duffy.
But the others were Mike Green (reserve goalkeeper without a first team game of any note), Eliot Richards (young striker), Charlie Reece and Ben Swallow (elevated from the youth team having shared a handful of first team appearances between them the previous season or so).
I imagine Danny Coles, Gary Sawyer, Will Hoskins and Jeff Hughes may start tonight (and Byron Anthony if he has recovered from injury) but what of the others?
Our dependable loanee goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen was recalled by Reading in January.
James Tunnicliffe, our season-long loan signing from Brighton, has not been good enough to get into a team with even our poor defensive record.
Skipper Stuart Campbell is injured.
Wayne Brown, our trumpeted signing from Premier League Fulham, has upset someone, because he's barely had a sniff of the first team.
Dominic Blizzard has proved so disappointing, from a confidence and fitness perspective, that Rovers want to offload him and Jo Kuffour, handy though he can be from the bench, isn't consistent enough to command a first-team place.
It's an easy job, with hindsight, to see how this pretty thin squad was always going to struggle, shorn as it was of the experience of players like centre back Steve Elliot and Aaron Lescott.
And it hasn't taken new manager Dave Penney long to realise that the vital ingredient - football nous - was needed and fast.
So tonight at the back we are likely to see the experience of Conrad Logan, who was keeping goal for Championship Leicester earlier this season, Danny Senda (whose been around the block with the likes of Wycombe and Millwall) and Jerel Ifil (a man mountain with a good reputation from his days at Swindon).
Meanwhile in midfield Gavin Williams (Highly rated ex-Bristol City midfielder) and JP Kalala (Congolese international hardman who performed consistently for Yeovil) have come in to strengthen the squad.
They may be waifs and strays, discarded by their own clubs, but the key is that they have something to prove.
Senda is desperate to get his career back on track after an horrific injury which had left him kicking his heels in Torquay.
Logan has had his nose put out of joint by star worshipper Sven Goran Eriksson, who signed Portuguese international goalkeeper Ricardo when he arrived at Leicester.
Ifil was released by Aberdeen after an ignominious spell in the Scottish Premier League
And Williams hadn't had a sniff of Championship action across the other side of Bristol.
They all want to earn themselves contracts beyond the end of this season.
We are banking on that hunger to pull us clear of the dreaded drop.
It may not happen, but I for one will salute Penney for trying. Not every player will necessarily work out, but you know they won't be just sitting around waiting for their next wage packet to arrive, or feeling sorry for themselves.
It's about self-preservation, a will to succeed, a never-say-die attitude. I hope they all have it.
If not, then we will be down among the dead men this season.
And it is quite possible we will be joined by three of our west country neighbours.
It would only take a spurt of form from Walsall and Dagenham to leave the four relegation places looking like this (in no particular order): The Gas, Yeovil, Swindon, Plymouth.
Oh well, at least there will be some local derbies to look forward to.
And in times when fuel prices are going through the roof, that would a godsend for paupers like us.
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