What must Bristol Rovers’ next manager do to be successful?

Daniel Wales and Charles Hague-Jones look at what the priorities are for the next Bristol Rovers manager.

Transcript

00:00Dan, looking at Bristol Rovers now, obviously, sacking Matty Taylor after dropping to 20th

00:07in League One. A massive job ahead for the new manager, whoever it is, to come in. Firstly,

00:14I mean, next game, Wrexham. Then they obviously play Exeter, Stevenage. It's a long while,

00:23really, until they play a side down near the bottom, which is probably Cambridge or Leighton

00:27Orient to point above them at this time. Now, it's a massive job. It's a huge sort of chance

00:36to go one way or take the club another, and the owners need to get this decision right,

00:41whoever it is. What does the next Rovers boss actually need to ensure that happens? Because

00:48they aren't really scoring enough goals, it's clear to see as well, and they are conceding

00:55quite a lot as well. So, tough fixtures coming up, a massive job on his hands. What does the

01:00next Rovers boss need to do? Well, this season, I think, it's about survival, to be honest,

01:07at least at the moment, because that's the way they've been sliding down the league. But having

01:12said that, because the league is so tight, let's be honest, if they can get a string of results

01:17together, they could actually push up the table and just sort of secure that mid-table place in

01:23the division and be just a little bit away from the threats of relegation. I'm not saying that

01:29anything more than that's possible this season. It might be, but certainly the way things have

01:32been going, it doesn't look that way. So, you'd imagine that getting themselves away from the

01:38relegation zone and just into mid-table, and the safety and security of mid-table in League One

01:44is the aim. And that is a toll on itself, because as tight as the league is, they haven't been good.

01:50Performances have been pretty poor over the last few weeks, and obviously that's led to

01:55Matt Taylor's sacking. And as much as it is tight as well, other teams are picking up points and

02:03this run couldn't have gone on forever, and that's why the sacking has come. But

02:09going on further into the future from that, of course, they have recently had the confirmation

02:13of an ongoing takeover to bring the club into a new era. So, the new owners there, Al Saeed,

02:22he'll want the club not just to be relegation fodder going forward. He'll want them to be a

02:28competing club. He'll look at their neighbours, Bristol City, and think, well, why can't we be

02:33like that and get into the championship and compete with them? And so, you've got to think

02:38that it's not just a manager perhaps that they're hiring now to just make them survive. It's a

02:43manager that they'll want to help them compete in the future as well. And that's a tall order

02:49because they aren't the richest club in the world, and obviously every club is having to

02:55deal with PSR, but they need to just be better as a club overall.