DC vows to win back the fans!

Rovers boss Darrell Clarke knows he has work to do to get supporters back onside in the aftermath of a humbling at the hands of Bath City. Clarke and his players were subjected to a barrage of criticism after a Frankie Artus double wrapped up a 2-0 victory that saw Rovers exit the FA Trophy at the first round stage on Saturday. Rovers get a chance to earn redemption when they return to Vanarama Conference action at the Memorial Stadium on Friday night and Clarke said:
“We need to get the supporters back on side. We got the stick that we deserved and we have apologised for a below-par performance on Saturday, so now it is a case of building bridges to get the fans going again for the game against Gateshead on Friday night. We know it is not up to them to raise us, it is the other way round if anything. The only way we can do that is by starting the game well on Friday night and then to go from there. It was a very disappointing performance from all of us on Saturday and we have taken all the criticism the chin. The first person I look at in the mirror is myself and the players will be doing that also. You have to be mentally strong to be a Bristol Rovers player because there is no hiding place for anyone when we lose a game. The club is a wounded animal and there are going to be reactions like that when we lose games. My job is to make sure we don’t lose too many games so that we can keep some positivity around the place. There are still a lot of things to positive about and I will be stressing that to the players.”

Rovers start the game, which is to be televised live on BT Sport, placed third in the Vanarama Conference, and Clarke added: “We are in a challenging position and we need to kick on. Clarke said:
“The game against Gateshead will be a good opportunity for us to get the Bath disaster out of the way and to get our minds re-focused on what we are trying to do in the league. We have 21 cup finals left to make sure we put ourselves in a position to be promoted back to the Football League at the first time of asking. That is our only ambition now and the players want to do it for the supporters as we all understand the hurt that they are all going through. We are a well-supported football club that is in a tough situation in the non-league, but we are not going to improve that situation by feeling sorry for ourselves. We have to keep believing in what we are doing.”

 

He doesn't need to win me back I'm not bothered about Saturdays result ok we were very poor but we outplayed and beat Barnet a few weeks back its done dusted I'm looking forward to Friday already

 

He's our best manager for years, so he doesn't need to win me over either. I think some fans are so used to slagging off a long run of managers who haven't cut the mustard that they wouldn't know a good manager if they saw one... obviously not because they're seeing one right now...