Word is that it's Darrell Clarke, formerly manager of Salisbury City. Initial feedback from those who have looked into it seems positive. Yup...just confirmed! http://www.bristolrovers.co.uk/news/article/darrell-clarke-866968.aspx Looks a good, almost inspired appointment. Young, hungry, ambitious bloke. Welcome Darrell.
This could be a very good appointment. Darrell Clarke's record stacks up pretty well. He has spent most of his playing career in the Football League. His management stats are very impressive. After Salisbury were entirely bankrupted, Clarke took over the manager's role and despite the lack of funds achieved promotion in his first season. Next year Salisbury went thro' an injury blighted period but maintained their league position. Last year Clarke's team were promoted to the League below the Rovers. Not a bad achievement for a club that put itself up for sale for £1 prior to Clark's tenure. I appreciate that the usual knockers will say that his experience is only at lower league level, but we all know that whichever level of football your team is in it is not an easy matter to get promotion. Players don't want to come to a level which they perceive to be lower than their egotistical abilities. Fewer folk pay to come through the gate for wages etc. Time will tell. Let's hope his man management skills equate to whatever else he has which has brought him such success. Good Luck Darrell and welcome on board!!
Another part of the jigsaw perhaps he will bring good knowledge of the lower non league players and we will be able to pick up a few talented players to augment the team. Originally I was under the impression that Ward was bringing in a more experienced Asst manager who had workes at a higher level however his track record seems good.One word of caution we brought in a man from the lower leagues and he dismantled our team Chuckle you say hmm.Still he is working under Ward so the control is with him,interesting that Ward has not heard of him though? COR
Looks like a good move to me. A young ambitious successful coach, he'll be groomed by JW to be our next manager.
i dont know what to think about this. as said already, the plan was for an experienced guy around our level to be wards number 2. but ward admitted his targets were either unavailable or wasnt interested. so it aint what ward wanted. this new guy has playing experience at this level and his managerial career has started well. hopefully with ward looking after him he will develope and improve and when ward is ready to hand control over to him, ward can step into the DoF role which is the role like the lennie/trolls show. however, he is younger than stewart. if my targets wasnt available i may have been tempted to give stewart a try. he has rovers dna and knows us fans. what will this new guy bring to the table that will improve us that stewart couldnt? im on the fence with this one. i will back him of course and i trust in wards judgement. big gamble though. hope it works out for him so good luck to him.
he looks a bit like stuart campbell in this pic. well to me he does! please log in to view this image
he calls us a sleeping giant suppose going to be debt free in a spanking new stadium/home progression up the leagues should be a formality, so we could be a sleeping giant in the making. certainly not a giant that is sleeping though! he sounds like a top bloke in that interview. no sniffs whatsoever he is looking forward to gaining as much knowledge asap under ward and bring his own ideas to the table. he is only with us on a 1 year deal though. what do you think about that guys?
Copied from yesterday's OTIB: (SalisburyRed) 'We missed a trick today. The Sags appointed Darrell Clarke as assistant manager. Now I've watched Clarke's teams for the last three seasons and he is REALLY impressive. He built two promotion teams for 20p and, contrary to the popular myth about non-league, they played lovely passing football. Darrell would have complemented SO'D perfectly in terms of the way his teams play. I am gutted, not just that Salisbury have lost a really good manager but that the sags have recruited a really good manager to succeed Ward. Not often I praise them but this could be a piece of really good business. There may well be a lot more pain to come from that quarter too.'
