TISDALE TAKES OVER
BRISTOL Rovers have appointed Paul Tisdale as their next manager, the club confirmed yesterday.
The former MK Dons and Exeter City manager has signed a twoand-a-half-year contract with the Gas, replacing Ben Garner in charge.
Tisdale takes charge after a 4-1 defeat to Fleetwood Town on Saturday which left the Gas 18th in League One and cost Garner his job. He will be in the dugout for tomorrow’s game at Swindon Town.
The 47-year-old spent almost 12 years in charge at Exeter, leading them to two promotions, and he also took MK Dons back to League One in 2019.
Rovers CEO Martyn Starnes said: “We are delighted to welcome Paul to the football club. Paul has a vast amount of experience in the game and has several promotions on his CV.
Speaking to our website Bristol Live, Starnes said: “Paul was the man we wanted from the outset. We spoke to him as soon as the job became available. He was the man that fitted the profile we were looking at for a manager to come to this club and deliver on the strategy we want to implement.
“Paul’s record speaks for itself. He’s managed over 700 games in the Football League, his teams have always played attractive, entertaining football.
“We’ve established a DNA and strategy for this football club which is we want to play attractive, enter
taining football, give young players a chance and develop them, and win some football matches at the same time. Paul has done that consistently and we’re absolutely delighted he’s come to work with us.
Tisdale is not a universally popular appointment with the fanbase, with some raising concerns over his record in League One - getting sacked by MK Dons early last season and suffering relegation with Exeter in 2012. But Rovers believe he fits the club’s strategy, and Tis
dale had a fine record of pushing prospects through the EFL at Exeter. Ollie Watkins, of Aston Villa, and Swansea City’s Matt Grimes are players he coached before being sold for in excess of £1million.
Rovers hope to follow a similar blueprint to success on and off the pitch, and believe Tisdale is the right man to take the club forward.
Tisdale saw his playing career, which started out at Southampton alongside Rovers’ head of recruitment Tommy Widdrington, cut
short by injury. From 2001-06, he led university side Team Bath to four promotions and the first round proper of the FA Cup. Twelve years at St James Park followed, where he won promotions from the Conference and League Two. ”
In 2018 he moved to League Two MK Dons and saw them claim an automatic promotion berth. However, his spell there ended three months into the following season, when he was sacked after eight defeats in the opening nine games.