Football It’s time to put personal agendas aside, says Rovers boss Taylor
I know some of them are in difficult places because there is uncertainty about what’s next
MATT Taylor held a series of one-to-one meetings with certain individuals in his Bristol Rovers squad over the international break as he continues to wrestle with the club’s recent past while trying to plot a new future in what is increasingly an uncertain present.
By Taylor’s own admission the situation the club finds itself in, with 12 players out of contract in the summer and six loanees returning to their respective parent clubs, is a unique one, which is very evidently having a residual impact on performances and results down the back-end of the season.
Taylor was scathing in his assessment post-Lincoln City - it’s all he could be given the 5-0 scoreline pointing to a lack of self-motivation from some, and threatening to expel players from training. That hasn’t happened, as the Rovers manager admits he needs all hands on deck at present, and although his words may have seemed harsh, he claims he hasn’t been as extreme as he’d want to be in his methods.
Outside of the last minute additions made in the January transfer window, Taylor is working with a squad assembled by his predecessor Joey Barton and there are very notable differences between not just the two manager’s working practices, but their views on what constitutes a winning football team.
The 42-year-old is having to win hearts and change minds, while delivering consistent results with a squad of players of which around half, if not more, won’t be at the club beyond the summer. It’s not been easy and has resembled a bigger job than the one he perhaps conceived when he took over at the Memorial Stadium in December.
But he has to work with what’s at his disposal and although a number of individuals are, rightly or wrongly but understandably, turning their thoughts to the summer and their own futures, he is constantly trying to get the message across that what happens in the here and now influences that.
“You can do a lot in terms of in the public eye but with some of them I just needed to see and feel and hear where some of them are at,” Taylor said. “I know some of them are in difficult places because there is uncertainty about what’s next and there’s nothing concrete in front of them, either here or afar, but you can only lessen your chances of getting something anywhere by performing like we did.
“People have got to put their own personal agendas to one side, and that’s a difficult thing to do in football because you are almost selfemployed as a footballer, you’ve always got to look after yourself because clubs will move players on and release players, but there’s also got to be an understanding that if you put yourself forward, and put yourself on the pitch and I put my trust in you, then you show a little bit more than what we did in that game.
“You can’t lie about it, you can’t fluff it or shy away from it, you’ve got to confront it and be really up front and honest about those conversations and I’ve been as honest as I possibly can with these players, and maybe being honest with them has backfired in certain respects but that’s the way I have always worked, that’s the way, if I was a player, I’d like to be treated. The game tells you the truth.”
Logic dictates that of the dozen out of contract, goalkeeper Jed Ward and top-scorer Chris Martin will be among those the club will look to keep by activating 12-month options in their agreements, but Taylor has indicated - without know the full extent of it - that the plan all along has been for considerable change to the playing staff at the end of this season.
But based on his four months at the helm, what’s happened on the pitch at The Quarters and how he’s formed opinions of players, both in a technical but also personal sense, some also under contract could also be moving on, should the right offer be received.
“This is quite unusual, quite unique,” Taylor added. “I must admit, I’ve not been privy to the plans of the previous regime but they were perhaps expecting a huge turnover, so the club’s gone towards it with a certain cycle of players plus we’re bolstered by six loans, which is a big number, so naturally they go back, no matter what.
“There is going to be a bigger
turnover than usual and then (there’s been) honest conversations with some of those players who are contracted but could be made available; every player wants to play and if I see their game time as limited, and they see their opportunities as limited then sensible conversations will happen in relation to that.
“To have that amount, and then have the majority of the squad in that place is a difficult one to manage, I can’t deny that fact, but we’ve got to put that to one side and focus on the game.
“I always say about us being in a privileged position because everyone loves playing football. Sometimes you can quickly forget the love and enjoyment there if there’s something in the back of your mind about what’s next. Which is natural but, you cross the white line, and you perform or you look to perform to your best.”
Taylor knows that confidence and self-belief is a little low, a 5-0 hammering will do that, coupled with the aforementioned external concerns, and that getting his ideas, methods and “values” across will take time to a squad that has been so conditioned to a certain way over the previous two-and-ahalf years.
But clearly, for all the psychological and personal barriers he’s having to penetrate, Taylor has decreed that some simply aren’t able to to play the way he wants to, and when looking for individuals who have shown their best versions of themselves this season, he’s struggling for contenders.
“I would love to sit down with a dozen fans and get them to write down their top three players of this season,” Taylor said. “It would be really interesting, because if they gave me their top three, and the next three and the next three after that, I think you would be less pushed to keep on filling those names into those numbers. I think the standouts are the goals of Chrissy (Martin) and the goals and assists of Antony (Evans) and then you are really searching for what’s next and that is a reflection on a lot of our performances this season.”