ROVERS DECIDE TO LET GORDON GO
BRISTOL Rovers have confirmed Sam Finley, John Marquis, Josh Grant, Lewis Gordon, James Gibbons, Harvey Greenslade and Ryan Jones will leave the club next month when their contracts expire, while Rovers have offered new deals to Jordan Rossiter, Scott Sinclair and Luca Hoole as well as triggering the oneyear extension options in Chris Martin and Jerry Lawrence’s contracts.
Rover published their retained list yesterday afternoon with the
biggest surprises arguably that Lewis Gordon won’t be staying on at the club as well as the fact academy product Harvey Greenslade will be leaving his boyhood club.
Finley’s departure was seemingly confirmed by the club captain himself on social media, while John Marquis and Josh Grant have struggled for game-time under Matt Taylor during the second half of the season. Additionally, James Gibbons spent the second half of the campaign at Cambridge United.
For Gordon though, the left-back had started to become somewhat of a regular in recent months, featuring in 15 out of 16 matches between late January and early April with 10 of those starts. However, the 23-year-old remained on the bench for recent matches against Cheltenham, Cambridge and Peterborough before being left out of the squad entirely for last weekend’s final game at Wigan.
Greenslade made just one senior appearance for Rovers, coming in last season’s EFL Trophy and spent this campaign out on loan, initially at Truro City before going up a division to Oxford City, who couldn’t avoid relegation in their first season in the National League. During that time though, the 20-year-old striker has been training with Rovers at The Quarters, while he scored three goals in the fifth tier.
Finley’s exit will also leave a sizeable hole that’ll need filling with the captain a key member of the dressing room, having been integral to the side that secured promotion from League Two two years ago while helping the Gas consolidate their place in League One over the past two seasons. However, with no appearances since April 1, it’s started to become apparent the midfielder wasn’t in Taylor’s plans.