Rollo remembers team celebrations
Stalwart looks back on highs and lows of Bath’s promotion attempts
“I remember the celebrations more than the game,” said Jim Rollo when recalling a 3-2 win over Banbury United in March 2006.
It may appear disrespectful that the then-captain has fonder memories of jumping around and hugging his teammates than City’s remarkable recovery from 2-0 down at half-time to beat the Puritans thanks to a 97th minute winner, but if anything it demonstrated the togetherness of the players who played a part in City’s highest league position for 16 years.
Granted it was at Step 3 of the non-league pyramid after demotion in 2004, but it was obvious that the good times weren’t far away. The success over Banbury, followed by a much more relaxing 3-0 swatting of Northwood a week later, made it nine successive league wins, City’s best run since their last promotion in 1990.
Finishing second that year proved enough as Dover Athletic’s stadium wasn’t deemed fit for the Conference. In 2006, defeat in the play-offs to Bedford Town consigned City to a third year in the Southern League.
The men behind the bid to bring the glory days back to Twerton Park were John Relish and Adie Britton. Appointed in May 2005 following Gary Owers’ decision to take over at Forest Green Rovers, Rollo was impressed with the duo from the off.
“You could see from the start that both had excellent knowledge of the game and a certain way they wanted to play to get out of the league,” he said. “They managed to get some good signings over the line.
“They came as a double act really which wasn’t what I’d worked with previously. They were a bit like two managers.
“John was such a lovely guy. Everyone who played for him took to him straight away.
“He was so calm, never a ranter or raver. Adie was very similar. They tried to do things the right way.
“The players already at the club bought into it.”
Rollo had remained at Twerton Park for a fourth season and was made full-time captain after effectively sharing the role with Bobby Ford, who departed early in the 2005/06 season.
The versatile player was given the task on the pitch to help motivate a willing bunch ready to muck in and drag City into Conference South.
“We had a real goalscorer in Scott Partridge, but I wouldn’t say we had a superstar,” admitted Rollo. “It was just a really good team of players.
“You had a team that were desperate to win games of football. Jon Holloway, Adie Harris, Tony Bird, Matt Coupe, Gethin Jones and many others.
“We probably weren’t easy on the eye, but we knew how to win games from losing positions. Some of the pitches we were playing on at the time meant it wasn’t always possible to play pretty football.
“In that first season under John and Adie there were only three teams we really struggled to get points from. Chippenham beat us twice, Salisbury won it and we only picked up a draw from them, and we only took a point from Yate.
“There were so many local teams who turned up at Bath and wanted to beat us. They were really tough games, playing the likes of Cirencester was never easy. It was a real war out there at times.”
Rollo effortlessly reeled off the local sides in similar ease to Rachel Riley calling the four times table. While playing at the same level as Mangotsfield and Yate for the first time was an eye-opener, some other trips further afield provoked flashbacks from the 44-year-old.
“I remember us going to Dunstable one year in our smart club tracksuits on a boiling hot day,” said Rollo, commenting on a 3-1 win in Bedfordshire in September 2004. “Their players were laughing at us, they were in shorts and different football shirts on, they looked terrible.
“The changing rooms were horrific. To be fair the year we won the league it wasn’t so bad, I think Northwood wasn’t great, but apart from that it was OK.
“The clubs got there on merit but it sometimes means the grounds aren’t up to standard of the rest of the level. It still occurs in National League South sometimes.”
Although Rollo emphasised there weren’t any superstars in City’s ranks at the time, former South Africa international Paul Evans was the next best thing between the sticks.
A few injuries, including one
which ruled him out of the 1998 World Cup in France for his country, meant he drifted into nonleague football and an astonishing run of 17 clean sheets in 22 matches between March-december 2005 illustrated his importance.
“We’ve had some tremendous goalkeepers at Bath,” said Rollo. “We still do to this day with Ryan Clarke.
“When Paul missed a few we still had Chris Astley and Justin Shuttlewood, who I was with at Forest Green. He was a great shot-stopper.
“Paul was something special over the period we were successful.
“He was one of those great characters in that dressing room. Sometimes some of us players, including myself, could do the half-time team talk ourselves.”
That was the case at Banbury on 11 March 2006 when Wayne Blossom’s early lob and Ady Fuller’s fierce free-kick put the hosts 2-0 up inside the opening 45.
“We had been on such a good run and didn’t want it to end,” said Rollo. “We were thinking ‘let’s at least not lose here.’
“You know when you get one goal back that the momentum swings. No disrespect to Banbury but they weren’t the best team in the world then, we thought if we got a quick goal we’d have a good chance of getting a point from the game.
“Phil Walsh did a great job for us, he was a big strong fella. He wasn’t renowned for his goalscoring but he led the line, Scotty played off him, I remember he got an assist at Banbury.”
He provided Scott Partridge’s equaliser, whereas substitute Craig Davidge was on hand to assist the striker’s third, completing a memorable hat-trick in the seventh minute of added time.
“In truth I can’t recall the winning goal,” laughed Rollo, 15 years on. “I read the report back and saw that Craig Davidge provided it.
“He hardly started a game. He was that super sub who came on over 20 times that season and had a real effect in going past people and assisting or scoring.
“I still have a picture on my phone of us celebrating afterwards. It was a great feeling. I remember the celebrations more than the game itself, ironically.
“We all worked hard to try and win games. Back then we were more likely to have a beer after games, we enjoyed going to various events together too.
“I think we all started to believe we could win the league after the Banbury game, hence the celebrating, because of the run we’d been on.”
It didn’t quite happen in 2006. City lost three of their last eight matches which allowed Salisbury to run away with the championship by 12 points. A final day 2-0 win at King’s Lynn saw the Romans leapfrog the Norfolk side into second and earn a home play-off semifinal with Bedford Town, who City had failed to beat that campaign.
“Going into the play-offs I still fancied us,” said Rollo, who started at right-back in the semi-final. “We conceded a sloppy goal from a setpiece early on, Rene Howe scoring, and we battered them in the second half but couldn’t get the ball over the line.
“It was such a disappointment. We’d just finished second and I remember Geoff Todd [ex-chairman] coming on the pitch to try and give me the runners-up trophy.
“From the high at Banbury to the emotions after the Bedford game, the feelings were so far apart.”
A year later, Rollo captained City to the Southern League title, starting 36 of the 42 matches.
“It’s hard to say if it was the most enjoyable time I’ve had at the club,” Rollo mused. “Beating teams as good as Cambridge and Grimsby in that first season in the Conference were really good days too.
“Any promotion is enjoyable, especially as captain. When you have a season of regularly winning it generates that feel-good factor around the football club.
“Team spirit is a huge part of it, it definitely was for our promotions. It was something John and Adie were keen on and it’s the same now with me and Jerry, you need everyone pulling in the same direction.”
January 2022 will mark 25 years since Jim Rollo first arrived at Bath City. Further success next season would fittingly mark this milestone and give further celebrations to remember, if not momentous comebacks.