Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Taylor hails ‘beast of a club’ Rovers
NEW Bristol Rovers manager Matt Taylor has explained that he took the job because of “the size of the club” – labelling it a “beast.”
The 41-year-old was appointed as the new Rovers boss yesterday, less than three weeks after being dismissed by Championship side Rotherham United.
Taylor replaces Joey Barton in the dugout, five weeks after the former Rovers manager was sacked. During the time since, Barton’s assistant Andy Mangan took caretaker charge for seven matches, but he has now also left the football club.
Rovers’ new boss was presented to the media for the first time yesterday and, when asked why he took the job, Taylor revealed: “The size of the club. The history, the supporters, the squad – that was a big one in terms of where I see them within this season’s League now. Working at Championship level, I’ve not had too much time or opportunity to see too much League One football, but I’ve got an affiliation with a few members of the squad. I’ve played against enough of them to know they’re good players.
“Where we are in the League at the moment is literally in the middle of the table. We’re about seven, eight points away from relegation, nine points away from play-offs. But there is a feeling there that we can hopefully get a little bit more out of them and start producing winning football, as opposed to just good looking football some of the time, but not getting the end out of it.
“Then you add that on top of what is the beast, which is Bristol Rovers.
You know, without talking at length about the neighbours, they’ve shown what is achievable for football clubs in Bristol and traditionally, Rovers is as big a club as you get in this city.
“So I suppose not having derbies against them, but having South West fixtures against them at Exeter and playing in those, let alone managing and coaching in those, gives you a little bit of a feel for what the club is about and when the good times are here there’s nowhere better to be, and that certainly excites me.”
Rovers are understood to have begun initial conversations with an array of potential candidates while Taylor was still in his previous job but soon after the Englishman departed Rotherham, it is believed that club president Wael Al-Qadi suggested the former Exeter City boss as someone worth looking at to his fellow hierarchy members.
The longer the process went on for, the more frustrations built up with a lack of a definitive answer on the managerial vacancy frustrating the supporters. However, the consensus now is that the new manager was worth waiting for, which highlights quickly things change.
Taylor, however, will have to wait for his first game in charge of Rovers after their FA Cup round two tie at Crewe was postponed due to a frozen pitch at the Mornflake Stadium.
The tie will now be played on Tuesday December 12.
Taylor’s first game in charge of Rovers will now be Tuesday night’s EFL Trophy round of 32 tie at Crawley before hosting Cheltenham in the League on December 9.