My clipping from The Sun
The Gas (players, staff and fans) gave it their best shot, but it really was too little, too late. The club has been all over the shop this season and only started settling down after it's fourth manager - caretaker Stuart Campbell - was appointed.
The good thing for Rovers fans is that Campbell still has another year left on his playing contract and he also wants to take the gaffer's job on as a permanent role next season in order to help the club straight back up.
Many of the players have contracts extending beyond the end of this season as well and, after seeing the way they have fought for Campbell, this augers well for the 2011/12 campaign.
One player who won't be turning out for the club in August is Will Hoskins. The striker scored his 20th of the season from the spot in the 12th minute to cancel out Wednesday skipper Tommy Miller's own penalty nine minutes earlier.
I caught up with Hoskins after the game and while he claimed not to know where he'd be playing next season, he was obviously hurting. He's an honest hard-working lad though and I suspect that he'll get a warm reception whenever he does return to the Memorial Ground. Most Gasheads aren't daft. Hoskins is too good for League Two (in fact he's too good for League One in my opinion) and without his goals they would have been down in February.
One thing he did point out w that Rovers have a pretty good bunch of kids that have experience of first team football. As the Rovers' captain said:
"No-one wants a relegation on their CV and there are thirty-odd players in that dressing room who are hurting. Some of them are pretty good kids and what I'd say is use it. Use the experience to drive you on to better things. That's what I'll be doing."
And midfielder Wayne Brown revealed that the squad wanted Campbell as boss "100%" which is encouraging news for the manager. Unfortunately the people who make the decisions are the same people who have appointed four different managers this season.
Campbell would appear to be the logical choice for me.
At some point next season Rovers will have a dodgy spell as most teams do, but the fans will give him longer than most to get it right. If the club can keep the core of this squad together, the players will back him too. And the local media like him which won't do him any harm.
I also wish Stuart well. He's an honest, approachable man. That doesn't mean to say he wouldn't kick his own granny for a point or two and he's no-one's fool, but I think he's the right man at the right time.
Meanwhile Wednesday chief Gary Megson revealed that work has already started on rebuilding his team this summer and that he has spoken to his Chairman about "bringing in six new faces".
I had a chat with striker Neil Mellor before the team bus headed back to Yorkshire and he is really hoping Megson makes his season long loan deal a permanent move. He said:
"I'd be delighted if I was one of the six. I love the club and think we can do something next season and build on the finish we've had. That's now one defeat in seven I think and if we'd managed a couple more wins we'd have been challenging for the play-offs at the very least.
To his season obviously hasn't gone as well as we'd have hoped and this club should be playing at a much higher level."
So that's it then. I type this piece as I fly across the Atlantic and so will miss next week's final weekend. Good luck to those who still need it (Walsall in their fight against relegation and Wycombe in the scrap to join them in League One via an automatic promotion place).
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