Monday, 30 January 2012

Bristol Rovers 2 Bradford City 1

Mark McGhee's winning start to life as manager of Rovers continued on Saturday with a deserved win against the Bantams and it was good to hear him pay credit to not only the players, but also the backroom staff.

Arguably Rovers upturn in form started once coach Shaun North had taken the reins following the departure of Paul Buckle and while North told me (following the win at Hereford) that he believed he had what it took to be a manager, I think he knew that the board were under pressure to employ a recognised face. Enter McGhee.

Over the years I've seen new managers bulldozer their way into a club and change the personnel (both on and off the pitch) immediately - often with disastrous results. And so credit should go to McGhee for spotting that the spirit in the camp was already improving and therefore opting not to rock the boat.

Of course, given the money the board has thrown away on previous appointments, it could be that McGhee was told he had no money to make changes anyway. But that's the cynical point of view and I'm prepared to give McGhee credit.

At this point in the season, Rovers aren't anywhere near where they expected to be in the table when they dropped down a flight last term and McGhee is understandably cautious about getting carried away.

He agreed with me that this season was really all about preparation for next season and I suspect that most sensible Gasheads will go along with that.

However, having chatted briefly to both Lee Brown and Eliot Richards after the game, I got the impression that the players are ready to give it their best shot and I have a sneaky feeling for them after watching them take on Villa, Hereford, Crawley and now Bradford in recent games.

The Gas also have 'previous' when it comes to putting together a promotion run. No-one on the blue side of the city will forget the late charge that took them to a Play Off Final victory against Shrewsbury back in 2007.

But as Richards told me: "We just have to take it one game at a time."

* Rovers today signed Northern Ireland U-21 midfielder Matthew Lund, 21, from Stoke City on a one month loan deal.

My clipping from the morning paper

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