A view from the stands on Bristol Rover’s new CEO, and the clubs prospects

With the appointment of Tom Gorringe as CEO of Bristol Rovers, Tom Metcalfe from GasCast gives his view on what fans would like to see on and off the pitch.

Voices 16th February, 2022

Tom Metcalfe

It’s good news that a new stadium is a priority…though the timescales are still uncertain 

Top of the list of priorities for fans is a new stadium. From Tom Gorringe’s interview on Bristol Unpacked (see below) it’s clear that this desire is shared by the club. But a lack of updates has been a constant frustration for fans since owner Wael Al-Qadi declared the Fruit Market in St Phillips as the preferred site back in 2019.

From Tom’s comments, the radio silence from the club looks to continue. But it’s some comfort to hear nothing will be announced until it’s rock solid. As they say, it’s the hope that kills you, and Rovers fans have been sold many stadium moves that never materialised down the years.

In the meantime we are stuck at the Mem. Once described as ‘Chernobyl’ by a visiting fan, it has more tents than Go Outdoors. But there have been improvements. One is the new ‘fan zone’ adding a stage, new food outlets and a much-needed outdoor bar. Another is the family stand, which provides some family-friendly seating.

Anything that can be done to improve the fan experience while we’re at the Mem will be welcomed – especially for younger fans. We’re aware that we are a two-club city and need to up our game if we are to convince the next generation to be Gasheads!

Listen to the interview here:

This is a results business!

Last season’s omnishambles saw Rovers relegated to rock bottom of League One. It started with the club declaring a new ‘Rovers DNA’ under Ben Garner and finished with Joey Barton in charge bemoaning his predecessors as ‘negligent’ and the players as ‘losers’.

As Neil suggested, Rovers badly need some stability and it’s clear that Tom believes the structures have been put in place for stability off the pitch and that Barton is the man to take the team forward on the pitch.

However, the fans are very divided about Barton. Some fans see the family image of Bristol Rovers incompatible with someone who has a history of violence. This is before we talk about his ongoing case of an alleged assault against his wife.

Ultimately football is a results business and so far this season the results haven’t been good enough. At the time of writing Rovers sit 11th in the table which is some way off the targeted promotion places. With a promotion and no more bad headlines, some fans may end up coming round to Barton in the end.

Relationship with the fans

It was great to hear Tom speak about the reset in the relationship with the Supporters Club with two fans’ representatives being appointed to the board.

We’ve also seen the club get behind fan-led initiatives such as Her Game Too, Fair Game, Gasheads Against Food Poverty to name a few. The club continuing to get involved in fan-led initiatives and a closer relationship to the award-winning Community Trust are an absolute must.

This goes hand in hand with communication with the fans. We’ve seen some disastrous statements from the club last year, especially releasing the infamous ‘victimless crime’ statement after Baron was charged with assaulting his wife. More thought going into the statements going out to fans would be a good step forward.

Tom himself has shown to be open to fans when he was commercial director and may long this continue in his role as CEO.

Up the Gas!