Darrell Clarke returns to Bristol Rovers – 3 issues he needs to fix ASAP | OneFootball

No time for reminiscing for Darrell Clarke as he tackles big Bristol Rovers challenges

Bristol Rovers have recently confirmed the re-appointment of club legend Darrell Clarke as the replacement for Iñigo Calderón, who departed the Gas following the 4-1 defeat to Blackpool. Clarke, who took Bristol Rovers to back-to-back promotions during his first spell at the club, was the overwhelming fan favourite for the position and the only candidate Bristol Rovers were actively pursuing.

The club is a very different-looking outfit to the one Clarke left six and a half years ago and the former Barnsley, Cheltenham and Walsall boss has a colossal challenge ahead of him as he takes charge of Rovers for the second time.

In this article FLW looks at three issues the new Rovers head coach will have to tackle immediately.

Toothless Attack

Rovers invested heavily in attack last summer, breaking their transfer record to sign Promise Omochere from Fleetwood Town for a fee believed to be around £500k. And they also added Leyton Orient’s top two leading scorers, Ruel Sotiriou and Shaq Forde. Yet, despite these attacking reinforcements, goals remained hard to come by throughout their League One campaign.

None of Bristol Rovers’ attackers could get into double figures for goal contributions, with Ruel Sotiriou topping the goalscorer chart with just half a dozen goals, while Luke Thomas shared the top spot on the assists chart with Chris Martin and Grant Ward on four assists each. Rovers finished the season with 44 goals scored, 21st out of the 24 teams in League One. With only Stevenage, Shrewsbury and Wigan scoring fewer team goals. 34 of those 44 Gas goals were scored from open play while eight were set pieces and two were scored from a spot kick.

Rovers’ struggles in front of goal were among the many reasons for their relegation and resolving that problem will be high on the agenda for the incoming head coach.

Goalkeeper situation

It's been an area of debate since the departure of James Belshaw in January 2024, with the Gas trying out different solutions between the sticks. In the season just passed, Rovers began the campaign with West Brom loanee Josh Griffiths as their principal shot-stopper. The youngster had an outstanding spell for the Pirates and was widely credited with keeping Rovers in positive territory in the table following a number of Man of the Match performances. Griffiths returned to his parent club on deadline day in the January transfer window amid a dramatic end to the window for Rovers.

The BS7 outfit immediately recruited Myles Roberts on loan from Championship outfit Watford, and recalled 21-year-old academy graduate Jed Ward from his successful stint out on loan at Forest Green Rovers. It would be Ward who was favoured in that position for the remainder of the season and the youngster put out some strong performances with some eye-catching saves. There were occasions, however, where it did look a little too soon for the Rovers home-grown talent, who could be faulted at times for sloppy play leading to conceding goals. Most recently seen with his error leading to the Blackpool equaliser on the final day of the season.

The England youth has, though, earned his right to continue to fight for that number one shirt, demonstrating his potential for his technique to develop further. This season will have been an important learning step for the youngster, and he should be able to hold his own in League Two.

With Matt Hall among those leaving Rovers this summer, it will be important for the club to recruit strong competition for Ward. Last summer, the club was heavily linked with bringing in former Sheffield Wednesday shot-stopper Cameron Dawson, but for that deal to collapse, and the 28-year-old would join fellow League One outfit Rotherham. A saga the Gas will need to learn from should they wish to keep competition for this position healthy.

Team spirit, application and togetherness

The team has faced persistent criticism this season for a lack of effort and commitment on the pitch from horrified supporters who were dismayed at some of the performances from the squad. And it’s not just the supporters who have criticised the players. Both Connor Taylor and James Wilson have been damning of the culture at Bristol Rovers this season, pointing out that it’s not necessarily a manager thing but a club standards issue that has led to much of Bristol Rovers' woes this campaign.

Defender Taylor offered his opinion in his post-match interview following the final match of the season against Blackpool. Telling the media: “The 90 minutes sums our season up in a nutshell. We go ahead, we give them a goal, and then we just capitulate in the second half, which with what we’ve got in the dressing room doesn’t surprise me. We’re not resilient through tough times. We sink. We didn’t do the basics well enough. We’re miles off it, and we’ve got exactly what we deserve.

“We have to be tough. It’s a bad situation. It’s up to you to find it within yourself to do everything you can. Whether that’s on or off the pitch. James Wilson is a prime example. He’s played every minute this season. He’s everything a professional footballer should be, and we’ve not got enough of them. It’s as simple as that. If we had five more of them, we’d be absolutely fine. I would say there’s been a disconnect. Definitely in the playing team. I don't think we’ve had that togetherness that a lot of teams have in this league.”

Prior to Taylor’s remarks, Wilson shared his own even more damning thoughts on the squad. Following the defeat to Reading he told Bristol Live: “To be honest, I’ve noticed it from pre-season. We had obviously a massive turnaround of players. I don’t know if that’s maybe the thing. I just think there are not enough people that can look at themselves in the mirror and say they’ve done enough this season. So that’s where we’re at. It’s from the start of the season. There’s no hiding away from the fact that the whole season has been a tough environment for me personally and one I’ve not seen before.”

He continued: “We’ve failed in games because we’re not fit enough, because we don’t work hard enough day to day. So yeah, it is what it is. The evidence of not doing enough. People get relegated because they're not good enough on the pitch, but it's because of what they do in the week, and we simply haven't been good enough day to day. Standards haven't been good enough. Training hasn't been good enough, and that's on us as players.”

It could not be clearer then that one of Clarke’s most important challenges as he begins his second spell in the Bristol Rovers hot seat is addressing the culture that the club appears to have fallen into. Pleasingly for Gasheads, one of the most common threads of thought in the wake of Clarke’s appointment is that he is exactly the type of leader that can get the club pulling in the same direction and ensure the players are giving their all every day on the training ground and every match day in front of a fanbase who rightly expect nothing less.