Top man Trollope

Tuesday, 05/01/2010

When Paul Trollope joined Bristol Rovers as manager in 2005 we were floundering at the bottom of League Two, with a squad of players who prompted the chant "Who are ya? Who are ya?" from every set of visiting fans. The club was staring into the whites of the eyes of non-league football, writes fan Ollie Neno.

Since joining as caretaker manager in 2004 and then becoming first-team coach alongside the club’s director of football Lennie Lawrence the following season, 'Trolls' has worked wonders during his five years in charge.

After leading Rovers to a very respectable 12th in League Two in his first year, with players who now mainly ply their trades in the basement levels of the game, he went on to secure a Wembley play-off final promotion in his second season, watched by over 40,000 Gasheads. That ended the club’s miserable six-year stint in the bottom professional league.

In that same season he also took us to the Football League Trophy Final at the Millennium Stadium where we narrowly lost 3-2 to Doncaster in extra time after knocking out arch rivals Bristol City in the semi-finals.

Steady progress has been made each year and after some shrewd business in the past two seasons, bringing in key players such as Jeff Hughes from Crystal Palace and Jo Kuffour from Bournemouth for a very reasonable £60,000, Trollope has assembled a squad that can hold its own in League One.

Finishing 16th in his first season in League One and 10th in his second, as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in 50 years, he is the man to take the club forward.

Currently a somewhat unexpected 7th in the table, one spot outside the play-offs, a lot of people tip us as the 'dark horses' of the division. Despite all this, and the club being forced into selling best player and top scorer Rickie Lambert to Southampton in the summer, it is astonishing that there are some question marks about whether Trollope is capable of leading us into the Championship.

For me the facts speak for themselves. Despite a few disappointing results this season, such as the loss at Wycombe, there have also been some very good ones, none more so than the 96^th-minute winner by Andy Williams at Southampton to secure a 3-2 victory.

Trollope said he had a 'five year plan' to take us into the Championship when he joined us. So far, he is well on the way to achieving that.

With a few good additions to the squad during, as well as securing the two impressive loan players, Pat Baldwin and Mikel Andersen, on permanent contracts, Rovers would certainly have a squad capable to mix it with the big boys of the division. Maybe the Bristol derby will soon become a regular fixture again.

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