‘All hail Wael’

Life is certainly not dull at the Memorial Stadium currently. Especially not if your name’s Wael Al Qadi.

Our erstwhile new owner and club president has, in the last couple of weeks, pulled on the famous blue and white quarters for a charity game, commentated on a league game for local radio, announced a new training ground for the club, and was the star of a documentary.

It’s an opinion most of us share, I’m sure, but the visibility, openness and pragmatism the new ownership and board bring to the Rovers is to be celebrated. 

They seem to understand the ambition of us as supporters while realising that major changes, like stadium moves and changes to the way the club runs things, can take time to get right.

Some lonely internet commenter may have decided that “he’s not a billionaire” and the fact that diggers aren’t currently at work at the UWE site as we speak means that it’s all a lie and it’ll all end in tears. Let ‘em, I say.

Others seem to yearn for the days where we were a club ran out if Portakabins with no pot to, er, water – granted, we saw some super players at Twerton and Fortress Memorial back then.

But not everything was better in the 80s and 90s – sure, we had the McRib, decent music and an England team that occasionally didn’t embarrass the nation – but up until this year, Rovers were still stuck in the last century.

That’s not a criticism of the brilliant people who gave their time up for free to keep things running, without them there’d be no Bristol Rovers and they deserve our undying gratitude – but a business with a multi million pound turnover shouldn’t need to rely on them.

Why all the talk about behind the scenes, you ask? Well I must admit, I missed both home games this week. My Super Fan status is in tatters. If anyone finds out that I’ve never been to Hartlepool away on a Tuesday night, I may never be allowed inside the Mem again. I jest, of course – we all miss games for whatever reason. 

Without talking about individual performances, not being at the game and all, I’m mildly disappointed with two points from two home games versus ordinary opposition.

From the all-too-brief highlights available it looks like we dropped two points v Rochdale, and almost a third, through some Keystone Cops defending (ask your dad). Though it can’t have been helped by an unfamiliar diamond formation that didn’t work, as I was reliably informed.

So, I was delighted to see the team sheet for Walsall showed Darrell Clarke deploying the more conventional 4-4-2. It didn’t produce the three points that would have had me filling this page with smug gloating, as I’ve been calling for him to use 4-4-2 for weeks, but it looks like only a few miracle saves from the Walsall keeper (Filipino pants model Neil Etheridge) prevented that.

If we’re looking for positives, Matt Taylor is back in the goals, with a 2cm tap-in with his knee and a super acrobatic finish from Saturday to go with his unstoppable penalty from Tuesday. 

Also, although the wins haven’t come thick and fast, we’re obviously competing at this level – only the top two in the league have beaten us and even then we weren’t outclassed.  I know we’ve lived on a diet of promotion over the last two years but a promoted side can’t take success at the next level up for granted.

Speaking of League One’s upper echelons, Bradford sit just under the aforementioned top two, and they provide a very tough task for the Gas on Saturday.

They’re a side packed with experience and will have nigh on 20,000 fans backing them. Though if the Chelsea game is anything to go by, big, noisy crowds seem to spur our group of players on. I’d take a point home from Valley Parade if offered right now.

As for the Swindon replay on Tuesday, there’s nothing to say. Except that if there’s any justice in football, we’ll win the game, given their club’s disgraceful treatment of our fans (and their own) in charging full price for a game they’ve already paid for. Given how close the original game was, and the additions we’ve made since then, don’t rule it out.