‘Rovers is a club that is going places’

There is a beautiful street in York called the Shambles. The origins of the name have nothing to do with how we normally define the  use of the word and derived from its original name of the Great Flesh Shambles, where 25 butcher shops lined the street.

What a vegetarian nightmare that must have been. I am not sure if it is at all helpful to combine the word Shambles with Bristol Rovers as the team depart for Yorkshire today in search of a magnificent promotion.

Our final two games of the season have given Gasheads many things to consider, one being the existence of God. I say this because if we could have chosen the identity of our final two opponents most of us would probably have plumped for York City and Dagenham and Redbridge.

Not for the teams themselves, but because they are the two worst teams in the entire football league. No away trip to a team on the edge of the play offs for Rovers: two teams who are already relegated. Divine intervention, maybe?

None of which is to say that Rovers will have to merely turn up and win because, as Plymouth found last week in their home defeat to Dagenham, nothing in football is guaranteed.

Players have professional pride to play for, too, and contracts for the following season, so there is always the danger that they will play without fear, having nothing else to play for, but there is also the mental factor.

No player will ever admit it, but “what’s the point?” is something that may enter his mind if things start going wrong. It is, as ever, that first goal that is oh-so-crucial.

It is fair to assume that Rovers fans may even be in a majority in York tomorrow which will surprise no one. Since the team plunged into the Conference, support for the club has actually grown and supporters who drifted away, sometimes even to other teams, have come back. With season tickets already exceeding 3,500 for next year, this is a club that is going places, but not necessarily this year.

The pessimist inside me has fretted all year with the possibility that Rovers might not quite achieve promotion this season. It’s the pessimist combined with the football fan, two things that often go hand in hand.

Don’t get me wrong, I see nothing other than a bright future for Rovers with its new owners, but it may take a bit longer than tomorrow to get there. Expectation levels have been cleverly managed to date and Wael Al-Qadi deservers immense credit for that. He’s a man with a plan who prefers evolution to revolution and quite right too.

I do not expect a shambles in York tomorrow. On the contrary, my heart tells me we will return home victorious, by virtue of a clear three goal margin. And then it call comes down to Dagenham and Redbridge. What a way to end this amazing season.