Matt Taylor has insisted that he’s loved his time in Bristol so far after reaching the one-year mark as Bristol Rovers manager but knows results must improve quickly if he is to extend his time in charge by a notable time frame.
Last Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of his appointment at Rovers which put an end to what ended up being a lethargic five-week recruitment process following the dismissal of Joey Barton at the end of last October.
Taylor had only been out of the door at Rotherham United for a few weeks before making an almost immediate return to management with the Gas, coming back to the South West which he already had an affinity to having played for Team Bath, Exeter City, Cheltenham Town and Bath City before going on to be a coach and then manager at Exeter.
Although stating when he first came through the door at Rovers that the squad he was inheriting was a “good group of players”, it quickly became clear that notable change was needed as last season petered out in the second half of the campaign as the Gas ended up finishing 15th. It also became increasingly obvious that a significant number of players wouldn’t be at the football club the following campaign.
After a major overhaul in the summer, in which 16 players arrived, the Gas have made an underwhelming start to the season despite constant pleas for time and patience. There have even been points where it didn’t look as though Taylor would make it to one year in the job.
However, victories over Charlton Athletic, Burton Albion, Shrewsbury Town and Mansfield Town plus draws against Lincoln City and Crawley Town since the start of October have kept Rovers in midtable, while they are also in the FA Cup third round, but there are major concerns regarding where the Gas will be at the end of 2024 after going into an extremely tough period on the back of back-to-back defeats against Blackpool and Leyton Orient in which Rovers failed to muster a single shot on target.
This weekend, Rovers host Bolton Wanderers, for which Taylor will be back in the dugout after missing the last two games to deal with a family emergency, before heading to promotion favourites Birmingham City and then welcoming another promotion contender in Wrexham to the Mem before trips to Exeter City and Stevenage to close out the year.
Although he’s loved his first year in charge, the Rovers manager is well aware that results must improve quickly if that is to continue.
“[You could] write a book,” Taylor joked to Bristol Live when asked how he reflects on his first year in charge. “A lot has gone on. A lot is still to go on. So much work still to do to build towards, I suppose, the direction of what the club wants to become – sustainable.
“Improvements at the stadium and the training grounds within the profile of players and what sort of players we want to work with or the club wants us to work with. I think that was sensed a little bit in terms of the recruitment last recruitment window. Slightly different to maybe previous seasons.
“It’ll need time but like I’ve said previously, no manager or team or coaching group gets time. So the big thing for us is can we start winning games and putting in consistent performances which back each other up and be where we want to be in the league?
“We’d love to be challenging top half, top end, top six but right now we just need to get a couple of wins on the board to be in that middle pack which means looking upwards as opposed to downwards.
“But yeah, it’s gone pretty quickly. I’ve had a daughter in that time and we spoke before about the support from the fans and people in Bristol. I’ve loved living here. I’ve really enjoyed working here and I want that to continue, but that will only continue if we improve.”
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Coincidentally, Taylor’s first league win in charge of Rovers came against this weekend’s opponents Bolton. The 2-1 victory away at the Toughsheet Stadium sparked a strong run of form to close out the year in which the Gas also beat eventual title winners Portsmouth on Boxing Day and then Charlton Athletic, both sealed with dramatic late winners.
The Gas are in desperate need of some festive cheer and the hope will be that, like last year, a win over Bolton can kickstart a strong conclusion to the calendar year.
“I mean, we played well that day. They had a man get sent off. Different personnel, different group. Similar for the opposition, they’ve not changed too much.
“But yeah, I still think this group and myself are waiting for a moment to really kick start our season and the next three give us a fantastic opportunity to do that and Bolton at home certainly does that.
“They’ll come well supported. There’ll be a bit of attention towards the game because of their form and their expectation of where they want to be but also that, you know, enjoyable pressure of playing at home and putting on a performance that our supporters can relate to.”