Dave Horseman has insisted that he is preparing his Bristol Rovers players for their game away at Exeter City on Boxing Day with the assumption that he will still be in interim charge. However, there is still a chance that a new permanent manager is appointed in time.
Rovers are working hard behind the scenes to have a new manager or head coach in place before Christmas Day but, as things stand, Horseman is still in interim charge.
The first-team coach led the Gas on Saturday as they secured a 1-1 draw at home to Wrexham and is now leading preparations for the trip to Exeter.
Asked if it was strange because there’s still no certainty that Horseman will take charge of the game he’s leading preparations for, the interim boss said: “No, exactly that. I’ve spoken to George [Friend] and at the moment I’ll plan as if I’m taking it.
“We’ll sit down tomorrow morning. We’ll go through the long list of clips. Obviously we’ve got one session tomorrow to work out a plan. How we try to press them, how we try to build to create some sort of overload somewhere on the pitch and try and continue probably the last 15, 20 minutes worth of performance [against Wrexham].
“Now that’s personnel wise, but that’s also style wise. So we’ll have a little look at that tomorrow.
“They’re completely different to Wrexham and I’ll have to explain to the group in the morning that I think going from Wrexham who play one style very good to Exeter who are slightly different, to then go back to Stevenage.
“I think the squad will get used quite a lot for just physical reasons if nothing else, but also for tactical reasons because the challenges are so different over the three games.”
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Naturally when a new manager is about to come into a club there is uncertainty regarding numerous aspects, including the futures of the staff currently in place.
Horseman was one of a handful of staff members who arrived in the summer but the first-team coach’s remit was always that he was a club appointment. Therefore, he has insisted he will be happy to help and guide whoever the new person in charge proves to be once they’re in the building.
“It’s not all about me,” the Rovers interim manager declared. “I’ll fit into the club. I was told I was a club appointment. I’ll come in and I’m here to support any managers in place and I think I did a good job in supporting Matty and Wayne and a new person, man or woman, we don’t know, I’ll do the best I can in whatever role they need me.
“I said on Saturday, I’ve not got a huge interest in being a manager. There’s some of the stuff that I learned from when I did it before, it’s not for me, I’m not interested. I want to be the best coach at developing players and helping develop a system. Dealing with recruitment, boards, team selection, that’s just boring for me. I’m not interested. I want to be a really good coach on the grass.
“So hopefully when the new person comes in then I’ll go back to what I probably think my strength is which is coaching.”