New Bristol Rovers head coach Inigo Calderon has insisted that he believes the Gas have the players to be successful while admitting it will be a “step by step” process as he installs his ideas and philosophy.
The Spaniard, who is Rovers’ first head coach or manager from outside of the UK and Ireland, was announced as the club’s replacement for Matt Taylor on Boxing Day and was in attendance at St. James Park to watch the Gas’ 3-1 defeat to Exeter City.
Calderon, who arrives at Rovers having been manager of Brighton and Hove Albion’s under-18s for 18 months, began work in charge of the Gas on Friday ahead of taking charge of his first game away at Stevenage on Sunday. It is also the 42-year-old’s first job leading a senior side.
Rovers are currently 19th in League One and three points clear of the relegation zone with just over half of their league schedule left to play.
The new Gas head coach met local media for the first time on Friday afternoon and, when asked about adapting his style of play from under-18s football to League One, Calderon explained to Bristol Live: “It’s easier for me with men’s football because I think they are more prepared. They are better players because they’ve been playing longer.
“You can have better communication with them because you can say whatever you want, let’s say that, because with the kids you have to be aware of too many things. With men, for me it’s easier because they’ve been playing football more times.
“Obviously the league is competitive and you have to play as well with the position and the points but for me it doesn’t change. The rules are the same and I think the players can play good football. As I say, it’s not going to change in one day, in two days, in one week but we have to start doing it step by step. But I think we can do it because I think we have the players to do that.”
On his style of play and footballing philosophy that he intends to instill at Rovers, Calderon added to BBC Radio Bristol: “I have so many things in my head I want to do. So for me it’s really important to try to do first day A, after the B, after the C because I cannot do everything in a few weeks.
“But obviously at the end I’m going to try, or the team is going to try, to play football to win games, basically. That’s what we have to do now. If that means that we have to play good football, probably that’s going to be the style we’re going to try to use, but without being naive at all. We adapt to League One.
“The way I like to play football is controlling the game. You can control the game with the ball, without the ball, but controlling the game, not being too much like an NBA game; I don’t like that. So I would like to see a team like that. I want to win the game with passion. I always talk about passion because when I came here, they talk about the passion of the fans. I say, ‘okay if it’s about passion it’s not going to be a problem for me’ because something I have is passion for this sport.
“As I say, a team that wants to play football honest and wants to give a lot for the fans because for me it was crazy yesterday. How many fans that were there and even losing the game, supporting the team, you have to do that for them.”
Although Calderon is Rovers’ first foreign appointment in his role, the new Gas head coach was dubbed by director of football George Friend as an “English Spaniard”.
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The 42-year-old spent six years at Brighton as a player before returning to the Seagulls in June 2023 to take charge of their under-18s side.
Additionally, the Spaniard, who hails from the Basque Country, played for the likes of Deportivo Alaves, Cypriot outfit Anorthosis and Indian side Chennaiyin while also returning to Alaves as an assistant manager to the reserves team.
Calderon has signed a two-and-a-half year deal at the Mem in what is his first senior coaching role and when asked why now was the right time in his career to become a head coach, the Rovers boss said: “I think it was the right time for me. I think I need some time first in England with the 18s to get used to the country again, to the philosophy, to everything to set up better in England.
“But there was a moment that I started to need proper football and I think when that opportunity came, I didn’t think too much because I think there are a lot of things that I like a lot.
“I said yesterday before the game that I have feelings similar to the ones I had when I came to Brighton to play. The team was fighting relegation in League One. At the moment there is something, a plan coming up after. We have the training ground coming up. They were talking about the new stadium.
“So I have a lot of things I can feel in here and to be fair, it’s been chaotic the last days but I have really, really good feelings.”