Inigo Calderon has confessed that he would eventually like to bring in his own additions to his coaching staff at Bristol Rovers but insists he’s “really happy” with the current set up.
The coaching staff at Rovers was left threadbare when former assistant manager Wayne Carlisle left the club alongside Matt Taylor when Calderon’s predecessor was sacked last month while Lee Cattermole also departed soon after following just a week in BS7.
When Calderon was appointed as head coach, it was announced that Kevin Bond had rejoined the club for a third stint with director of football George Friend later explaining that he had asked the ex-Tottenham, Newcastle, Southampton and Portsmouth coach to return.
Bond has since joined Dave Horseman and head of goalkeeping Scott Brown who have both remained at the club. However, they have all been club appointments who hadn’t worked with Calderon previously before the Spaniard’s appointment.
Asked if he is looking to add more bodies to his coaching staff, the Rovers head coach told Bristol Live: “As I say with the players, if someone better comes in, it will be welcome but I’m really happy with the ones we have with Dave, with Kevin, all the staff here. I’m really, really happy. So I’m not desperate to bring someone.
“In the future I would like to, yes, because obviously you want someone you know, you’ve been working with and the one that can tell you really things to your face that maybe you don’t want to hear.
“But I have that from the boys already so we create that confidence already. But the problem we have as well is the ones I’ve been working with are Spanish so they require more time to get the paperwork. So I’m not in a rush because, as I say, I’m really happy with the ones we have.
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“To be fair, I don’t really understand the meaning of the names,” Calderon added when asked if he currently has someone who is his assistant. “We have Dave and we have Kevin. “They are different but at the same time they are the same in terms of everybody always has a voice in the office and that’s important. Everybody tries to have his own view and, as I say, I’m happier because we start to discuss a lot of things in the office and for me I love that because when we discuss things we make us better.”
Horseman was hired by the club in the summer having spent a total of 10 years as a coach at Bristol City over two spells while also managing Southampton B and Forest Green Rovers on top of a spell with Watford as lead professional development phase coach.
The 41-year-old took charge of the trips to Barnsley (FA Cup) and Leyton Orient alongside Carlisle while Taylor took a leave of absence to deal with a family emergency before leading the side again soon after on an interim basis against Wrexham and Exeter City when Taylor and Carlisle had been relieved of their duties.
Meanwhile, Bond has had an extremely impressive coaching career and has worked alongside managers such as Alan Ball, Harry Redknapp and Glenn Roeder. The 67-year-old first joined Rovers as part of Joey Barton’s coaching staff in League Two when the Gas secured promotion before leaving the following campaign.
Bond then returned to the club in November 2023, initially as a favour to then-interim manager Andy Mangan after Barton had been sacked. The coach then stayed on as part of Taylor’s staff until the end of last season.