Calderon sacked after Bristol Rovers' relegation

BBC News

04-05-2025

Bristol Rovers have sacked head coach Inigo Calderon following the team's relegation from League One. Burton's draw with Wigan on Tuesday confirmed Rovers' return to League Two following two seasons in the third tier.His last game in charge was a 4-1 defeat by Blackpool on Saturday.Calderon was appointed on Boxing Day but the Gas only won six of his 26 matches in charge.The former Brighton & Hove Albion defender was appointed on a two-and-a-half year deal in December with the club 19th in the table and three points above the drop zone, but he failed to steer them to safety.The Bristol Rovers job was Calderon's first in a first-team managerial role with the 43-year-old previously being manager of Brighton's under-18s team.In early March, back-to-back wins against Huddersfield and Bolton saw Rovers move nine points clear of the relegation zone, but a torrid run of eight defeats in nine games followed to drop them into the bottom four.
Calderon took over from Matt Taylor, who was sacked in early December after a year in the job. However the same issues under Taylor at the start of the campaign persisted under Calderon, particularly scoring goals and away form. Rovers' tally of 44 goals scored is the fourth-lowest in the division - 25 scored during Calderon's tenure - and the manager's plight was not helped by the loss of strikers Chris Martin and Promise Omochere to season-ending injuries in early March.The club also sit bottom of the table for away results, having won only three times on the road - under Calderon there was only one away win in 12 matches, with just four goals scored.Calderon had consistently been honest in his assessment of the side and last month said the team were playing like "a League Two side"."It's been difficult, we knew it was my first chance in senior management and the fact I am not getting success has been frustrating for me," Calderon said following their defeat by Reading."But at the same time I sleep well in terms of I think I am trying to do everything possible - you cannot imagine the hours I try to put in to make this team stay in this division. It still hasn't been enough so maybe I have to do better, 100% I have to do better."
'An awful finish to the season sealed fate' - analysis
Ed Hadwin, BBC Radio Bristol commentatorInigo Calderon's short tenure as Rovers' head coach has been a difficult one for him. He was so excited to get the chance of his first senior job in football management he spent Christmas away from his family in Spain to prepare.And while there were definitely some games where he - and the team - showed some real promise (back-to-back wins over Huddersfield and Bolton in a run of five home wins in eight games) their awful finish to the season sealed his fate.He certainly made mistakes during that time, with some of his substitutions leaving fans scratching their heads. But potentially the biggest issues he's faced weren't of his making.Rovers' owner, Hussain AlSaeed, told us this season's playing budget is the largest in the club's history, and while plenty of the players recruited in the summer are undoubtedly talented, the blend of a lot of youngsters and a handful of very senior players wasn't right. Then in January, with all his senior strikers having had significant injury issues, they didn't sign an experienced player as cover. And with just five goals scored in their past 10 games, that decision probably cost Calderon his job and Rovers their place in League One.