Clarke has 'unfinished business' at Rovers

BBC News

15-05-2025

New Bristol Rovers head coach Darrell Clarke says he has "unfinished business" with the club after being reappointed seven years after he left the role.Clarke was announced as the successor to Inigo Calderon, who was sacked following Rovers' final game of the season and their relegation to League Two.He previously spent four years at the club, between 2014 and 2018, during which time he guided them to promotion from the National League up to League One."I know there'll be some people out there thinking you should never go back, but I look at this as unfinished business," Clarke told BBC Radio Bristol's Having a Gas show."I was fortunate to be here for four-and half years. The last year didn't work out as well as I'd have liked it to."It's also appreciating this football club now has put a lot more investment into the playing budget, the facilities."I never got that when we finished 10th and 13th in League One with probably half of what the playing budget is now."To be able to go to a place where I'm going to be backed, and with the potential this massive football club's got, was a massive influence for me."
Clarke said he was returning to the Memorial Stadium not for "sentimental" reason but to win."I like to think they know now my heart's in the right place and I will be doing my upmost to make sure we bring success to the football club first and foremost," he said.However, he comes into a club that have endured a torrid season, dropping back to the fourth tier having lost 27 of their 46 matches, including winning just three times away from home.Clarke admitted a "hell of a lot of work" was needed this summer with the players still under contract and that he had brought the start of pre-season training forward."We're making sure the players that are still going to be with me when pre-season starts, they understand exactly what is going to be expected of them," he explained."I'd give everybody a chance but they have to be on board otherwise they'll fall by the wayside."There has also been suggestions of disruption behind the scenes from previous managers, with Lee Cattermole being appointed briefly to the coaching staff behind former manager Matt Taylor's back, while Calderon said when he arrived in December there "were a lot of bad things that weren't because of the previous manager".Clarke said: "There has been a lot of noise and you hear the rumours, but from me coming back here the non-negotiable was that we look after the football side of things."
Clarke has managed Walsall, Port Vale, Cheltenham and most recently Barnsley, who he left in March, since he left Rovers.The 47-year-old said he has not changed during that time but has "got better"."Attention to detail even more so, you learn, I'm still doing a leadership course with LMA (League Manager's Association) that's funded by the Premier League - I want to still learn and keep getting better, and better and better," he said. "There's more pressure on me now - I put the most pressure on myself, I was the same first time around as I am now - and that pressure's going to be to perform and give the club and the fans a team they can be proud of."