Football Season Review

It was a disastrous season for Bristol Rovers, who finished bottom of League 1 and have been relegated back to League 2. The jury was still out on manager Ben Garner as they headed into an unprecedented campaign and the squad looked rather unbalanced, without a focal point in attack. It would be something that his successors were unable to fix. Garner was sacked in November with the side clearly facing a relegation battle and he was replaced by the experienced Paul Tisdale. He seemed to be getting to grips with the job before a miserable 6-1 thrashing at Accrington Stanley. He failed to land a striker in the January transfer window and was sacked early in February, having been in the job less than three months. With the club seemingly in a panic, they opted to replace him with Joey Barton, who failed miserably to keep them up. In entirely predictable scenes he found an array of scapegoats as the side lost ten of their last 12 league matches and were deservedly relegated. He has promised to get rid of the dead wood as he looks to build a squad capable of bouncing straight back next season. Wing-back Luke Leahy was a rare bright spark in an underachieving side. Luke McCormick showed flashes whilst on loan from Chelsea whilst goalkeeper Anssi Jaakola was sorely missed for a large chunk of the season with an Achilles injury. Barton has a big job on hands with a total rebuild needed this summer. He also needs to match his words with actions as the pressure will be on him to deliver, especially when fans return to the Memorial Stadium.

Player of the Season: Luke Leahy