List of Bristol Rovers F.C. managers

This is a list of Bristol Rovers F.C. managers since the club appointed its first full-time manager in 1899, along with the number of competitive games managed, winning percentage and titles won.

Bristol Rovers first full-time manager, Alfred Homer.

Although the club were founded in 1883, they did not appoint a full-time manager until 1899, when Alfred Homer, who was assistant secretary of Aston Villa, was appointed as manager-secretary of Bristol Rovers, a position he held for twenty-one years. On joining the Football League in 1920, the club appointed Ben Hall to the manager's post. Hall held the job for one year before handing over to Andrew Wilson, the club's first non-English manager.

The next significant manager of Bristol Rovers was Albert Prince-Cox, who introduced blue-and-white quarters as the team's kit because he believed it made the players look larger and more intimidating. He also became the first manager to win a major cup competition with the club when they won the Division 3 (South) Cup in 1935. More success followed in the 1952–53 season when Bristol Rovers' longest serving post-war manager, Bert Tann, won a league title for the first time since 1905 and won promotion for the first time ever when the club won Division 3 (South). Tann remained in charge for eighteen years from 1950 to 1968.

Don Megson was the next manager to win a major trophy, taking the Watney Cup in 1972 in only his third game in charge. Following this, only two more managers won any silverware at a national level. These were Gerry Francis, who won the Division 3 title in 1989–90, and most recently Paul Trollope, who won the League 2 play-off final in 2007. That was until the appointment of Darrell Clarke who guided Bristol Rovers to back-to-back promotions, the first in the club's history making him the most successful Bristol Rovers manager ever.

In all the club has had 33 full-time managers (excluding caretaker managers).

Managers

  • All statistics are from Bristol Rovers Football Club – The Definitive History 1883–2003 unless otherwise stated.
  • Information correct as of 14 November 2020
NameNationalityBristol Rovers careerGamesWonDrawnLost% won[lower-greek 1]HonoursNotes
Alfred Homer England1899Summer 1899 – July 192065224314826137.3Southern League champions, 3 Gloucestershire Cups
Ben Hall England1920July 1920 – May 1921451971942.2-
Andrew Wilson Scotland1921June 1921 – April 192623074649232.2Gloucestershire Cup winner
Joe Palmer England1926May 1926 – April 192913848226834.8Gloucestershire Cup winner
David McLean Scotland1929May 1929 – September 19305816123027.6-
Albert Prince-Cox England1930October 1930 – October 19362951156711339.0Division 3 South Cup winner, 2 Gloucestershire Cups
Percy Smith England1936November 1936 – November 1937521792632.7-
Brough Fletcher England1938January 1938 – January 195022780499835.23 Gloucestershire Cups
Bert Tann England1950January 1950 – April 196889736921631441.1Division 3 South champions, Gloucestershire Cups: won 5, shared 5
Fred Ford England1968April 1968 – July 19697026162837.1-
Bill Dodgin Sr. England1969August 1969 – July 197216372474444.2-
Don Megson England1972July 1972 – November 197726991859333.8Watney Cup winner, 2 Gloucestershire Cups, promotion to Division 2
Bobby Campbell Scotland1977November 1977 – December 19799132194035.2-
Harold Jarman England1979December 1979 – April 19802479829.2-
Terry Cooper England1980April 1980 – October 19816813193619.1-
Ron Gingell (caretaker) England1981 (1)October 198110100.0-
Bobby Gould England1981 (2)October 1981 – May 1983
May 1985 – June 1987
19671428336.22 Gloucestershire Cups
David Williams Wales1983May 1983 – May 198510851282947.22 Gloucestershire Cups
Gerry Francis England1987July 1987 – May 1991
July 2001 – December 2001
24095727339.6Division 3 champions, 2 Gloucestershire Cups[1]
Martin Dobson England1991 (1)July 1991 – October 1991121298.3-
Dennis Rofe England1991 (2)October 1991 – November 19926321182433.3Gloucestershire Cup winner
Malcolm Allison England1992November 1992 – February 19931864833.3-
Steve Cross (caretaker) England1993 (1)March 199330120.0-
John Ward England1993 (2)March 1993 – May 1996
December 2012 – March 2014
250101707940.42 Gloucestershire Cups[2]
Ian Holloway England1996June 1996 – January 200124992679036.9-
Garry Thompson England2001 (1)January 2001 – May 2001[lower-greek 2]
December 2001 – April 2002
4714102329.8-[3]
Phil Bater (caretaker) Wales2002 (1)April 2002
January 2004 – March 2004
141677.1-[4]
Ray Graydon England2002 (2)April 2002 – January 20048122223727.2-[5]
Russell Osman
Kevan Broadhurst (joint caretakers)[lower-greek 3]
 England2004 (2)March 2004 – April 2004631250.0-[6][7]
Ian Atkins England2004 (3)April 2004 – September 20056821262130.9-[8]
Paul Trollope Wales2005September 2005 – December 20102841067110737.3League 2 play-off winner[9]
Darren Patterson (caretaker) Northern Ireland2010December 2010 – January 201120020.0[10]
Dave Penney England2011aJanuary 2011 – March 20111322915.4[11]
Stuart Campbell (caretaker) Scotland2011bMarch 2011 – May 20111243533.3[12]
Paul Buckle England2011cMay 2011 – January 201229861527.5[13]
Mark McGhee Scotland2012January 2012 – December 20124512122126.6[14]
Darrell Clarke England2014March 2014 – December 2018246104568642.3Conference Premier play-off winner, promotion to League One[15]
Graham Coughlan Republic of Ireland2018December 2018 – December 20195625181344.6[16]
Joe Dunne (caretaker) Republic of Ireland2019aDecember 20191100100.0[17]
Kevin Maher (caretaker) Republic of Ireland2019bDecember 2019
January 2020[lower-greek 4]
30120.0[18]
Ben Garner England2019cDecember 2019 – November 2020[lower-greek 5]347101720.6[20]
Tommy Widdrington (caretaker) England2020aNovember 20201100100.0
Paul Tisdale England2020bNovember 2020 –1451835.7[21]

Notes

  1. Win percentage is rounded to one decimal place
  2. Garry Thompson was caretaker manager for his first spell in charge
  3. Russell Osman and Kevan Broadhurst were appointed joint caretaker managers at the end of the 2003–04 season
  4. Kevin Maher was caretaker manager for one game before the appointment of Ben Garner, then again when Garner was granted compassionate leave
  5. Ben Garner was away on compassionate leave from 12 to 22 January 2020 due to a family illness.[19]

References

  1. "Gerry Francis's managerial career". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  2. "John Ward's managerial career". Soccerbase. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  3. "Garry Thompson's managerial career". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  4. "Phil Bater's managerial career". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  5. "Ray Graydon's managerial career". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 20 January 2005. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  6. "Russell Osman's managerial career". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  7. "Kevan Broadhurst's managerial career". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  8. "Ian Atkins's managerial career". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  9. "Paul Trollope's managerial career". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 11 October 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  10. "Darren Patterson's managerial career". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 15 December 2004. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  11. "Dave Penney's managerial career". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
  12. bbc sport 07.05.11
  13. bbc sport 05.01.12
  14. "Mark McGhee's managerial career". Soccerbase. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  15. "Darrell Clarke's managerial career". Soccerbase. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  16. "Graham Coughlan". Soccerbase. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  17. "Joe Dunne". Soccerbase. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  18. "Kevin Maher". Soccerbase. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  19. "Bristol Rovers: Ben Garner granted extended leave as manager over family matter". BBC Sport. 12 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  20. "Ben Garner". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  21. "Paul Tisdale". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 November 2020.

Bibliography

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