Given that the Gas have lost their last six games, we have decided to look at six problems facing the club ahead of the trip to Cheltenham on Saturday…
Tom Lockyer of Bristol Rovers applauds fans following defeat in the EFL League Two match between Accrington Stanley and Bristol Rovers at The Wham Stadium on 15 November 2025 in Accrington, England (Photo by Steve Taylor/PPAUK)
Bristol Rovers’ 3-1 loss against Accrington Stanley was their sixth consecutive defeat in League Two. This has seen them drop to 19th, only three points above the relegation places.
Saturday’s trip to Cheltenham Town, who sit in 23rd, looks to be a crucial clash for the Gas, but also for Darrell Clarke, who is coming under increasing pressure for the poor run of form in October and November.
The situation at Rovers is a complicated one, and the way this season is going – a second consecutive relegation to the National League can’t be ruled out.
Given that the Gas have lost their last six games, we have decided to look at six problems facing the club ahead of the trip to Cheltenham on Saturday…
OPINION
Will the club stick with Darrell Clarke?
After last season’s relegation from League One, Rovers needed a boost to lift everyone’s spirits ahead of their return to the fourth tier.
The return of Darrell Clarke certainly did that, and the appointment of Ricky Martin as the director of football was also seen as a positive change after George Friend’s brief spell in the role.
Four defeats to start the season was hardly an ideal return for Clarke, who gained two promotions from the National League to League One during his first time in charge of the club.
The form picked up, though, and despite performances not being stellar, the Gas went on an eight-match unbeaten run in all competitions.
This run came to an end at Walsall, and it has been a miserable couple of months for Clarke since. Rovers have lost six in a row in the league, losing by an aggregate of 18-2 since the first-half at Walsall.
This has seen them tumble down the table from seventh to 19th since the victory against Salford City at The Memorial Stadium on 27th September.
Questions are starting to be asked about Clarke and whether it was a mistake to bring back the 47-year-old.
Ultimately, the issues are much deeper right now, and last season showed that changing managers doesn’t lead to instant fixes.
While I understand the frustration with Clarke, there are other factors, including hasty recruitment last season, that are still impacting the Gas now and he needs more time to turn around a club in rapid decline.
Darrell Clarke Manager of Bristol Rovers following defeat in the EFL League Two match between Accrington Stanley and Bristol Rovers at The Wham Stadium on 15 November 2025 in Accrington, England (Photo by Steve Taylor/PPAUK)
Of course, the situation can change and losses to Cheltenham and Notts County would certainly crank up the pressure, but Clarke acknowledged on Saturday that he is “used to tough challenges”.
Rovers need people who know what is best for the club right now, and Clarke certainly knows a thing or two about getting things right in north Bristol.
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Injuries stacking up
One of Clarke’s main tasks in the summer was to trim the squad and it was his preference to work with a smaller group.
By the end of the window, 21 players had left since the end of last season. Among the players to sign for the Gas were Alfie Kilgour, Ellis Harrison, Kacper Lopata and Stephan Negru.
Negru has recently returned to the squad after signing with an injury, but Clarke has been without Kilgour, Lopata and Harrison in the last few weeks, with the latter coming back against Accrington Stanley on Saturday.
Promise Omochere, who remains the club’s record signing, was available for large parts of the early season, but an injury against Colchester United and most recently, Crawley Town, have kept him out of action as Rovers’ form has dramatically dipped.
Promise Omochere applauds the Bristol Rovers fans(Image: Steve Taylor/PPAUK)
Josh McEachran is another player who has been ruled out of the last few games and the 32-year-old’s presence in the midfield has certainly been missed.
Working with a smaller squad was always going to come with risk, eventually with the likes of McEachran, Harrison, Omochere and Macauley Southam-Hales all having concerns over their availability due to injuries.
McEachran and Omochere are key players, and Clarke was quick to note ahead of the trip to Accrington that the Gas were missing nine players, including the four who went on international duty.
Luke Southwood, Joel Cotterill, Freddie Issaka and Ollie Dewsbury will return to the squad against Cheltenham, but the existing injury issues remain.
While Clarke acknowledged the difficulties he’s facing concerning injury issues at this point in time, he was quick to note that it’s not an excuse for the six-match losing streak in the league in his post-match press conference at Accrington.
He said: “It feels like I’m a little bit on tenterhooks, a little bit at the minute with one or two situations. But that’s not an excuse, there’s enough players and enough experience out there to perform a lot better than what we did and I’m accountable for that.”
Back five or back four?
Injuries have clearly not helped, but a theme of this season has been the constant switch between Rovers playing a back five and a back four. A 3-4-3, which can also be seen as 3-4-2-1, has been used in recent weeks.
During the eight-match unbeaten run, a back four was predominantly used, though, with 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 the most popular shapes used by Clarke.
Since the victory against Salford in late September, Clarke has increasingly opted for a back five, with a switch back to four defenders in the defeats against Tranmere Rovers and Crawley Town.
To be honest, all the information above probably seems confusing, and if you asked a Rovers fan to pinpoint one exact system that has been used across this season, they’d struggle to come up with anything specific or consistent.
Tegan Finn of Plymouth Argyle battles for the ball with Jack Sparkes of Bristol Rovers during the Vertu Trophy Match between Bristol Rovers and Plymouth Argyle at Memorial Stadium on 11 November 2025. Photo: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK
This is clearly an issue and the tinkering can be linked to the injuries and the lack of physicality in the absence of Harrison and Omochere that have caused problems in recent weeks.
Saturday was the perfect example of the tactical flexibility that has been commonplace this season. Rovers started in a 3-4-3, but Bryant Bilongo was replaced by Ruel Sotiriou at the break, with the Gas switching to a back four.
The fact that we don’t really know which formation and team will start against Cheltenham is a problem in itself.
Losing is becoming a habit
Last season was a dismal one for Rovers, as they finished 22nd in League One – losing 27 games out of 46.
In the 2025/26 campaign, the Gas have already lost nine league games, with the bottom two the only other teams to lose more than Clarke’s side.
Thirty-six losses in their last 62 league games is a problem and that losing habit is something that needs to be stopped before it’s too late.
Fabrizio Cavegn of Bristol Rovers during the EFL League Two match between Accrington Stanley and Bristol Rovers at The Wham Stadium on 15 November 2025 in Accrington, England (Photo by Steve Taylor/PPAUK)Scoring goals
After the 1-0 defeat against Gillingham on 8th November, Clarke provided the following assessment of his side’s attacking play, “I thought the performance at times was decent, but we don’t want the hard luck stories. We have to do better in the final third.
“We dominated large parts of the game – [we] have to be better with our forward-thinking play at times to create more opportunities, although we’ve created enough opportunities to obviously score a few goals today.
“But we haven’t taken that and the same as I said to my players, it’s 25% more, I’ve got to come from my forward-thinking players, end of, because I thought the build was good, we controlled the possession, and then when we get to the final third, I need players to be firing a lot better than what we are.”
The aforementioned injuries to Omochere and Harrison have forced Rovers to change how they attack, with more possession than the opposition a feature of the last three games without a physical outlet up top.
Bristol Rovers players celebrate Ellis Harrison’s opening goal against Cambridge United(Image: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK)
In fact, in the games against Gillingham, Plymouth Argyle and Accrington, the Gas have amassed possession of 70%, 76% and 60%, respectively.
This has only led to two goals, though, with the goal against 10-man Plymouth coming from a goalkeeping mistake from Luca Ashby-Hammond in the 94th minute.
In League Two, only three teams have scored fewer goals than Clarke’s side. This is a fundamental issue, especially when the defence has leaked 18 goals in the last six games.
Of course, the return of Harrison will aid the attacking output of Rovers and he looked bright on his return to the starting eleven against Accrington.
In recent weeks, it has been a lot of possession without penetration, but the return of Harrison might see Clarke revert to a more direct style that was key to the team’s form in August and September.
Will we hear from the AlSaeed ownership before Christmas?
In the recent Bristol Rovers Supporters Club AGM on Thursday, November 6, Director Of Commercial & Revenue Ritchie Bates and assistant head coach Jon Stead, spoke to those in attendance about a range of on-field and off-field topics.
The Supporters Club released the following resume of what was said when Bates was asked about the AlSaeed ownership, “Ritchie was asked why we haven’t heard more from the owners – it’s a while since they last made a statement of any kind to supporters – and he was also asked about his own relationship with them.
“He said that he speaks with them most days and that they delegate a great deal of work to their senior members of staff.
“Whilst accepting there had been little communication of late, he said that there will be a statement very soon, from the owners, likely to be before Christmas.
“The consensus of opinion in the room was that they wished to hear something from the owners soon.
“Ritchie is made aware of the feelings of supporters by our two Supporters Club Directors at their regular meetings.
“The owners, he said, work incredibly hard behind the scenes and they are passionate about the club while Jon Stead stated that he and the management team have a great deal of contact with them and they are always very supportive.
“At least one of the owners is at every match.”
Supporters have become frustrated with the AlSaeed ownership this season, especially concerning the redevelopment of the Memorial Stadium and the Quarters Training Facility.
The South Stand at The Mem was their first project and after they were granted planning permission for the new stand in November 2023, supporters were in the new facility for the first time a month later.
The new stand boosted the capacity of the stadium by more than 2,000, but the plans to modernise the rest of the stands within the stadium have not come to fruition yet.
Hussain Al Saeed arrived at Bristol Rovers in August 2023(Image: Bristol Rovers FC)
In August 2023, Chairman Hussain AlSaeed purchased a majority stake in the club, and two months later he revealed that under their regime, they would look to redevelop the Mem, instead of building a new stadium at the Fruit Market site.
These proposals included increasing the capacities in the East Stand and Thatcher’s End (North Stand) to take the overall capacity up to a figure between 16,000 and 17,000.
Fast forward to November 2024 and AlSaeed became the sole shareholder at Rovers, acquiring the remaining stake held by Wael and Samer Al Qadi. In an interview with BBC Radio Bristol three months later , AlSaeed said that when the work does begin, it will take “at least a season or two”.
During that interview with the BBC, AlSaeed confirmed they were planning to submit a second pre-application to Bristol City Council in March for approval, after making amendments recommended following their first application. “We are hopeful that soon after that we will get the approval for it,” he added.
But nine months on, no application has seemingly been submitted, with the last update for the stadium site on the Bristol City Council planning portal being to do with the discharge of conditions submitted in August 2024 relating to the South Stand redevelopment works.
At the same time, plans for The Quarters which included the men’s, women’s and academy teams to be accommodated at the same venue were supposed to be moving forward.
The last update Rovers supporters had on the redevelopment to the training ground was in January 2025, when AlSaeed told BRTV : “For the training ground, we have also submitted the pre-application in September 2024. We had [an] initial meeting, a very good meeting, with the council and we are waiting for their reply regarding our proposal for the training ground.”
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Finally, in AlSaeed’s last statement to supporters in May 2025 , he provided the following update on the redevelopment projects, “Beyond the pitch, development plans for both The Memorial Stadium and our training facilities are progressing. Consultants have been appointed, and due diligence is being carried out with local authorities. We’re committed to getting this right and will present our plans once we are fully cleared to proceed.
“This relegation is a setback, but it is not the end of our story. We’re building stronger foundations: on the field, behind the scenes, and in the infrastructure that underpins long-term success.”
There has been no communication to the supporters from AlSaeed since, and it looks like the regime are planning to release a statement before the end of the year. However, exactly when, or the format of the statement, remains unknown.
READ MORE: Darrell Clarke declares Bristol Rovers ‘soft’ as they suffer sixth consecutive League Two defeat
OPINION