16:30, 02 Jul 2025<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_GettyImages-1244509197.jpg\")
Bristol Rovers will kick off their pre-season schedule at Chippenham Town on Friday evening(Image: Chris Vaughan – CameraSport via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
You know that the start of a new football season is on the horizon once the pre-season friendly schedule gets underway and that will be the case for Bristol Rovers<\/a> on Friday evening.<\/p>\n In recent years, the Gas have kicked off their preparations with a game at Melksham Town but this time around the Pirates will have an alternative opening opponent.<\/p>\n Rovers are maintaining the trend of facing a local non-league club away from home, but will instead play Chippenham Town, another outfit that has forged a strong relationship with the Gas down the years.<\/p>\n READ MORE: EFL summer transfer window LIVE: Bristol City, Bristol Rovers and rivals look to add to squads<\/a>READ MORE: Former Bristol Rovers coach set for Manchester United coaching role following Gas exit<\/a><\/p>\n The Bluebirds finished 14th in the National League South last season and withhold ambitions of kicking on and progressing up the sixth-tier table with the play-off positions in sight this term, even if they are set to be in the same division as the likes of Dagenham & Redbridge and Torquay United this year.<\/p>\n Although some Gasheads may be more excited for an upcoming home fixture against last season\u2019s Championship play-off semi-finalists Coventry City or will be waiting for the real stuff to start, the financial significance of hosting a local league club for Chippenham cannot be underestimated.<\/p>\n \u201cA friendly against a league club like Rovers is absolutely essential, really,\u201d Bluebirds chairman Neil Blackmore told Bristol Live<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping for a good crowd. It will give the opportunity to both Rovers and Chippenham fans for them to see their new teams.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Chippenham, if we hopefully get a good crowd in, it would give the club a really good financial boost to start the season with, which would be fantastic.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, just getting numbers in and people through the gates\u2026I know I\u2019m biased but Chippenham Town is a fantastic club. It’s a great family club and I know that once people come in and they see what it’s like they’ll enjoy it so if I can get a few Chippenham fans or a few football fans who aren’t necessarily Chippenham fans but are Chippenham people to come in because it\u2019s Rovers, and they’ll like it and they’ll come back again for some Chippenham league games.\u201d<\/p>\n A significant number of Gasheads are expected at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium, not just to support their team and get a glimpse of their new players, but Friday night will also be their first chance to see Darrell Clarke back as Rovers head coach for the first time in nearly seven years.<\/a><\/p>\n The Gas legend, who led the Pirates to back-to-back promotions from the Conference to League One before consolidating their place in the their tier in his first spell, returned to the club in May just days after the season had concluded.<\/p>\n Rovers, of course, will be playing in League Two this term following their relegation but the return of Clarke immediately lifted the mood as the Pirates target a memorable campaign that will end with promotion.<\/p>\n Chippenham are set to benefit from Clarke\u2019s return too with ticket sales going very well, although the fixture is not yet a sell-out.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fallen quite well for us in that respect,\u201d Blackmore confessed. \u201cIt would be good to get as many fans, Chippenham and Rovers, in as we can, and I think we’re positioned quite well. There are a lot of Rovers fans who live between Chippenham and this side of Bristol so hopefully we can capture them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe same applies to those guys really. If they like the club and think, well on days when perhaps Rovers aren\u2019t playing or are away from home, if they\u2019re looking for a game of football then maybe they would like to come back to Chippenham.\u201d<\/p>\n On the Chippenham side of things, there is another amiable storyline in the sense that it will be a return home for Rovers defender Dan Ellison, who joined the Gas from the Bluebirds last summer.<\/p>\n Although Ellison has not yet made his competitive debut for the Pirates, he did impress on loan in the National League last season with Aldershot Town, scoring at Wembley as the Shots claimed the FA Trophy title.<\/p>\n The 20-year-old centre-back is one to watch for Rovers fans this pre-season and is expected to be involved on Friday night which will see him return to the club where he came through as a youngster before getting his first taste of first-team football.<\/p>\n Join Bristol Rovers Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol Rovers stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n Bristol Rovers Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n Through the app, we\u2019ll send the Bristol Rovers news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.<\/p>\n To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.<\/p>\n To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cReally good,\u201d Blackmore said on Ellison\u2019s journey so far. \u201cHe\u2019s a really nice lad. He came through our academy systems so it’s a really good story for the club and just shows other youngsters that there is a pathway at Chippenham to come through our system and get yourself into league football, which is every schoolboy’s dream and girls’ dream nowadays.<\/p>\n \u201cSo yeah, it\u2019s fantastic for Dan and the club. I\u2019m really pleased.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve always had a really good relationship with Rovers,\u201d the Chippenham chairman added. \u201cObviously we sold Dan last year and we\u2019ve had players on loan. So yeah, really, really good. I\u2019m just pleased that we\u2019ve been able to further that now with a first-team friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n Tickets are still available for the fixture but fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets online ahead of the game on Chippenham Town\u2019s official website.<\/p>\n A significant crowd is anticipated so those planning to attend are also encouraged to arrive at the stadium with plenty of time to spare ahead of the 7:30pm kick-off.<\/p>\n Following their clash with Chippenham, Rovers are due to jet out to Spain next week and will take on League One side Stockport County in a friendly clash on July 12 in Murcia.<\/p>\n They will also face Bath City, Yeovil Town, Coventry City and Oxford United during their pre-season schedule before kicking of the League Two season at home to Harrogate Town.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Former Bristol Rovers loanee departs Premier League winners Liverpool in \u00a335m Bundesliga switch<\/a>READ MORE: Former Bristol Rovers manager joins Southampton coaching staff alongside ex-Liverpool star<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bristol Live spoke to Chippenham Town chairman Neil Blackmore ahead of Bristol Rovers’ friendly with the Bluebirds on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,10648,2707,748,46615,393,65203,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-232349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-live","10":"tag-bristol-rovers-fc","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-darrell-clarke","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-fa-trophy","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114784418246090696","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_GettyImages-1065895010.jpg\")
Darrell Clarke pictured during his first spell as Bristol Rovers head coach(Image: Alex Davidson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_GettyImages-2214179180.jpg\")
Dan Ellison celebrates scoring for Aldershot Town in the FA Trophy final last season(Image: Tom West\/MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_WhatsApp-Phone.jpg\")
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