16:00, 14 Jul 2025<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_JS299702514.jpg\")
Marcus Stewart pictured addressing the crowd at the Mem(Image: Simon Galloway\/Western Daily Press)<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether you take any notice of it or wait until the real thing starts, pre-season is a formality for every football club and players across the country are now back in session.<\/p>\n
Friendlies have begun and, despite any attempts from marketing teams to add glitz and glam to fixtures, most are just standard fitness exercises. There are, however, the odd exceptions.<\/p>\n
On Saturday afternoon, Bristol Rovers<\/a> will partake in a very important friendly match against fellow South West outfit Yeovil Town dedicated to an extremely special man – Marcus Stewart.<\/p>\n READ MORE: ‘I feel good’ – Promise Omochere issues Bristol Rovers pledge as start of new season gets closer<\/a>READ MORE: Darrell Clarke on Bristol Rovers’ Spain camp, Stockport friendly loss and areas for improvement<\/a><\/p>\n The former striker, who represented both Rovers and Yeovil amongst others during an illustrious playing career, is a local hero best known for his goalscoring days. More recently though, the Bristolian has become one of the biggest fundraisers for motor neurone disease (MND) following his own diagnosis in 2022.<\/p>\n A great deal of his work as been with the Darby Rimmer Foundation, founded by Chris Rimmer and former Bradford and Liverpool footballer Stephen Darby. Both were diagnosed with the disease and Rimmer sadly died in April.<\/p>\n MND is a progressive, life-shortening illness that affects the brain and spinal cord and has a 1\/300 lifetime risk. <\/a>There remains no cure.<\/p>\n Gloucestershire legend David \u2018Syd\u2019 Lawrence recently died<\/a> after a year-long battle with the disease while former England and Leeds Rhinos rugby player Rob Burrow lost his fight against MND last year.<\/p>\n Despite his busy schedule, Stewart kindly found time in his busy schedule to speak to Bristol Live<\/a> ahead of this weekend\u2019s friendly at Huish Park. Naturally, the first question put to the Rovers legend was, \u2018how are you?\u2019…<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I\u2019m doing alright,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t use my left arm or hand. My right arm is probably going that way. But in terms of voice and legs and strength, I\u2019m pretty good.<\/p>\n \u201cA year down the line, I could use my right arm, whereas now I probably can\u2019t as much as I would like to. Slow progression in my right arm, otherwise all good.\u201d<\/p>\n The former Gas striker and assistant manager recently left Yeovil where he had been head of player development alongside his various charity work. Even without football, a house move and various other commitments are keeping the 52-year-old busy. For now, he isn\u2019t missing football.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, it\u2019s that time of year, isn\u2019t it? So for me, it\u2019s pretty normal to have these couple of months off, May and June really,\u201d Stewart declared. \u201cI mean, they\u2019re back now and I went to see the lads the other day. They\u2019re training up at SGS so I went to watch training for a little while.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who asks me if I miss it, I don\u2019t yet because the season hasn\u2019t started so this is normal for me, I suppose.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, I don\u2019t miss it (football). The honest truth is I\u2019m too busy because we\u2019re moving house in the next two weeks. So that\u2019s taken over my mind at the moment. Once that settles down in August, September, ask me that question again. At the moment, there are a lot of things going on that I need to sort out that are probably more important than football at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to football though, there won\u2019t be a more important friendly fixture anywhere in the South West during this pre-season period as Rovers and Yeovil face each other for far more than just a fitness exercise.<\/p>\n The \u2018Match for Marcus\u2019 was announced in May, a fixture that will celebrate the career of the ex-Gas and Glovers forward.<\/p>\n Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n Stewart began his professional career at Rovers and went on to make over 170 appearances for the Pirates. He scored in the 1995 Second Division play-off final, although that day ended in defeat against Huddersfield Town, the club the striker left Rovers for in 1996.<\/p>\n As far as football is concerned, the former striker is arguably best known for scoring the goals that got Ipswich Town into the Premier League before helping the Tractor Boys reach Europe, ending the 2000\/01 season as the second-highest scorer in the top-flight.<\/p>\n Spells at Sunderland, Bristol City<\/a> and Exeter City followed, as well as at Yeovil where Stewart scored in the Glovers\u2019 League One play-off final second leg victory over Nottingham Forest in 2007.<\/p>\n On the upcoming fixture, Stewart explained: \u201cIan Weston, who is obviously an ex-Rovers player, works at Yeovil now and he was working there when I was working there last year. He’s the head of football operations really, so he was sorting pre-season out, and I think it was about March or April time that we got the friendly with Rovers.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018why don’t we have a game for you for that day?\u2019 I was like, \u2018well yeah, that’s not a bad idea\u2019. It can work like a benefit day. So he went to the chairman and between them they agreed to do this game. So off the back of that, obviously the chairman has left since but Ian’s still there and obviously Stuart Robins is my point of contact now with it.\u201d<\/p>\n As well as helping kick start his career as a professional footballer, Rovers also gave Stewart an opportunity to coach after his playing career.<\/p>\n After a year as a professional development coach, the former Gas forward became assistant manager, mainly working alongside Darrell Clarke who has recently returned to BS7 for a second spell in the Mem dugout.<\/p>\n The two will be reunited at Huish Park this weekend and, when asked about Clarke\u2019s return, Stewart confessed: \u201cI wasn\u2019t surprised because there were a few rumours going around. I think the club needs him; someone like him who will bring the fans and the players together. That’s what he’s very good at, getting everyone singing off the same hymn sheet, getting everyone together, the fans back on side.<\/p>\n \u201cI know last year there was a lot of disjointment in between fans and players and fans and the chairman so I think he’s the man to, not only getting them playing the right way to get up to League One again, but to also get the fans together again and I think he’s the right man for that.\u201d<\/p>\n Yeovil occupy a special place in Stewart\u2019s heart, but Rovers is where it all began for the Bristolian.<\/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 Born in Hartcliffe, the former striker technically hails from the south of the city and grew up a Bristol City fan. However, any suggestion of allegiance to the red side of Bristol, bar his playing spell in BS3, was put to bed by Stewart.<\/p>\n \u201cRovers are the ones that gave me the opportunity to be a professional football player. Roy Dolling, who sadly passed away recently, was the one who got me into the club when I was 13 years old and I was there until 23, so I was there 10 years as a player and then came back for five years as coach.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent the most time at Bristol Rovers than I have at any other club, and I’m glad about that because I’m Bristolian and I’m a Gashead, there’s no doubt about that. I always will be.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople think if you\u2019re born on the south side of Bristol then you’re a City fan. Well, things change in life, and I can honestly tell you, I’m a Gashead now.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t been to see City once since I left there, so that tells its own story,\u201d he added. \u201cThe club means so much to me.<\/p>\n \u201cI go and watch them when I can. Obviously, I’m from the south side of Bristol and I played for City, I was a City fan when I was a kid but like I said, I’m proud to be from south Bristol but I’m a Gashead, simple as that.<\/p>\n \u201cYeovil, of course, I left Bristol City to go to Yeovil and I had a brilliant time there. There’s only one club I didn’t have a good time at, the rest of them were brilliant and Yeovil are included in that.\u201d<\/p>\n Anyone who would like to donate to the Darby Rimmer Foundation can do so by clicking HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can also donate to the Motor Neurone Disease Association by clicking HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n READ MORE: EFL summer transfer window LIVE: Bristol City, Bristol Rovers and rivals look to bolster squads<\/a>READ MORE: Former Bristol Rovers coach and interim manager leaves League One club to join Brazilian giants<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bristol Rovers legend Marcus Stewart spoke to Bristol Live ahead of the upcoming friendly against Yeovil Town dedicated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2686,10648,2707,748,46615,393,4884,14344,101330,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-265503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-fc","10":"tag-bristol-live","11":"tag-bristol-rovers-fc","12":"tag-britain","13":"tag-darrell-clarke","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-hartcliffe","17":"tag-marcus-stewart","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114854316445318641","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265503","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=265503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_JS161168866.jpg\")
Marcus Stewart was Darrell Clarke’s assistant manager at Bristol Rovers during his first spell in charge(Image: Ryan Hiscott\/JMP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744476931_129_0_WhatsApp-Phone.jpg\")
Bristol Rovers Live on Whatsapp<\/p>\n