Preparations for what is expected to be a hectic summer for Bristol Rovers are already underway
Bristol Rovers will have a busy summer ahead of them in terms of recruiting, and Matt Taylor has acknowledged that the club is still in the process of making plans.
Rovers have a three-year strategy in place to reach the Championship, and chairman Hussain AlSaeed confirmed that Taylor will have the board’s support heading into the summer transfer market in an open letter to supporters last week.
AlSaeed stated in the letter: “We are dedicated to giving Matt our complete support and the tools he needs to realise this ambition. We will collaborate closely with him this summer during the transfer window to bring in quality players who are as driven and ambitious as he is eager to contribute to the success of Bristol Rovers.”
In response to a question about whether talks about the Pirates’ plans for the upcoming transfer window had started, Taylor said, “Yes, but we’re still setting things up so that we can, in theory, spend some money or sign players. We’ve talked about it, and it appears that significant player changes will be necessary, but at this level of football, especially, too significant changes are unachievable.
“Obviously, we all know what we want to do, but the most important thing is knowing how to get there. Hopefully, the board will assist us not only monetarily but also in other ways, giving us the time and resources we need to get the job done There are individuals in place who will handle that part.
“We already have a plan; this is the simple part. It all comes down to how you put together a plan in order to succeed.”
The chairman also mentioned in his letter the “strategic additions” the club hopes to make before the 2024–2025 season and beyond, including Kamil Conteh, who was signed last month from Grimsby Town for an initial sum estimated to be over £300,000. Conteh, who is 21 years old, will undoubtedly gain in value while playing for Rovers, and the fact that he signed a three-and-a-half year contract will undoubtedly position the team to earn handsomely when he eventually leaves.
The Sierra Leone international was the only permanent signing made last month but foreshadows the type of shrewd business that can be expected in the summer. However, as things stand Taylor is expected to lead recruitment with no Head of Recruitment of Director of Football currently in place.
On Conteh, the Gas manager added: “We’re really excited about him. We were excited about him when we were trying to sign and recruit him and probably even more so in the games we’ve seen.
“Really pleased with his performance levels. Last season he was playing National League football, first half of this season he was playing League Two football so quite a quick step up through the pyramid.
“He’s a humble boy. He wants to learn. He wants to step up and get better and I’m sure he will do in a progressive team. We’re still excited about what he can turn into and he’s one there we’re earmarking to build a team around.”
A significant proportion of the current first-team squad are set to be out of contract this summer with 18 permanent or loan players possessing deals that expire at the end of the season. Taylor is well aware that too much change immediately isn’t sustainable and revealed earlier this month that the process of identifying who will have their contracts extended begun even before his arrival in December.
There is two months and 13 games left of the current campaign for players who face uncertain futures to earn themselves extensions and the expectation is that there will be at least a handful who will see their current stay extended.
But as Taylor made clear during his news conference after the 3-1 loss to Northampton on Saturday, change does seem likely given the number of problems hindering the Gas’s ability to establish any kind of consistency—not just under the current management but even before his arrival.
The 42-year-old stated, “To be honest with you, I think they’re capable of a lot more.” “They definitely intended to move across the pitch more quickly than we did. But they’ll find it difficult to stay at this football team if they don’t have the habits, if that’s not appreciated enough, and if they can’t do it frequently enough in back-to-back games, which has been an issue for us.
“We must adapt. We cannot continue to say the same things while standing here. The league standings demonstrate that fans will notice it.
We’re definitely giving teams an advantage in that regard because of how prone we are to leaks, how soft we are, how many goals we give up, and how difficult it is for us to win games once we do.
“Like I said we have to do a bit more work than what has been happening previously and we’ll quickly get that into them.”
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