By Nathan Jackson
September 6 2005

In our latest edition of A-Z, we review Bristol Rovers including a story of a penalty area covered in Weetabix. Also included in one of the most bizarre A-Z's you'll see this season is 32 international players, forgetfulness, Jeffrey Archer and a rather amusingly titled, "Escape to Victory"

A Aaron Lescott, a former Lincoln player currently plying his trade at the Memorial Stadium. The former Aston Villa and Stockport County player has been at Rovers for around 18 months and despite an almost, ever-present this season, he has only played 38 games since joining from Stockport.

 

B Bo Henrikson. This is no dis-respect to Kidderminster Harriers but Bo is the prime example of what happens when a “big fish leaps out of the small pond.” Bo joined Bristol Rovers from the Harriers in 2004, he had been a cult hero at Aggborough, scoring goals for fun and to be fair, was far better than anything else they had to offer, but then, as soon as he went to Bristol Rovers, the slide occurred and he was quickly released after people realised that he was generally not a good player.

 

C City. The two Bristol clubs have a great hatred of each others. Both teams have been stuck in the bottom 2 football league divisions for some time but they’ve managed to clock up a massive 101 competitive appearances against each other. City have won 42 matches compared to Rovers 27 with the other 32 being draws. The last time they met for a competitive game was in the LDV in 2001 and City ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.

 

D David Wilde, a friend of mine who has a season ticket at both Bristol clubs. He claims that he doesn’t support one over the other. However, the fact he owns 7 Rovers shirt compared to 2 City ones and a collection of programmes from Rovers games but none from City says it all.

 

E Escape to Victory. The rather amusing title of Bristol Rover’s season review of the 2003/4 season, where they avoided relegation relatively easily. It has been described as a rather bemusing look at the life of a Gashead during a season that most don’t want to remember. The DVD can be purchased here, http://shop.bristolrovers.co.uk/sites/BristolRovers/images/Products/escape34_1.jpg

 

F Former Imps, Rovers currently have 2 ex-Imps players in their squad, in Aaron Lescott and Junior Agogo. Current Rovers player, Craig Disley, almost joined the Imps during the summer before 2004/5 and he was all set to join City before the Imps actually looked at how much he wanted a week and the deal was subsequently ended and he joined Rovers.

 

 

G Gasheads. The name used to describe the fans at Rovers. The name comes from the old ground at Eastville which was located next to some gas works. The name comes from after the locals had gotten used to it whereas the opposition hadn’t and therefore causing Rovers to win a fair few of their home games.

 

H Harry Buckle. A Northern Ireland international player back in the 1907/8 season. Harry is one of 32 players to have been capped whilst playing for the Memorial Stadium club.

 

I Ian Atkins, there are debates still going on in the lower leagues as to who is the most hated lower league manager. The VERY vast majority will say either Brian Laws or current Bristol Rovers manager, Ian Atkins.

 

Now, I’m not going to waffle on about how deluded this man is so I’ll just give you this example. In 2000/1, he was in charge of Carlisle, in serious danger of relegation, the Cumbrian’s came to Sincil Bank two weeks after the game was initially called off for a flooded and surprise surprise, the game was called off AGAIN for the same reason. Ian Atkins’ subsequently started blaming City for the games being called off because we were scared of playing Carlisle and because we all know of course, that we make the pitch flood with 6 inches of water because we’re so bloody scared of playing Carlisle. The game was eventually played in the middle of a period which saw City play 4 games in 7 days and the game finished 1-1.

 

J Junior Agogo, the former Lincoln striker is currently the most inform striker. Agogo already sits on top of the scoring charts and also finished in the top 3 for last season. He has been scouted by several higher level clubs but Rovers have been able to refuse any approaches for Agogo. However, his temper lets him down and he is very prone to doing rather rude gesture at Mr Atkins but then again, who can blame him?

 

K Knowing when you’re lucky. Jeffrey Archer is a name that is a stranger to few in Britain and he is an avid Bristol Rovers fan. In 1993/4, a few years before his imprisionment, there were extremely strong rumours that Archer launched a bid to take over the club but had to pull out due to numerous reasons to do with his duties with the Conservative Party. Imagine the combined ignorance of Archer and Atkins at a football club. If you think I'm joking, go to the FAQ section on Bristol Rovers' website

 

L Lincoln. Rovers have a good recent record against the Imps at the Memorial Stadium. Since being relegated to this division in 2000/1, the two teams have met at the Memorial 4 times with Bristol Rovers winning 2 of the 4, the two results were 2-0 and 3-1. City secured 3 points in 2001/2 with a 2-1 victory and the teams shared a 0-0 draw last season.

 

M Memorial Stadium, the home of Bristol Rovers. The ground holds 12,000 (according the football ground guide) exactly. It’s far to say that it’s not the best ground in the division but luckily, there are plans ahead to develop the ground. Away fans are now seated in the XXXX stand, that’s the stand that is basically temporary seating with a tent over it.

 

N No more football for you. In 1963, controversy struck the club when Esmund Million (ironic considering what happened) and Keith Williams were both found guilty of match fixing in a 3^rd Division game against Bradford Park Avenue. Million was banned from planning football whereas Williams was fined £50 (a lot of money in those days).

 

P Paul Trollope. A well travelled midfielder, who before moving to Rovers from Northampton, played for Coventry, Derby, Palace, Fulham, Grimsby and Torquay

 

Q Quarters, the “famous” pattern of Bristol Rover’s home shirt. The quarters are divided into blue and white sections. Lincoln did try and copy this for the 2000/1 season but it’s safe to say, the shirt wasn’t particully popular.

 

R Relegation. Rovers last suffered relegation in the 2000/1 season when they were relegated from the old Division 2. They actually finished with 51 points which in most seasons, would be more than enough to ensure survival but not that year. They have only suffered 4 relegations in their history, the other 3 being in 1962, 1981 and 1993.

 

S Stephen Bailey. A player who inadvertently caused Bristol Rovers to have a points deduction of 2 points in 1981/2. The club had forgotten to register his transfer and they were deducted the points when the referee sent in his report to the FA.

 

T Twelve, the amount of defeats the Bristol Rovers suffered during the 2004/5 season. Amazingly only promoted Scunthorpe (also the only team to win at the Memorial last season) lost fewer games. However, Rovers finished 12, a long way off (points wise) from even the playoffs.

 

U Unvictorious. Bristol Rovers have yet to win at home and have actually lost their 2 home games (touch wood) to Grimsby (3-1) and Peterborough (3-2)

 

V Vitalijs Astafjves. A Latvian international who played for the club a few years back. He was rated as their best player in the 2002/3 season and went on to captain the Latvian national side during a surprisingly good Euro 2004 campaign.

 

W Weetabix. A bunch of Bristol Rovers fans made the trip up to Shrewsbury Town several years ago and wanted to purchase some food in the pub, however, the pub didn’t serve some and they were re-directed so a local supermarket and brought £75 worth of Weetabix.

 

On the day of the game, the fans had noticed birds on the pitch and decided to feed them with the Weetabix and the 18 yard box slowly turned brown. A few years later, the same fans were seen at the ground wearing shirts saying “Weetabix invasion of Gay Meadow.

 

I bet anything that you think this is a joke, it’s 100% true.

 

X XXXX, the away end at the Memorial Stadium. It is shared between home and away fans, pleased note that the Imps have been given 386 tickets for the game and they will stop going on sale on Friday. If you haven’t got a ticket, then you won’t get into the away end because they won’t be selling tickets on the day.

 

Y Yawn, Ian Atkins’ rants do get a bit boring at times.

 

Z ZZ Top, someone who I’m guessing has never set foot in Bristol