“It quickly became clear” – Why Bristol Rovers have re-appointed ex-Barnsley boss Darrell Clarke | OneFootball

Bristol Rovers have confirmed the re-appointment of Darrell Clarke, following their relegation from League One last season.

Following their relegation down to League Two this season, Bristol Rovers have now confirmed the return of manager Darrell Clarke to the Memorial Stadium, and new director of football Ricky Martin has explained why.

Rovers were from League One this season, having collected just one point from their final ten matches of the campaign and that led to the eventual sacking of manager Inigo Calderon at the weekend following the final day of the season.

Calderon had taken charge at the Memorial Stadium back in December following the sacking of former Exeter City and Rotherham United boss Matt Taylor as they slid down from the middle-of-the-table.

Now, just a few days later, Rovers have taken the decision to bring in Clarke following a six-and-a-half-year period since he first departed the club as boss.

Martin replaced former Middlesbrough defender George Friend as Director of Football in late-March and the former Stoke City and Norwich City Technical Director has expressed his satisfaction at bringing Clarke back to Bristol.

Bristol Rovers: Ricky Martin explains Darrell Clarke re-appointment

According to ex-Stoke sporting director Martin, who was also once the academy manager at West Ham United, Clarke was the first option for the club and the person that he had earmarked as the man to take over.

“Following the review of our footballing operation we began our recruitment proceedings, and it quickly became clear to me that Darrell was the right person to take our team forward," Martin said via the club's official website.

"He has been our number one target throughout this process.”

The deal and the appointment has been done very quickly as they seek to build a squad capable of immediately returning to the third-tier and business and pre-season is something that appears to have been in their thoughts during the process.

“I am looking forward to working closely with Darrell over the summer and throughout pre-season as we revitalise and rejuvenate our playing squad, and ensure the Club has the best possible standing ahead of the 2025/26 campaign," Martin added.

“Darrell is an experienced and methodical coach, and I have been impressed by the expertise and knowledge he has shown. Even more apparent is his enthusiasm and energy, as is his incredible passion for Bristol Rovers Football Club.”

Darrell Clarke will be hoping to return Bristol Rovers to past success

When Clarke took charge of Rovers back in March 2014, they were heading down and he could not prevent their relegation to the National League, ending what was an 87-year spell in the Football League.

In his first two full seasons in charge, he achieved back-to-back promotions as Rovers propelled themselves from non-league football to League One by the 2016/17 campaign and a strong end to the season saw them flirt with a play-off place before three defeats in four matches saw them eventually finish in a very respectable tenth place.

After a 13th placed finish in the 2017/18 campaign, a poor run of form through the autumn of the 2018/19 season eventually saw Clarke depart Rovers when he was the fourth longest serving manager in the EFL.

In his managerial career since he endured an underwhelming time of it at Walsall before then earning the third promotion of his coaching career, guiding Port Vale to League Two promotion via the play-offs.

He then very nearly but did eventually fail to keep Cheltenham Town up last season when the Robins had begun their campaign before his arrival with one point collected from their opening eight games and that was even extended to one point from 11 games with no goals scored in any of those games following his arrival.

They were eventually relegated on the final day of the season despite being 16th in the table for the final 35 games of that season.

Barnsley supporters have become disillusioned by the running of the club and he didn’t manage to last the season at Oakwell this season, despite them still be in contention for the top six when he was sacked in March, but he will now get the chance to rebuild himself on familiar surroundings, where he has had much success.