"What I would say" - Bristol Rovers told what to expect from appointment of ex-Stoke City chief | OneFootball

FLW's Stoke City fan pundit has been speaking on Bristol Rovers' hiring of ex-Potters technical director Ricky Martin as their director of football.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Bristol Rovers have appointed former Stoke City technical director Ricky Martin to replace George Friend as the club's new director of football.

Announced via the club's website on 31 March, Martin - who has also spent time with Norwich City and West Ham United in various roles - will take over from former Middlesbrough and Rovers defender Friend immediately.

“It is a privilege to join Bristol Rovers as Director Of Football," Martin told the club website. "This Club has so much potential and the work done so far by the Chairman, the Board, George and the wider team has established a stable platform for us to build on moving forward.

“It’s an exciting time to be joining Rovers. The first-team playing squad includes many young, exciting players who are still growing to reach their full potential, while the impressive work done by the Academy has allowed players like Jed Ward and Kofi Shaw to step into and thrive in that environment."

Martin left Stoke in February 2024, to be replaced by Jonathan Walters.

We asked our Stoke City fan pundit, Sam Harrison: 'Ex-Stoke City technical director Ricky Martin is joining League One outfit Bristol Rovers. What message would you have for Rovers fans, and what would you tell them to expect based on his time at Stoke?'

Harrison said: "Ricky Martin heading to Bristol Rovers - it's a tough one to comment on from a Stoke perspective.

"Technical director, obviously they'll be looking at all the different things to do with the club. Since being relegated and now in our seventh season in the Championship, there's a number of things that obviously aren't clicking.

"Transfers-wise, obviously your recruitment, on the pitch, managers - there's all sorts going on. So it's not just solely on him during his spell at the club, which was around 15 months he had at Stoke.

"It's just one where, I think how it happened, Alex Neil coming in and then a couple of months later he came in, and them two knowing each other from Norwich, the vision and the approach was together.

"That's what Stoke wanted from them, and then it was about 12 months later that Alex Neil gets sacked, and they were saying about him - in terms of when Ricky Martin departs which was three months after Steven Schumacher comes in - that they just wanted a different approach.

"They wanted a different direction in terms of recruitment, and I think it was one where he just wasn't able to fully have the impact he would have liked. I think having a year out like he's done, and then heading to Bristol Rovers, obviously he's had time to reflect.

"It's tough to comment on in terms of, you don't know how hard he worked, what else he did, and maybe the other collectives within the club that maybe help in how he could've impacted us."

So, what can Bristol Rovers supporters expect from their new director of football? Will he be a success at the Memorial Stadium? Or, will he fail to have his desired impact once again?

"But I think it was one where there's obviously bits where he would've done right," Harrison continued.

"Say recruitment-wise, we brought in some great players like Million Manhoef, Bae Joon-Ho and Wouter Burger - all from last season where Alex Neil was in charge at the start of the season.

"So from that point, there's positives there. But, there's bits where you look at it and the reaction of when he departed; it was the right time, they needed a new idea, it wasn't going well on the pitch - it was just the right thing to do.

"Since then, there's still more stuff going on, and I think it's a tough place to implement what you want as a technical director. It's something I don't really know too much about in terms of everything, and how he has impacted everything that's happened.

"It's a tough place to come in terms of Stoke and the issues that are clear off the pitch. But what I would say with Bristol Rovers is, he's had a year out now, time to reflect, time to understand.

"There's reasons why he came to Stoke or why Stoke wanted him. Hopefully he can then implement that at Bristol Rovers, but I think it's one where I'm not 100 per cent if you can say it was poor or anything like that.

"There would have been positives at times. But, he just overall, didn't have the impact he would've liked. It was the right thing that he departed, and there's just wider issues off the pitch at Stoke anyway.

"I think that maybe was the right thing for him to leave."