Peterborough United owner Darragh MacAnthony has warned Bristol Rovers to ‘put up or shut up’ when it comes to backing new head coach Steve Evans in the transfer market this month.
The 63-year-old returned to the dugout after nine-month layoff in December when he was named as Darrell Clarke’s successor at the Memorial Stadium. It has so far been a season to forget for the Gas, who held ambitions of promotion to League One following their relegation from the third tier in May.
The return of a club legend meant that Rovers were full of optimism. Despite a decent start, a run of 10 successive league defeats led to a managerial change last month. This has left them precariously close to the drop zone, although Evans did pick up his first victory in their last outing, winning 3-0 at Shrewsbury Town.
Evans Planning Squad Overhaul
The former Rotherham United boss showed his intent earlier this week when he made the decision to prematurely end the season-long deal at all five loanees that were brought in in the summer. This saw Kacper Lopata, Stephan Negru, Joel Cotterill, Alfie Chang and Freddie Issaka all return to their parent clubs.
Speaking afterwards, Evans admitted that he is unlikely to bring in so many temporary players this month and will instead be exploring permanent options:
“In this window going forward, there will be a mixture of permanents and maybe a loan or two, but I certainly don’t see five. Although I don’t want to put myself in a box with that. As we go near the end of the window, if that is the option for us to improve ourselves, because my job is to improve what we have got, because if we don’t improve what we have got, we’ll be in a real problem at the end of the season. So, that’s the brief I have been given by the board.”
Rovers Warned By League One Chief
Bringing in a seasoned manager like Steve Evans was clearly done so with his past achievements in mind. He has enjoyed considerable success during his career, earning no fewer than eight promotions.
This is clearly Rovers’ intention, but they have been told that they need to give their new head coach the tools to achieve their goals. That’s according to Peterborough chief Darragh MacAnthony, who brought the ex-Stevenage manager to the Weston Homes Stadium in 2018.
Speaking on his Hard Truth Football Podcast, the 49-year-old delivered a blunt message to the League Two strugglers:
“My message to the Bristol Rovers owners who kept telling me how much money they had in the summer every time I bid for their centre-half (Connor Taylor). Now is the time to show all that money you’ve got and back that manager because he will get you promotions, so get your chequebooks out.
“But now is the time you back Steve Evans because he is the manager who will get your club up and running.”
Continuing, he told the Pirates hierarchy that it is time to ‘put up or shut up’:
“When you’ve got a promotion winner in your building, you open your chequebook and you let him do what he does.
“Ask Stevenage how that worked out for them. Ask all the clubs that he’s got out of League Two from the bottom of League Two into League One and up towards the top of League One. So it just amazes me when you get someone like of that ilk goes in and, you know, they’re getting loans and they’re getting freebies or whatever else. Like, you know, a club that size, you’ve got to spend money. So, you know, put up or shut up time.”
Rovers have been given an extended break after their fixture against Barrow was postponed last weekend, whilst tomorrow’s visit of Walsall has been moved to February following the Saddlers progress in the FA Cup.