ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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It may be the end of the season for Rovers on the field, but off the pitch the ball keeps rolling. Almost exactly a year ago Ray Graydon cut free a sizeable portion of the squad he inherited on his arrival, and twelve months on he has wielded the axe on five more Rovers players. Bradley Allen's future at the Mem looked doomed as soon as we heard about the condition in his contract, which would have given him another year after a dozen games. After his tenth and final appearance in January, I reckon even my Dad was ahead of him in the pecking order for a starting place, and in hindsight he was too similar a signing to Grazioli. Trevor Challis was the longest serving player left at the club and his 'blood and thunder' defending certainly endeared him to the crowd, if not to the match officials. Part of the defence that saw us pop into the top half for the only time after the Gay Meadow massacre, there was always an injury or a suspension on the horizon that put a stop to his runs in the team. Mark McKeever was forever the nearly man, in much the same vein as Josh Low. We have all seen him turn on the brilliance, but frustratingly he could rarely find the switch. Confidence appears to be a major factor of his form and I hope he finds himself a more comforting manager, as long as it is not in our Division because I can picture the scene when he comes back to play against us! A more surprising eviction was that of Lewis Hogg, who little more than a year ago was captain of the side under Garry Thompson. Perhaps if he had chosen to play for Northern Ireland U21s midway through the campaign instead of keeping his England options open, he may have improved his game enough to win a regular berth at Rovers. Time is on his side as he is still only 20 years old, yet I find it quite saddening to see a homegrown player leave having not fulfilled his potential. But judging by his character, he could be strong enough to bounce back elsewhere. For me, the biggest shock of all was the release of Scott Howie, our virtual ever-present in goal for the past two seasons. While he has shown a lack of conviction when coming off his line to win balls, as shown again at Kidderminster for the opening goal last week, no keeper in Division 3 is faultless and he has won us more points than he has lost. I am hoping that part of this decision is to give Ryan Clarke a go between the sticks, as his three starts in October showed much promise. Remember that the last youth team goalkeeper to be given a decent run in the team was Nigel Martyn all those years ago, and he didn't turn out too badly. However, it appears that Graydon is already looking for another old head, possibly in the shape of Kevin Miller, who was excellent in our games with Exeter this season. At 34, maybe Miller can bring on Clarke's talents using all his years of experience in the top leagues. Local lad Steve Phillips is doing the business for City, so why not give youth a chance? For all the eyebrow-raising these free transfers seem to have generated, at least there seems to be some logic in each one. The presence of Andy Rammell renders Allen redundant, while Ijah Anderson's fantastic form would confine a fit Challis to the stands every week were he to stay at Rovers. McKeever seems to have been forgotten in the shadow of the impish Lee Hodges, and Graham Hyde's arrival mid-season pushed Hogg further out of the reckoning. Simon Bryant looked to be saying farewell at Aggborough last week but his name has not been mentioned, whilst Dave Gilroy seems to have done enough in fits and starts to extend his stay. The attempts to retain Vitalijs Astafjevs are a welcome sight, considering that most people would not have regarded the Latvian to be quite the manager's cup of tea, so here's hoping that he agrees to the inevitable wage cut.
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