Bristol Rovers legend Marcus Stewart spoke to Bristol Live ahead of the upcoming friendly against Yeovil Town dedicated to the former Gas and Glovers striker.
Regardless of whether you take any notice of it or wait until the real thing starts, pre-season is a formality for every football club and players across the country are now back in session.
Friendlies have begun and, despite any attempts from marketing teams to add glitz and glam to fixtures, most are just standard fitness exercises. There are, however, the odd exceptions.
On Saturday afternoon, Bristol Rovers will partake in a very important friendly match against fellow South West outfit Yeovil Town dedicated to an extremely special man – Marcus Stewart.
The former striker, who represented both Rovers and Yeovil amongst others during an illustrious playing career, is a local hero best known for his goalscoring days. More recently though, the Bristolian has become one of the biggest fundraisers for motor neurone disease (MND) following his own diagnosis in 2022.
A great deal of his work as been with the Darby Rimmer Foundation, founded by Chris Rimmer and former Bradford and Liverpool footballer Stephen Darby. Both were diagnosed with the disease and Rimmer sadly died in April.
MND is a progressive, life-shortening illness that affects the brain and spinal cord and has a 1/300 lifetime risk. There remains no cure.
Gloucestershire legend David ‘Syd’ Lawrence recently died after a year-long battle with the disease while former England and Leeds Rhinos rugby player Rob Burrow lost his fight against MND last year.
Despite his busy schedule, Stewart kindly found time in his busy schedule to speak to Bristol Live ahead of this weekend’s friendly at Huish Park. Naturally, the first question put to the Rovers legend was, ‘how are you?’…
“Yeah, I’m doing alright,” he said. “I can’t use my left arm or hand. My right arm is probably going that way. But in terms of voice and legs and strength, I’m pretty good.
“A year down the line, I could use my right arm, whereas now I probably can’t as much as I would like to. Slow progression in my right arm, otherwise all good.”
The former Gas striker and assistant manager recently left Yeovil where he had been head of player development alongside his various charity work. Even without football, a house move and various other commitments are keeping the 52-year-old busy. For now, he isn’t missing football.
“Obviously, it’s that time of year, isn’t it? So for me, it’s pretty normal to have these couple of months off, May and June really,” Stewart declared. “I mean, they’re back now and I went to see the lads the other day. They’re training up at SGS so I went to watch training for a little while.
“Anyone who asks me if I miss it, I don’t yet because the season hasn’t started so this is normal for me, I suppose.
“At the moment, I don’t miss it (football). The honest truth is I’m too busy because we’re moving house in the next two weeks. So that’s taken over my mind at the moment. Once that settles down in August, September, ask me that question again. At the moment, there are a lot of things going on that I need to sort out that are probably more important than football at the moment.”
When it comes to football though, there won’t be a more important friendly fixture anywhere in the South West during this pre-season period as Rovers and Yeovil face each other for far more than just a fitness exercise.
The ‘Match for Marcus’ was announced in May, a fixture that will celebrate the career of the ex-Gas and Glovers forward.
Stewart began his professional career at Rovers and went on to make over 170 appearances for the Pirates. He scored in the 1995 Second Division play-off final, although that day ended in defeat against Huddersfield Town, the club the striker left Rovers for in 1996.
As far as football is concerned, the former striker is arguably best known for scoring the goals that got Ipswich Town into the Premier League before helping the Tractor Boys reach Europe, ending the 2000/01 season as the second-highest scorer in the top-flight.
Spells at Sunderland, Bristol City and Exeter City followed, as well as at Yeovil where Stewart scored in the Glovers’ League One play-off final second leg victory over Nottingham Forest in 2007.
On the upcoming fixture, Stewart explained: “Ian Weston, who is obviously an ex-Rovers player, works at Yeovil now and he was working there when I was working there last year. He’s the head of football operations really, so he was sorting pre-season out, and I think it was about March or April time that we got the friendly with Rovers.
“He said, ‘why don’t we have a game for you for that day?’ I was like, ‘well yeah, that’s not a bad idea’. It can work like a benefit day. So he went to the chairman and between them they agreed to do this game. So off the back of that, obviously the chairman has left since but Ian’s still there and obviously Stuart Robins is my point of contact now with it.”
As well as helping kick start his career as a professional footballer, Rovers also gave Stewart an opportunity to coach after his playing career.
After a year as a professional development coach, the former Gas forward became assistant manager, mainly working alongside Darrell Clarke who has recently returned to BS7 for a second spell in the Mem dugout.
The two will be reunited at Huish Park this weekend and, when asked about Clarke’s return, Stewart confessed: “I wasn’t surprised because there were a few rumours going around. I think the club needs him; someone like him who will bring the fans and the players together. That’s what he’s very good at, getting everyone singing off the same hymn sheet, getting everyone together, the fans back on side.
“I know last year there was a lot of disjointment in between fans and players and fans and the chairman so I think he’s the man to, not only getting them playing the right way to get up to League One again, but to also get the fans together again and I think he’s the right man for that.”
Yeovil occupy a special place in Stewart’s heart, but Rovers is where it all began for the Bristolian.
Born in Hartcliffe, the former striker technically hails from the south of the city and grew up a Bristol City fan. However, any suggestion of allegiance to the red side of Bristol, bar his playing spell in BS3, was put to bed by Stewart.
“Rovers are the ones that gave me the opportunity to be a professional football player. Roy Dolling, who sadly passed away recently, was the one who got me into the club when I was 13 years old and I was there until 23, so I was there 10 years as a player and then came back for five years as coach.
“I spent the most time at Bristol Rovers than I have at any other club, and I’m glad about that because I’m Bristolian and I’m a Gashead, there’s no doubt about that. I always will be.
“People think if you’re born on the south side of Bristol then you’re a City fan. Well, things change in life, and I can honestly tell you, I’m a Gashead now.
“I haven’t been to see City once since I left there, so that tells its own story,” he added. “The club means so much to me.
“I go and watch them when I can. Obviously, I’m from the south side of Bristol and I played for City, I was a City fan when I was a kid but like I said, I’m proud to be from south Bristol but I’m a Gashead, simple as that.
“Yeovil, of course, I left Bristol City to go to Yeovil and I had a brilliant time there. There’s only one club I didn’t have a good time at, the rest of them were brilliant and Yeovil are included in that.”
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