The Pirates beat Shrewsbury Town in their last outing, thanks to a fabulous Fabrizio Cavegn hat-trick, and were hoping to build on their momentum with an away fixture at Barrow before the game was postponed.
The Gas will now have to wait until Tuesday to play again, facing Plymouth Argyle in the Quarter-Finals of the Vertu Trophy, but have been busy off the pitch. Ryan de Havilland was brought in from Peterborough United, Isaac Hutchinson was recalled from his loan at Cheltenham Town and five Rovers loanees returned to their parent club.
Speaking to BRTV, Evans reflected on his time at the Club so far, the postponed game against Barrow and the transfer activity.
Steve, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down today. It is a quiet training ground with the lads on a day off, but you’re in and still working hard. Let’s start with Barrow; it was very disappointing for that game to be called off on Sunday, having made all of the effort to travel on the Saturday. Not just for you and the lads, but the fans as well…
“I think it’s two days for everyone, fans as well, that we will never get back. We spent it on the M5 and the M6. The EFL should have had a protocol in place that says when you’re travelling that distance, there should be decisions made earlier, but there has been enough bashing of the EFL over these postponements, and I am not going to join that bandwagon; it’s not for me.
“We’re professionals, we get paid, but the supports don’t. I met a number of our supporters who were in Barrow who had been up and stayed in the north west; some had travelled on the day. My understanding is that the supporter coaches were three-quarters of the way into the journey. So, that’s not good, and that’s not good for the image of football.
“I think every Gashead will know that there’s nothing as a Football Club or us as a management team could have done to make that game decision earlier than it was.”
I imagine from your side and from the lads as well, it must have been particularly frustrating given how well the team had played on New Year’s Day, and I could really sense there was a buzz around the place, looking forward to the next game.
“I think when we drove out of Shrewsbury, we wanted a game the next day, starting at nine o’clock, because we had played so well, particularly in the second half. I thought we were really good. But it is what it is.
“Our whole training model was based around the game at Barrow, so we’ve got a lot of work to catch up on with the players as we go forward, before Plymouth and Colchester, because we’ll now get those two days back, which were really spent on the motorway rather than on the training ground.
“But it is what it is. We have to accept it. We’ll have a break this week with no action with the FA Cup taking place, and then we’re straight into it with a strong, resurgent Plymouth Argyle coming. Then, Danny Cowley will be bringing a Colchester group that’s looking destined for a playoff campaign.”
I think when we drove out of Shrewsbury, we wanted a game the next day, starting at nine o’clock, because we had played so well, particularly in the second half. I thought we were really good.
There are five games left in January. Before we look at them, I want to look back on your first few with us in December and the start of January. How have you found your first couple of weeks as Bristol Rovers Head Coach?
“I think ifs, buts and maybes in terms of the games. The maybe may have been Bromley when we lost a man. I don’t think there is anyone in the ground, including Bromley’s manager Andy, they all believe what the score could and would have been, but that doesn’t matter. I think against Barnet, we never turned up.
“Obviously, we went to Shrewsbury, which was a sign of some of the work we are doing at the training ground coming out. I thought we were industrious in the first half without being overly creative and perhaps [missed] that final little pass.
“We changed one or two things tactically at half-time, and it worked a treat. We won very comfortably; it was as comfortable as an away performance can get. I’m in the city now, I’ve got my apartment, and I’m living the dream. I’m loving it. You go around the city, and you realise just how big a Club Bristol Rovers is. It reminds me of the days, and I’m not going to exaggerate this fact, but it reminds me of the days I was the Leeds United manager when I was in the city.
“You go around, and it really means so much to people. So, they can be rest assured that we’re here to work as hard as we can possibly work, put more days in than anyone else and more hours, and hopefully at the end of that, the productivity comes out with wins on a matchday because we need a lot of wins.”
Have the family had a chance to come down?
“The wife cried all of the way to Bristol, and she would’ve been smiling all of the way to Heathrow. They have been down, and three members of my family came to Shrewsbury and were in with the Gasheads, and they loved every minute.
“It was really nice to see. More importantly, it was nice to see a lot of the players’ families with the supporters and not sat away from them and seeing them so happy at the end. That always means a lot, and then going to the coach after, and you see the fans who have stayed behind just to say well done, and my thanks and gratitude goes to them for turning up at Shrewsbury after such a poor Barnet performance. There’s a lot of hard work to be done, and that must continue.
January is a really busy month because of the transfer window, but we were supposed to have seven games this month as well, five of which are still to play. How are you looking at the schedule this month in terms of what needs to happen for the team and what you’re expecting from the group?
“It’s really tough. I think there is possibly not even a Sunday when the boys are off because we have a lot of Tuesday fixtures, and my mantra has always been that if we’re playing on Tuesday, we need to move the legs on Sunday and Monday. Sometimes, they can do a program at home, but we’ve decided this time to get the boys back here on the grass.
“It’s a really tough run of fixtures as well when you consider who we’ve got and where those teams are in the league table. I’ve got a lot of respect for every one of those managers, none more so than Danny Cowley, who comes a week on Saturday. But before that, we’ve got Plymouth of course in the Vertu, and we’ll see what we can achieve from that and over the next three or four weeks, we’ll try and improve the group.”
Plymouth is obviously a team that the group has beaten before in the Vertu Trophy, so there will be some confidence left in the team from that as well…
“We’ve got some really good players here; we’re just trying to enhance that. My words to the players are that we are going to try to help them by bringing in players that we believe can help and improve us, and that always makes the players feel more comfortable, and they look forward to the challenge ahead.
“Plymouth Argyle will be tough on Tuesday, and it will be even tougher when we play Colchester a week on Saturday. Our priority is one game at a time, and our priority is that every game is massively important, every point and every three because we’re at the wrong end of the table. I’ve had many years spent at the top of the table where it is the same, every point is a point nearer to where you want to go, and every three is, but we’re in more need to get them urgently because of the ramifications if it isn’t successful.”
As we have touched upon, it is the transfer window. You have been very open with us about how you have been backed by the owner. I spoke to the owner last week for a video, and he was very open about how he is backing you and Ricky Martin in the window. How has that been going so far?
“I can only call it as I’ve found it since I’ve come in, and the one thing I am not going to do to the Bristol Rovers supporters is tell them what the case is not. What is simply the case is that before I came in, I got certain assurances from the chairman and the owners and the board and Ricky, and those assurances have been more than kept.
“We’re trying to work smart as well as hard to ensure that we can improve the group, but that proves to be challenging. That proves to be challenging here, but it is challenging even if we were at the top end of the table because of the level of players and the benchmark of players can rise or fall accordingly.
“We’re just trying to work hard to strengthen the group. We’ve made some tough decisions with the loan players. They were tough decisions. Everyone we broke down and analysed individually, and that will be the same with any new recruits. It will be an individual assessment. Can they come in and improve us, and can they help us?”
At the time of recording this, one player has come in so far through Ryan de Havilland. What does he offer to the squad?
“I think the players have really seen him train in the last couple of days, and he’s a really good player. We need to get him a little bit fitter and a little bit sharper, and that’s not because he’s out of condition, so credit to Peterborough United, but we just need to get him toned more to be playing.
“Technically, he’s very good. He gets around the pitch, he’s a strong character, and he adds significantly to what we’ve got in the middle of the park. Hopefully, we can help him more.”
Some of the other news that we’ve had is that Isaac Hutchinson has been recalled from his loan with Cheltenham Town. Could you tell us a bit about the thinking there?
“Isaac is a young man who has played against my team on many occasions and has always been a real threat,” he said. “Obviously, I am aware that he’s done well at Cheltenham. Of course, I’ve seen Isaac play this season at Cheltenham because Cheltenham is one of a number of teams that I’ve watched.
“My plan was always to come in and have a fresh look at him. I got the kid back for a chat, amongst ignoring the media words, and there is a future here for him. I understand that there have been some issues in the past, but as I said to him, we go forward under me, and we call it the future. So, he has to come in, work hard, ignore the hype around him and just concentrate on playing.
“There is nothing that will make the Gasheads turn again than scoring goals and playing really well, and that’s his objective. He’s a lovely kid, and he has my full support. He’s a young man who has made mistakes.
“Perhaps, there have been mistakes that have been made towards him as well, but there’s no one who has made more mistakes than me in my career. He’s made mistakes, I think he is a little bit humble about that, and there is a lot of humbleness in his words. There will be no words spoken, other than doing it with his feet and playing football for us. So, let’s see what he does.”
Five players have gone back to their parent clubs from their loans with Bristol Rovers. Stephan Negru, Freddie Issaka, Kacper Lopata, Joel Cotterill and Alfie Chang all gave their efforts for the Gas, but what is the thinking there in terms of them going back?
“Every one of them has conducted themselves properly since I walked in the door. Obviously, Kacper had the sending off to deal with and a couple of little niggles, but some of those lads have played a lot of minutes and a lot of games for the Gas leading up to when we have had to make these decisions. When I came into this Football Club, the one thing I sought from the board and from Ricky was that I got assurances to bring my own style to the team, and the simplest way to do that was to have a fresh approach, so that’s what we’ve done.
“It’s not a knock on any of them. There are some big performances, Joel Cotterill, Alfie Chang, when he came on at Shrewsbury, I thought he was terrific and really helped us. So, from that point of view, for the lads that go back, I’m sure if they want minutes in the EFL, they will get another loan, and we’ll come across them. But every one of them to a man, I had a big embrace with them when they left, and we certainly as a Football Club and me as a Head Coach wish them every success.”
The assumption from fans will be that with five loan players going back to their parent clubs, that’s freeing space for others to potentially come in during the transfer window. Is that a fair assumption?
“They could well be right. We’re certainly not looking to carry that amount of loans, I’m not. I think there is nothing better than having a Bristol Rovers player, and with any club that I have managed, loans are a help, they are a need, and they are a necessity, but I think we would all rather have our own players.
“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.”
Finally, for this piece, as we move into a very busy January period with the fixtures and the transfer window, what message would you like to leave with the Bristol Rovers fans?
“First and foremost, thank you for the way that Paul and I have been received with real humbleness and real gratitude. They have given me plenty of stick over the years, so Shrewsbury meant the world to me. It really meant the world because you won a game for them, and we should never forget that the supporters are the true owners of a football club. In any football club, the owners are the supporters, although people do have to own football clubs.
“We’re lucky to have them; we never forget that. I wish everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous 2026, and we certainly hope from a football perspective that we can get a number of wins and put ourselves in a position where we can have a true build in the summer to produce a promotion campaign.”
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