Bristol Rovers have ended their search for a new manager with the appointment of former Torquay United boss Paul Buckle.
Announcing the appointment this morning Chairman Nick Higgs had this to say about the man who will attempt to take Rovers back to League One at the first time of asking: "We are delighted to announce Paul Buckle as our new manager.
"Paul has done a fantastic job with Torquay, he is an exciting young manager who likes to play attractive attacking football, and we think he is the ideal person to get us out of League Two and moving up the leagues.
"We met with Paul yesterday morning to finalise the terms of his move to the club. We feel that exciting times now lay ahead, and look forward with anticipation to the start of the season with a new manager in place.
"There will be a number of comings and goings over the next few weeks as we commence the rebuilding process at Bristol Rovers.
"Paul will now be taking a short break, but he has already identified a list of players he is keen to bring to the club and we will begin working on that straight away."
Paul said: "I leave Torquay with a heavy heart after four fantastic years, which included three Cup Finals and re instating their place back in the Football League.
"The Club now has a sound infrastructure, both on and off the field, which will serve them well in the coming seasons. I always wanted to leave Torquay on a high, and I am blessed that I can do that.
"The chance to become Bristol Rovers manager was far too good an opportunity to turn down. I intend to do everything in my power to take Rovers back to where they belong.
"After meeting with Nick and the Rovers Board I'm in no doubt of the ambitions of the Club and believe with everything in place this Club has the potential to reach the Championship in the coming years.
"I will be installing a fresh mentality throughout the Club that reflects me, by bringing in the high standards that I demanded at Torquay, which resulted in great success."
Forty year old Paul John Buckle began his professional career as an apprentice with Brentford and, between July 1989 and February 1994 when he signed for Torquay United, the midfielder made 57 league appearances.
During his time at Griffin Park he made three appearances during a loan spell with Wycombe Wanderers who were then in the Conference.
Whilst at Plainmoor he scored nine goals in 59 league appearances before signing for local rivals Exeter City in October 1995.
The Grecians were experiencing financial problems during his short time at St James' Park and in the summer of 1996, after 22 league games, he was on the move again.
Although he signed short term deals with Wycombe, Northampton and Wycombe, there were no further first team games until he signed for Colchester United, in November 1996.
During almost three years with the U's he scored seven goals in 107 league games. He was also a play off winner in his time with the then Layer Road outfit.
Ironically, their opponents in the 1997/98 Third Division Final were Torquay United who were beaten 1-0. Paul returned to Exeter City in July 1999 and spent three more years with the Grecians, scoring five goals in 93 league games.
Spells with Aldershot Town and Weymouth followed before a return to Exeter City for a third time, in December 2004. He went on to score seven more goals in 68 games for the Grecians, whilst also appearing for Tiverton Town in a short loan spell in January and February 2005.
Appointed as player coach by Exeter in March 2005, he continued playing, firstly under then manager Alex Inglethorpe and then under his successor Paul Tisdale.
He went on to become assistant manager and occupied that post when Exeter contested the Conference play off final at the end of the 2006/07 campaign, when they lost 2-1 to Morecambe in front of over 40,000 fans.
It was to be his last game with Exeter, as in June of that year he returned to Plainmoor as the new manager of Torquay who had just been relegated to the Conference.
A third place finish in his first season in charge saw the Gulls contest the play offs, but they lost out to none other than Exeter City in the two legged semi final.
However their was a third visit to Wembley for Paul, as the Gulls contested the FA Trophy Final, though they went down 1-0 to Ebbsfleet United.
Torquay again qualified for the play offs the following season and there was another visit to Wembley for Paul where his side beat Cambridge United 2-0 to return to the Football League.
Another successful season, his third at the helm, saw the Gulls face Stevenage in the League Two play off final at Old Trafford on Saturday, where they lost 1-0.
