The Bristol Rovers players have been put through their paces this week, with Head Coach Darrell Clarke ensuring the Gas’ trip to southern Spain has been anything but a holiday ahead of the 2025/26 Sky Bet League Two campaign.
Two days after beating Chippenham Town 2-1 in their pre-season opener, the Gas jetted off to Murcia for a warm-weather training camp. Regularly having two sessions a day at the Pinatar Arena, Rovers have been hard at work on the pitch and in the gym.
The Pirates will conclude their trip with a fixture against Sky Bet League One team Stockport County, who finished in the play-off positions last campaign before falling short in the semi-finals against Leyton Orient.
Speaking to BRTV, Clarke assessed the trip so far and the upcoming challenge against the Hatters.
So, Darrell, we’re here for day five in Spain. How has the pre-season tour been?
“It’s been very tough. There has been a lot of good detail and good work. The lads have taken it on board very, very well. These trips are very much worthwhile to bond the group together, but we’ve given them a lot of details this week. They’ve taken it on board, and it’s been a positive week.”
You mentioned the players there. How pleased are you with their application?
“That’s the demand. The standard has been good. We’ve set good standards in these last couple of weeks. Not just this week, but the last couple of weeks, and we have to keep doing that. It’s pretty easy in the first few weeks of pre-season to keep standards, but then we’ve got to keep the standards. So, we’ll keep working on that, focusing on that, and obviously we’ll look forward to the next three weeks of the pre-season program.”
You mentioned the factors on the pitch, but how important is that bonding off the pitch as well to bring the players and staff together?
“Very much so. To be successful, you’ve got to get everything connected from your fanbase, to the ownership, to the staff, to the players, and the quicker we do that, the quicker we’re more successful. Now, that’s an easy thing to say, but it’s not an easy thing to do.
“But, like I said, it’s been a real positive week. I want to thank the owners for allowing us to come away and have that time to be able to gel and get to know each other a lot better, and to get a real concentration in our work with the amount of training sessions we’ve had. Morning and evening sessions most days, a lot of recovery, a lot of gym work as well, a lot of detail and a lot of videos and getting us in one hotel to be able to do that is vital.”
Stockport are our upcoming opponents. What do you expect from them?
“They are obviously a team that is on a high wave at the moment. They were in the top six of League One last year. Dave Challinor is a top guy, a top manager, and I get on really well with Dave. It’s a good game for us.
"The conditions are going to be very, very testing and very hot. But we want to see, my coaching staff and I is the work that we’ve put in with them all week. We want to see some of that detail now starting to come out in the games. So, we’re looking forward to that.”
Finally, how excited are you to see a few of the Gasheads?
“It’s always good to see the Gasheads. I am sure they’ll be in a good spirit. I'm sure they’ll have a few drinks and hopefully they get back safely.”
