After a tough pre-season schedule packed with fixtures, Steve Evans is looking forward to his Bristol Rovers team returning to competitive action when they face Peterborough United in Round One of the Carabao Cup.
The Gas' preparations for the start of the 2026/27 campaign came right at the start of July, beating Weston-super-Mare and Salisbury before a tough challenge against former Premier League winners and Sky Bet League One outfit Leicester City at The Memorial Stadium.
Draws with Portsmouth and Forest Green Rovers followed before flying off to Scotland, where Rovers played twice in the first three days. A thumping victory over Dundee was followed by a draw against Burnley U21s, with the team also getting to know each other during the time away.
As the new season edges closer, Evans looked back on the pre-season schedule, his thoughts behind picking St Andrews as Rovers' getaway location, the players bonding and much more...
So, Steve, how do you reflect on pre-season?
"We're in God's county; that's how I reflect on it. Pre-season has been intense, and it's been a lot of hard work for the players. We're going to finalise it in the next week or so with some sharp work, but it's been really good with a new group together. It's been successful, for sure."
You have been living in England for some time, but every time you come back to Scotland, do you get that same feeling?
"How could you not when you come to the home of golf and St Andrews and the Old Course? Every professional golfer talks about coming here, and we've all been round it in the last couple of days, walking around it and playing it.
"This facility at the campus is why West Ham United, Everton, Rangers and Burnley have all been here with the first team. From our point of view, it has been wonderful."
When you were putting pre-season together, was St Andrews straight in your mind?
"Of course. I've never been one in the last ten years to think about going to Portugal or Spain or somewhere where you have to train at half past six in the morning, and it's uncomfortable. It's not the routine for the players to train at seven or eight o'clock at night, only because it's not the routine at home.
"We have a routine in football. It's early mornings and afternoons, and when you come to Scotland, you get traditional Scottish and British weather. We've had warm days, as you know, and all over the UK has, but the facilities are great, the pitches are carpets to play on, and the facilities and the way we have been treated have been fantastic."
On the pitch is always the most important thing, but off the pitch, how has the team bonding got on here?
"It's been really good. We'll find out tomorrow night, as I think they're on a night out. So, there will be a head count on Sunday. They have been able to get up into the town, and I have seen different groups, as it's not always the same groups.
"There have been different permutations and people in those groups, going into little coffee shops or on the edge of the 18th and the Old Course, watching people play up to it. It's been really good. The bonding is good, and there is a lot of chemistry building, and it has to build because it has to build on what we achieved at the backend of last season."
From your point of view, looking at team bonding off the field, how much does that help on-field performances?
"It normally comes hand in glove. I think you know who you can go to war with. I know that in one of our meetings last evening with what I would call our senior group, which is Alfie Kilgour, Richie Smallwood, Ellis Harrison and Joe Quigley, one of the things they said is really essential is that we build on the end of last season and we build that on the pitch and off the pitch.
"The chemistry off it brings it on it, and Richie Smallwood said last night, 'let's turn losses into draws, and we did that in the pre-season game, and let's turn draws into wins. Of course, we have done that as well. From our point of view, it has been a good pre-season program, but there are eight more days to go."
Match action is finished. What do Saturday and Sunday look like?
"We will work hard on Saturday and Sunday. We will be back on the grass tomorrow for the lads that need a sharp session. The boys have a free afternoon, so there is no doubt that they will be up and around the coffee shops. In the evening, they are off on their night out, and I'm told they have got all sorts of gear on. Staff will have a little meal on their own and a quieter night, but a good night because it's essential that we bond as well.
"On Sunday, we will go back to normal training, and it's a hard day on Sunday. It's a hard running day, and on Monday morning, a nice sharp session and of course, we fly back to Bristol."
Everyone will look at the players, but the staff is very different. How important is it that they bond together?
"It's massively important. You are either a team player or you're not. So far, so good. We have made some new additions to the fitness team and to the medical department, and it's essential that they become team players. We will find out as the season develops, but the early indications are that we have got some good people in the building.
"For me, the option is that you either do it or you don't do it, and not doing it is not an option, so you have to do it. You have to become a team player, but you have to want to become a team player. You have to want to drive the team to that success, and we all play a little part in what becomes a big part."
From the first game until the last, have you seen the progression you wanted in terms of performances and intensity?
"If I said to 100 Gasheads tomorrow, what is the team for the opening day? There would probably be 60 different opinions. There would be a commonality with some players, but there would probably be 60 different opinions. That's good.
"We said to our players today before the game that Wednesday was a really super performance; you have to then be at your best to break into that shape and that team. They are working really hard to do so. There were some today that did really well. Competition for places is key."
There is just over a week until the first game, but are you getting really excited about the competitive football coming back and the crowds as well?
"You can't beat it. Everyone knows that pre-season is false. I have watched a lot of video work by Ian Holloway in the last week. Some of it has made me really giggle, but one point he does make is that pre-season becomes false.
"I've been in charge of clubs where we have had a fantastic pre-season and won all of the games and been at the bottom of the league after six games, and I've been pulling my hair out in pre-season, struggling to get a win or a goal, and been top of the league after six games.
"When you're experienced in it, you know it can go either way, but the wonderful chemistry that we've got here is that we weren't at our best in spells, but we didn't lose the game. You could see the appreciation from Gasheads who wanted to see a goal. Some of them made a long trip, and the players went over and spent some time with them, as I did. That's gratifying because we're humble enough to do that."
Pre-season might be false, but pre-season is a chance to win the shirt going into the first game of the season, and then it's theirs to fight for.
"If you have a starting shirt, it's yours to lose. We have always said that. If you get named in the Peterborough United lineup, the best way to be in the lineup against York two weeks tomorrow is to play well against Peterborough.
"It's as simple as that, and putting in a good performance and a good win. When we go to York, it'll be the same for Crawley. If you play well against York, it gives you a chance of being in the next team, and that's how it should be."
Finally, what is your message to the Gasheads ahead of the next game?
"Just believe. Coming up against Peterborough in the Carabao Cup, the smell of the grass, the new season, The Mem's pitch will be immaculate, we'll have the Thatchers End in full voice, and it will be tough.
"This is a Peterborough side that I watched in midweek go to York and win rather comfortably. I can tell people now, York City will challenge for promotion out of League Two, and Peterborough won there with plenty to spare. The manager after said the same, and that tells me that Peterborough will be strong. When I listen to Darragh MacAnthony in his interviews, they are going to add to it before we play them. So, we're going to open up with a real, real challenge and a real test, but I believe in the players that I've got."
