Bristol Rovers on the verge of appointing 41-year-old as new manager | OneFootball

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Bristol Rovers have been without a permanent manager for other a month following the dismissal of Joey Barton, but they are closing in on his successor.

According to a report from the Bristol Post, the Gas hierarchy have honed in on their new first-choice for the job in the form of Matt Taylor, who is now close to being officially named as the new head coach.

Andy Mangan has been in caretaker charge since late October after his former boss Barton was sacked, but he has not done enough to be named as the manager on a permanent basis.

Rovers have spoken to a plethora of potential new managers and candidates over the last month, but after his departure from Rotherham United a few weeks ago, it appears that Taylor is set to jump back into management very quickly with the League One outfit.

Who else did Bristol Rovers speak to for their managerial vacancy?

A whole host of names had been linked over the last few weeks in regards to taking charge at the Memorial Stadium, with the report revealing Taylor is closing in on the job citing talks with Garry Monk, Karl Robinson and Dean Holden.

Another name that had interested the Rovers board was former boss Ian Holloway, who has been out of work since a spell at Grimsby Town in 2020, whilst other names that were linked included Neil Lennon, Callum Davidson and Steve Cotterill.

Caretaker manager Mangan was also thought to be in the running at one stage after leading the Gas to a good run of results, but after losing away at Derby County and drawing with Leyton Orient, it appears that the club are going elsewhere.

What is Matt Taylor's managerial record?

After playing for them for four years as a defender earlier in his career, Taylor was brought back to Exeter City in 2018 to replace Paul Tisdale as manager, having previously only been a player-coach at non-league outfit Bath.

In his second season in charge of the Grecians though, Taylor led City to the League Two play-offs, and even though they lost out in the final, they would go on to record success two years later by finishing in the automatic promotion spots of the fourth tier.

Just two months into the 2022-23 League One season though, Taylor was courted by Rotherham United to replace Paul Warne, who had been appointed as Derby County head coach, and despite the Millers being one of the favourites to be relegated once again, he was able to keep the Yorkshire outfit in the Championship.

A poor start to 2023-24 though, which saw just two wins out of a possible 16 in the league, saw the 41-year-old sacked earlier in November - he is not taking much time away from the sport however as he looks to dive back in feet first to a job that looks to be an exciting one on paper.