2008–09 Bristol Rovers F.C. season

During 2008 and 2009, Bristol Rovers Football Club participated in League One, The 2008–09 season covers the period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009. It marks the 126th year of football played by Bristol Rovers F.C. and their 82nd season in The Football League.

Bristol Rovers F.C.

2008-09 season
Chairman	Nick Higgs
Manager	Paul Trollope
League One	11th
FA Cup	1st round (Eliminated by AFC Bournemouth)
Carling Cup	1st round (Eliminated by Watford)
Johnstone's Paint Trophy	1st round (Eliminated by AFC Bournemouth)
Top goalscorer	League: Rickie Lambert - 29 All: Rickie Lambert - 29
Highest home attendance	10,293 (vs. Leeds United FC) 7 March 2009)
Lowest home attendance	5,870 (vs. Crewe Alexandra) 27 September 2009)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Chronological list of events

This is a list of the significant events to occur at the club during the 2007–08 season, presented in chronological order. This list does not include transfers, which are listed in the transfers section below, or match results, which are in the results section.

• 14 July: Former player Junior Agogo completed a transfer from Nottingham Forest to Egyptian side El Zamalek, earning Rovers an undisclosed amount of money from the sell-on clause agreed when he joined Forest.^[1]
• 5 August: Club chairman Ron Craig stepped down from his position, and was succeeded by Nick Higgs. Craig retained a position on the board of the football club.^[2]
• 11 August: Defender Danny Coles signed a two-year extension to his contract with the club. The new deal expires in the summer of 2012, and was agreed as a result of Rovers receiving a number of transfer bids for the player from Plymouth Argyle.^[3]
• 23 August: Rovers stunned Hereford United with a 6–1 demolition.

Match results

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

League One

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers	League pos
9 August	Carlisle United	Home	2–3	8,285	Lambert, Williams	16	Report
16 August	Brighton & Hove Albion	Away	1–1	6,210	Lambert (penalty)	20	Report
23 August	Hereford United	Home	6–1	6,735	Duffy (2), Lambert (2), Hughes, Lines	8	Report
30 August	Leeds United	Away	2–2	21,064	Lambert, Duffy	11	Report
6 September	Peterborough United	Away	4–5	4,876	Elliott, own goal, Hughes, Lambert	15	Report
13 September	Walsall	Home	1–3	6,609	Elliott	19	Report
16 September	Cheltenham Town	Away	1–2	4,546	Lambert	21	Report
20 September	Yeovil Town	Away	2–2	5,748	Lambert (penalty), Kuffour	19	Report
27 September	Crewe Alexandra	Home	0–0	5,870	–	19	Report
4 October	Colchester United	Away	1–0	4,811	Lambert	15	Report
11 October	Leyton Orient	Home	2–1	6,425	Coles, Hinton	11	Report
18 October	Huddersfield Town	Away	1–1	13,779	Lambert	13	Report
21 October	Oldham Athletic	Home	2–0	6,379	Lambert, Lines	12	Report
25 October	Southend United	Home	4–2	7,055	Lambert (4)	11	Report
1 November	Leicester City	Away	1–2	18,941	Kuffour	13	Report
14 November	Scunthorpe United	Home	1–2	7,173	Lambert	13	Report
22 November	Swindon Town	Home	2–2	8,016	Lambert, Lines	14	Report
25 November	Hartlepool United	Away	1–1	3,171	Hughes	15	Report
6 December	Millwall	Away	2–3	8,123	Lambert, Kuffour	15	Report
13 December	Tranmere Rovers	Home	2–0	6,217	Kuffour, Lines	14	Report
20 December	Stockport County	Away	1–3	5,364	Disley	15	Report
26 December	Milton Keynes Dons	Home	1–2	9,002	Kuffour	16	Report
28 December	Northampton Town	Away	0–0	5,557	–	16	Report
17 January	Leyton Orient	Away	2–1	4,262	Hughes, Duffy	17	Report
24 January	Colchester United	Home	0–0	6,634	–	17	Report
27 January	Cheltenham Town	Home	3–2	6,600	Lambert (2), Duffy	12	Report
31 January	Southend United	Away	0–1	7,234	–	14	Report
14 February	Scunthorpe United	Away	2–0	4,156	Duffy, Kuffour	14	Report
17 February	Yeovil Town	Home	3–0	8,049	Pipe, Duffy, Lambert	13	Report
21 February	Leicester City	Home	0–1	9,138	–	14	Report
24 February	Oldham Athletic	Away	2–0	3,745	Duffy, Anthony	14	Report
28 February	Carlisle United	Away	1–1	5,343	Hughes	14	Report
7 March	Leeds United	Home	2–2	10,293	Hughes, Kuffour	14	Report
10 March	Hereford United	Away	3–0	3,199	Lambert (3)	14	Report
14 March	Walsall	Away	5–0	5,169	Duffy (2), Disley, Lescott (2)	12	Report
17 March	Crewe Alexandra	Away	1–1	3,879	Duffy	12	Report
21 March	Peterborough United	Home	0–1	7,103	–	13	Report
28 March	Stockport County	Home	2–0	6,214	Anthony, Lambert	12	Report
31 March	Huddersfield Town	Home	1–2	6,286	Kuffour	14	Report
5 April	Tranmere Rovers	Away	0–2	8,119	–	14	Report
10 April	Northampton Town	Home	1–0	6,666	Kuffour	11	Report
13 April	Milton Keynes Dons	Away	1–2	10,251	Elliott	12	Report
18 April	Millwall	Home	4–2	6,618	Disley, Lambert (2), Kuffour	11	Report
21 April	Brighton & Hove Albion	Home	1–2	6,193	Lambert	11	Report
25 April	Swindon Town	Away	1–2	10,977	Duffy	12	Report
2 May	Hartlepool United	Home	4–1	7,363	Kuffour, Duffy, Lambert, Lescott	11	Report

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
8 November	1	AFC Bournemouth	Away	0–1	3,935		Report

Carling Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
12 August	1	Watford	Away	0–1	5,574		Report

Johnstone's Paint Trophy

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
2 September	1	AFC Bournemouth	Away	0–3	2,220		Report

Team kit

The team kit for the 2008–09 season is produced by Erreà. The main shirt sponsor is Cowlin Construction, a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty, and the secondary shirt sponsor is Blackthorn Cider. The home shirt features the traditional blue and white quarters in a lighter shade of blue from the previous season to match the colour of the sponsor's logo, and the away kit is green with black trim.^[4]

2007–08 home colours

2008-09 away colours

Squad

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		League 1		FA Cup		Carling Cup		Johnstone's Paint Trophy
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	ENG	Steve Phillips	49	0	46	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
13	GK	ENG	Mike Green	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	GK	ENG	Danzelle St Louis-Hamilton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	DF	WAL	Ryan Green	28	0	26	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
3	DF	WAL	Joe Jacobson	22	0	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	DF	ENG	Craig Hinton	27	1	25	1	1	0	0	0	1	0
6	DF	ENG	Steve Elliott	41	3	39	3	0	0	1	0	1	0
15	DF	WAL	Byron Anthony	33	2	30	2	1	0	1	0	1	0
16	DF	ENG	Danny Coles	5	1	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	DF	ENG	Tom Parrinello	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	DF	ENG	Alex Kite	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	DF	ENG	James Tyrell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
32	DF	ENG	Aaron Lescott	47	3	44	3	1	0	1	0	1	0
33	DF	ENG	Liam Harwood	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	MF	ENG	Chris Lines	48	4	45	4	1	0	1	0	1	0
7	MF	SCO	Stuart Campbell	47	0	44	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
11	MF	NIR	Jeff Hughes	46	6	43	6	1	0	1	0	1	0
14	MF	WAL	David Pipe	40	1	39	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
19	MF	ENG	Sean Rigg	10	0	8	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
20	MF	ENG	Craig Disley	47	3	44	3	1	0	1	0	1	0
22	MF	ENG	Joe White	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
26	MF	WAL	Lewis Haldane	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	MF	ENG	Adam Mahdi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	MF	ENG	Charlie Reece	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31	MF	ENG	Charlie Clough	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
36	MF	JAM	Richard Langley	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	FW	ENG	Andy Williams	5	1	4	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
9	FW	ENG	Rickie Lambert	48	29	45	29	1	0	1	0	1	0
10	FW	SCO	Darryl Duffy	46	13	43	13	1	0	1	0	1	0
17	FW	ENG	Jo Kuffour	42	11	41	11	1	0	0	0	0	0
18	FW	ENG	Ben Hunt	14	0	12	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
23	FW	ENG	Ben Swallow	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	FW	ENG	Matt Groves	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	FW	WAL	Josh Klein-Davies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	FW	ENG	James Fraser	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
35	FW	ENG	Richard Walker	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goalscorers Name League Cup Total Rickie Lambert 29 0 29 Darryl Duffy 13 0 13 Jo Kuffour 11 0 11 Jeff Hughes 6 0 6 Chris Lines 4 0 4 Craig Disley 3 0 3 Steve Elliott 3 0 3 Aaron Lescott 3 0 3 Byron Anthony 2 0 2 Danny Coles 1 0 1 Craig Hinton 1 0 1 David Pipe 1 0 1 Andy Williams 1 0 1 Own goals by opposition 1 0 1

Discipline Name Red cards Yellow cards Byron Anthony 2 6 Steve Elliott 1 3 Chris Lines 1 3 David Pipe 0 7 Stuart Campbell 0 5 Jeff Hughes 0 5 Rickie Lambert 0 4 Steve Phillips 0 4 Craig Disley 0 3 Jo Kuffour 0 3 Ryan Green 0 2 Aaron Lescott 0 2 Craig Hinton 0 1 Joe Jacobson 0 1 Total: 4 49

Transfers

In

Seven players have been added to the Bristol Rovers squad since 1 July 2008, in addition to Jeff Hughes who signed at the end of the previous season. Four players were signed from other clubs – Darryl Duffy, who was signed from Swansea City for a fee in the region of £100,000, Ben Hunt, who was signed for free after having been released by West Ham United, Jo Kuffour who was signed from AFC Bournemouth and Liam Harwood who was signed from Carshalton Athletic. Three Bristol Rovers youth players were also awarded their first professional contracts by the club – Ben Swallow, James Tyrell and Joe White, who is the son of former Rovers player Steve White.

Date	Player	Previous Club	Contract	Cost
3 July	Darryl Duffy	Swansea City	3 years	~£100,000[5]
3 July	Ben Hunt	West Ham United	1 year	Free[6]
3 July	Ben Swallow	Youth team		N/A[6]
3 July	James Tyrell	Youth team		N/A[6]
3 July	Joe White	Youth team		N/A[6]
29 August	Jo Kuffour	AFC Bournemouth	3 years	£60,000[7][8]
1 September	Liam Harwood	Carshalton Athletic	1 year	Undisclosed[9]
21 November	Richard Langley	Unattached	Monthly	Free
16 February	Danzelle St Louis-Hamilton	Stoke City	3 months	Loan

Out

Date	Player	New Club	Contract	Cost
4 July	Richard Walker	Shrewsbury Town	1 year	Loan[10]
7 July	Lewis Haldane	Oxford United	1 year	Loan[11]
1 August	James Fraser	Lewes	1 month	Loan[12]
8 August	Josh Klein-Davies	Luton Town	1 month	Loan[13]
9 August	Charlie Clough	Mangotsfield United	1 month	Loan[14][15]
12 August	Matt Groves	Tiverton Town	1 month	Loan[15][16]
14 August	Adam Mahdi	Cirencester Town	1 month	Loan[15]
1 September	James Fraser	Tiverton Town	3 months	Loan
1 September	Andy Williams	Hereford United	4 months	Loan[17]
12 September	Alex Kite	Oxford City	Loan
19 September	Sean Rigg	Grays Athletic	1 month	Loan[18]
19 September	Adam Mahdi	Clevedon Town		Loan[18]
19 September	Ben Swallow	Taunton Town		Loan[18]
23 September	Joe White	Chippenham Town	3 months	Loan[19]
10 November	Alex Kite	Chippenham Town	3 months	Loan
20 November	Ben Swallow	Bridgwater Town	1 month	Loan
28 November	Josh Klein-Davies	Newport County	1 month	Loan

References

1. "Agogo Sell on Clause". Vital Football. 5 July 2008. Archived from the original on 4 August 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
2. "Higgs named new Rovers chairman". Sporting Life. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
3. "Coles pens new Rovers contract". Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
4. "The look of Rovers in 2008/09". bristolrovers.co.uk. 2 June 2008. Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2008.
5. "Duffy seals Bristol Rovers switch". BBC Sport. 3 August 2008. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
6. "Press conference at the MEM". bristolrovers.co.uk. 3 August 2008. Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
7. "Rovers tie up Kuffour deal". Sky Sports. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
8. "Langley gets a second chance". Bristol Evening Post. 28 August 2008. Archived from the original on 1 September 2008. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
9. setantasports.com staff (2 September 2008). "League One deadline day round-up". Setanta Sports. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
10. "Shrews sign Rovers striker Walker". BBC Sport. 4 July 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
11. "Haldane set for Oxford loan move". BBC Sport. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
12. Howard Griggs (16 June 2008). "Lewes secure loan signing". The Argus. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
13. "Luton Town bring in 11 new faces". BBC Sport. 8 August 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
14. "Latest news". Mangotsfield United Official Website. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
15. "Trio of youngsters out on loan". bristolrovers.co.uk. 14 August 2008. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
16. "Groves Joins Tiverton Town". Vital Football. 12 August 2008. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
17. "One in and one out for Rovers on deadline day". Bristol Evening Post. 2 September 2008. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
18. "Three players move on loan". bristolrovers.co.uk. 19 September 2008. Archived from the original on 23 September 2008. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
19. "White moves out on loan". bristolrovers.co.uk. 25 September 2008. Archived from the original on 27 September 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2008.