I’ve been a Gashead since 1989 and supported them through thin and even thinner.
In 2014, at the depths of our despair, I decided to add to my huge publishing empire by doing exactly what the Spanish Inquisition would not have expected… celebrate how amazing it is to be a Rovers fan. If all I wanted was glory surely I wouldn’t have chosen Rovers over the most successful rugby team in Britain [Bath RFC]?
And if you expect an easy ride being a Rovers supporter (or a supporter of any smaller, local club really) then you’ve hoisted your breeches onto the wrong wagon Sir.
Away The Gas
‘Away The Gas’ was published in October 2014 and I’ve been writing about the mighty Gas ever since. Away games are still special to me, and many others, so over 40 different contributors celebrated them. The highs, the lows, the loves, the arguments, the times we got lost, wet or hideously late, and also the times we lay on a terrace in the lovely Spring sun, made some great mates on the journey home, or found the finest beer known to humanity in a tiny little pub. ATG let’s you wallow in over 50 years of ‘I was there’ moments, from Halifax Town in 1963 to Pompey in 2014.
Print That Season!
‘Print That Season!’ emerged in December 2015 as limited edition antidote to obedient season reviews, with none of the hindsight that most writers rely on. Re-live Rovers’ great escape from non-league football in a different approach; through 55 sparkling and inventive articles I wrote as a weekly article to be featured on the Bristol Post web site. The book also includes a smattering of Quite Interesting stats, basic details of each game, two special features, and 80 colour photos, some from towns you never even knew existed and your satnav refused to find.
Double Darrell
‘Double Darrell’ shamelessly repeated the same formula a year later, revisiting the ups and downs of another swashbuckling Pirate voyage through 45 sparkling and inventive articles, some of them previously unpublished. This is an even smaller edition and includes details of each match, snippets of what else was happening that week at Rovers, QI stats, three special features, and eight pages of colour photos (mainly contributed by my fellow fans) plus a dozen or so colour photos in the ‘football by footpath’ adventures. What an astonishing season, a veritable roller coaster of a ride, and for the third year in a row the last game of the season became a decider; a nail biting afternoon of squirm.
Back to the Future
‘Back to the Future’ does the same again for 2016/17, although my Mum says it’s the best so far, and surely she can’t be biased?
Experience the pulsating story of Bristol Rovers’ first season back in League One, the land of milk and honey (or is it shrimps and pig’s trotters?), as chronicled through the weekly-ish meanderings I had published either on the Bristol Post web site or in the award winning official BRFC match day programme (note – it was award winning before I started… It will probably lose that status soon then 
). Given the 750 word limit of the later, the renderings in the book are sometimes the longer incarnations I wrote before having to edit them down – now that’s what I call value for money!
On a physical level you will encounter 36 juicy articles which are ENTIRELY unedited from what was written at the time (no hindsight for me), plus details of each match, QI stats, recent Rovers news, several pages of colour photos (mainly contributed by my fellow fans) and a full colour seven page ‘football by footpath’ adventure at Coventry City.
On a metaphysical level there is a whole lot more: It could well change your life forever, helping you stop smoking, lose weight, put on muscle and make you a millionaire…
shellshock publishing 