Recruitment.

Indeed, we have signed more than our fair share of misfiring attacking players over the past 6-7 seasons Kyle Bennett was another, signed on a free, but paid very well, had some skill but decided not to show us. Also in same Rovers squad as Westbrooke, another well paid flop.

Kyle Bennett aged 33 has played 412 career games, scoring 40 goals for 9 clubs, BRFC career played 62 scoring 4 goals.

On 1st February 2018, Bennett joined Bristol Rovers on a free transfer after leaving Portsmouth.
He made his debut on 3rd February, replacing Ollie Clarke in the 56th minute of a 2–1 defeat to Shrewsbury Town.
He made his first start a week later and scored the equaliser in a 2–1 comeback victory against Oxford United.
Having struggled for first team opportunities during the 2019–20 season Bennett was rumoured to be told by manager Ben Garner that he was free to leave the club.
He was later not given a shirt number for the upcoming season.
On 31st January 2019, Bennett joined Swindon Town on loan until the end of the 2018–19 season.
On 8th October 2020, Bennett joined Grimsby Town on loan for the 2020–21 season.
At the end of the 2020–21 season, it was announced that Bennett would be leaving the club upon the expiration of his contract.

Zain Westbrooke aged 27 has played 161 career games, scoring 10 goals for 7 clubs, BRFC career played 61 scoring 4 goals.

On 3rd August 2020, Westbrooke signed a 3-year contract with League One club Bristol Rovers for an undisclosed fee.
He made 49 appearances and scored three goals during a 2020–21 season which culminated in relegation to League Two.
After appearing in the first 2 matches of the 2021–22 season, manager Joey B***** dropped Westbrooke from the matchday squad and revealed that he was free to leave.
A move did not materialise before the end of the summer transfer window and Westbrooke remained at the Memorial Stadium.
He made a further seven appearances, predominantly in cup competitions, before joining League Two club Stevenage on loan until the end of the 2021–22 season.
Westbrooke made 12 appearances during his spell and in his absence, Bristol Rovers were automatically promoted back to League One.

Returning to the Memorial Stadium for the 2022–23 pre-season, manager Joey B***** stated that Westbrooke's performances in training and matches had "done nothing but enhance his claim" for a first team place.
Though he started in the opening match of the regular season v Forest Green Rovers, Westbrooke was subsequently barred from first team training and was told he was free to leave the club.
A move did not materialise before the end of the summer transfer window.
After making just 2 EFL Trophy appearances since the opening day of the season, Westbrooke's contract was terminated by mutual consent on 23rd January 2023.
He made 61 appearances and scored four goals during 2 1/2 years at the Memorial Stadium.

For the three players you call out am sure there were more that were successful.
Could say Collins and Evans were good recruitment especially as first sol at a good profit.

One of the key areas seems to be recruiting fit players. Think Bodin was last injury prone player that was a good signing.

We have too many that have not been available enough this season.

No guarantees that a player is never going to be injured but appears bad this season.

Like an angry wasp in a bottle shaken up and then let loose. Lots of running around and zero end product. Would likely be in my worst players to wear the quarters starting 11

I had thought all of JB's backroom staff had moved on.

So he'd been with us since March 2020.
uk.linkedin.com/in/chris-spendlove-a3657539?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F

And in the recent shake-up, announced 28/02/2024, promoted from Chief Scout to Head of Recruitment:
www.bristolrovers.co.uk/news/20242/february/recruitment-update/

I think that there are less players to choose from now,I remember Stan Montgomery and his nursery in South Wales,scouts like Bill Dodgin,that was great but there were so many more kids about then.

The baby boomers were everywhere,it was common to see a woman walking down the road with 2 small children and pushing a pram with another baby on the way...well the pubs shut at 10.30 and there were only 2 channels of TV.

Also there was less to do so you would see kids playing football in the street,in the park ,on the Downs until the sun went down in the summer,I drive past the Downs virtually every day and dont see a game being played for weeks.

I dont think theres so many pitches being used on a Saturday up the Downs and theres definitely less for students on a Wednesday now, I did laugh last year there was one lot playing Quidich !

Theres still 92 football clubs but it seems to me not as many players to choose from, also players seemed to have longer careers then ? I could be wrong but there were often teenagers playing and a lot went on well into there 30s.

So as a 3rd tier club in a city where house prices and rent are very expensive (thanks to having so many students here) it is going to be more difficult to recruit players.

Im not sure you’re right about there being less players to choose from nowadays. I’m sure you’re right about the changes on the downs and your other observations. But whereas you don’t get the street games or make do games on fields and ad-hoc games we used to organise nowadays it happens in other ways. We did the organisation stuff ourselves against other neighbourhoods ourselves. We self-reffed the games. But nowadays many clubs have organised youth sections from 5/6 years upwards. It’s so different to what it used to be. Most on here will know youth football better than me but my two grandsons play as part of a youth system in a small Somerset team and I often take them training on a Saturday morning and there are literally about 100/120 children in total all training and playing mini games with plenty of adults and trainers present. It’s very impressive. Obviously don’t know what happens in other similar sized towns or large villages but my gut feeling is that football is now organised through clubs, enthusiastic parents and has become very organised. 

I only played for an organised club when I was 15 but nowadays it starts at 5/6/7. Now I’ve no idea if my personal experience is widespread or not but I do think football for children 6-12 is much more organised, more children are playing. However you may be correct about the teenage years though after the children are saturated with football in the early years esp with other things to interest teenagers nowadays.

UTG!

I used to run a team in our village,my son started at 7 years old, the club had been running several years before I became involved,Club catered then for ages from 6-7 years up to 16 years, there were 12 teams running across that age range,he and his mates were ' all in this together ' through to 15 years when other things became 'more important' and that group of lads disbanded, I think now that though the club is still running ,there are not as many teams. . , the local Rugby club,at the time my son started playing was going through a very hard time and virtually folded, but now is a very vibrant setup and is very well supported across all ages with a good range of age groups.