Paul Tisdale: Bristol Rovers sack manager after less than three months in charge

Paul Tisdale left the field for the final time at Bristol Rovers after a 2-0 loss to Oxford United on Tuesday night

Bristol Rovers have sacked manager Paul Tisdale after less than three months in charge of the League One club.

The former Milton Keynes Dons and Exeter City manager won just five of his 19 games in charge, losing 11.

Rovers have lost nine of their last 12 games in all competitions and have not won a league game since 2 January

Rovers' head of recruitment Tommy Widdrington has taken temporary charge of first-team affairs until a successor is appointed.

Mel Gwinnett, who joined Rovers in a football operations role having coached alongside Tisdale at Milton Keynes and Exeter, has also left with the club outside the League One relegation places on goal difference.

"The club would like to thank both Paul and Mel for their efforts and wish them both the best of luck for the future," the club said in a short statement.

Assistant manager Jack Mesure and first-team coach Kevin Maher will assist former Southampton, Grimsby, Port Vale and Hartlepool midfielder Widdrington, who has been in his current role since May 2018.

Tisdale, 47-year-old replaced Ben Garner as manager in November after Rovers managed just three wins in their first 11 games of the season.

He was in charge at Exeter City for 12 years, leading the club from the Conference to League One with back-to-back promotions from 2008 and to consecutive League Two play-off finals in 2017 and 2018.

He left St James Park that summer to take up a role at MK Dons and got the club promoted back to League One in his first season, but a run of eight defeats in nine League One matches led to his departure in November 2019.

It took Rovers four attempts to win a League One game under Tisdale - who first tasted victory in a 6-0 FA Cup first-round win over non-league Darlington.

But just two more League One wins would follow - back-to-back successes over AFC Wimbledon and Plymouth Argyle at the start of December - before their current 12-game run which saw them register just one further victory.

Rovers have scored just six goals in their last nine games in all competitions and suffered a 6-1 loss away at Accrington early this month.

Analysis

BBC Radio Bristol sports editor Richard Hoskin

Rovers' problem is plain to see - they are really struggling to score goals - with many fans wondering why the club didn't add a striker to their inexperienced squad in January.

After losing to Oxford on Tuesday night, Paul Tisdale said: "We've got strikers of the future, we haven't got the ones of here and now and I'm not a magician, I can't get a rabbit out of the hat."

Now Rovers are looking for their third manager in as many months, with only goal difference keeping them out of the League One relegation zone.