a chat with

Duke is joined Anwar Uddin to talk about his fascinating and varied career, both past and present. 

From playing youth football for West Ham with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, he then moved to Sheffield Wednesday which ended prematurely after the collapse of ITV Digital left Wednesday in financial trouble. Wednesday's loss was Rovers gain as Anwar made the journey to North Bristol. This was after John Still used his persuasive skills to assure Anwar that Rovers were heading in a better direction than *checks notes* Swansea City. 

Anwar got the first team football he so craved at Rovers and loved his time in the city, however a horrific injury meant his Rovers career was cut short after only 19 league appearances. He shares tales of how he got involved in the local community whilst on the side-lines and tells us about his times rooming with The Latvian. 

We look at his time at Dag & Redbridge where he captained the side and was involved in two promotions - including reaching League One on a shoestring budget. This was under the stewardship of John Still, who Anwar cites as being a pivotal reason for linking up with Dagenham.

Anwar discusses his current role with the Fans For Diversity campaign and why he believes that football has the power to unify all walks of life. He also shares his thoughts on the potential at Rovers to get more fans through the turnstiles. 

There's also chat about the Black Lives Matter campaign and whilst 'taking the knee' is important, it doesn't go far enough.

Finally there's talk about his assistant manager role at Aldershot Town and how he/they managed to secure the services of *checks notes again* Ross McCormack.

In this special A Chat With Episode, Max speaks to former Bristol Rovers centre-back and vice-captain Adam Virgo.

In an incredibly interesting and revealing chat, Adam lifts the lid on working under Paul Buckle, and where it all went wrong for Rovers in the 2011/12 season.

He also talks about a horrendous knee injury that ultimately forced him to retire from the game completely. Adam discusses Mark McGhee’s reign, why it didn’t work out for the Scotsman, and playing up front at AFC Wimbledon despite being in severe pain. 

Promotion. Finals at both Wembley and the Millenium Stadium, all whilst sporting a cracking tan, this man has done it all in the blue and white quarters. No, not Ryan Green, no, not Sammy Igoe, no, not Chris Carruthers, no, not Sean Rigg, BUT Super Lewis Haldane!

Jack spoke to Lewis about his early breakthrough at The Gas, his struggles with matchday nerves, his debut goal, being frozen out by Ian Atkins and then a cracking couple of seasons under Paul Trolloper - beating City, playing in a JPT final in Cardiff and getting Man of the Match, that end of season form and to top it off, promotion at Wembley. 

We also talk about how the end of his Rovers career left a sour taste, and how two freak injuries at Port Vale ended his career. The first even nearly ended his life after being bitten by an insect and a year later he suffered a double-leg break to end his professional playing career. Lewis also faced your listener questions!

Having been relegated to League Two, Bristol Rovers found itself in a non-league nightmare. Failure to bounce back at the first time of asking would surely lead to financial ruin, and could see the club trapped in non-league for many years to come like so many former football league sides before us.

Step in Darrell Clarke. The man given the task to get the club back into the football league at the first time of asking not just succeeded, but went one better with back-to-back promotions straight to League One. 

In an exclusive interview with GasCast Podcast, Harley Thorne spoke with Darrell Clarke one-on-one, to hear the man give his account of those many phenomenal years in charge. From just how he went about building those promotion winning sides, his man management of certain players, and much more, tune in to an hour-and-a-half of uncut DC. 

In the words of Brenda, from Bristol, “YER JOKING, ANOTHER ONE?!”.

This time Jack spoke to Trevor ‘Poison’ Challis to discuss the massive highs and massive lows of his five year Rovers career which spanned from 1998 to 2003. 

Trevor played under Ian Holloway, Garry Thompson, Gerry Francis and Ray Graydon. He speaks favourably about the start of his time at The Gas but as the team’s form dipped and the stars of the late 90’s left, things became very different.

We discuss what went wrong in that infamous 99/00 season, how good that squad was, what Holloway was like, the player exodus, 00/01’s relegation and being managed by Gerry Francis and later Ray Graydon, as well temporary spells from Garry Thompson. There’s also special mentions for Derby away in the F.A. Cup and Everton in the League Cup. Challis also faced some listener questions.

Nathan ‘1 nil’ Blissett was our latest interviewee and the cult hero joined Jack to discuss his legendary status, how his move to the Gas came about, what he made of his stickers, promotion to League 2, that shocking offside call in the play-off final, missing out on Magaluf with the squad, his disappointing end to his Rovers career and his goal-scoring return to the Mem.

Bliss shared fascinating insights into the promotion winning dressing room and what it was like to play under Darrell Clarke and he also faced your listener questions. 

This was a real fun one to record and all of us at GasCast would love to see Bliss back at The Mem sometime soon! 

In the first of our “A CHAT WITH…” series, Max sat down with former Rovers centre-half Steve Elliott to discuss his career and in particular his time at the Gas. They spoke about Paul Trollope’s promotion winning squad, THAT game at Wembley Stadium, and why the Memorial Stadium holds a special place in his heart.