It’s a measure of the strength of this Bristol Rovers squad, and the sheer volume of individuals who are making telling contributions, that in naming the team’s most important player, you could make the case for at least eight players.
In the last two weeks, Glenn Whelan, Antony Evans, Harry Anderson, Elliot Anderson and Aaron Collins have all scored vital goals or made man-of-the-match level performances to guide the Gas to victory.
James Belshaw’s consistency and ability to rescue points with crucial late saves is such that it’s becoming almost blase to discuss his significance; Connor Taylor is anchoring a defence that has conceded nine goals in 15 games this year, at the age of 20; Sam Finley reliability is such, you sometimes almost overlook his sensational quality on the ball.
We’re also yet to see Sam Nicholson’s best, with the Scot capable of being Rovers’ most influential attacking player, while Joey Barton’s own ‘favourite’ Josh Grant unfortunately remains on the treatment table.
For those newcomers to the Mem looking to get shirts printed up with the surname of their favourite player, they’re certainly spoiled for choice in terms of options.
However, there’s one name that isn’t maybe a headline-grabber, a bona fide fan favourite or cult hero yet but whose contribution is every bit, if not more, important to the overall scheme of Rovers’ promotion drive.
Paul Coutts endured a pretty miserable start to life as a Rovers player. Signed among the first group of players in the summer, he looked every inch the leader the Gas have craved since Tony Craig was regrettably shown the door in the summer of 2020.
A vastly experienced and battled-hardened midfielder of more than 400 professional appearances who can also play and has the personality and will to impose himself on a dressing room; to be both liked as a mate, but also respected to take direction and occasional stern instructions from.
The rationale behind signing him was, of course, down to his ability and overall presence on the field in such an important position, but also because the standards he could set, in how players conduct themselves and in terms of their overall professionalism - diet, gym work, communication, attitude around each other and to the staff, how to play in training; the small details that fans don’t necessarily see in isolation between 3pm and 5pm on a Saturday but which all contribute to the overall performance.
Unfortunately for Coutts, Covid-19 knocked him over the summer, and seriously. The tough midfielder lost strength and fitness and his pre-season was effectively declared null and void.
His debut outing in a Gas jersey then proved disastrous as born out of frustration and being that 5-10 per cent off the pace, it contributed to his red card as Mansfield Town as he tried to overcompensate for his fitness misgivings.
Suspended and forced to work on his fitness, and at 33 this all must have been a concern, Coutts’ focus had to be on himself for those opening 2-3 months of the season, rather than being able to exert his influence wholeheartedly on the group.
But as he started to click into gear at the base of the midfield, so did his glue-like qualities in bringing individuals into the collective and raising standards.
“I know everybody else gets the plaudits but for me Couttsy as the captain the job he’s done was incredible,” Barton said, ahead of Tuesday night’s visit of Colchester United. “In terms of settling the dressing room. You guys won’t get to see that but for me I can’t speak highly enough of the job he’s done for us.
“He’s seen the younger players come through and that’s all a testament to the skipper. He’s one in a million.
“I’m just laughing now thinking about Nick Anderton, who is 25. They call Couttsy ‘Uncle’. “They all call him uncle, all the players. So that’s the respect he has within the group. He doesn’t ask anybody to do what he’s not prepared to do for himself.
“You should see him with his top off. He’s in prime shape. He’s superbly well-conditioned and that sets the tone. If your captain, who’s in his 30s and has had all the success he’s had and he does that on a daily basis.
“We’ve got James Connolly, Luca Hoole, Connor Taylor, Billy Elliot sorry Elliot Anderson. You can see why we call him Billy Elliot though after that on Saturday. Pirouetting through and scoring that goal.
“We’ve got a great culture emerging. The lads are turning up for each other every single week and paying their rent on that. As long as they keep doing that for the next period, it’s a great indicator.“
That culture Barton speaks of, the overall collective commitment of the team, not only delivers performances and results but is also helping build a mental toughness to get the Gas over the line.
Coutts aside, this isn’t a group of players particularly well-versed in what it takes to mount a sustained promotion challenge amid growing expectation and pressure; Rovers, we should remember, are still a big fish in a relatively small League Two pond resources-wise.
With 10 games to go there will be periods even in games, or between them, when things don’t go right, doubt creeps in and that can then impact even the smallest of actions on the field.
“There’s going to be a lot of twists and turns, you’ve just got to make sure over the next 30 points available you pick up as many of them as you possibly can. If we go and take 30, everybody knows we’ll be promoted and that’s got to be the aim,” Barton added.
“We want to go and win every game because we are capable of winning every single game and that starts on Tuesday night. We have to take them one at a time. It’s a cup final on Tuesday and we’ve got to go and empty the tanks again as we have been in the last two months.
“The lads are thriving under the pressure and that type of expectation.
“Confidence is flowing now. Confidence as I’ve spoken about before comes from good preparation. We’re superbly prepared. I could show you some texts from players interacting where they’re like ‘We’ve got the best group. We eat right. We travel right. We train right. We think right’, and our lads are really confident from the skipper down.
“We’ve got a great culture emerging. The lads are turning up for each other every single week and paying their rent on that. As long as they keep doing that for the next period, it’s a great indicator.
“We’re red-hot at the minute. We don’t fear anybody. We know every single game we’ve got to work to move through what League Two throws at you, because they’re tough competitive games and you have to work hard to get anything out of those games.”
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