ROMANS LOVE A BIT OF ROCK 'N' ROLLO!
GOOD, BAD AND THE UGLY: JIM ROLLO
JIM ROLLO first pulled on a Bath City shirt in 1997 as a loan player – 20 years later he’s written into the Romans’ history books.
It wasn’t until 2002 that the legendary defender joined permanently and he’s pretty much been there ever since.
Promotions, a tenth-place finish in the Conference, Rollo made 487 appearances for the club and contributed to some good times at Twerton Park.
Now assistant manager, he’ll be honoured with a testimonial in the summer. Here the 40-year-old talks about cleaning the stands at Walsall and the time Jamie Vardy gave him the slip.
FIRST CLUB
Walsall. I started at Bristol Rovers’ centre of excellence. Kenny Hibbitt was Bristol Rovers’ assistant manager at the time and he moved into the village I was living in. Then when he went to Walsall he invited me up there for a week one school holiday. I did well and signed an apprenticeship.
I left home from a tiny village to Birmingham, which was a bit of a culture shock! I was an oldfashioned apprentice. Monday morning we swept the stands, we cleaned the boots and the players’ cars. It was a nine-five job. But you’d always play reserve football too. Even as a first year YTS I was playing because there were only 22 pros at the club and a couple would be injured so the first team manager knew who you were.
BEST MANAGER
Kenny Hibbitt because he gave me my start in professional football. Then when he went to Cardiff City he signed me again. He always made you feel part of it and was a good footballer himself. On the training ground he was able to replicate what he was asking the players to do.
BEST TEAM-MATE
Matt Coupe. He was at Forest Green Rovers when I signed there and then we played together at Bath City for a long time. He played 380-odd games for Bath and I was probably alongside him for most of those.
He was a leader, a tough oldfashioned defender and you always knew what you were going to get from him. I was captain but sometimes you need to be told or a little pick-up and he would do that. We’re good mates off the pitch.
FIRST PROMOTION
I was at Walsall when we went up from Division Three but really it was Bath City and the Southern League Premier in 2006-07.
The season before we’d been beaten in the play-offs and the following year we managed to do it. I remember we were beaten at the back end of December away at somewhere like Hemel Hempstead. We then signed a striker, Darren Edwards, from Mangotsfield and we didn’t lose a game after that.
TeamBath pushed us quite far but we won it with three or four weeks to go. We could have won it on a Tuesday night at Mangotsfield. There was a big crowd there that night. The local TV cameras turned up as well thinking we might win it, but we drew 0-0.
We went onto the next local derby against Yate. I’d not missed a kick for over 100 games but I had to come off at half-time with broken ribs.
The Southern League Premier shield is probably the biggest in football – it’s massive. I was really disappointed because I’d played every game but the injury ruled me out of the last one against Rugby. Scott Partridge was injured as well, he’d had a neck operation, so between the two of us we just about managed to lift the trophy.
We’d been to Spain a few years on the trot but a few of the lads didn’t have passports so I managed to talk the chairman into booking us into the Marriott in Newcastle for four nights – it probably cost him more than a trip to southern Spain!
FUNNIEST PLAYER
Jimmy Walker, he’s goalkeeper coach at Lincoln City now. Every dressing room needs a character like him. Jimmy didn’t pick on people, he was just a genuinely funny guy.
He’s a good singer as well – he’s got Elvis down to a T. He was always up to something like cutting out your pockets or holes in socks. The physio had a brand new tracksuit. Jimmy wore it out to training, got it all dirty, and just hung it back up on the peg.
FUNNIEST INCIDENT
My first training session at Bath. We’d also just signed Frankie Bennett, who played for Bristol Rovers for years. We finished with a game of five-a-side. I can’t remember who it was now, but someone caught Frankie with an elbow and knocked his gold tooth out! We spent the next 20 minutes crawling around looking for it. That was the session over with. We never did find it.
The other one involves Marley Watkins, who is now doing really well in the Championship with Barnsley. He got a knock and the physio said, ‘Look, when you get home you need to ice it’. Marley said, ‘How do you make ice?’ That was never forgotten by the lads. His nickname was Triger. I saw him recently and he’s a good lad.
BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT
Making my Football League debut – I did that twice for Walsall and Cardiff down at Fulham. But the biggest one is the promotion into the Conference with Bath.
I was captain in the play-off final against Woking and I was named in the team of the year by the other managers, which was special.
It wasn’t a spectacular final but we managed to nick it with a penalty. I’ve never seen a crowd like it, they had to delay kick-off to get everyone in.
When you get promoted into the Conference at 35, you’re not
sure how many games you’re going to get, but I managed to play most of them. Then the next season we managed to finish tenth. We were the highest-placed part-time team in the country. We had a great team spirit and never knew when we were beaten.
We had a good squad with some players who had been around the block like Scotty Murray and Lee Phillips. Kaid Mohamed was playing really well, Sido Jombati who was sold into the League with Cheltenham.
Then we were lucky with the loans with played likes Marley Watkins and Joe Edwards. We beat Cambridge twice, drew with Luton, it’s amazing how far a good group of lads can take you.
LOWEST MOMENT
I’ve still haven’t got over our FA Trophy semi-final defeat to North Ferriby United a couple of years ago. We really did fancy ourselves.
The first leg at home finished 2-2 and then we went 1-0 up at their place. They scored a penalty and eventually the game went to extra-time. I’ve been lucky enough to go to Wembley in the Trophy final with Forest Green Rovers and it’s such a magic day for all the fans and all the volunteers.
We had a really good chance in extra-time to win. Then we were in a silent changing room after with grown men crying. That’s how much football can get to you emotionally and how much it means to people.
FAVOURITE PLACE TO GO
We went to some good grounds in the Conference. I enjoyed going to Fleetwood. Their pitch was absolutely phenomenal and their new stand was really nice. I used to like going to Rushden & Diamonds’ old Nene Park ground too. I was lucky enough to have two debuts at Fulham so I always look at that when it’s on the telly as a place with fond memories.
TOUGHEST PLACE TO GO
Wrexham. I always found it tough there – I went with Cardiff a couple of times as well as Bath and never got a result. It’s a big old-fashioned football club. Crawley was always difficult too.
TOUGHEST OPPONENT
I remember coming across the man of last season, Mr Vardy. I played against him a couple of times when he was at Fleetwood and he was just far superior to anybody I ever came across in Non-League football. The other one was Matt Tubbs. When he was at Salisbury and then Crawley, Tubbsy was always a difficult person to mark. They’d both play off your shoulder and when the ball came in their reactions were so sharp. That’s what you remember from those sort of players. When we played Vardy’s Fleetwood away, they beat us 4-1 and were excellent. I took my boots off and said, ‘Look, he’s that sharp I’ve lost two studs!’
BEST THING ABOUT NON-LEAGUE
I’ve been at Bath for years and I love the way you mix with the fans. It’s the same in the boardroom. At pro clubs you don’t really meet them. In NonLeague, the chairman and the directors are on the team bus so clubs are that much tighter. I also like the way you come across the bigger teams in the FA Trophy or FA Cup. Whenever you beat a team you shouldn’t, it’s always a better win. I remember when we beat Barnet and Grimsby in the FA Cup. That feeling is why you play Non-League football.
AMBITION
Get another promotion. I’m assistant at Bath to Gary Owers, who is one of the best coaches I’ve worked under. The community are going to run the club and hopefully as that all comes together we can push for a promotion again.