12th June 2015

Rovers need little introduction but just in case you were unsure, Bristol Rovers were promoted from the Conference Premier via the play-offs after their inaugural season in non-league football.

Managed by Darrell Clarke, the Pirates have been a mainstay in the Football League, albeit for last season’s blip.

They have come close to lifting the Football League Trophy on two occasions – in 1990 and 2007 –losing in the final both times.

Founded in 1883 as the ‘Black Arabs’, the Gas play in a home kit of blue and white chequers.

Based at the Memorial Ground which has a capacity of nearly 12,000 people, the club are currently in a legal dispute with Sainsbury’s after the supermarket tried to pull out of a proposed sale for the Memorial Ground land that would have financed a new stadium for the Pirates.

Distance from Huish Park: 72 miles (around one and a half hours).

2014-15 season final position: 2nd in the Conference Premier (Promoted via the play-offs).

Odds on to finish: Win outright 16/1, promotion 7/2, relegation 16/1 (all odds sought from SkyBet).

Super stat: One of the club’s adopted songs, ‘Goodnight, Irene’, is thought to have originated from the 1950s when Rovers were playing at Eastville. The song featured in the charts at the time and the line ‘sometimes I have a great notion to jump in the river and drown’ fitted well when Rovers lost as the Bristol Frome runs next to their former stadium.