3 managers Bristol Rovers must eye if Steve Evans joins Hibs ft ex-Wigan Athletic boss | OneFootball

We have taken a look at three managers who Bristol Rovers should look at to replace Steve Evans if he departs for Hibernian.

Bristol Rovers are expected to challenge for promotion back to League One this season, and they have made a good start – but they may well be set to be disrupted or even derailed amid suggestions that Steve Evans could well depart.

Having taken over at the Memorial Stadium mid-way through last season and finished strongly, Steve Evans has had his first full summer with Bristol Rovers, and the Gas have begun the season well.

Four victories sandwiched between defeats against newly-promoted York City and last season's play-off semi-finalists Grimsby Town has left Rovers sitting in League Two – just below unbeaten Barnet on goal difference.

However, a spanner in the works may just about to be thrown by Scottish Premiership outfit Hibernian, with it suggested by Pete O’Rourke that Hibs are ready to approach Bristol Rovers over manager Evans after the recent departure of David Gray, following a tough start to the season for the Scots both domestically and in Europe.

As a result, we have looked at three managers who should be at the top of the list of candidates for Bristol Rovers as they potentially begin a new managerial search.

Ryan Lowe

Perhaps an ambitious shout but one that Bristol Rovers must be at least active on and one that would excite supporters would be a move for former Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe.

Lowe is himself in need of a job to restart his managerial career after a really tough time at Wigan Athletic, where he ended up after he offered his resignation to PNE in August 2024.

Lowe began his managerial career at Bury, where he remains a legendary figure as a player, and led the Shakers to promotion from League Two in the 2018-19 campaign before they were expelled from the EFL.

Having left Bury, he returned to League Two for the 2019-20 season and repeated the same trick by getting Plymouth Argyle up and out of the fourth-tier with an impressive style of football.

At both Preston and Wigan, a desire for control matched with the intensity and attacking ingenuity of his Plymouth and Bury sides took over, and the squads just didn’t seem either capable nor suited to that style - even if he did achieve multiple top-half Championship finishes with North End.

At Rovers, though, Steve Evans has built a squad seemingly ideally setup for an attacking style of football and Lowe would surely be confident of being capable of earning a third League Two promotion should he return to the South West where he enjoyed such success at Argyle.

Stuart Maynard

Less high profile but someone with more recent success than Lowe would be former Notts County and York City boss Stuart Maynard, who is more than deserving of another shot in League Two.

Maynard led York back to the EFL for the first time since their relegation in over a decade last season, with The Minstermen pipping Rochdale in a dramatic National League title race.

Amassing 108 points to finish just ahead of The Dale with a 1-1 draw at Spotland on the final day, courtesy of a 103rd minute Josh Stones equaliser, York look set to be a team that should challenge for the top seven and the play-off places in the fourth-tier this season – and that is down to the work and momentum that Maynard managed to do and create.

However, the former Wealdstone boss was very harshly sacked in late July due to differences over how he saw the club moving forward - he was replaced by Scott Lindsey, leaving him without a club and a potential gem for another League Two outfit to move on.

Maynard had done good work at Wealdstone before replacing Luke Williams in charge of Notts County and, after a tough opening few months, he eventually left the Magpies after leading them to sixth and the play-off semi-finals, beaten by eventual play-off winners AFC Wimbledon, in the 2024-25 campaign.

Having proven his credentials in non-league as well as showing capabilities in League Two, with the squad he would have at his disposal in Gloucestershire, Maynard would himself be a shrewd appointment by Rovers.

Karl Robinson

Looking for his fifth job in the EFL, former Salford City boss Karl Robinson may well be viewed as the primary candidate for Bristol Rovers if they can lure him down to Bristol.

Robinson enjoyed a fruitful first job, spending six years in charge of Milton Keynes Dons and helping them reach the Championship for the first and only time in their history during that period.

After leaving MK Dons, he moved on to Charlton Athletic before a positive five-year stint at Oxford United, in which he led The U’s to an unlikely play-off finishes in two of his four full seasons in charge at the Kassam Stadium.

Most recently, he spent two and a half years at Salford City and came as close as anyone has to getting The Ammies out of League Two, with several other high-profile managers having struggled to do so.

Salford lost in the play-off final against Notts County back in May and so Robinson departed and, once again, City find themselves underperforming despite another season of big spending.

In retrospect, Robinson’s time at Salford may even be looked upon more favourably than many already are, given issues that have others have had at Salford before and after impressive managerial records, such as Richie Wellens, Gary Bowyer and Graham Alexander.