Bristol Rovers struck gold with Newcastle United transfer - Villa Park showing will trigger pride | OneFootball

Bristol Rovers provided one of the nation's leading midfielders with his break in the professional game

Bristol Rovers have spent the past decade floating in EFL limbo, swapping residency between League One and League Two four times in that period.

Rovers suffered relegation to the fourth-tier last season, which came in tough circumstances. After a positive start under manager Inigo Calderon, the Gas sat nine points clear of the relegation zone in mid-March and looked set for a fourth successive term in League One.

However, a nightmare late-season slump saw Bristol Rovers pick up just one point from their final 10 games of the season, and they were relegated to League Two with one game to spare.

This harrowing situation saw Calderon depart, swiftly followed by the re-appointment of Darell Clarke, who previously enjoyed a memorable four-year stay with Rovers between 2014 and 2018, guiding them to consecutive promotions from the National League to English football's third-tier.

After losing their first three League Two encounters of the season, Rovers have bounced back with a trio of successive victories to recover ground in the play-off race.

That hasn’t been the only source of good news for Gas supporters recently however, with one of their former favourites breaking onto the international stage providing another ray of positivity.

Elliot Anderson’s England debut will fill Bristol Rovers’ faithful with pride

In January 2022, Bristol Rovers were looking to complete some last-minute business to aid them in their push to achieve promotion from League Two.

Then-boss Joey Barton used his good relationship with Newcastle United loan manager Shola Ameobi to take one of the Magpies’ promising talents on loan, with the new signing turning out to be one Elliot Anderson.

Anderson’s ability was evident straight away, bagging his first career goal away at Stevenage whilst constantly impressing Rovers’ supporters with his outrageous technical skill and maturity to perform in high-pressure scenarios.

The young talent continued this form, scoring four goals in five games heading into the final match of the season, which could see the Gas automatically promoted to League One if they won by a margin of five more goals than the nearest rival, Northampton Town.

Now a well-documented piece of EFL history, Bristol Rovers pulled off an unbelievable 7-0 triumph to make their unlikely promotion scenario very much come to life, with Anderson bagging the all-important seventh strike with five minutes to go.

These incredible performances during the run-in immediately endeared Anderson to the Gas faithful, who will always recall the heroics he produced en route to their Hollywood-esque promotion.

Flash forward just over three years, and Anderson has just made his debut for the England national team.

The 22-year-old controlled proceedings in a cool, calm and collected manner as the Three Lions bested Andorra 2-0.

This dramatic rise to the highest level of the game will fill Bristol Rovers supporters with immense pride, at the fact that one of the nation’s leading midfielders got his first real taste for the game with their club.

They provided the foundations for him to show what he could do, and from there, the rest is now history.

Elliot Anderson’s Bristol Rovers stint showed just how important loan signings can be

For clubs up and down the Football League, competing in the transfer market is a balancing act with managing finances at the very core.

Very few clubs in the lower regions of the EFL can afford to fork out transfer fees, especially substantial ones, which puts added importance on getting loan deals right.

Sometimes, players who come in on a temporary basis aren’t quite ready to perform at the level required and end up taking up valuable squad space and finances.

But on other occasions, clubs get handed uncovered gems such as Anderson, who can have an unbelievable impact at the side they join.

Some players competing at the very top of English football made their first steps in the game during loan stints in the EFL and having such a talent within the ranks of a League Two team for even half a year can be season-defining for a lot of clubs, as proven by Anderson’s time at Bristol Rovers.