Bristol Rovers run out of patience with Mark McGhee

Bristol Rovers parted company with manager Mark McGhee in the aftermath of their 4-1 defeat at York City on Saturday.

The 55-year-old former Motherwell and Aberden manager had been in charge at the Memorial Ground for 11 months and won just 12 games.

An official statement said the final decision came after the defeat at Bootham Crescent, a match which saw Rovers
concede four first-half goals to keep them in the npower League Two relegation zone, just two points clear of rock-bottom Barnet.

Chairman Nick Higgs told Rovers’ official website: “We had hoped that the appointment of Mark McGhee would give the club some stability and long term progress, but unfortunately that has not been the case.

“We have decided that we can no longer continue with the current situation and had to make the difficult decision to part company with Mark.

“We decided we had to act now before it was too late.”

Former Aberdeen, Celtic and Scotland striker McGhee, who replaced Paul Buckle as manager in January, had seen his side win just one of their last ten games.

Ex-Hibs and Celtic striker Derek Riordan, who is on loan at Bristol Rovers, was an unused substitute in Saturday’s defeat.