Past Managers

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FOREST  GREEN ROVERS AFC,  FOUNDED 1889

MANAGERS

The early years

From their formation in 1889, Forest Green Rovers were run by a Committee of supporters, players and ex players who met regularly in the Club Headquarters at The Jovial Foresters pub in Lower Forest Green.

The Committee picked the team to play each week up until the 1930s.

From this time a Selection Committee replaced the Full Committee to pick the team each week.  The Selection Committee consisted of between 5 and 7 members, generally all ex players, rather than the Full Committee of 30 or so picking the team each week.

In the 1950s the Committee recognised that the Club needed to secure the services of a full time manager/ trainer.

In the summer of 1953, the Club employed a manager, J. Morrison, an ex Motherwell player who had recently moved to Woodchester, but he moved away almost as soon as he had been appointed without being in charge for a single game.

It wasn’t until Rovers were relegated for the first time in their history in May 1955 that the first full time manager appeared on the scene.  Bill Thomas accepted the managers position moving from nearby Stonehouse FC, who were a full time professional outfit playing in the Western League at the time.

Bill Thomas ensured that Rovers achieved promotion the following season.  Bill left the following season, but the Rovers Committee had seen the benefit of employing a manager.

From this time on, with a short return to a Selection Committee in the 1960s, Rovers team affairs have always been overseen by a manager.