Bath City legend Jim Rollo rules himself out of manager role

By Jon Couch

CLUB legend Jim Rollo has ruled himself out of the running to take the vacant managerial role at Bath City permanently.

The assistant boss took control of Saturday’s FA Cup second qualifying round clash with Knaphill and watched as his side romped to a 6-0 victory.

But with some Romans fans touting Rollo as the man to take over the Twerton Park hotseat following Gary Owers’ move to Torquay, the 41-year-old insists off-the-field issues are preventing him taking the job.

“Unfortunately for me it’s not really the right time,” Rollo told the Bath Chronicle. “I’ve got a new job that I started only three months ago, I’ve got a young family.

“I just know that the time and effort you’ve got to put into a football club, something would have to give. Work, family; they’re two very big commitments.

“People know how much I enjoy being here and how much I love the football club.

“I would like to stay in some capacity, but unfortunately the manager’s job, it’s just not the right time at the moment.”

In the meantime, Rollo is just happy manning the fort until a permanent successor to Owers is found – and Rollo believes they’ll be no shortage of suitors.

“Paul [Williams, football chairman] I speak to regularly anyway as part of being the assistant, and I spoke briefly with Nick Blofeld Friday regarding what the situation is,” he added.

“For the players it would be better to be done sooner rather than later and I think there’s going to be lots of people applying for the job.

“I’ve had a lot of phonecalls, in fact I think my phone ran out of battery on Wednesday by three o’clock.

“It’s an attractive football club to come and manage. It’s at a good standard, we’re in a good position at the moment in the league, and with the community buy-out people are talking a bit about Bath.

“If we can add a little cup run to that as well, they’ll be talking about Bath a little more.

“I just hope the person that comes in, I can work with and we can take Bath City forward into where we want to be.”