Before the end of the season representatives of the Supporters Club, Clive Marshall and Keith Brookman, along with Chairman of the Former Players Association Tony Mills, were invited to The Quarters to present 
what have become known as legacy caps to a number of the first team squad and in this final part we feature Tom Lockyer and Paul Raynor.
Tom Lockyer returned to The Mem last October and it was good to see him back in a Rovers shirt following his well documented heart problems which saw him stretchered off the Wembley pitch in Luton Town’s Play Off Final in 2023; an atrial fibrillation diagnosis followed. Then, in a Premier League match for The Hatters, against AFC Bournemouth, he suffered a cardiac arrest in December 2023 which appeared to signal the end of his career.
That he was able to recover sufficiently to play again tells you all you need to know about the central defender, a proud Welshman with 16 full international caps to his name. He shared digs with Ellis Harrison when both were young pros with Rovers and it’s remarkable that both have returned to the club that prepared them for their professional footballing careers.
During the season just ended ‘Locks’ completed his 300th first team game, in all competitions, for Rovers; not bad for someone who made his league debut with a brief cameo appearance at Fleetwood Town back in January 2013. During his career, he’s achieved the feat of scoring in all top five divisions of the Football Pyramid and, like Ellis Harrison, appeared for the club at Wembley in 2015.
Both experienced to lows of relegation out of the league with Rovers and the highs of the two promotions that followed.
Two cap presentations were made to Tom, one at the training ground where, along with many other squad members, he received his cap and certificate, the second following our last home game of the season and presented by his sponsor, Peter Jefferies. (In case you’re wondering, he only received one cap and one certificate!)
Tom, as you are aware, was released at the end of the season though it’s doubtful if that’s the end of his Rovers journey. Whilst he might wish to continue playing for now, we wouldn’t bet against him returning for a third stint at the club at some point in the future, possibly in a coaching capacity.
For now, though, it’s goodbye Tom and good luck for the future!
Paul Raynor was a little bit surprised to be presented with his cap and certificate…after all it was 41 years ago that he made his league debut for the club, in a goalless draw against Lincoln City at Eastville on 2nd April 1985. Sent on as a 61st minute substitute for David Williams, he became the 499th player to represent the club in league football.
That game was the only one he didn’t start in his eight game loan spell from Nottingham Forest and he even got to play in a local derby when playing against Bristol City at Eastville in a game we won 1-0 and he was instrumental in setting up the only goal of the game, scored by Ian Holloway.
Reports at the time suggested that he might have been happy to return to Rovers on loan the following season, but after his eight games he returned to Forest, and life under Brian Clough, and didn’t return to Eastville.
In the August following his departure he signed a permanent deal with Huddersfield Town and later played for Swansea City, Wrexham, Cambridge United, and Preston North End, where he played alongside a very young David Beckham and Cambridge United again, before a stint playing in China.
A brief spell with Orient on his return to these shores was followed by playing and managing in non league football before he began his career in coaching and management alongside Steve Evans. Together the two of them have been on a journey that’s taken in nine clubs to date and doesn’t look like ending any time soon!
Like Steve Evans, Paul’s new contract will see him spend the next two years at The Mem and let’s hope it’s a successful period, both for him and our Football Club.
That concludes the cap presentations for the time being, but expect more in the not too distant future, both for new squad members who arrive during the summer and for players who have represented our club in the past.
Photos courtesy Bristol Rovers FC
