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Darrell Clarke’s future as manager of Bristol Rovers football club is in doubt tonight for the first time since he took charge of the club more than four and half years ago.

After five defeats in a row in all competitions, losing 2-1 tonight to Gillingham, to remain in the relegation zone in League One and now four points adrift, the Gas manager said he will have talks with the club’s board this week about the direction the club is heading.

(Image: Ryan Hiscott/JMP)

He said: "There will have to be discussions, I think I need to sit down with the powers that be to see where we are heading. There is not a lot of clarity. There is a lot of hearsay, I am not daft, I hear all the rumours that are going round.

"All I want is if we are [being taken over], are we having a right good go in January because I think you get to a stage as a manager, and treat this with respect, I hope it doesn’t come across as arrogant, I think we deserve to have a right good go in January to stay in the League.

"Sometimes you have got to spend big on your strikers, even bigger and more and have a right good go, but the powers that be will decide that, I will decide that and we will see where we go.

"At the end of the day we have sold so many goals out of the team, over £1.5m worth of strikers out of the team, replace it with half a million pound worth of strikers that aren’t doing it.

"The buck has to stop with me but what I will say is we have to keep going, keep working and believe in them. And that is what we will do.

"This [squad] is what we have to work with and like I said I don’t think there will be many players coming in in January, there will have to be players out for some to come in. That’s the way things are.

"I will have to have a discussion with the board and I will have to see how things go. I have got eight days until Swansea and I will have to analysis things because I am speaking on emotion at the moment, I am frustrated.

"I am frustrated for my fans because I love the club, they know what I think about the football club. I am just very, very frustrated inside and disappointed.

"Like I say the buck stops with the manager and I will never look for a hiding place. I have had tremendous success at the football club and I just think we have missed the boat of really wanting to kick on as a football club, I really do. And now it is about building from where were we stand at the minute and we will see how things develop.

"You want people with a passion to take this football club forward. I will go away and analyse that and if I think now it the right time [to depart], then now is the right time, but we will see but I am speaking on emotion. I am disappointed, I am frustrated,

"I don’t want to be a yo-yo club from League Two to League One, League Two to League One. This club and the supporters of this football club deserve a lot lot more in my opinion and we will see where we go from there with our discussions [with the board] over the next few days."