Wael Al-Qadi hailed Joey Barton as a ‘genius’ as he insists he was the calmest man inside the Mem as Bristol Rovers pulled off one of the most unlikely promotions in their own and, most likely, English football history.
The Bristol Rovers owner watched on from his box in the centre of the West Stand as the Gas delivered, in his words, a ‘football miracle’ to overtake Northampton Town on goals scored and claim third place and the final automatic path into League One on the final day of the season.
It concluded a stunning run of 16 wins from 25 matches in 2022 after a first half of the season in which Rovers plummeted as low as 22nd in the table and Barton verbally tendered his resignation following the 3-1 defeat to Leyton Orient on September 18.
But Wael Al-Qadi stuck by the man he appointed in February 2021 to stick a rocket up the football club and reset a culture he felt had become too passive and conditioned away from being a “winning side”.
Speaking before he joined the players in the dressing room, atop Alfie Kilgour’s shoulders chanting, “we are going up”, the Jordanian insists he never had any doubt in this group and promised that Rovers were only going to get better as they now prepare for League One.
“I just witnessed a footballing miracle,” Al-Qadi said, as the players took part in a rousing edition of ‘Goodnight Irene’. “I never doubted this from the beginning of the season, I always had faith in this group, Joe, his staff and everybody that works in there, the fans, the players - they never had doubt in what they could achieve. It took a bit of time but we got there in the end.
“Honestly, I was calm throughout. I never doubted this team. Last week, for example, coming back from 3-1 down and winning 4-3. I just had complete faith and trust in these guys.
“If it wasn’t automatics, I was very confident we’d go through the play-offs with these guys. I was calm, I was honestly calm and it was lovely to see how it transpired.
“You can see what it means for the fans, it’s just an incredible feeling, this winning feeling to see everybody happy. After the relegation last season, we owed it to our fans and it means a lot but we’re only going to get better.
“I’ve always admired Joe. He’s a footballing genius and this is just the beginning with him.”
The president played his own part in the remarkable scenes in north Bristol as after Elliot Anderson headed in the seventh goal, several hundred fans poured onto the pitch from the Thatchers terrace forcing the players off the field and referee Charles Breakspear to threaten abandoning the fixture due to concerns around the welfare of the players, particularly the Scunthorpe United team.
However, Wael Al-Qadi and Barton were both passed the microphone by matchday announcer Lance Cook to explain the situation to the delirious Gasheads to ensure a safe conclusion to a truly unique 90 minutes of football that eventually ran well past the 100-minute mark.
“After we scored the goal, they ran onto the pitch and I was slightly surprised to see the referee (threaten to call it off),” he added. “To have the threat of the match being abandoned after working so hard to get there, we had to let everybody know what’s at stake and we did that, and all’s well that ends well.”
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