Bristol Rovers need to strengthen – especially if Lambert moves on

I fear the man on the PA system was thinking the same as me as "When Will I See You Again" rang out around the Memorial Stadium while Rovers did their end-of-season lap of honour.

It's not that he shares Prince Charles' love of the Three Degrees but we were all wondering if it was the last time we had seen Rickie Lambert in a Rovers shirt. It was a pity Rickie did not finish on 30 goals as fans begged him to shoot even from his own half in the closing minutes but he rounded off a great season in fine style.

It is very frustrating for diehard Gasheads who have seen a host of strikers leave the club over the years and Lambert seems set to follow them.

I suppose it would be difficult for the club to stand in his way if a Championship club comes in with a decent offer – nothing less than £1 million I would suggest.

If Rickie goes we must sign another striker to support Jo Kuffour, while I'm not sure if Darryl Duffy is the real deal. Neither Duffy or Kuffour can hold the ball the way Lambert does and we would also desperately miss his ability in the air.

Charlie Reece turned in a highly promising performance against Hartlepool, let's hope he doesn't go backwards the same way as Andy Williams, Lewis Haldane and Josh Klein-Davies, who was released last week.

My shopping list for the close season would include two strong tackling full-backs and a left-sided wide man as a must.

We could be in for a tough few years as team strengthening must take second place to redeveloping the Memorial Stadium. That may be hard to take but we cannot progress without better facilities.

Clubs like Norwich, who have averaged gates of 25,000, Nottingham Forest and Watford have struggled in the Championship so, even if we got promotion, we would be struggling to survive.

But is the political will there for us to succeed with the stadium? The recent anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster highlighted how 30 new grounds have been built since.

Yet Rovers seem to have faced one hurdle after another while the City also faced city council opposition over its Atyeo stand and their fans failed to save their Wedlock pub outside the ground.

City councillors were quick to praise us when we got to the Millennium Stadium and Wembley, now we need their support.

Our 11th place finish was the best for eight years and it is only seven seasons since we escaped relegation from the Football League by the skin of our teeth. So we are gradually making progress which needs to continue if the PA man is to play "Bob the Builder" when we return in August.