Brian Flynn hailed that game at Brentford as his finest moment in management as he took time to reflect at the reunion event in November.
Some of the players from the League One title-winning side of 2012/13 joined Flynn in the Belle Vue Bar to reminisce on their memories from a dramatic day at Griffin Park, and the man that oversaw the second half of the season was delighted to be a part of it all. [Watch in full here]
“It was a good thing to be involved in, and we kicked it off with a dramatic late winner in my first game at Stevenage, Rob Jones got an important goal for us at that time, and straight after that I got the call to take the job on until the end of the season,” Flynn said.
“I was delighted to be given the job and see it through to the end, and there were so many factors in making that final game as special as it was, Brentford had the best home record, we had the best away record so we knew it was going to be tough.
“We had fantastic support from the Rovers fans down there on the day, it was the ultimate winner-takes-all game and for it to end how it did was just a fairytale for us, there are so many stories from that day, and at the end of it, we were the ones that were delirious and that was the best day I ever had as a manager.”
Flynn took charge of Rovers in the January of that season following the departure of Dean Saunders to Wolves, and following a last-minute winner at Stevenage in his first game in charge, he was given the job until the end of the season.
Rovers had developed a habit of scoring late winners throughout that season, and Flynn remembered there was never a dull moment during his spell in charge, whilst also praising the fans and the squad for the unity shown.
“I was brought in to oversee things once the previous manager had left in the January, and it really was a rollercoaster ride from minute one, the minimum for us was getting to the play-offs and we were in a really good position at the time,” he added.
“I’d always had great support here, the fans were brilliant and they never criticised the team, I think they knew this team gave everything, the team and the fans really bonded that year, they knew they could help us to achieve something and that’s just what we did.”
“The team was excellent to work with, they all knew their roles, they understood everything that we wanted them to do, and there was a real never-say-die attitude amongst the squad, it was a real ‘we will not lose’ mentality, and those dramatic late goals epitomised that.”
