Inigo Calderon feels there are similarities with his Bristol Rovers club and Brighton and Hove Albion.
Calderón joined Brighton in 2010 from Spanish club Alaves and had six successful seasons with the Seagulls.
Albion were in League One back then and the popular Spaniard played a key role in helping Brighton through the ranks to the Premier League.
He made 232 appearances for Albion in total and scored 19 goals with 14 assists before finishing his playing career at Indian club Chennaiyin.
He returned to Brighton as a scout in 2016 and then, after coaching stints at Alaves, he returned to the Seagulls as the under-18s manager.
He took the manager’s job at League One Bristol Rover last December and brings his team to struggling Crawley Town this Saturday.
It’s expected to be a lively atmosphere at the Broadfield Stadium as Scott Lindsey returns to the Reds as manager after the club parted company Rob Elliott.
Rover are also at the lower end of League One but the club have ambitious plans, including redeveloping the stadium and training facilities – similar to when Calderon first joined Albion.
“I see similarities with Rovers because I arrived at Christmas time when the team was in League One, fighting to avoid relegation, and everything was getting there, the new training ground, the new stadium, everything was planned.
“And I think it is something similar here,” said Calderon to the Guardian. “I lived that transition.”
Calderon also spoke on the sound leadership at Brighton from chairman Tony Bloom and deputy Paul Barber.
“What really impressed me was how calm the club were when they didn’t get the results,” he added.
“I remember the playoffs when we didn’t go up [after losing to Sheffield Wednesday in the semi-finals in 2016] and the next day everybody was in the office working as normal and, for me, coming from Spain, where if you lose a playoff everything is on fire, it was amazing because they were calm.
“Credit to Tony [Bloom, Brighton’s owner and chairman] and Paul [Barber, the chief executive] because they had the calmness to say: ‘We’re in a good way, let’s not move from it.’ It’s not easy in football because it’s so emotional.”
Rovers are just six points above the drop and Calderon accepts improvements need to be made on and off the pitch.
“We are not playing as pretty as I would like to. I have to be clever enough to select the right time to play and the areas to play.
“They [Rovers] brought me here because of my philosophy but I have to get results as quickly as possible in our situation.
“I have to adapt and I think I have been doing that. It is about trying to be more pragmatic and then if we can avoid relegation, we can implement the idea a little bit more.”
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