Scott Bartlett wants to get Bath City out of the Pitching In Southern League as soon as possible.
Bath City players and fans celebrate the Romans going 2-0 up against Maidstone United at the Cannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park on Saturday 25th April | Photo © Simon Howe
The former Weston-super-Mare manager took over in the Romans’ hot seat just over a month ago and revitalised a team that seemed to have lost the ability to win under their previous boss Darren Way.
Despite steering the Romans to three victories and a draw in his eight games in charge, Bartlett could not save them from relegation from Enterprise National League South – the damage had already been done in the weeks prior to Way’s sacking.
But after City’s National League South finale – a 3-2 home defeat to promotion-chasing Maidstone United on Saturday 25th April – Bartlett made clear his aims for the 2026-27 campaign in Southern League Premier South.
He said: “I don’t want to manage in that division. Everyone knows that.
“Players don’t want to play in it. Fans don’t want to watch it, it’s just what it is.
“There’s something happening here – it’s really good. You can see that with the connection between the supporters and the players at the end [of the Maidstone match].
“Hopefully we’ll look back at this little time period, and it might be one that enables us to have a little bit of a reset and really build for the future.
“It’s a big club. In its location and the number of people in the area, it’s the biggest club I’ve managed.
“I know we’re going down a division but the potential’s massive. And that’s, I think, an attraction to the players. It’s definitely an attraction for me, potential sponsors and investors as well.
“We’ve just got to put that a little bit to one side.
“[Next season] I’d like us to be a little bit brighter on the ball.
“It’s different, but it’s not easier, because we’re a big club going into that division.
“And whereas this season, I think teams have come and tried to beat us, so since I’ve been there, we’ve been able to just have a really good structure, and maybe counter on teams, and be really good behind the ball and sort of enjoy that.
“I think next season we’re going to have to take the game a little bit more to the opposition.
“I think we’re going to need more people that can beat people one v one and get a goal out of nothing.
“I think it’s definitely going to be a challenge. But I’ve done it before [taking a team to promotion from the Southern League, which he achieved at Weston].
“We ended up doing it for pretty much four years at Weston because we had the two COVID seasons and then a play-off. And we built sort of slow and steady there.
“It’s a challenge. No-one wants to be in that division, so we’re going to try and get out of it as quick as we can.”
Bartlett was pleased with Bath’s display against Maidstone, despite the fact they let slip a 2-0 lead.
He said: “We were pretty comfortable up to the hour mark. It summed us up, really.
“I think that all the games we’ve had, [where] everyone [was] available and we’ve been able to make substitutions to help us in the game, we’ve won or drawn all of those games.
“The games we’ve lost, like today, we made four subs, they were all enforced.
“So just physically, we got a little bit smaller as the game went on.
“We were playing against a big, powerful team.
“I thought we did well, really. I’ve got no real issue.
“We have to make sure that we go ahead, like we did, and then we did brilliantly to get in for half-time [2-0 up].
“And then after that, I thought we started the second half quite bright as well.
“But, of course, it was just a little bit of a mountain to climb for us, physically, for that last 20 minutes.
“And that last day of the season, there’s always crazy stuff happening.
“I’d be disappointed if that happened to us next season, us going from 2-0 up to losing the game.
“That doesn’t happen very often to my teams, but we’re all aware of the situation.
“And we lost some big players for us today, during the game, Donovan [Wilson] and Fish [Alex Fisher].
“Big Josh [Laqeretabua] as well, because he’s got a really important game for Charlton [Athletic] next week, so that was sort of pre-arranged out of courtesy to them and to thank them for letting us have him.
“We’re in a position now where we’ve got three wins and a draw from eight games.
“The only games apart from today that we’ve lost have been midweek games when we’ve been sort of riddled with injuries.
“So it’s a good group, a nice group to work with.
“We can probably ask a little bit more of them to get that consistency and that little bit of belief but I’m really pleased with what we’ve done in a short space of time, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
And Bartlett reiterated his belief that joining Bath in late March was definitely the right decision.
He said: “I could’ve waited and maybe looked at something else in the summer, or this one in the summer, but I feel really pleased that we got this done when we did.
“We knew it was going be a really difficult task. But I’m really pleased I’ve been able to work with the players and the board in the last month or so, because I think that’s only going be an advantage for us as we plan going forward.”
