It has been a challenging season for Bristol Rovers so far.

Sitting 21st in the League One table, two points from safety with just nine league games left to play this season, the Gas are facing something of an uphill battle to retain their third-tier status for the 2021/22 campaign.

Indeed, even a change of manager has struggled to really bring about a change in form, with Joey Barton winning just two of his nine games in charge, since being appointed to replace Paul Tisdale back in Feburary.

As a result, there could be something of an overhaul at The Memorial Stadium in the summer, as the club look to build a squad capable of bouncing back from the current campaign, regardless of what division they find themselves in.

Here though, we've taken a look at the fortunes of some of Bristol Rovers past recruits, by going through the club's top ten most expensive signings - according to Transfermarkt - to find out what they are doing now.

Perhaps ironically, we open this list with a player who started his career with Bristol Rovers' bitter rivals Bristol City, in the form of Danny Coles.

After leaving Ashton Gate for Hull, Coles would make a loan move from the Tigers to Rovers permanent in January 2008 for a reported £158,000, months after moving to the Memorial Stadium, going on to make over 100 appearances for the Gas, before leaving for Exeter in 2011.

Coles would spend the next three years with the Grecians before joining Forest Green in the Conference in 2014, only to be released after just a single season with the club, who ironically missed out on promotion via the play-offs to Bristol Rovers, with that proving to be the centre back's last involvement in professional football to date.

Next up on this list is Justin Skinner, who joined Bristol Rovers from Fulham back in 1991 for a fee reported to be worth somewhere in the region of £162,000.

That deal would prove to be a good piece of business from Rovers, with Skinner remaining at the club until 1998, making over 200 appearances in all competitions for the Gas.

Following his departure from the Memorial Stadium, Skinner spent several more years playing in Scotland, representing the likes of Hibernian, Dunfermline Athletic and Brechin City before his retirement from playing in 2005, with the midfielder subsequently going on to spend some time managing in the youth ranks at Chelsea and QPR, before taking on first-team managerial roles with Farnborough and Lewes in the English non-league system.

Ellington joined Bristol Rovers from non-league Walton and Hersham in February 1999 for a reported £203,000, and would score 44 goals in 138 appearances in all competitions for the Gas before leaving for Wigan in February 2002.

After that move, the striker would spend several years with the Latics before joining West Brom - where he would spend a year playing in the Premier League - later going on to turn out for the likes of Watford, Derby, Preston and Ipswich in the Championship.

After dropping down the divisions as his playing career rather fizzled out, with Ellington later going on to take an assistant manager's position with Egerton FC in the 11th tier of English football.

Foster joined Bristol Rovers from Woking in 1997, with the Gas reportedly shelling out a fee of £203,000 for the centre back.

Over the next five years, Foster would make well over 200 appearances in total for the club, before leaving to join Doncaster, who he would help win back to back promotions from the Conference to League One between 2002 and 2004.

The defender would also go on to help Scunthorpe win the League One title during the 2006/07 season, and would then go on to play for the likes of Darlington, Mansfield, Blyth Spartans and Spennymoor Town before his playing career came to its conclusion in 2014, when he took on an assistant manager's role with non-league Whitley Bay.

Jones initially joined Bristol Rovers on loan in the 2000, and would make that move to The Memorial Stadium a permanent one in that same year for a reported £207,000.

In total, Jones would go on to rack up 68 appearances in all competitions for the Gas, before leaving in 2002, when he would again go on to make a loan deal permanent, this time joining York City on a free transfer that summer.

The versatile defender would then make a total 29 appearances for York during his time at Bootham Crescent, before leaving the club in 2004, from where he would go on to have brief spells with Alfreton, Matlock and Ilkeston.

Another who joined initially joined Bristol Rovers on loan before making his move permanent was Mickey Evans, who also completed his move to The Memorial Stadium in 2000, this time from West Brom for a reported £270,000.

The striker would score six goals in 26 appearances for Rovers, before leaving the club to rejoin his first club Plymouth Argyle on deadline day 2001, helping the club climb from League Two to the Championship before leaving for Torquay in May 2006.

Evans' stay with the Gulls however, would be a brief one, with the striker scoring once in 17 matches for the clubs before retiring from playing in November 2006.

Having joined Bristol Rovers from Rochdale for a reported £270,000 in 2006, Lambert's form for the Gas, helping them win promotion to League One and scoring 59 goals in 155 appearances, saw him bought by Southampton in 2009.

The striker's form for the Saints in helping them climb from League One to the Premier League earned him 11 England caps and subsequently a move to Liverpool in 2014.

However, Lambert struggled to replicate his prolific form at Anfield, being sold to West Brom in 2015, before joining Cardiff at the start of the 2016/17 campaign, where after another frustrating season, the striker was released by the Bluebirds in 2017, prompting him to announce his retirement from playing that same year.

After spending the latter half of the 1997/98 campaign on loan with Bristol City, Roberts joined Bristol Rovers in August 1998 for a reported £338,000 from Wolves.

The striker then went on to score 38 league goals in two seasons in the third-tier with the Gas, earning him a move to West Brom, who he would help win promotion to the Premier League, a feat he would later achieve with Wigan, before making over 150 appearances during a five-and-a-half year spell with Blackburn in the top-flight.

Roberts then spent time with Reading before retiring from playing in 2014, by which time he was already working in punditry, while the Grenada international has also taken a role as CONCACAF's Director of Development since hanging up his boots.

Leoni made the move from French side Metz to join Bristol Rovers for a reported £360,000 in 1998, going on to make 51 appearances in total for the Gas.

The defender left the club in 2000 to join Dundee United, but after just a handful of appearances for the Terrors, would spend much of the rest of his career playing in the lower-tiers of French football, with the exception of brief spells in Germany and Luxembourg.

Having spent time as assistant manager at Amiens, Leoni then dropped down the French league system to take charge of US Sarre-Union in 2018, a role he left last year due to financial difficulties caused by the pandemic.

Bristol Rovers broke their transfer record to bring Tillson to the Memorial Stadium from QPR in 1992, for a reported £401,000, and it is certainly a move that paid off for the Gas.

The centre back would go on to spend the next eight years of his career with Rovers, during which time he made just over 300 appearances for the club in all competitions.

Tillson's time at Bristol Rovers would come to an end in 2000 when he joined Walsall, helping the club win promotion from the second division via the play-offs the following year, before bringing his professional career to a close with a brief spell at Rushden and Diamonds during the 2002/03 season.