The signing of Romaine Sawyers earlier this month went against the general recruitment ethos that Bristol Rovers have begun to lay down since George Friend’s appointment as director of football almost a year ago. However, the experienced midfielder’s arrival could prove to be exactly what this group needs.

At 33, Sawyers has played the best part of 450 games at club level, competing in all four divisions of English League football. He is also closing in on a half-century of senior caps for Saint Kitts and Nevis, for whom he is eligible through his grandmother.

Rovers do have a handful of experienced pros within their ranks but seniority is something they have often lacked on the pitch this campaign while they have also been susceptible to being carved through the middle far too easily. The hope will be that Sawyers can offer much-needed impact off the pitch as much as on it.

READ MORE: 'Huge inconsistency' - What Bristol Rovers can expect from Wigan Athletic this weekend

READ MORE: Inigo Calderon issues latest challenge to Bristol Rovers players ahead of Wigan Athletic trip

“Massively,” the January recruit told Bristol Live when asked about relishing a senior leadership role. “I think my biggest thing for that is when I was younger, football was a bit different to now. It was more tough and old school and it was a case of the young boys would just be in and around it but I want to be approachable. I’ve played a lot of games. I’ve been around dressing rooms.

“I want the younger boys in the team to feel comfortable coming to me and asking me things. I won’t always know the answers and I won’t always have the right answers but if I can just give them a little bit of help, hopefully it’ll stand them in good stead.

“The most positive time in my career was at Brentford when I was captain and having that extra responsibility brings out more of me as a character and a person. So I like that added pressure.

“Don’t get me wrong, I had good senior pros in other ways, like standards and stuff and how you should be as a professional,” Sawyers added. “But it wasn’t always accessible for me to go and have a 30 minute conversation with them for whatever reason.

“I’m just one of them where we have a very fortunate job where we do half days, should we say, most of the time so half an hour for a young kid that could help for the next three years is second to none.

“To be fair, this group before I came in, George told me that they’ve got a mantra of signing younger players to try and nurture and I think the senior boys here in Scotty, Chrissy, Hunty, Willo, they’ve got good senior pros. So it’s good for like the Lino’s, the Shaq’s, the Gats’, the younger boys in the team that they’ve got pros that they can lean on who have played a lot of games at different levels.”

Having been released by Cardiff City last season after a campaign that brought just 357 minutes of club football, Sawyers had to be patient to find a new employer until AFC Wimbledon offered the midfielder a one-month deal in December. After playing five games for the League Two side, the 33-year-old then made the move to Rovers following the expiry of his brief stint in the capital.

The general reviews from those who witnessed Sawyers’ handful of appearances for Wimbledon all aligned with the fact that the midfielder was still far too good for League Two football having played for the likes of West Brom, Brentford, Stoke City and Walsall as well as Cardiff.

Although an injury to Kamil Conteh has also reduced the number of available midfield options, Sawyers’ value to Rovers has been evident immediately with Inigo Calderon handing the January addition immediate starts against Ipswich Town in the FA Cup and at home to Barnsley last weekend.

Already, the midfielder has made more club appearances within the space of a month than he did for the entirety of last season at Cardiff. That is testament to the 33-year-old’s character with it easy to forget he was unattached for the best part of six months.

“I think it was difficult,” Sawyers reflected. “It’s the first time I’ve had anything remotely similar in my career, fortunately, and it’s a case of your self-confidence or self-value isn’t always going to be a reflection of what it is.

“I don’t feel like I’m finished yet at the level I’ve played at, or this level, or League Two, or either level so it’s a case of I just have to stay ready and I think me going in at Wimbledon after being at home for six, seven months and hitting the ground running was a testament of my character and a commodity to myself.

“That’s the biggest thing I could have [done] because I could have went in there and then been way behind and not ever caught back up and then the same here, I could come in here and like instead of being a month away at the moment and I could be two, three months off it and then that takes us to March and then I'm no value to the club.

“So I just had to stay positive and the only way I was going to be able to, shall we say, back up the fact that I thought I wasn't finished was by coming here and being ready.

“The first 10 weeks of the season, the PFA had a great programme on in Burton and I’m Birmingham based so that was very good and that gave you that club environment. You train Monday to Thursday with the PFA, other players in similar positions and good coaching staff and whatnot. But then after that finished, I had like a five block period where it was just like, if you don’t get up and do it, then nobody’s going to do it for you. I had to prove to myself, one I could do it, and then two, to make sure that I was ready.”

On the move to Rovers, Sawyers added: “I was at Wimbledon for the month of December and two weeks into that my agent called me and just said that he’s had a call off George and just to let him know when I’m playing games there, just so he can actually run the rule off me with an eye test.

“Then a week before I came there was negotiation between my agent and George to see if I was going to sign on at Wimbledon or not. Then a couple of days before I came in I spoke to the manager and George when my contract was up at Wimbledon and the manager just told me his ideas. George told me the direction of the club and both of them aligned with where I want to be at this stage in my career. So it was an easy choice.”

Very rarely do Rovers have a senior international with the best part of 50 caps for his country play for them which makes Sawyers’ career even more fascinating.

The midfielder won’t be having to make the long trip to the Caribbean while his current deal in BS7 is running, which expires at the end of the season, with Saint Kitts and Nevis’ next fixtures not until June when they face Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada in World Cup qualifying.

However, that did also play into the decision of signing a deal until the end of the season with the Gas as it should ensure the midfielder is fit enough to be available for that camp.

“That’s another reason why these six, seven months have been quite good because I’ve always had international windows,” Sawyers confessed. “So in the summer I’d be off for two weeks but I’m not off feet because I have to stay fit for then the international games and then after the international games I get two weeks before I come back for pre-season.

“Six, seven months at home was bad but in terms of the last ten plus years, it worked in its own favour if that makes sense? It’s non-stop but as long as my body can continue doing it, I’d love to keep doing it because it’s all I’ve known since I was 16 and I could be doing a lot worse jobs.

“I think it opened my eyes to another type of football,” the midfielder added. “Caribbean football is completely different to the English leagues. Technically and tactically not as advanced as the English leagues but physically they are more advanced. Like real athletes, real ability and again, it coincides with what I was saying about being a leader.

“I’ve been fortunate enough that in that group, I’ve been a senior player even though I haven’t always been the oldest, but in terms of my playing level has been the senior. So it’s always been good.

“It’s a family tie in terms of my grandmother’s from there. We go back there yearly as a family and stuff like that so all of them things away from the pitch also makes a massive, massive difference. So it was more than just a footballing decision to make that commitment and I’ve had some unbelievable experiences.”

READ MORE: 'Come for us' - Wigan Athletic manager issues warning to players ahead of Bristol Rovers visit

READ MORE: Inigo Calderon highlights key detail of how Bristol Rovers can start to 'play football better'