Tuesday night’s league match against Bels marked Gillease’s last as head coach after a six-year stint.
‘I decided near the start of the season actually that this will be my last,' he said. 'Maybe not ever, I can’t see myself completely stepping away, but I just felt like it was the right time.
‘Change is never a bad thing. I think the group needs a bit of a freshen up, needs a bit of a rebuild.
‘I just think it will benefit, a bit of time to reset after what’s been quite a frantic six years in charge. I just think it was the right time for both parties, for the club, the team, and for myself personally.'
Gillease took over the role as head coach on initially an interim basis from Charlie Pinsard.
‘I was his assistant, he stepped down and the club just asked me to see it through for the rest of the season, and then six years later I was still there.
'It was a stopgap that then turned permanent,’ he said.
‘It just sort of snowballed. I wasn’t sure how it was going to be and how the group was going to react to me taking charge but it all settled pretty well and now we’ve had a great six years, we’ve had some success and good memories.
‘It’s something I’ll look back on fondly definitely.’
In the 2022/23 season, Gillease led his side to the Priaulx League and Guernsey FA Cup double, which he picked out as an highlight of his time in charge.
‘Obviously that was the first time the club has done that so that was definitely a highlight, but there have been plenty,’ he said.
‘There have been a lot of opportunities that we didn’t see through.
'We were chatting the other day and we’ve reached every single cup final available in the Channel Islands in the last six years so it could have been more, but you’ve got to get to these finals so there’s some achievement in the finals themselves.
‘It’s been great – not just the success but seeing the number of players come through and the lads who have come through from the youth and made it up to the starting team and stuff like that, so a lot of enjoyable moments – the good times definitely outweigh the bad times.’
Rovers marked the end of Gillease’s tenure with a dominant 3-0 win to secure a third-place finish. Goals came from Charlie Platt, Charlie Robilliard, and Liam Hammer, who scored his first for the Priaulx side.
