David Cameron Walker

Archive for the ‘Doncaster Rovers’ Category

R’over and out: A look back on this season

Monday, March 26th, 2012

As Billy Sharp slotted home his second goal at St.Mary’s he pretty much summed up the season Doncaster Rovers are having. Less than two months ago Sharp was a Rovers player.

Those two months seems to have gone by very slowly indeed and Rovers are now five points off safety with eight games to play. The games are running out and the great escape seems more unlikely with each passing day. Doncaster Rovers look as good as condemned to be leaving the Championship in the next month after four great seasons of entertaining football and punching well above their weight. But it was only 16 months ago the club were being described as the ‘next Blackpool,’ so what has gone wrong so much for Rovers to now be fighting against all odds to stay in this division?

Let’s begin on the opening day of the season; away at Brighton and 1-0 up at half time after a great first half performance. The second half saw injuries to both James Hayter and Sharp and Rovers were defeated by a 99th minute Brighton goal. That would be as good as it got as one point was picked up from the first seven games of the season and Sean O’Driscoll was sacked, despite Chairman John Ryan declaring the day before that his job was as safe as Sir Alex Ferguson’s.

Things were beginning to get stale under O’Driscoll, however in his defence he did have a very much depleted squad, and little money to bring in anybody of a calibre who could lift the confidence which had been shattered after a 19 game winless run. Although the manager may not have left on very good terms with the club, he will be remembered by many fans as bringing the glory days back to the town of Doncaster after 50 years.

Who was chosen to take over from the tactical mastermind? Dean Saunders, a prolific goal scorer in his career but with little managerial experience at Wrexham, and whether that was much a success can easily be debated. He had been with the Welsh club for three seasons. In his first two seasons, despite bringing in around thirty different players and expected to win promotion back to the Football League, they could only finish in 10th and 11th respectively, in his third season it finally began to tick and they claimed 4th spot but lost out in the play-offs. Before he left his post, Wrexham were sitting top of the Conference.

Saunders started his managerial career at Doncaster very well, picking up seven points in his first three games and lifting the Rovers out of the Relegation zone. If that didn’t make Rovers fans smile, they had signed Pascal Chimbonda and were being linked with El-Hadji Diouf, Frederic Piquionne and even Carlos Tevez! People were beginning to ask questions on how this was making sense and soon enough a man with the answers stepped into the limelight to receive his praise from the Rovers faithful; transfer agent Willie McKay. However this was not met with the optimism that the club would have hoped for and since making that interview for a Sunday newspaper, a divide has been created at Doncaster Rovers between the fans that will take a very long time to heal.

Since then Doncaster Rovers have signed Chris Kirkland, Damien Plessis, Mamadou Bagayoko, Habib Beye, El-Hadji Diouf, Carl Ikeme, Frederic Piquionne, David Button, Herita Ilunga, Herold Goulon, Habib Bamogo and Lamime Diatta. There was even talk of the club pushing for the play-offs, but it’s fair to say this has quite panned out how anybody expected. Despite the big names coming to Rovers, the team have struggled to shake off that losing mentality and have been stuck in a relegation fight ever since.

It isn’t as if Saunders andMcKay haven’t been genuinely trying to help the club, but the same can’t be said about some of the players, and that doesn’t just include the players that have come here since the pair decided to help the struggling South Yorkshire club.

Relegation would be a blow to Doncaster, the chairman has already stated that the club are operating at a loss at this level and should they go down the loss in TV revenue would mean financial losses in the region of £6 million. I fear for the stability and safety of the club after relegation, wondering what will happen if Rovers do go down.

Some are speculating this will be the end of the ‘McKay experiment’, others believe it will continue, while some fans are unsure and refusing to accept that relegation is a possibility. Some supporters blame Sean O’Driscoll for the current predicament, some are blaming McKay’s transfer policy, questioning whether it is right to allow one player to train with Rovers for two days a week and spend the rest of the week in France.

Are Doncaster Rovers going down the right path? I don’t think anybody knows the sure, especially when earlier this season the club’s future was left in jeopardy when two of the biggest shareholders resigned from the Board of Directors, leaving Chairman John Ryan as the last man standing.

No one can question Ryan’s commitment as a fan of Doncaster Rovers or his loyalty as a Chairman. If ever there was a man who could take on the role of being a Chairman of a business and lookout for the interests of the supporters before his back pocket, and support the team as a boyhood fan, it is John Ryan. And while he remains at Doncaster Rovers, many fans will feel more comfortable with whatever happens because they know everything John Ryan does is in the best interests of the club.

So our future may look bleak, but Rovers still have a fighting chance of surviving this season and I will see it out to the very end. Hopefully that the rest of the Rovers faithful will be doing the same, cheering on the boys, loud and proud until the final ball is kicked. Keep The Faith. R’over and out…

Written by Lee Croft, We Are Going Up’s Doncaster Rovers blogger

Lee tweets at @mr1croft

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Championship, Doncaster Rovers | No Comments »

Bad Luck. Worse Luck. Rovers’ Luck.

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

16 games – that is how long Doncaster Rovers have gone without winning. 16 whole games, that is over 24 hours on the pitch since we picked up three points, to be precise we haven’t won a game since Tuesday 1st March 2011 – a period stretching over 5 months. In that time Rovers have suffered 10 defeats and only managed 6 draws but the good news is that we are only 4 games into the new season, and our defeats have come at the hands of Brighton in their new stadium, promotion contenders West Ham and Nottingham Forest as well as a 3-0 thumping by in-form table toppers Derby at Pride Park. Looking at these opening fixtures before a ball was kicked, I wasn’t expecting much. In those 4 games Doncaster have only scored one goal and conceded seven – Rovers fans are obviously frustrated at these stats, some even calling for the head of manager Sean O’Driscoll.

The fans have been promised by Chairman and saviour John Ryan that a “loan star striker” will arrive at the Keepmoat to fill the boots of the injured players and last week Chelsea reserve star Milan Lalkovic joined on an initial one month loan. This could be a perfect move for both parties involved as his goals for Chelsea reserves cannot go unnoticed, hopefully he can become something special for Doncaster before the month is over.

For armchair fans of Doncaster, or any non-Rovers fan looking at the past 4 results, you would say we are in danger, but those that have been at the games would say different. At Brighton and Hove Albion we were arguably the better team in the first half and in the second half injuries to our two top strikers and luck on the Seagulls side ensured we came away with nothing. After conceding the early goal against West Ham United we stood toe to toe with arguably the best side in the division, making easy work of keeping possession, however with one fit striker in the squad we slumped to another defeat. Nottingham Forest was the same, Rovers the better team, making good use of space and possession but some good saves from Forest ‘keeper Lee Camp ensured McClaren’s men took all the points home.

On Saturday Rovers travelled to Pride Park to face Derby County, the ground our last league win came and it is also interesting to note that in all previous three league meetings at Pride Park we had a 100% record. However Derby’s encouraging start to the Championship this season means they have a 100% record and it was the Rams who took full control of a depleted Doncaster Rovers side, sending them packing with a 3-0 win, the first real loss of the season where the Rovers fans came away and didn’t feel hard done by.

With main players still on the injury table including James O Connor, Martin Woods, Brian Stock, James Hayter, Ryan Mason and Billy Sharp Rovers could fade away very quickly, however based on the opening 3 games of the season I believed we played pretty well and were unfortunate to not have taken anything from them. Once most of the injured make their way back into the team we can turn this season around and start moving forward.

It could be the same story as our debut season in the Championship, where after going 12 games without a win (managing a mere 2 draws) and we were rock bottom of the table as everyone tucked into their christmas turkey, however after a 4-2 win against Nottingham Forest on Boxing day we turned our season around and climbed up to a very respectable 14th. During that time we won 7 out of 8 games including one draw in a remarkable run that saw us the most in-form team of the Championship. Out of the last 23 games that season, there was only Sheffield United who racked up more points than Doncaster.

Tomorrow we play host to Leeds United at the Keepmoat. Although it is only a Carling Cup match, a win here could help carry momentum through into the league ahead of entertaining Bristol City on Saturday, the last game before the international break. Leeds have also been slow off the mark this season – despite their Carling Cup win against Bradford City, they have only managed to pick up 4 points from 4 and although that is much better than Rovers’ return so far, question marks hang over Leeds and whether they can repeat their top 7 finish of last season. Doncaster and Leeds clashes have made for entertaining viewing in recent years such as at Elland Road last season where we played out a thrilling encounter with the home side, coming from 2-1 down to win 5-2. Memorable matches also include Rovers’ famous wins at Elland Road and Wembley, but they’ve never managed to defeat Leeds United on home soil.

Of course the priority at the moment will be the league game on Saturday against Bristol City and our season needs to get back on track fast. A win tomorrow may just boost morale and kick-start the season. Some think it may already be too late for the Yorkshire club, but in reality there is 126 points still left to play for. Sixty three hours of football remain until the final whistle is blown and I will not accept our season is over until then.

Keep The Faith…

Written by Lee Croft, We Are Going Up’s Doncaster Rovers blogger

Lee tweets at @mr1croft

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Championship, Doncaster Rovers | No Comments »

Up and running…

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

Well at least the Doncaster Rovers physio is. Not even a week has gone by for the Yorkshire club and we already fading away from hopes of an over achieving season; or at least the bookmakers and journalists think so. Let’s review how it all went wrong.

Signings such as Chris Brown, Tommy Spurr, Ryan Mason, Richard Naylor, James Baxendale, Kyle Bennet and Giles Barnes set the tone in the town of Doncaster that the football club is aiming not to undergo the misery of last season where we clung on to Championship status in the closing weeks. Pre-season looked good for the Vikings and everyone couldn’t wait to get the season underway at Brighton last weekend, and after a coach journey that survived the chaos on the M25, we was all glad to be standing outside the stadium that is the American Express Community Stadium. Easily one of the nicest grounds I have been to across the country (Only Millwall’s and West Ham’s stadiums are unvisited by yours truly in the Championship, and only a hand full further across the football league). I expected Brighton to take the lead early on; spurred by their roaring crowd and with the beautiful new pitch to play out the second half in the Rovers favour, allowing us to come back and maybe steal the points and how wrong I was.

The Seagulls were in truth mediocre at best in the opening stages. They had momentum and the crowd behind them, but their chances were wasted and rather than flattening Doncaster they allowed us into the game, showed us too much of the ball and it did become a real show. It was clear to everyone in the stadium that this was the first game of the new season; as good as some of the football was mistakes were more common than crowd chants and the reactions from both sets of players weren’t as sharp as normal and foolish, late tackles were flying in from every direction. The game itself was a combination of great football, but scrappy foot work. This was underlined by a very late challenge by ex-Leeds defender Richard Naylor when he brought down Barnes for Brighton and was lucky in the hosts view not to see red.

There were also plenty of chances and Brighton new boy Craig Mackail-Smith had a whole bunch of chances to give Brighton the lead but all the chances were either a result of offside play or were wasted. Doncaster’s record striker and fan favourite Billy Sharp was clear in the 18 yard box and with only a sliding defender in his way he somehow managed to miss the target. Brighton’s best chance then came when Ashley Barnes was in the clear, he shot under the diving Woods who got enough of the shot to slow the pace but it was heading towards the line only for Rovers captain George Friend to clear. Then came the deafening blow for the hosts’ party day when Ryan Mason’s shot from the edge of the box was deflected into Sharp’s path whose poor connection was more than enough to give Rovers a deserved 1-0 lead going into half time.

Everything was going brilliant for the away team, we did make some mistakes; but we were playing well and keeping Albion at bay. The second half was to read a very different story. The swing of our fortunes started when Lewis Dunk’s horrendous challenge on Billy Sharp left the first goal scorer at the Amex on the floor clutching his ankle, on came the physio and he was soon stretchered off. Without our one-million-pound man Doncaster were pushed back by Brighton and their 2 substitutes Craig Noone and Will Buckley were to play the rest of the tale. The hosts’ pressure finally paid off seven minutes from time when sub Buckley smashed the ball from the edge of the area to beat Gary Woods at his near post. A poor goalkeeping effort; but his view was partially blocked by Naylor.

Seven minutes later and after a Doncaster corner Hayter was left on the floor clearly in pain, he was also stretchered off as our day was going from bad to worse. It would also worsen after nine minutes of extra time and Brighton broke, Buckley again surging one on one with the Rovers keeper to place it beautifully in the net and give Brighton the dream start in their new home. In the days that followed it emerged that Hayter’s injury wasn’t as bad as first thought but Billy Sharp was revealed to have suffered ankle ligament damage.

Then on Tuesday night we played hosts to Tranmere Rovers in the league cup, and the game was always in Donny’s favour as goals from Chris Brown, Ryan Mason and Kyle Bennett gave us a 3-0 win. Mason however was again stretchered off and has also suffered ankle ligament damage. If you think our situation cannot worsen anymore then you’ll be in fits of laughter when you hear our opponents on Saturday; West Ham United. With only one out and out striker fit (and question marks still hang over Brown’s fitness) and Sharp not to be fit for a long time, the loan market must apply to our club as the goals must come from somewhere. The Viking’s Supporters Co-operative (VSC) have set up a donation fund for fans to donate what they can so the board know the town backs the club and they can reach into their pockets and can push on and try and get a goal scorer.

Who will this be? It currently remains unclear and we probably won’t see this new player in a red and white shirt on Saturday at the Keepmoat against the Hammers. The only thing that does remain clear is that the next few weeks could be very slow and daunting ones for the most over-achieving club since the Premier League era began.

Written by Lee Croft, We Are Going Up’s Doncaster Rovers Blogger

Lee tweets at @mr1croft

Tags: , ,
Posted in Championship, Doncaster Rovers | No Comments »

A story of four promises

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

So here we are at the beginning of a promising blog and podcast website. I thought I’d start the ball rolling with my first blog to introduce my home town football club and my passion in life: Doncaster Rovers. You may have heard of us, you may have been to our stadium and watched us play in the Championship, but can you honestly say how we got here?

1995; Doncaster were wandering in the lower leagues of English football, in the beginning of catastrophic events the main stand of our old ground; Belle Vue was set on fire in what would turn out to be an insurance scam mastered by our own chairman; Ken Richardson. It went from bad to worse for the Yorkshire football club and in 1997/98 season we recorded the worst season possible for a football team, we set the record for the country of the most losses in a season (although in the 30’s we also set the record for the most wins in a season) and we were relegated to the conference.

It didn’t just mean relegation; our chairman didn’t care for the club and was only ever interested in selling the lease. He left as chairman and not many believed we would ever play football again, the conference association were tempted to reject our request to play in the conference, and we were left in tatters, a handful of footballs, no net and less than 10 players. It was dark times and felt like the end.

One man did believe in our football club, and this man was willing to start the revival. His name was Ian McMahon, he led a consortium that bought the club and Doncaster Rovers were to be reborn. He contacted John Ryan; a local business man, who was also on the board during the Richardson regime, Ryan agreed with McMahon that it was in the best interest of everyone to allow Ryan to become Chairman and eventually our owner. The fans that did remain were treated to a blast from the past when Rovers legends Ian and Glyn Snodin returned to the club to be manager and assistant. That season we survived relegation but managed to win the Conference league trophy, a great feat as far as anyone with the club were concerned. John Ryan made four promises to the fans that season. He would:

1. Get us out of the Conference

2. Move us to a new ground

3. Make Doncaster Rovers reach a cup final

4. Get us into the second tier of English football

As mad as they all sound no one really took the fourth one seriously, it had been 40 years previously since we played in the second tier.

We settled as a conference club and in the years that passed the task of getting out of the conference seemed impossible, only one was promoted each season and the competition was fierce. In 2002 however it was announced that two teams would be promoted – the team that won the league and a Conference play-off would be introduced. That allowed teams from second position to fifth battle it out to win a place in the Football League. And in remarkable fashion with Dave Penney as manager Doncaster reached the play-offs, securing it with a 4-2 win on the last game of the season against Hereford United; despite being 2-1 down. On that day John Ryan made his Doncaster debut and made the Guinness Book of Records to become the oldest man to play football.

After defeating Chester over two legs (winning in the penalty shootout), we booked ourselves into the first Conference play-off final against Dagenham and Redbridge. On the 10th May 2003, Francis Tierney scored the golden goal for Doncaster Rovers at Stoke’s Britannia Stadium to win a place in the Football League; finishing the game at 3-2 to Doncaster. Finally we were back and John Ryan’s first promise was achieved.

The following season we were heavily tipped to finish bottom and descend into the Conference again. Hull City were widely tipped to be promoted. Hull City were promoted in second place, while relegation favourites Doncaster Rovers rocked the footballing world to finish first and win back-to-back promotions.

The next season was a quiet one compared to the seasons before and Doncaster achieved a very respectable mid table position in League One. The next season however was a typical Doncaster Rovers season, although we weren’t ever going to effectively challenge for the play-offs we went on an amazing run in the League Cup. Drawing 1-1 with Man City and knocking them out on penalties. Aston Villa beckoned next and Belle Vue were treated to a real show as McIndoe, Heffernan and Thornton scored the goals to thump Villa 3-0 and we proceeded to the Quarter Finals; a home tie against Arsenal. Twice Doncaster lead the gunners and twice Arsenal came back, scoring a dramatic equaliser in the 122nd minute with an extra time goal to take the tie to penalties. Doncaster tried but lost eventually 4-1 on penalties. We kept our heads high and there was no shame in losing to arguably one of the best sides in the country.

After four seasons of managing Doncaster Rovers after making the step up as a player for the club in the conference, the manager Dave Penney had become a legend among the fans. He had masterminded the successes the club was having. It then came as a big surprise when the club announced that they had parted company with Dave Penney. Considering our success if anything was clear it was that we were in the hunt for a better manager to take Doncaster on to big and better things. Doncaster born Kevin Keegan was rumoured in the media to have been contacted about coming to Doncaster to manage his hometown football club.

Then in what would be one of the most story-changing moments for Doncaster Rovers, Sean O’Driscol was the man chosen to replace Dave Penney. This did not meet the fans with great overjoy. He never made a very encouraging start either, and the year 2007 was fast approaching and the days of Belle Vue were numbered. The brand spanking Keepmoat Stadium awaited and the Rovers would have to say goodbye to their 74-year home. In a very emotional day, Doncaster played their final game at Belle Vue against Nottingham Forest on the 23rd December. Thankfully however the Rovers did win that game 1-0. Tears were shed and the lights went out at old Belle Vue for the final time.

From tears of sadness to tears of joy the Rovers started a new era in the Keepmoat Stadium on New Year’s Day by thrashing local rivals Huddersfield in a 3-0 win. Although it was never going to be Belle Vue, the future looked bright. We finally had a new home and John Ryan’s second promise was achived.

Sean O’Driscol was not doing terrible, but that didn’t stop the fans from questioning whether he was the right appointment. To answer his critics O’Driscol guided his new team to the semi-final of the Johnstone’s Paint trophy against Crewe Alexandra. The first leg ended 3-3 when Doncaster played away and the return leg was to be a thrilling encounter. Half time at the Keepmoat and Crewe lead the hosts 2-0, 5-3 on aggregate and they were pretty much already in the final. In the second half Paul Heffernan scored a goal after a brilliant spin on the spot to pull one back. After his first penalty was disallowed he stepped up to score the retake. 5-5 on aggregate and in the closing stages of the match Jason Price had the ball three-yards from the net, after scuffing his first shot, he did finally pushed the ball over the line to give Doncaster the win.

A final against Bristol Rovers awaited, due to delays in the build of the new Wembley, the game was to take part at the Millennium Stadium, and would also be the final English cup final to take place in the stadium. It wasn’t the FA cup of league cup, but it was considered a major English trophy amongst the lower leagues and it was definitely a cup final as far as anyone was concerned. We were going to the Millennium and John Ryan’s third promise was achieved.

The Rovers of the North took on the Rovers of the South on 1st April 2007. Doncaster lead by 2 after just 5 minutes of play, Bristol however came back in the second half, despite being in a league below to draw level. It was tense all around the stadium and the 20000 Doncaster fans in attendance blew the roof off the stadium when Captain Graeme Lee headed home a Sean Thornton corner to win the game for the Yorkshire club and win us our first trophy final in our first appearance.

The next season Sean O’Driscol signed James Hayter, one of his players from ex-club Bournemouth, along with highly-rated duo Richie Wellens and Martin Woods. Defender Matt Mills was brought in on loan from Manchester City and it was clear that the club were to push on for promotion. Things were looking promising after Christmas and the club recorded wins against promotion rivals Nottingham Forest, Carlisle United and Leeds United and would sit for most of the second half of the season in second and third place. The final game of the season and Doncaster sat in second place; a win and we were promoted. Doncaster lost 2-1 to Cheltenham and Nottingham Forest won their match against Yeovil 3-2 to beat Doncaster to promotion. For the Rovers; the play offs beckoned.

Joint top scorer Paul Heffernan was sent off in the first play-off leg against Southend United and things were looking bad for the home leg with the game tied at 0-0. However it would become the James Coppinger show and the Rovers midfielder bagged a hatrick and the game finished 5-1 to Doncaster. The final; to be played at Wembley, would be against Leeds United who were looking to bounce back to the Championship at the first attempt. However they would have been promoted automatically had they not received a 15-point deduction.

Five years ago from then and Doncaster were in the Conference playing the likes of Dagenham and Redbridge, Stevenage Borough and Hereford United. Leeds United were in the Premiership challenging the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United. On the 25th May 2008 they shared the same division. One would be promoted; no statistics, no 15-point handicaps, no advantages, no replay, just 90 minutes of football in a one-off event where the winner gets promoted. The players took to the field, the referee put the whistle in his mouth, and the game began. 45 minutes of play and no breakthrough for either side. The second half began and Doncaster attacked, after Coppinger’s free kick was deflected out for a corner, captain Brian stock stepped up and whipped in the cross that joint top scorer James Hayter jumped up to head home what would be the winner after a very tense second half.

The small club from the town near Sheffield had done it. They had won promotion to the Championship. They defeated all the odds to feel like Kings of English football for just a day, beating Leeds United in the world’s home of football at Wembley. Doncaster were in the second tier of English Football after 50 years and John Ryan’s fourth promise was achieved.

Written by Lee Croft, We Are Going Up’s Doncaster Rovers Blogger

Lee tweets at @mr1croft

 

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Championship, Doncaster Rovers | 1 Comment »