In the hot seat

IN THE HOT SEAT: DONCASTER ROVERS MANAGERS FROM 1920

IAN SNODIN (1998-2000)

After the disastrous 1997-98 season, Doncaster Rovers found themselves out of the Football League and facing a very uncertain future. Eventually some hope emerged in July 1998 when Westferry Ltd., a company based in the Republic of Ireland, secured an agreement to buy the club from Ken Richardson and Dinard Trading. Rovers were finally rid of the man whose actions had brought them to the lowest point in their history.

from the foot of the table and into safety. Two of Snodin’s signings were key: striker Ian Duerden, who had arrived from Burnley, gave the team much-needed firepower, while former Liverpool and Scotland legend Steve Nicol shored up things in defence.

There was even a nice little end of season bonus. Rovers progressed through the early rounds of the Conference League Cup. They reached the two-legged Final against Farnborough Town and having won 1-0 in the away leg, pulled in a crowd of 7,160 for the home leg. Goals by Colin Sutherland and Duerden (2) secured a 4-0 aggregate victory and some long overdue silverware. The attendance also showed that support was still there for Rovers.

There was only a month to go before the start of the Football Conference season when the deal was done, but the new owners acted quickly to hire a manager, and the appointment was bound to inspire hope amongst Rovers fans. Ian Snodin had come through the ranks at Belle Vue and the gifted midfielder had been involved in two promotions before moving on to play for Leeds United and Everton among others. Now winding down his career at Scarborough, he would join Rovers as player-manager with older brother Glynn as his assistant.

Snodin’s first job was to gather a team to play in the opening game at Dover on 15th August and this he did by calling in several favours. Rovers gave a decent account of themselves, losing only by an odd goal on a day that was about showing that Doncaster Rovers were still alive. A week later, Snodin enjoyed his first win as manager, Rovers beating Kidderminster Harriers 1-0 at Belle Vue.

Nevertheless, Rovers’ form was patchy, and by Christmas they were in the relegation zone, facing the possibility of dropping into the Northern Premier League. However, a run of better results clawed Rovers away There was much optimism at the start of 1999-2000 that Rovers could earn back their place in the Football League, even though only the Conference Champions were then promoted. Despite the signing of recent Premier League winner Mike Newell, Rovers were inconsistent and by mid-season it was clear that promotion was off the agenda for this season. Worse was to follow from February 2000 Rovers embarked on a run of only one win in 12 games and slipped dangerously close to the relegation zone. In April, Rovers chairman John Ryan and his board took the difficult decision to dismiss the Snodin brothers. Rovers enjoyed an upturn in results under caretaker-bosses Mark Atkins and Dave Penney and avoided the drop.

Ian Snodin was exactly the managerial appointment Rovers needed after the Richardson years, a club legend who could unite the fans behind the team. To a point he did well and certainly he deserved massive credit for what he did to pull a team together. Ultimately, he couldn’t reverse a dreadful slump in results in 1999-2000 and unfortunately paid the price.

SENIOR RECORD

FIRST MATCH: 15th August 1998 v Dover Athletic (away) lost 0-1

LAST MATCH: 15th April 2000 v Morecambe (away) lost 1-2

PLAYED 97

WON 37

DREW 22

LOST 38

WINNING PERCENTAGE: 38.1% 19