popular STAND 66

EDITORIAL Friends, Rovers, Yorkshiremen Thank you for choosing to give £1 of your hard earned money to us in return for Issue 66 of popular STAND, or as it is otherwise known, the ‘bloody hell it’s all going rather well isn’t it’ issue.

We have returned to the Championship, a strong second tier, laden with parachutes strewn with cash there to help the already well financed stay well financed, and though we feared being cut adrift we appear to be competing on our own terms. A focus on the squad over individual big names has brought us some convincing performances against some of the division’s stronger sides, and even a victory from a poor performance against Sheffield Wednesday which means we now sit as South Yorkshire’s strongest football side. Would you have contemplated that a decade ago?

In the press room after the match at Hillsborough last week there were

three ex-pros talking about the Owls I can’t tell you who they were, not due to any need for confidentiality, but because I haven’t a clue, and I was busy trying to look like I was doing something press-like rather than just charging my phone for the train home. Anyway, they were full of negative bluster about Wednesday these three, and there general consensus was that “it needs someone to chuck money at it this club”, and the core criticism of Jones was “He’s picked up players that other clubs have released and don’t want, and clubs don’t let decent players get away from them”.

They all agreed on that last point, which was an interesting given that we’d all just watched Wednesday beaten by a cheaply assembled Rovers side in which a released goalkeeper and an on loan centre-half had kept them at bay, whilst an unwanted midfielder had controlled the game, helping an on loan striker to head home his third goal in two games.

This with Theo Robinson (also

CONTENTS: ISSUE 66 05. The Bernard Glover Diaries 09. SPOTTED! 10. To Lindum And Back 12. I Wish You’d Signed M’Voto 13. Voice of the Pop Side 16. Belize-y for Dennis 17. Belles Rung Out

21. Easy For Dennis 22. Jack The Miner’s Coalface 25. Windmills Of Your Mind 28. SLO Progress 29. Forum For’em 30. Blowing My Own Trumpet 32. Seasons In Retrospect

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unwanted) having an off-day, and Rob Jones, let go by none other than Sheffield Wednesday having a steady game as captain.

Money, as our club has shown often enough, is not the answer to everything. Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City may splash the cash to be competitive in the top flight, but so too did Portsmouth and Leeds and to an extent Bradford, and if Rovers were to take on board an investment and go all out in pursuit of the Premier League you’d suspect we’d have more likelihood of joining the latter trio of clubs than the former.

That is why, as I mentioned in my last editorial, I was pleased to see the club taking time to study the prospective ‘takeover’ bid from Sequentia Capital rather than seeing dollar signs and snapping the arm off whichever Irish/Belize based consortium/hedge-fund/group was actually thrusting its arm our way. The ever-excellent John Coyle looks at the Sequentia bid in more detail on pages 13-15 so I won’t steal his thunder, but I think it’s safe to say that any group who threaten supporters who discuss their merits with legal action deserves to be treated with utmost caution. As such, the news, which broke as I was penning this editorial, that Rovers had chosen to reject the recent bid or bids to was a welcome one.

As chance would have it, between Hillsborough and Sheffield station last Saturday I bumped into an ex-Cardiff City fan I know. It was 6pm on a Saturday and he had no idea how Cardiff had got on that afternoon, nor did he have any desire to find out. That’s what unthinking investment can do. Cardiff may be

in the top flight, but the majority of people who carried them in the fourth division are no longer there, and should they fall away those who came for the ride will no doubt disappear and follow an actual Big Red Club rather than a pretend one.

Supporters are the bed-rock after all, and I’m glad that our club is now putting that relationship ahead of balance sheets and big names.

So to mattes on the pitch then, and this fanzine reaches you in the midst of a touch three game run, following the win/draw/loss over/with/to Burnley on Tuesday night [delete as appropriate I wrote this Tuesday morning] we now host Leicester today, before Billy Sharp inevitably scores against us at Reading in a fortnight. It isn’t easy, and it will be a struggle, but at least we’re doing it our way, and on our own terms.

Those terms are being dictated by a manager who has shrugged off an air of indifference to his appointment and set about showing us exactly what he can do. Paul Dickov is causing us concerns here at popular STAND at the moment - as you can see on page 15 of this issue - by failing to put a foot wrong. We’re not used to such infallibility at our club and it is frankly putting us all on edge. I keep watching post match interviews with him waiting for him to say something daft, just to put my mind at rest, but no, it’s just a constant stream of sense, devoid of paranoia or blame-shifting. And he dresses well too. The bastard.

Anyway, enjoy issue 66 of the fanzine, and whatever else the next two months throws at us.

Viva Rovers

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GW

THE BERNARD GLOVER DIARIES AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER HAVE BEEN EVENTFUL MONTHS AT DONCASTER ROVERS; HERE’S A RECAP. THURSDAY 1ST AUGUST Louis Tomlinson, a Doncastrian member of boy-band One Direction, ‘signs’ for Rovers to prompt much anger here at popular STAND. Not because of the signing itself, but because of the timing. The day after we sent issue 65 to the printers; a well of comic gold wasted. Cheers Rovers. Tomlinson’s signing, as part of a charity push for Bluebell Wood does bring a knee-jerk reaction from Rovers fans and wider football supporters, notably those who decree themselves ‘Against Modern Football’. Frankly, if you feel local celebrity joining local football club to help a charity is “a new low”, then allow me to introduce you to Mr Scudamore, Mr Bates and Mr Murdoch.

SATURDAY 3RD AUGUST ROVERS 1-3 BLACKPOOL It’s not often you come away from a home defeat feeling wholly positive, but despite a late collapse against Blackpool that’s exactly how I and many others felt. The 4-2-3-1 formation deployed by Paul Dickov was riveting to watch and had Blackpool concerned throughout the first half, with just an inability to take the chances that it created costing Rovers.

There was criticism on the forums post match for Ross Turnbull, as he attempted a tackle in the Blackpool half after coming up for a late corner, only for the ball to fall to Tom Ince

who ultimately rolled in the third goal from 45 yards, and to be frank there is only one word for Turnbull’s efforts; hilarious. I mean come on, it’s your goalkeeper attempting a tackle in the centre-circle, if that doesn’t fill you with some mirth then you should probably hand this fanzine to the person next to you.

TUESDAY 6TH AUGUST ROVERS 1-0 ROCHDALE Denied by the bar twice and a few heroics from the Rochdale goalkeeper Rovers eventually secure a passage into the next round of the League Cup when Bongani Khumalo nods home David Cotterill’s free-kick. Although it needs a late great save from Turnbull to ensure that Rovers avoid extra-time.

THURSDAY 8TH AUGUST As speculation and investigation runs deep on the VSC Messageboards regarding exactly who the mystery investors within Sequentia Capital are and what they could want from Doncaster Rovers the Free Press announces that Denis O’Brien has flatly denied having any interest in investing in the club. Attention therefore turns to Kevin Phelan, although there are suggestions he is simply acting as a go-between with reports in the Irish Sunday Mail suggesting that one of the purported backers is based in Belize.

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THURSDAY 15TH AUGUST The aforementioned messageboard discussion, which had brought some interesting points of discussion regarding Sequentia Capital and any potential investment is pulled by the VSC board admin in the wake of a legal threat from Sequentia. A post on the forum reads; “Today the VSC has received legal notification from lawyers acting on the behalf of Sequentia Capital regarding comments made by supporters of DRFC on the Viking Chat forum.

Whilst the terms of the Viking Chat forum are quite clear in that comments made on the forum are attributable solely to the individual making them, we don’t wish to see supporters of DRFC subsequently threatened. To this end, we have agreed to comply with the concerns presented by Sequentia Capital’s lawyers and have decided as an act of goodwill to delete this thread before the end of the day.”

Someone at Sequentia has clearly mislaid their copy of PR for Beginners it would seem. If looking to win over fans you’d think ‘issuing a lawsuit’ would be further down the list, buried well beneath say ‘promotional hats’ or ‘free lollipops’. Alas no. I don’t know about you, but I’m not entirely taken by these Sequentia Capital folk.

FRIDAY 16TH AUGUST ROVERS 2-0 BLACKBURN ROVERS The phrase “the likes of Doncaster” was no doubt bouncing around Lancashire mesageboards after this excellent first league win of the new season.

For all the complaining about this game having been nudged to Friday night due to the European Power Boating Championships on the Lake, it probably helped bring a bit more atmosphere to the Keepmoat.

Two goals from set-pieces make the difference as Theo Robinson nods home James Husband’s free-kick to score on his debut for the club, whilst Husband himself finds the scoresheet in the second-half with an overhit cross from the left flying all the way in. After the game Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer doesn’t do a wholly convincing job of changing the record; “I’m not coming out here every week saying that we should’ve got more out of it, so we’re going to put a stop to that, but you’re right, we should’ve got more from this”.

TUESDAY 20TH AUGUST WIGAN ATHLETIC 2-2 ROVERS Wigan fans have got a bit up themselves of late haven’t they? Sure they may have won the FA Cup, and they may be playing in the Group Sectional Round-Robin Preliminary League Stages of the never ending Europa Cup, but booing your team off at half-time just because they’ve had the temerity to be 2-0 down to little old Doncaster is a bit rich. We’re not Sky you know, we can remember when you gave away fans a grass bank, and your main stand looked like the neighbours shed after the ‘87 hurricane had taken a side off. Anyway, Wigan failed to take their first half chances, whilst Rovers took theirs; Robinson netting again with a strong turn and finish and Chris Brown nodding home to give a two goal lead to cling to in the second half. It could have been three in the second half too as Khumalo’s header came back off the post before Wigan’s strength finally showed and they pulled the game back through Shaun Maloney and Leon Barnett, the latter celebrating his deflected strike like a cross between Bruce Banner and Marco Tardelli. Calm down love, we’re only Donny. He looked silly enough, but he could’ve looked even more daft had

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Billy Paynter’s header dropped in rather than against the bar. Still, if you’d offered me a two-two draw at the start of this game I would have wondered why you felt I needed a specific storage space for ballet clothing.

SATURDAY 24TH AUGUST CHARLTON ATHLETIC 1-3 ROVERS (MATCH ABANDONED) When it rains it pours, and so it did in that noted tropical rainforest of London, SE7. Despite little rain all week until Saturday morning (trust me, I live less than two miles away), The Valley had somehow reached saturation point by the time this fixture kicked off. Rovers reacted much better to the conditions that their hosts though, flying out the traps to lead in the first minute through a Paul Keegan header. Two further goals from Chris Brown followed before the midway point in the first half, but the moment Rovers went 2-0 up the home players and fans suddenly decided that perhaps the pitch wasn’t playable after all, and went out of their way to point out that things were very wet to the match referee. Eventually referee Lee Collins took the players off for half an hour after twenty-six minutes Charlton made themselves scarce whilst the Rovers players picked up tools and aided the few groundstaff who seemed to be making an effort to keep the game on as best they could. Half an hour later play restarted with conditions no better, but half-time was reached, by which time Simon Church had pulled a goal back, and Keegan had pulled a man back to get himself sent-off. The half-time break went on, and on, before ultimately it was announced that was that, match abandoned. Collins reportedly said the conditions were “spoiling the game as a spectacle”.

Personally as a spectacle I was finding it increasingly hilarious and very entertaining, but then what do I know.

It’s not often you get to use the word farce and mean it; today was such an occasion though.

TUESDAY 27TH AUGUST ROVERS 1-3 LEEDS UNITED We always try to dismiss any perceived rivalry with Leeds, but they are bloody hard to feel anything other than a loathing towards plonking themselves among home fans and causing a nuisance rather than sitting on their hands like any normal fan would. A header from Paynter drew Rovers level in this game, but two goals in quick succession in the final quarter of an hour wrapped it up for the visitors to end Rovers’ League Cup progress at the second round stage.

SATURDAY 31ST AUGUST ROVERS 0-1 BOURNEMOUTH Awful. Terrible. Hugely disappointing.

Bournemouth infuriated by play-acting and time-wasting, but the truth is Rovers simply never turned up to this game.

SATURDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 0-0 ROVERS A dominant first half display from Rovers yet somehow they fail to find the net having been denied by the woodwork and the Terriers’ keeper.

Ultimately a good point from a tough away game, but another fixture that could have potentially brought Rovers more.

MONDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER Having failed to find the net in two games Rovers’ front line receives a

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boost with the addition of Fedrico Macheda on loan from Manchester United for a month. Formerly thrown the way of Sampdoria, Stuttgart and QPR Macheda has struggled for goals in recent years – as many folk are quick to point out on the mesaageboards -but his quality surely can’t be argued. The news isn’t as good for another high-profile Rovers signing Louis Tomlinson is unable to play for the reserves against Scunthorpe on Wednesday following an injury sustained in a charity game, but he will still be on hand for autographs to keep those baying, frothing One Directioners at bay.

TUESDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER WATFORD 2-1 ROVERS A disappointing defeat for Rovers who had done well to contain last season’s beaten play-off finalists throughout.

After Brown had equalised a Lewis McGugan opener in the first half, the match was eventually settled by a disputed penalty five minutes from time as James Husband brought Sean down right on the edge of the area, and referee Darren Drysdale deemed it to be on or inside the line, though subsequent replays have proved otherwise. It’s easy for us to look at perfectly frozen replays of the incident and say “Look! It’s clearly outside the box,” but if you’ve needed a freeze-frame to prove it, then you can hardly argue it was a clear-cut decision. On commentary at the time my initial thought was penalty; so as disappointed as I am to be proven otherwise, I don’t see this as any great conspiracy for big clubs to triumph over smaller ones, just a mistaken interpretation of a clumsy challenge.

In truth the hosts probably deserved it on the balance of play with Rovers having Ross Turnbull to thank for

keeping them in the game during a second forty-five minutes played almost exclusively in our half.

SATURDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER ROVERS 2-2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST An impressive Rovers performance is muted by two brilliantly taken goals from Chris Cohen and Andy Reid for the visitors. Federico Macheda answered the criticisms from those who had highlighted his recent goalscoring record to net both of Rovers goals with great composure tucking home Robinson’s pass for his first, before wrapping up a great move involving Robinson and Wellens for his second. A real quality performance from Rovers against another of the division’s top sides to instil the belief that the points tally thus far doesn’t accurately reflect the performances.

SATURDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER SHEFFIELD WEDNESAY 0-1 ROVERS During half-time I overheard two Wednesday fans talking on the concourse “It’s much better than it has been,” “Aye, you’re right there”.

If this was much better how bad have things been at Hillsborough? I felt like giving the pair of them a hug. Few chances, mistakes all over the field, and a myriad of empty seats thanks to over-priced tickets; this was for the most part a terrible, clumsy local derby.

They do say however that it is a sign of a good team that can win without playing well, and Rovers managed that feat this afternoon. A shift of formation at half-time improved the performance, and Macheda took his chance again, nodding home a cross from Coppinger for the win; Copps being one of the key protagonists in the improved second half showing.

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SUNDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER Doncaster Belles’ twenty-two year stay in the top flight of the women’s game ends with a 3-0 home defeat to Birmingham City with the visitors sportingly giving the Belles a guard of honour from the field. Later in the evening the club announce that after a decade in charge John Buckley has left mutual consent and that the Belles will be reverting to a new set-up, based on “the Barcelona model” which includes education opportunities for players through sponsor BPP University, and the return of Julie Chipchase as Director of Football. On social media former player Gill Coulthard hints she may pursue the vacant manager role.

MONDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER Via a short statement on the club website Rovers announce that, despite recent interest from various investors, they have “come to the conclusion that it is in Doncaster Rovers’ best interest to remain in the hands of the current investors.” The statement continued “We are part way through a project with Doncaster Rovers that we all feel passionate about. Our aims are to bring the club closer to the local community and to bring economic growth to the area through our activity whilst continually improving our playing performance on the pitch.” A welcome rare occurence of a club looking at the bigger picture rather than short-term financial gains; something which can only be applauded. Reports in the Free Press on Monday evening suggested that this wasn’t the end of things as far as Sequentia Capital are concerned, but then it is not really in the interest of the local newspaper for speculation to end.

GW

SAM HIRD

I live nextdoor to his auntie and so I usually see him walking in or out of her house. My mum asked if he fancied a cuppa, but he said no as he had to be somewhere.

spotter: @callumjones1011

TONY CUNNINGHAM

Alone and suited crossing West Parade in Lincoln near to the office where he works as a solicitor, spotter: @RWK79

LEO FORTUNE-WEST

Saw him in town a couple of weeks ago, he was with a tall blond woman, she was fit.

spotter: @chopper_donc64

PAUL MARQUIS

In York shopping last month; enjoying an ice cream and the Eastern European band outside M&S

spotter: James Buckley

BARRY MILLER

In my office, finishing off a third custard cream. Penney will never pick him if he keeps on like this.

spotter: Andy Thompson

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TO LINDUM AND BACK THERE’S PLENTY OF CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM FROM ROVERS’ RETURN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP EXPLAINS CHRIS KIDD Six and a half League games in and The Dickov Way is beginning to work its magic. That might seem an odd thing to say being as, at the time of writing, Rovers currently sit 18th in the table where all other teams have played seven games to Rovers six but there is genuine promise in the class of 2013/14.

Dickov’s style has been pleasing, restoring the footballing philosophy that has become synonymous with the club over the last ten years.

The Championshop winning season of 2012/13 will be remember for getting the job done, Dean Saunders astutely built a big, physical team to get out of a big, physical league.

The style suited the purpose and although not great to watch for most of the season Rovers came away with the ultimate prize, albeit by the skin of their shin pads, but much of that 46th game was characteristic of the forty-five that had come before it.

Promotion brought Championship football back to Doncaster and indeed necessitated a change in style. OK, maybe Championship football doesn’t mean you suddenly have to play pure football but it does mean a lot of other teams play the right way and so it certainly does help. Just look at the Sheffield United’s of this world, oh, my mistake, we’re talking about Championship football here. So after witnessing a whole season where

Rovers largely played a lot of long ball football and finally mastered set pieces it is a welcome return to seeing the ball played on the lush new surface (version 5) of the Keepmoat.

Dickov had gone largely unnoticed in his short managerial career until the FA Cup run with Oldham last season and it was a characteristic low-key appointment from Rovers when he was presented with the reigns over the summer. Much like Sean O’Driscoll he is relatively unproven, but seems to have made a name for himself somewhere along the line. Perhaps the distinguishing feature between S’OD and Dickov is the latter’s playing career and the contact book he can rely on. That contact book was put to good use as Rovers signed one-time Manchester United starlet Federico Macheda.

Most of us will remember him bursting on to the scene a few years ago in a game against Aston Villa where he curled in a superb winning goal for United. Following that introduction he has somewhat failed to live up to the expectation under no doubt immense pressure at Old Trafford. It will be interesting to see how he can contribute to an already lively strike partnership of Robinson and Brown.

In fact the loan players seem to be showing up well thus far; Bongani Khumalo looks very impressive and

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has hardly put a foot wrong whilst bringing the necessary pace to the centre half partnership he makes up with Rob Jones. It is easy to see why Spurs would be interested in a player like Khumalo but he seems to have missed his opportunity there as they push for regular Champions League football; perhaps a successful season here would set up a full time move. Reece Wabara has also shown many of the expected modern Premier League full back attributes, very attacking and always looking to support as far up the field as possible. He still has a bit of learning to do but that will come with match experience and playing at a higher level, let’s not

forget he was playing League One football last season with a mid table team.

Now to switch focus to the Rolls Royce in the Doncaster Rovers garage; Richie Wellens has slipped back in absolutely seamlessly He is exactly the same player that departed to Leicester if not a touch better and even a touch fitter despite his age and recent injury problem. Wellens is the player every team needs in their midfield, the General, the guy who makes all the other cogs in the machine work properly. It’s been a real delight to see him return, even on a short term basis as it has served as a reminder as to how good he really is and just shows how good that midfield with messrs Green and Stock in there with him.

There remain two problems with Wellens situation though a) that he’s only here until January as things stand and b) what happens if he has a substantial injury? I suspect the answer to a) will not just depend on the investment (I’m not going there!) but will depend on Rovers position in the league when January comes and how much money is potentially knocking around the pockets of the existing board members. For such an influential player he’s worth whatever he wants in my book.

So this is one Rovers supporter who remains definitely upbeat about the season to come no matter what happens with the proposed takeover/ investment.

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I WISH YOU’D SIGNED JEAN YVES M’VOTO EDITOR OF BARNSLEY FANZINE ‘WEST STAND BOGS’ LIAM DYSON TELLS US WHY HE WISHES WE’D NOT LET JEAN YVES M’VOTO GO JULY

FAST FORWARD TO SEPTEMBER

“Beast of a player, just what we have been missing since Darren Moore left”

“M’Voto is nowhere near good enough for the Championship”,

“Wins every header and put in a couple of last ditch tackles”

“We’re wanting M’Voto back in the team? Fuck me”

“M’voto looks like the CB we’ve been crying out for, put some last minute crunchers in! Cheers Donny’”

“We could loan them M’Voto and get them relegated to League Two”.

For years Barnsley have conceded soft goal after soft goal from corners and set pieces. “We need a commanding centre half,” they said.

“Someone who won’t get bossed about” they cried. And suddenly, he appeared. Jean Yves M’Voto. A player with a decent reputation in League One with Oldham, a level he’d dropped to after leaving Sunderland.

At 6 foot 83 and with a forehead you could land a helicopter on he was perfect. And not only was he perfect, we’d pissed off Doncaster in the process. Haha! Serves you right for them games in 2004/2005 where you battered us every time and John Doolan injured McPhail. Haha!

We even had an uncomfortable yet distinctive smell of the Wednesday about us: “He’s signed for a bigger club”,

“We obviously had more ambition”, “Why go to Donny anyway?”

You lucky set of lads. He’s shite.

Slow, cumbersome, no positional awareness, lack of tackling ability and a severe lack of talent. He wins a few headers. But he never clears it. He gets on the end of corners.

And puts them out for throw-ins.

He’s been an integral part of the worst defence in the Football League (unverified – I’m sure it’s true but can’t be arsed confirming).

In fairness, it’s his first two months at this level. He could adapt. He could get better. He could turn in to the defender we’ve been missing for years.

But on the first five or six games all I can say lads is you got off lightly.

The next time you want a big lump of a centre half take your time on the contract, we might come in and save you again.

All the best for the season.

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LD

VOICE OF THE POP SIDE WHO ELSE BETTER TO RUN THE RULE OVER SEQUENTIA CAPITAL THAN OUR OWN VOICE OF REASON; JOHN COYLE

THE “TAKEOVER” - IS CAUTION JUSTIFIED? They say you should never look a gift horse in the mouth. Well, that’s exactly what two of the principal shareholders at Doncaster Rovers FC appear to have been doing over the last couple of months. After a pre-season dominated, some might say to an unhealthy extent, by talks of a takeover- or was it a cash injection? - involving an “Irish Consortium,” the club was forced to admit that nothing had changed. At a hastily-convened press conference on the eve of the season, chairman John Ryan declared, with an air of disappointment, that the takeover would not be happening, at least for the time being, while co-owner Dick Watson expressed a liking for Status Quo (although we later found he was happy with things as they are rather than being a fan of a troupe of ageing rockers.)

deal was not dead. He confirmed that it still had John Ryan’s support and that he had a “three to five year plan” to take Rovers into the Premier League. He claimed that if Sequentia became owners of Doncaster Rovers, they were “prepared to invest £20 million plus over the next three to five years. It’s going to take that sort of investment to move the club to the next level.”

So, what’s not to like about Kevin Phelan and Sequentia Capital?

And why have Terry Bramall and Dick Watson, who with John Ryan comprise Rovers’ major shareholders, been unwilling to sign up to a deal with them, at least to date? One reason perhaps is that details of Sequentia, and their plans for the club, remain extremely vague. The “interview” that Phelan did in the DFP was Since that press conference nothing not really an interview, more of a much has happened, although the sales pitch which featured all of “consortium” at least has a name the potential benefits and none of and a front man. Sequentia Capital the pitfalls. There appeared to bE is fronted by Kevin Phelan, who a subtle change in who, or what, was involved in the purchase of the Sequentia Capital might actually old Doncaster Rovers FC (in effect be. In the early days there was talk the lease on Belle Vue) from Ken of an “Irish Consortium,” at least Richardson and Dinard Trading. to the point at which a prominent Last week, Mr Phelan popped Irish businessman felt the need to up again, doing an “exclusive deny very firmly any involvement on interview” in the Doncaster Free his part. Then it was a Belize-based Press in which he claimed that the investor, or investors, and then the a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster | Oct/Nov 2013 | PS66 | 13

DFP interview described Sequentia as a “Belize-based hedge fund.”

Given the problems experienced by Coventry City, who are also owned by a hedge fund, this rang some alarm bells among supporters.

Then there’s the question of what Sequentia would want in return for their investment. Obviously they want full control of the club, hence their wish to buy out all the major shareholders. What would they do once in control? There is talk of developing land near to the Keepmoat Stadium for a hotel, casino and other facilities.

Have they discussed this with Doncaster Council, who would need to sanction such developments? Of course, they could be relying solely on the football side of things to make money, but this is a high-risk strategy. Even if the club achieved promotion to the Premier League, with all the additional revenue that would bring, most of that money would be swallowed up in increased costs, particularly players’ wages. Of course, Sequentia Capital wouldn’t

be the first organisation to believe that they could make healthy profits from owning a Premier League cluband they wouldn’t be the first to be disappointed, either!

Finally there’s the question of what they are actually prepared to invest in the team. £20 million sounds a lot of money; though back in the summer figures of double that were being bandied around.

In his interview, Kevin Phelan talked about “£20 million plus over the next three to five years.” Now, what exactly did he mean by that? £20 million each year for three to five years would represent a decent playing budget, though it would still be substantially less than relegated clubs receive in parachute payments. £20 million spread out over three to five years would probably represent a reduction in Rovers’ playing budget, especially if the club remains in the Championship. In addition, Sequentia would incur substantial costs in buying out existing shareholders (maybe this is

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where the“other” £20 million would go?) and this might impact on the funds available for spending on the team. So the scale and size of the investment represents yet another unanswered question.

To sum up, Kevin Phelan’s “interview” represented a missed opportunity to clarify what Sequentia are really proposing for Doncaster Rovers. I can appreciate that he and others are constrained by confidentiality agreements and so can’t give the whole picture, warts and all. However, if his mission was to convince supporters that what was being offered was a really good deal, I can’t help but conclude that

he failed in his goal. Of course, the people he really needs to convince are Terry Bramall and Dick Watson, and from his hints that the “offer” may not remain on the table much longer it would appear he has not managed to persuade them to change their minds. Rovers may be about to miss out on a great opportunity to- in Phelan’s words- “take the club to the next level.” However, given the many unanswered questions about Sequentia and their plans for the club, I think our two major shareholders are right to be cautious and to keep looking that “gift horse” firmly in the mouth!

JC

PAUL DICKOV; A FANZINE APPEALS Dear Mr Dickov, We write to you as the collective constituants of popular STAND fanzine with an appeal.

Putting together a publication like this is not easy. We work hard, the spelling mistakes in here may not reflect that, but we do. However, whatever we write, however we write it, we will always be criticised for not being as funny as we used to be. It appears that in retrospect Shamus Anus was the Bill Hicks of fanzine personas and none of us could have legislated for that.

So we try to bring humour, and being a fanzine we try to do this through the lowest form of wit available to us sarcasm and parody.

So to this end Mr Dickov, please, we beg of you, throw us a frickin’ bone here!

Dean Saunders gave us daft soundbites a plenty, Sean O’Driscoll mumbled for five years, Dave Penney was distinctly Yorkshire and Steve Wignall had the decency to be a shit manager, but you’re giving us nothing to work with here.

Please stop saying all the right things, and being so well dressed.

You don’t have to get it right in the transfer market every time, and you can make a mistake with your formations at least once you know.

We beg of you Mr Dickov, please, won’t you think of the fanzine writers at this difficult time.

a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster | Oct/Nov 2013 | PS66 | 15

BELIZE-Y FOR DENNIS SO WHAT EXACTLY DO WE KNOW ABOUT BELIZE? MIKE FOLLOWS IS ON THE CASE FOR POPULAR STAND In light of the ongoing investment/ buyout deal or no deal saga centred on a Belize-based hedge fund, popular STAND has put together a rough guide to the country. This article is no way connected with Sequentia Capital SA, their representative/s, friends, neighbours, pets, postmen and/or lawyers. Especially the lawyers. Not that someone looking to take over a football club would want to alienate that club’s fans by threatening legal action but you can’t be too careful.

So, what do we know about Belize?

It’s somewhere in Central America and it has got a bank, in which there is £20m. Or there was at some point and a statement was printed off to prove it. But there’s so much more to learn about this proud and not at all corrupt country. If you check their official Government website the two leading articles just happen to be about Ministers being forced to resign and senior staff being sacked from their Social Investment Fund but you wouldn’t read too much into that would you? Not when you learn about all the wonderful things Belize has going for it. For example, did you know? »» Belize is home to Babybel cheese.

Every year on New Year’s Eve, the residents of Belize wear half a Babybel Wax on their noses and sing their national anthem, Land of the Free three times, which they believe satisfies the Gods and guarantees a bountiful cheese harvest the next year.

»» Belize has been Predator free since 1987. Their national flag carries the slogan “If it bleeds, we can kill it” under a depiction of Major Alan ‘Dutch’ Schaeffer wielding a mini-gun. »» The main export of Belize is Guano, gathered from thousands of bat caves found in the jungle. The phrase “bat shit crazy” has roots in the psychological effects of drinking the national spirit distilled from Guano and Coca leaves. »» The country’s Prime Minister is former Rovers left back and critic of “tippy-tappy football”, Dean Barrick. Every September he opens parliament by shanking a ball over the Government building’s roof. »» Chewing gum was invented in Belize by ancient Mayans who would tap trees for Chicle which is boiled to make the gum. The country’s stock market plummeted when Alex Ferguson announced his retirement. »» Notable Belizeans include drugs cheat athlete, Marion Jones; rapper, “Shyne” (No, us neither) and renowned playwright, Alan Belizedale. »» Holly Willoughby has never been to Belize. When we approached her for a comment she said “How did you get in my house again? I’m calling the police.”

So there you have it. Based on all the above, the proposed takeover gets a resounding “Don’t know” from us!

16 |PS66 | Oct/Nov 2013| a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster

MF

BELLES RUNG OUT EDITOR GLEN WILSON LOOKS AT THE END OF THE DONCASTER BELLES 22 YEAR TOP DIVISION STINT Last Sunday should have been host to the biggest game in Doncaster Belles’ illustrious history. Final game of the season, with a win needed for survival in the top flight. The Belles had never been relegated, and they would have been playing to preserve that proud record, rallying the support of the town behind them in the process.

It could have been a huge weekend for women’s football in Doncaster, driving publicity, interest and pride.

Should. Would. Could. But wasn’t.

Instead, as we have covered extensively in this fanzine and on our website ,thanks to the Football Association’s decision to demote the Belles made five months ago, that potential buzz had dissolved into an apathetic whimper; duty over intrigue. What could’ve gone down to the final 90 minutes of a long, tough season, was taken out of the Belles’ hands just 90 minutes in. The Belles, arguably the key component in women’s football history in this country, have been pushed aside for its perceived future. For all the snazzy pdfs and powerpoint displays about drawing in new supporters, it is hard to see what reducing 93% of a professional club’s fixtures to a dead rubber, a pointless exercise brings to the game.

The FA only got involved in women’s football in 1992, and as you might expect from stuffy blazer wearing beurocrats, the realms of northern women’s football were more than alien to them. As a result they were less than impressed (and more than likely very confused) when the Belles chose to celebrate the 199192 League and Cup double in a gay club, with trophy in tow, whilst being filmed by the BBC. Following this ‘incident’ Gillian Coulthard was stripped of the England captaincy, such progressiveness isn’t, you understand, for the likes of the FA. In their own documentation relating to the Belles’ appeal against relegation the FA stated “The clock was effectively set to zero”.

Basically, forget everything you’ve done for the game in our absence things like setting up the UK’s first social enterprise with women’s sport at its centre - football starts now.

The Belles are a community club, but such stuff of football fabric and substance doesn’t matter to the FA, who reserve the right to decide how fitting a community is of football.

They did it with Wimbledon and Milton Keynes a decade ago, and they have done it with Lincoln Ladies again this year. In approving Lincoln owner Ray Trew’s decision to franchise the club to Nottingham and rebrand as Notts County the

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FA have effectively sanctioned the removal of one club from its community and come perilously close to killing off another, with the new Notts County franchise almost putting Nottingham Forest to the wall this summer.

The new Lincoln/Notts County bastardisation will play their home games at Meadow Lane along with the County men’s team and Nottingham Rugby Club; a three club sharing agreement that was supposedly the sticking point of the Belles’ own application.

If Lincoln/Notts County can share a ground with two other clubs why can Doncaster not? The FA and other defenders of the demotion have all cited this point about primacy of tenure, but the truth is such a clause was not included in the bidding process. I’ve looked through the documents and the paperwork that is available and this vital stadium clause, this one that the Belles so crucially failed to meet, that the FA keep referring to it simply doesn’t exist.

3.3 Occupancy Clubs should evidence a minimum two-year security of tenure for grounds and training facility. Clubs should also evidence a pitch usage agreement setting out ground availability and terms of use between March and October 2014, including operational and management arrangements for match-day and associated costs. These should be in line with FA Regulations.

Additional credit will be given for longer tenure, with an optimum

of ten-year security of tenure with a four-year break clause.

There is nothing contained within that paragraph that states a club must show that it is first or second in line for use of their pitch.

Nothing at all. You can read it again if you like. I’ve read it five times to be sure, but it isn’t there.

Speaking to Doncaster Free Press’ Hayley Paterson in August the FA’s Kelly Simmons stated; “The decision was predominantly about facilities and the concerns outlined in the bid, it wasn’t about finances.”

Yet, to suggest that it were not even a slight concern or point of interest seems somewhat at odds with some of the content from their response to the Belles appeal;

“If [Mr Game] said something to the effect that he looked forward to, or would welcome, an application from a newly affluent club, because of the financial benefits that it would bring to the women’s game, then that simply reflects one of the objectives of the ‘Game Changer’ initiative, namely to establish a financially sustainable semi-professional women’s game. No-one could properly accuse Mr Game of having an improper ulterior motive on that ground.”

In essence, it’s not about money, how could you possibly think that? But wouldn’t Manchester City’s potential millions be good for the game eh?

The point about financially sustainable football brings to light

18 | PS66 | Oct/Nov 2013| a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster

one of the other points of which the FA were critical of the Belles was their failure to spend more money on the playing side of the club to bring in recognised talent. But suppose they had satisfied the FA in this area, and shipped in a couple of Scandinavian internationals or a Brazilian playmaker, where would that leave them now? Would those players hang around to play in the second tier, particularly if a return to the top flight in a year’s time was far from guaranteed? What do you think?

Thankfully the Belles, who lost that final game to Birmingham 3-0 last weekend, have recruited sensibly and locally, and the result is a young side who want to stick with the club that showed faith in them. These are talented players, players who

have won international age-group caps, and shown they are capable of playing at the top level. Stand out talents Lynsey Cunningham, Millie Bright and Jess Sigsworth have all committed to playing for the club again next season in the second tier.

As Karen Walker once said “The big difference between Doncaster Belles and the other successful clubs is that players don’t leave Doncaster Belles”.

Unfortunately in the wake of the final game of this season one notable person has left Doncaster Belles. John Buckley stepping down from his position as manager after a decade in charge; it has been a difficult ten years for Buckley, and whilst silverware has been rare in comparison to past glories, John’s achievements in keeping a young Belles side competitive whilst

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money has flowed elsewhere in the division should not be under appreciated. There can be no more fitting tribute to John’s time in charge than the tweet from 17 year-old Ashleigh Mills who has impressed greatly this season after making her Belles debut in March still aged 16. Mills posted a picture of herself with Buckley captioned “Me and the best manager going!

Helped me so much, love him to bits!

There’s only one John Buckley.” We of course join the many who wish John well, wherever he moves on to.

So what does the future hold for the Belles as they get set for the unfamiliarity of life in the second tier? Well after a season of wound-licking and justified anger, the club are looking to move on with a new approach. In a short statement on the club’s website the Belles announced that they had “established a new pyramid structure based upon the Barcelona model. As part of this new structure,

Julie Chipchase has been appointed as Director of Football.” Chipchase of course managed the Belles back in the late 90s, but the club have said they will be inviting applicants for the position of 1st team coach, with club legend Gillian Coulthard suggesting on social media that she may put herself forward for consideration.

So top flight football may have departed Doncaster after twentytwo years at the Belles’ feet, but it is encouraging to see the club already looking towards a new long term model that will ensure that rather than fire-fighting in the top flight they instead primarily serve their initial purpose of harnessing and developing local female football talent and offering an environment in which it can flourish. Hopefully this time next year rather than examining a forced relegation we will be celebrating a trophy earned on endeavour.

GW

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20 | PS66 | Oct/Nov 2013 | a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster

WILL THIS DKVDGJKG LSDJ WAIT SDNF VSJNFSVNSK THIS ISSUE: WHY WHEN YOU AGES FOR A BUS SDKLFSDKFS FASJNSDFJDS SFNSDKJSF SDFJNSKFJ THREE COME ALONG AT ONCE Na then, I hope you’ve been enjoying the start to the new season, same as me. How about this new ‘keeper we’ve got eh me duck? I’d say he’s nearly as good as me the way he’s started.

Anyway, I’m not here to give yer any sort of footballing analysis, no, I’m here to make sure you twig another one of life’s great mysteries. This issue I’ve been tasked wi’ telling yers why it is that when you wait ages for a bus, three come along at once. “Geover Dennis lad, no-one knows that,” I hear you say, but I tell you, it’s easy for Dennis.

Now if you’ve hung about waiting for a Yorkshire Traction bus down Bennetthorpe you’ll know that the longer tha waits, the more likely it is that when the bus does turn up there’ll be three of them one after t’other. There’s a name for this, and no, it’s not sod’s law, it’s actually called “platooning”.

the bus behind, with fewer passengers to pick up and shorter or fewer stops to make, will soon catch-up.

Now the second bus might get to a point where it can overtake the first, but then it will now have to pick up the larger group of passengers, slowing down both it and the initial lead bus behind. And as these two buses slow, the third one, with hardly anyone to pick up, will soon catch up with these two.

It’s not just retired goalkeepers like me who have looked into this you know, believe it or not, some boffins have actually spent time researching it too. Carlos Gershenson and Luis Pineda of the National Autonomous University of Mexico have gone so far as to devised a mathematical model to show how the problem might be prevented. Their genius idea boils down to buses not picking up passengers. Genius work lads. By the same logic I reckon I could ensure I never dropped a single cross again by simply never coming for any. I’m sure that’s go down just as well eh?

Anyway, at least I explained why it happened, that at least were easy for Dennis

Now the buses may well set off from t’Interchange on schedule, each of them equally spaced, ten minutes apart. But should one of them face a bit of traffic on Bawtry Road and get delayed, then this allows more time for passengers to accumulate at the stops ahead of it. The time taken Until next time, for more and more folk to get aboard Ta ra lads and lasses. delays the bus even further, whilst a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster | Oct/Nov 2013 | PS66 | 21

JACK THE MINER’S COALFACE PUNDITS HAVE SUGGESTED THAT ARSENAL SUFFERED ‘A SUMMER OF HURT’. IT’S OK, JACK THE MINER IS ON HAND TO PUT THEM RIGHT

“A SUMMER OF HURT”? ...GET A LIFE You know that football is on its way to hell in a hand cart when the mighty Arsenal feel the need to issue an apology for losing a home game to Aston Villa.

Yes, that’s former European Champions, seven times top flight league winners, seven times FA Cup winners and five times League Cup winners Aston Villa. Can you imagine the humiliation and the disgrace of losing at home to the likes of Aston Villa? Presumably the streets of North London were alight with bonfires of Emirates season tickets. Yet the venom and boos aimed at Arsène Wenger – their longest serving manager in history and second only to the great Herbert Chapman in terms of success – were, in the main, due to his reluctance to splash the cash on new players in the close-season.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to the North London derby. Arsenal are one up with the referee taking his first look at his watch. The Gooners are, understandably, quite happy with life as the seconds tick by. Do you know why they were so happy? Was it because they were beating their most deadly rivals? No. Was it because they were putting in their most creative and steely display of the season so far? Nope. Was it due to the fact that victory was putting them

firmly in the top four? No. Try again.

Thankfully, Radio 5 Live’s commentator was on hand to explain.

It seems that the Arsenal fans were experiencing “an outpouring of emotion after a summer of hurt”, having been outspent in the transfer market by Spurs.

A summer of hurt? Really? Because of transfer inactivity? They can’t be serious.

I remember turning the TV off in disgust once when the camera zoomed in on a sobbing Liverpool fan, distraught at being knocked out in the latter stages of a European competition. I delivered a perfectly constructed rant – in all probability to a bemused cat - about fans of so-called big clubs losing their grip on reality and I invited the crying Scouser to save his tears for the day when he found that his chairman had arranged for Anfield to be burned to the ground and the spiteful dismantling of his club had taken them into the Conference. All these years later, I have to say that the Liverpool fan had more right to feel pain in his quarter final defeat than a Gooner had this summer.

The bottom line is that the Arsenal supporter’s self-pity is due to the fact that Wenger hasn’t wasted

22 | PS66 | Oct/Nov 2013 | a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster

£20million on a Slovakian right back destined to make his only first team appearances in much weakened Arsenal line-ups in the early rounds of the League Cup. There was further evidence of Football losing its way with transfers in the run up to the start of the season. The first 8 pages on one broadsheet Sports pull out were dedicated to transfer news. Sadly, the focus wasn’t on the players, or their potential impact on their new teams but the size of the fees. Papers and website totted up the amount spent during the transfer window and carried it shoulder high to cheering crowds as though it was all the evidence we need that the English game is in good order.

I tuned in to the BBC website to see frantic outside broadcasts, interviews with experts and panels of wise men.

It went on all day. Was it Syria?

Another banking crisis? Prince Philip gravely ill? None of the above. It was BBC Sport’s all day coverage of the last day of the transfer window. It was followed the next day by a ‘what happened yesterday’ special ‘in case you missed those last minute big money deals.’

Fans, boards of directors; managers.

Are they so bankrupt of ideas and innovation that the cheque book is the only tool in their tool chest?

In the so-called dark ages of football managers were chosen from a pool of respected ex-players, significant achievers, senior professionals reaching the end of their careers and a few ‘characters’ who were presumably expected to inspire a dressing room. It wasn’t a scientific era but an era where teams were

transformed by player development, improved fitness, better tactics and youth policy. A clever manager could make a difference. Presumably, the modern UEFA coaching badges bypass this and fast track coaches to two modules: Module A - How to pack a midfield and stifle a game and leave fans grateful for an early death.

Module B - A master class in the signing of cheques.

These days a clever manager can look like an inept one if the bulk of other clubs are prepared to spend their club to the edge of oblivion.

I can see it now, Harry Redknapp’s interview at QPR...

Board Member: So, Harry, we’re falling like a stone into the Championship. Can you keep us up?

HR: Gor blimey, yer.

Board Member: Good. And how do you propose to do that? A radically new tactical approach? Keeping us tighter at the back and improving our ball retention? That sort of thing?

HR: Nah. That’s a bit radio rental. Up the apple n pears.

Board Member: So, you are more interested in improving morale attitude and discipline? You’ll be focussing on man management?

HR: No, no. Tom and Dick, loved the Queen Mum during the War we did.

Board Member: Oh. I think I know where you’re going with this, you crafty genius. You’re going to bring through the youngsters and skilfully blend their enthusiasm and lack of fear with the guile of the older players who have been there, done it, and got the T shirt?

a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster | Oct/Nov 2013 | PS66 | 23

HR: Nah you raspberry tart, rub a dub.

Board Member: Well Harry, you’ve obviously got an ingenious plan. What is it?

HR: You give me loads of dosh and I’ll buy over-rated, under-achieving, disinterested, petulant, over priced journeymen and we’ll just hope for the best. If we stay up I’m a God. If we go down and you’ve gone tits up like Portsmuff, I’ll be off with me severance dosh anyways. Mary Poppins. Jellied eels, pie and mash, Old Kent Road.

Board Member: Will your plan work?

HR: I’d give it 50/50. Shit or bust, sunshine.

Board Member: (looks to the other board members) Well gentlemen, I think we can see why Mr Redknapp is held in such high regard...can you start straight away? Good. Now here’s a cheque book... but do your best not to spend it all at once you cheeky Cockney scamp.

Members of the Board laugh politely.

Harry laughs his cock off.

I think we’re in a different world at DRFC and I don’t think I’m kidding

myself when I’m glad that we’re living in the real one. We didn’t get Billy Sharp. It’s a shame, but I don’t consider it to represent a summer of hurt and I don’t anticipate needing an apology from John Ryan should we ever have the nerve to lose a home game.

In the same way a cyclist faced a battle to win the Tour de France in the 80’s and 90’s without doping, a team can’t win the Premier League without continuing to add massively to the Premiership’s £2.5billion of debt. Abramovich has reportedly invested £900million of his own fortune into Chelsea and like many other owners he is thought to be adding to the soft loans to maintain their dominance. Worst of all, this sort of thing keeps the likes of Garth Crooks, Robbie Savage and Mark Lawrenson on our screens.

Peering over the fence of the Premier League I haven’t the slightest twinge of envy. Their grass doesn’t look any greener than ours. We’re playing it for real. They’re locked into a Matrixstyle simulated reality where no-one can tell the difference between top flight football and Championship Manager.

THIS ISSUE STEVE IS...

Bringing back Disco 24 | PS66 | Oct/Nov 2013 | a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster

JTM

WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND AS DUTCH UNCLE MOVES WINDMILLS TO HEAD FOR NORTHERN IRELAND, HE REFLECTS ON ROVERS PLAYERS FROM HIS NEW HOME It has happened. Dutch Uncle goes to Holywood - no MSWord (US Version) spellchecker, that is not a mis-spelling, thank you. After more than thirty-six years living in the Netherlands Dutch Uncle has left for pastures new - quite literally given the Netherlands’ famed dairy industry and the green green grass of County Down, Northern Ireland. Holywood, the home of Rory McIlroy, and yours truly for a few months until our house in nearby Bangor is ready. Mrs Dutch is from these parts whereas I am originally from Wales. She said ‘let’s go and live in Bangor’ and I said ‘sure, great ….. oh wait a minute you mean that one?’

Only joking – it looks a really fine place and great people.

So to the Netherlands I say, just as Douglas Adams might have done, ‘So long and thanks for all the raw herring’. Goodbye Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Feijenoord, ADO Den Haag, Sparta, MVV Maastricht and smaller clubs with great names like Go Ahead Eagles, Telstar, Quick Boys and Partij (pronounced Party) Boys, not to mention my local team in Leidschendam called TONEGIDO. Apparently this stands for ‘Tot Ons Nut En Genoegen Is Deze Opgericht’ or approximately ‘this club is set up for our use and pleasure’. I think they may have wished to have been a Coffee Club in the Red Light area of Amsterdam but failed to get their licence. Actually I once played for Ajax against Sparta and still have the Match Ball to prove

it. Unfortunately we are talking about Veterans Cricket, played at a more modest level than Football in the Netherlands, and a completely different (and older) Ajax club, and I took three dolly catches. It was the same Sparta though so it does count for something doesn’t it?

On the other hand Hello Glentoran, Linfield, Ballymena, Coleraine - and the club I really want to go and see – Distillery (or Lisburn Distillery in full). What a name; my kind of club.

Much better than Total Network Solutions – but I suppose if you are called Llansantffraid then any other name can be seen as an improvement.

Actually as I look out from Holywood across a magnificent view of the Belfast Lough (Kilroot Power Station notwithstanding) I realise what I have actually missed these last 36 years - a view. The Netherlands really is a country in desperate search of any kind of view at all.

Unfortunately 90% of our belongings (and 99% of my Rovers related items) are in storage until the new year when we expect to complete our final move. Hence in haste this attempt to slip a very lightly researched article through Glen’s famed editorial powers.

So I thought it might be appropriate to look at Rovers players with Irish connections – first of all Northern Ireland. I have been able to find the following 25 players shown overleaf:

a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster | Oct/Nov 2013 | PS66 | 25

NAME SEASONS T.Aiken 1967-68 B.Anderson 1949-51 A.Blayney 2005-06 F.Callan 1957-58 S.Clingan 2012 P.Doherty 1949-52 H.Dowd 1979-82 J.Dubois 1949-51 S.Elliott 2007-09 D.Finlay 1994 L.Graham 1949-58 H.Gregg 1952-57 D.Healy 2010 K.Horlock 2005-6 M.Ingham 2004 W.Jones 1950-54 D.Larmour 1996-97 J.McCarthy 2002 P.McConnell 1925-29 L.McCullough 2013 E.McMorran 1952-57 D.Shiels 2008-10 J.Walker 1954-56 P.A.Williams 1995 N.Young 1954

LEAGUE APPS GOALS 13 1 3 0 24 0 28 6 6 0 103 57 94 3 31 5 19 0 8 1 312 3 94 0 8 2 15 1 1 0 69 2 20 0 1 0 137 20 0 0 128 31 83 10 47 19 3 1 3 0

Of course many of these are from Rovers’ ‘Golden Age’ from 1950-1958 when Peter Doherty, widely regarded as the best ever player to come from Northern Ireland before the emergence of George Best, was Rovers’ Manager (Player-Manager for the first four years). He guided Rovers to promotion from Division 3 North to the old Division 2 in 1950, and kept Rovers there for 7 seasons before leaving amid boardroom shenanigans. He certainly has a claim to be in some sense Rovers’ most successful manager. For certain he holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spell as Rovers manager with only Billy Bremner serving for a longer total period, but split over two spells. Doherty took Rovers for pre-season tours to Ireland, scouted intensively there and brought many players to Doncaster with much

OTHER APPS GOALS BIRTHPLACE 3 0 Ballymena 0 0 Londonderry 2 0 Belfast 4 1 Belfast 3 0 Belfast 7 3 Magherafelt 20 1 Lurgan 0 0 Monkstown 1 0 Belfast 3 0 Belfast 20 0 Belfast 5 0 Coleraine 0 0 Killyleagh 0 0 Erith/London 1 0 Preston 4 0 Lurgan 2 0 Belfast 0 0 Middlesborough 6 1 Ballynahinch 0 0 Portadown 13 6 Larne 5 0 Magherafelt 4 0 Belfast 0 0 Sheffield 0 0 Londonderry

success. He was also a great innovator, and in the days when players’ shirt numbers rigidly reflected their position on the field of play he famously changed them around, in most cases successfully confusing the opposition.

A few other names stand out from the list above. The first is the great Harry Gregg, sold to Manchester United for a then world record fee for a goalkeeper, and subsequent survivor and hero of the Munich Air tragedy. And secondly, unique in Rovers’ history, is Paddy McConnell – the first player to win full international honours while playing with Rovers. Another interesting name is that of Paul Andrew Williams who played briefly with Rovers in 1995, around the time Rovers had a number of players called Williams on their books. Between 1993 and 1995 there

26 | PS66 | Oct/Nov 2013 | a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster

were only two Dean Williams (striker Prize in 1976 for her work as a Dean A and goalkeeper Dean P), but cofounder of Community of Peace a total of three P Williams, reserve People, an organisation dedicated to goalkeeper Phillip, full-back Paul L. promoting a peaceful resolution to The and striker Paul A who earned a cap Troubles in Northern Ireland. for Northern Ireland. His mother was Betty Williams, the co-recipient with For Rovers players with Republic of Mairead Corrigan of the Nobel Peace Ireland links I identified the following: LEAGUE OTHER NAME SEASONS APPS GOALS APPS GOALS BIRTHPLACE K.Brady 1992 4 3 0 0 Glasgow G.Daly 1988-89 39 4 4 1 Cabra/Dublin E.Finnegan 2012-3 0 0 1 0 Clontarf P.Gavin 1953-59 147 5 9 0 Drogheda T.Gaynor 1986-87 33 7 3 1 Limerick C.Giles 1950-52 27 4 1 0 Dublin E.Gormley 1990-93 118 16 17 1 Dublin P.Green 2001-08 236 31 47 4 Pontefract A.Hale 1962-64 119 42 17 2 Waterford C.Hawkins 2000-01 38 1 9 0 Galway P.Heffernan 2005-09 127 36 33 18 Dublin P.Hynes 2003 5 1 0 0 Dublin P.Keegan 2011-13 40 1 6 0 Dublin J.Lawlor 1952-54 10 0 1 0 Finclas Bridge/Dublin K.Lawlor 1950-54 127 47 8 2 Dublin J.McGrath 2003-04 11 0 3 0 Limerick J.J.Melligan 2003 21 2 0 0 Dublin B.O’Callaghan 1973-77 187 65 25 12 Bradford D.O’Riordan 1977 2 0 0 0 Dublin J.Sheridan 1998 8 0 0 0 Stretford S.Thornton 2005-06 59 2 18 2 Drogheda There are several true Rovers heroes thoughts. Although some true Rovers on this list, including Alfie Hale, Paul legends have been Welsh without Heffernan, Brendan O’Callaghan - who gaining full international honours, took a long time to discover his Irish Laurie Sheffield and Jason Price to roots - and Paul Green who took even name two, I believe there have been a longer to muster sufficient Donny gall total of 12 Welsh International players to approach the Irish selectors. who have played for the Rovers. Eleven There is of course another Rovers of them might line up 4-4-2 as follows: player who could be said to have Southall Northern Irish connections, namely, G. Moore, G. Berry, S. Roberts, G. Roberts and I use that word quite literally, D. Cotterill, B. Stock, J. Cornforth, J. Oster our Welsh International David Rhys E. Perry, N. Roberts George Best Cotterill. Only Eddie Perry The 12th Rovers Welsh International? in 1937-8 and Brian Stock in 2009-10 Well to finish off this Irish biased have gained full caps for Wales whilst article – surely the most Irish sounding playing at Rovers, but maybe playing non Irish Rover of all time – in the Championship might help bring BW step forward Brian Flynn.

DRGBC back into the Welsh selectors’ a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster | Oct/Nov 2013 | PS66 | 27

SLO PROGRESS MARK HUGHESMAN & LEE CROFT EXPLAIN THEIR NEW ROLE AT DONCASTER ROVERS; THE SUPPORTER LIASION OFFICER The idea behind Supporter Liaison Officers (SLOs) is to bridge the gap between fans and club giving both parties a direct line of communication between one and other. The role first surfaced 20 years ago in Germany, where it has worked fantastically; SLOs play a huge part in football culture there and after trying and testing different people in the role, it has been found that in Germany nothing works better than a supporter.

The issue however, is that English clubs keep being told how the Germans are doing everything right, and if you want to convince the English to adopt an idea then using Germany as an example often doesn’t go down very well! What we have seen at most clubs in this Country is the SLO role taken on by a member of club staff, the Ticket Office Manager, the Chairman’s PA, in some rare cases the Safety Officer or even the Chief Executive.

Only a handful of Clubs have appointed supporters to the role and thankfully Doncaster Rovers is one of them.

The club drafted a Role Description which asked for volunteers to apply for the position; both of us applied and after an interview we were successful but it’s worth noting we both have different backgrounds and have both studied different aspects of the game at degree level. What unites us however, is our love for the Rovers.

What we have learnt so far is that to be an effective communicator, you have to get the balance right in everything you communicate between the two main

parties; we can’t be biased towards one or the other which means it soon becomes a thankless task as you will probably see us giving the club’s point of view on subjects, whilst the club management have to listen to us getting your view across.

The biggest challenge up to now has been building both a relationship and our reputation with not just the club staff but also you, our fellow fans. To do this we’ve been attending the fans forums, Supporter Organisation AGMs and other fan meetings, engaging on social media and message-boards and talking to as many supporters as possible on a match day. Hopefully if you want to find us on a match-day you should spot our red rain jackets with “SLO” splattered on the back which help ensure we stand out.

We would like to think we speak for both the fans and the club when we say we’re proud of our fantastic relationship between the two, but just because things are ok doesn’t mean they can’t be improved and that is where our role can be vital. It’s our vision to create an ethos where Doncaster Rovers isn’t just part of a supporter, but where the supporters are Doncaster Rovers.

We’ve made a good start but we are learning on the job and have a long way to go yet. We’re making SLO progress, but progress nonetheless. If you’ve any comments or suggestions we can put to the club or you want to know more about ourselves don’t hesitate to contact us; supporterliaison@doncasterroversfc.co.uk or Tweet with hashtag #AskYourSLOs

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FORUM FOR ‘EM IN A SOMEWHAT ROUNDABOUT WAY, NEIL TAYLOR LETS YOU KNOW ABOUT A NEW FORUM FOR ROVERS SUPPORTERS As a child I lived with my parents. It was an arrangement that seemed to suit all parties involved. For a time.

Mum and dad, deeply ensconced in their thirties, with nothing but a troublesome Austin Metro, and an impressively ornamental, but ultimately redundant, dove cote, found that the arrival of a child brought with it a sense of comfort.

Both were now secure in the knowledge that, for the foreseeable future, they’d always have something to talk about.

And from my side of things, considering the matter retrospectively, it was apparent that as an infant, with very limited sources of income, my odds of survival were greatly boosted by the attention of some full time volunteers.

However, as time progressed, the relationship began to sour. The volunteers began to make demands.

Unreasonable demands. Goods and services that had previously been supplied on an ad hoc basis were now supplied conditionally. The availability of puddings became dependent upon the completion of mains. Gifts, particularly at the back end of December, would only be delivered if a quota of good behaviour was met. As I aged, I became more and more aware that tangible offerings were being phased out, to be replaced with nothing more than

words. Words in the form of encouragement, reassurance, and, worst of all, advice. Reams and reams of advice.

You buy cheap, you buy twice. Get a pension. Eat your greens. Invest in land, they’re not making any more of it. Take your elbows off the table.

Put your hands over your mouth when you cough. Don’t stare. This is my home, these are my rules. Don’t talk to strangers. Everything in moderation.

Eventually, Team Pious became too much for me to bear. Their good intentions were smothering me.

I needed to be my own person. I decided it was time to break free. I sought a new home. A place of my own. Somewhere where authority was no more than a rumour and I was free. Free to do what I want. Any old time.

And I found it. I found somewhere new. It felt familiar, yet it was no more than a skeleton of a place when I arrived. But I could see its potential. It could be what I wanted it to be. I had flown the nest but I felt like I was home.

And in my home there would be no rules. And in my home I would talk to strangers. And in my home, there would be no moderation.

www.donny-rovers.co.uk

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BLOWING MY OWN TRUMPET IN THE WAKE OF LAST WEEK’S GAME AT HILLSBOROUGH, EDITOR GLEN WILSON LOOKS AT THE COST OF ATTENDING FOOTBALL At the start of last Saturday’s fixture at Hillsborough the Radio Sheffield commentary team voiced their surprise upon seeing that the entirety of the upper tier of the Leppings Lane End was not completely awash with red and white hoops. Perhaps unsurprisingly this opinion was voiced with no knowledge of the prices Rovers supporters had been asked to pay. £29 or £30 for adults and £18 for juniors is quite simply a ludicrous price for a lower second tier fixture between two teams from the second poorest county in the UK, and one which rightly many of you refused to pay.

Amongst Championship sides Sheffield Wednesday are not alone in charging £30 or more to away supporters; Ipswich Town, Leeds United and Queens Park Rangers all fall into this bracket, whilst other clubs including Birmingham City and Middlesbrough are within a pound of the same benchmark. How did we allow football to get to this point? We’ll sulk and whinge when the local pub sticks another 10p on the price of a pint, so how did we allow mid-ranking second tier sides to think that £18 for a twelve year-old to watch football was acceptable?

You don’t need me to tell you football is expensive, the drains on your bank account will have already done that. As such you may have been as surprised as I last month when the BBC announced the latest findings from their annual Price of Football survey; proudly stating that the cost of attending matches was falling, down around 2% on last season. Like taking £5 off your rent, it’s not a price decrease you will have, or are likely to notice. Such has been the significant rise in prices over the decade before, this perceived drop is like throwing lifeboats from the Titanic; football is still sinking, just a little slower than before.

The problem is just that; we as supporters have allowed ticket price increases to happen. For too long we have allowed football teams to set their prices by what other teams are charging, rather than what their own supporters can afford. The point addressed by boards too often appears to be ‘What can we get away with based on the rest of the division?’ rather than ‘What price will help bring our own fans into the stadium?’ Just a few seasons back Rovers boasted that tickets were X amount cheaper than Leeds, and so much cheaper than Ipswich; so what? We’re Rovers fans, we don’t want to watch the other teams in the division, what relevance is that to us? Compare it to our income

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or regular expenditure and you might get yourself a sale.

Of course our loyalty and refusal to traipse off to Elland Road or whatever Huddersfield’s ground is called these days for our football is what has given clubs sufficient leeway to reach this point. We want our team to fins success and so when we look at the millions other clubs receive through parachute payments and our own club tells us that they have to charge what they do in order to compete at this level we grudgingly accept that to be the case.

If we say we don’t want to pay it our support can be called into question.

And so the prices go up because unlike the High Street say, where stores need to be wary of others undercutting them, there is nothing really reigning ticket costs in.

Teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool are already too far removed from football for it to matter whether they price out their core or traditional support.

A family from two miles away can’t afford to attend anymore? No bother, there are enough moneyed idiots hung up on Premier League hype in this country to buy a replica shirt and take their place. For second tier sides though such a luxury does not exist, the alarm bells should be starting to sound; attendances are dipping. At Hillsborough last Saturday there were 8,000 less people than what saw the corresponding fixture five years ago, does no-one at a football club analyse such things?

Ultimately, we need to forget what we pay at other teams, take the football blinkers off and look at the price of tickets against the other costs we face day to day. When we do that can any Championship club truly justify charging over £20 to watch second tier sport? This is not the crème-dela-crème after all, just the 500 next best footballers currently plying their trade in this country? You can go to the cinema and watch the very best film actors and directors ply their trade for less than £10. You could visit a gallery and see the works of the grand masters for less, for free even, if they’re on permanent display. In comparison £30 for the poor touches and fumbling football served up at Hillsborough last Saturday is less a treat and more a polite mugging.

Several supporters have suggested Rovers should adopt a similar approach to pricing for the return game and drive the costs up for the visiting Owls fans. But what does that achieve? A smaller attendance and bad blood; 3,000 visiting fans paying £23 is a much better return than 2,000 paying £29. In the end there is only one way to stop prices from rising, and that is to do as many of you did on Saturday cease to pay them. The more we boycott matches we deem unreasonable, the more clubs will start to notice the red marks on their balance sheets. If it’s too much to pay, don’t pay it. You’re still a supporter whether you’re there or not, and by not being there you could well be doing more for football’s bigger picture.

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SEASONS IN RETROSPECT IN THIS, THE FIRST OF A FIVE PART SERIES RAY JEST LOOKS BACK AT ROVERS’ 1974-75 SEASON AUGUST Season 1974-75 began with friendly fixtures against Huddersfield Town and Dunfermline, with both games finishing in 1-1 draws. Included in the Huddersfield line-up a young player called Spriggs who a few years before had been discarded by the Rovers as being too small. Now that seems to ring a bell. The young teenager duly undid Rovers with a fine first goal from all of 25 yards to give the visitors a half time lead; O’Callaghan netted the equaliser for Rovers mid-way through the second half.

Dunfermline, who had already dispatched Middlesborough and York City in their previous two friendlies, started well and were a goal up after just five minutes.

A penalty from Mackie after Rovers full back Carver had been adjudged to have handled in the box. Doncaster though showed grit and determination to pile on attack after attack for the rest of the half, but Dunfermline held steadfast and went in at the break still a goal to the good. Rovers began the second half as they had finished the first, but were to miss chance after chance until in the 78th minute Peter Kitchen struck a well taken goal to earn the hosts a deserved draw.

The season began in earnest with a game at Belle Vue against Stockport County although Rovers started without Brendan O’Callaghan who had been rushed into hospital with a mystery illness. According to Manager Maurice Setters O’Callaghan had been playing well and looking good for the new season, but then he had been awoken by a call from O’Callaghan’s landlady to say the player was complaining of terrible pains in his legs. After an examination by the doctor he had been rushed straight into hospital.

X-Rays showed nothing, said Setters, and no one seems to know what is wrong. O’Callaghan was due to see a specialist on the Monday at which time it was hoped that he would be ok, but it would transpire that Rovers would be without his services for some time.

Despite O’Callaghan’s absence the game against Stockport County resulted in a 2-1 home win with Higgins getting both Rovers goals, but only after Stockport had shocked the home fans by taking an 11th minute lead through Gulliver. The game was watched by a crowd of 2,383 who also had their first sight of emergency loan signing Robert Lee from Leicester City.

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Doncaster’s next game was in the Football League Cup, with the club drawn at home against Mansfield Town. In a tight, exciting game Rovers ran out 2-1 winners. After Donny took the lead in the 23rd minute through Peter Kitchen Mansfield levelled the scores two minutes into the second half with a goal by O’Connor. However a penalty to Rovers in the 69th minute was rammed home by Archie Irvine to secure a fine win and set up a second round tie away at Bury.

Rovers next game, away at Exeter City’s St. James Park was one that they really should have won. In front after just 2 minutes through Robert Lee’s first goal they let Exeter back into the game and a goal towards the end of the first half, and then another in the 65th minute, both scored by Bowker sealed Rovers fate. Worse was to follow the following week as Rovers hosted Newport County at Belle Vue and were soundly beaten 2-0. Three games into the new season Rovers were now lying in 16th position.

SEPTEMBER Another Welsh side lay ahead for Doncaster too with a trip to the Vetch Field to play Swansea City, who had also not had the best of starts.

In a pulsating game the final score of 3-3 flattered neither team.

Swansea fans enjoyed the spectacle of one of their players, Geoff Thomas scoring a hat trick whilst Rovers fans were happy they had

come away from a great game with at least a share of the spoils thanks to two goals from Peter Kitchen, and one from Uzelac.

Next came the League Cup 2nd Round tie at Gigg Lane and though Rovers put up a gallant fight, Bury had too much fire power for them and they ran out 2-0 winners, with Spence scoring both goals for the home side. Doncaster were out of the League Cup, but surely this now meant they could concentrate on their precarious league position.

That certainly seemed to be the case as they entertained Rochdale in their next match and recorded a great 4-1 victory. From the moment that debutant goalie Graham Brown pulled of a miraculous save after just 11 minutes it was virtually all one way traffic.

Murray scored twice to put Rovers 2-0 up, and though Rochdale rallied with a goal to bring the score back to 2-1 the home siode were undaunted and further goals from Murray to complete his hat trick and Kitchen made it 4-1. Add to this the fact that the usually so dependable Archie Irvine missed from the penalty spot and the 1,928 fans in attendance went home to their beds to sleep soundly. Five games into the season and Rovers were in 14th spot.

Scunthorpe United arrived at Belle Vue the following Saturday and hopes were high of a good result following the Rochdale game.

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Unfortunately as nearly always happens it proved to be another case of “after the Lord Mayors show”. The visitors shocked the home fans by taking a 32nd minute lead through Dudley Roberts and try as they may Rovers could not find a way to unlock the Scunthorpe defence. They perhaps should have had a penalty when Lee was held back in the box and it eventually took an own goal

by Markham the Irons’ defender to level the scores and salvage a point against a Scunthorpe side sitting in the bottom three.

The point was good enough to lift Rovers into 11th place in the table, but just they would soon tumble downwards again as they went on to collect just one point from the next four games.

The first of those fixtures saw Rovers travel to Gresty Road for

a game against Crewe Alexandra.

In the 47th minute Rovers went in front through a Robert Lee goal, but Crewe hit back to preserve their unbeaten home record, with a penalty from Reed and a further goal from Riley securing the win.

Another game on the road took Rovers to Northampton Town’s County Ground where they would lose again; goals from Maybee and Buchanan securing Town’s 2-0 win.

Next came a South Yorkshire Derby against old foes Rotherham United at Belle Vue, and in front of 4,710 fans the two sides fought out a 0-0 draw. With Rotherham riding high in the league their fans had travelled en masse expecting to see their team triumph. In an end to end game both sides held fast in defence and Doncaster became the first team this season to stop Rotherham from scoring.

RJ

How will the rest of the 1974-75 season pan out for Maurice Setters and the Rovers? Find out in Issue 67 of popular STAND (or, you know, look in a history book, this stuff has already happened after all).

AND FINALLY....

MATCH ACTION An exclusive photograph from The Valley as Rovers go on a quick break in pursuit of a third goal away at Charlton Athletic.

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