ISSUE 63
EDITORIAL Friends, Rovers, Doncastrians, Hello and welcome to Issue 63 of popular STAND , quite frankly the best Doncaster Rovers related selfpublished print fanzine that costs £1 available in the Western World. As ever we thank you for offloading your change into the frozen hands of our foolhardy sellers and purchasing this our fifth edition of the season. It is thanks to your continued purchase or subscription that we are not only able to keep producing and selling the fanzine, and keep doing so for the same price now as when we started 15 years ago, but also we can begin to put money back into football and charity. It is now two years since I took over from Nathan and Lucy as editor of popular STAND in a move that has since become known as ‘The Great Adjustment’, and in that time we have now been able to give a total of £1,000 to other causes. After previous donations to the Rovers’ NSPCC IncaTrek and the Luey Jacob Sharp Foundation, plus
the purchase of a new home kit for supporters’ team the Donny R’sonists, we have now taken our outgoings into four figures by sponsoring Doncaster Rovers Belles’ striker Millie Bright for the 2013 FAWSL season. We’ve worked closely with the Belles in the past couple of years and are delighted to be able to back them financially, having done so vocally for the past two seasons. This issue has been quite a stretch, as long hours at a new job, plus additional commitments to the matchday programme at Rossington Main, and of course commentary duties for Rovers Player, have eaten significantly into the time that I normally set aside to pull together this publication. As a result I’m indebted to our contributors for providing a great mix of content for you to read, with a special nod to Tony Greenhall who makes his debut on these pages with a fantastic ‘Choose the New Kit’ adventure game which begins on page five. Fun for all the family I’m sure you’ll agree. In the time between our last issue being despatched to the printers and placed in your hand Rovers have of course appointed a new manager. This is not the first time
ISSUE 63 // CONTENTS 06. Previously at the Rovers 11. What Are They Talking About? 14. Windmills Of Your Mind 18. The Belles, The Belles 20. Down Memory Lane popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
22. Secret Lives of the Rovers 25. When Managers Move On 28. To Lindum & Back 30. Blowing My Own Trumpet 35. Easy For Dennis
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a manager has departed the club in the midst of a promotion-chasing season, and if John Coyle’s account of the last time this happened, which begins on page 25, is an omen then perhaps we shouldn’t be too worried. But the shuffle along the bench into the hot-seat for Bryan Flynn - a manager who has spent decades in the game and of course steered Rovers to the top of the table - is still, perplexingly, dividing opinion on forums and Twitter. Yes, the performance and result at MK Dons was disappointing, but is that scoreline in a match played out with an injury-hit squad really just cause to dismiss twenty-four years of management and coaching experience? Apparently, for some it is, with folk online after the game deriding Flynn as “clueless” and “out of his depth”. Criticisms that are unfathomable on two scores, the first being that we’re top of the league, the second being that we’re Doncaster Rovers. Is a man who has managed his national team really likely to be out of his depth with us? Unless he’s thrown in the deep end (or indeed the middle bit) down St James baths then Flynn isn’t ever going to be out of his depth in this town. But I suppose we can take some heart from the nature of the questioning of Flynn’s tenure; in that if the only criticisms he is facing are the result of warped perceptions of our own self-importance, then he’s probably doing ok. Sean O’Driscoll, in one of his many feted interviews, described the nature of modern football management perfectly as he summised that no matter what
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your skills or experiences, you will only ever be judged at your latest results. No matter if the processes you undergo are the same, no matter on the structure you work from; win a few and you’re brilliant, lose a few and you’re slated to be the next man boarding the managerial merrygoround. It’s an effect that means managers increasingly only ever plan for the short-term, and you could argue to a degree that this is what Dean Saunders did at Rovers; build a strong sixteen that will get results, and hope that the injuries don’t take their toll. Under Saunders they didn’t, under Flynn they have, as they inevitably will do at this stage of the season, so to criticise Flynn for not strengthening a squad which has been understandably thin from the moment the first ball was kicked is particularly short-sighted.
Neil Sullivan tells the assembled press about his experiences during the War.
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But it is in our nature to moan and point fingers; and so the regular goalkeeper of the team that is top of the league is dubbed a liability and worse, one poor backpass has Jamie McCombe brandished a ‘donkey’, despite the many blocks and interceptions he may have performed in the game; and making a reasoned move to offer an experienced pro already training with the club a signing-on form in case of emergencies is seen as a stark indication that the club has no ambition, and the manager has no idea. Even when the nature of Mark Wilson’s signing was made clear folk would happily sidestep the information to have a whinge or a moan. It’s the way we are sadly, even when we’re top of the league and closing in on a potentially unexpected promotion, we’d still rather pick holes than celebrate the good-times. We’re not top of leagues very often… shouldn’t we all just enjoy it whilst we can? So, on to this afternoon then. The first of nine games that stand between us and the Championship, play-off defeat or capitulation. Lets hope its the former, but get behind the team and the club regardless. Viva Rovers.
GW
As Rovers give fans the opportunity to ruin next season’s home and away shirts, courtesy of contributor Tony Greenhall, we offer the ultimate Fantasy Football adventure where YOU CHOOSE THE KIT! popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
LEO FORTUNE-WEST
Having the tyre changed on his Merc at the garage on Beckett Road spotter: @aimeep31
CRAIG NELTHORPE
In Doncaster Superbowl with his family. Hired shoes but didn’t used those inflatable bumpers. spotter: @Kelvin_Defty
BARRY MILLER
Turned up at my work in Finningley as he’s mates with the owner. spotter: ‘RobbieDRFC’
MATTY CAUDWELL
At village fair in Carlton-in-Lindrick; stopped by a stall me and my wife were running. Told him she had a crush on him when he was at Rovers. Great bloke spotter: ‘donnydanny’
Our Choose the Kit random generator works just like the old school choose-your-own ending adventure games. So to begin making your kit choice simply turn to the foot of page ? and make your selection. Happy choosing!
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PREVIOUSLY AT THE ROVERS Lost your bearings celebrating in the Bournemouth fog? Worry not, you can catch up with what you’ve forgotten courtesy of the infamous popular STAND regular diary feature. Thursday 17th January
Showing scant regard for editors of football fanzines for the likes of Doncaster, Rovers appoint Brian Flynn as manager in the hinterland between popular STAND 62 going to print and going on sale. Our annoyance is tempered by the fact that Flynn is the man we, and – going off our poll printed in that issue – you wanted to see in charge going forwards. Flynn’s initial contract is until the end of the season, but the little scamp indicated that he’s like it longer term telling Radio Sheffield; “Possession is nine tenths of the law, I’ve got the job at the moment and I await their decision.” Alongside Bryan Flynn Rob Jones is appointed as an assistant manager, his main duties to start with being to help Flynn clear out Dean Saunders’ top cupboards.
Saturday 19th January Rovers 3-0 Leyton Orient
After the debacle of last season and the experiment this truly felt like the day
we got our club back. A Herculean effort from the groundstaff, not to mention a swathe of shovel toting volunteers, manages to beat the snow on the pitch and around the ground to get the game on, and all are rewarded with a fantastic upbeat performance that has Orient on the back front throughout, and three sides of the ground belting out “Bryan Flynn’s Barmy Army”. The day is rounded off neatly just before full-time as the Man of the Match is announced as groundsman Andy Thompson. This is it Rovers. This is the club we fell for. More of this please.
Monday 28th January
With MK Dons in FA Cup action Rovers fill the void between fixtures with a trip to play a Manchester United reserve side. The game is lost 2-1 with Kyle Bennett scoring for Rovers, though the main positives are arguably match time for Martin Woods (remember him?) and youngsters Jon Maxstead and Liam Wakefield.
You receive the new shirt designs from the manufacturer, do you a) Ask what happened to the shorts? Go to page 23 or b) Post the designs on twitter? Go to page 31
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Saturday 2nd February
Saturday 9th February
Well, that wasn’t what was supposed to come next. Faced with a chance to go top of League One Rovers incredible away record comes to an end at Bury’s Gigg Lane. Rovers created a raft of early chances, but first half goals from Andy Bishop and Nicky Ajose made the difference to give the Shakers the win. Flynn remains unnerved by defeat though, telling the BBC; “We’re going to have to be more clinical, more cool and we will be.”
Its Rob Jones Day! Piggybacking on the phenomenon that was ‘#RobJonesFacts’ this game was deemed Rob Jones Day in honour of the captain and cult hero; with supporters wearing masks of the skipper at the game. Those masks proved an apt tool with which to shield eyes as Rovers slipped to a second successive defeat. Febien Brandy’s late winner preventing Rovers from taking advantage of Tranmere’s slip-up to go top.
Bury 2-0 Rovers
Thursday 7th February
Bryan Flynn gets a familiar face in to assist him with the appointment of fellow-Welshman David Williams as Assistant Manager. Williams spent ten years as a player with Bristol Rovers, and also had a spell with Norwich in the mid 80s. A Welsh international Williams was working with Flynn in the Welsh Youth set-up until recently, and like the Rovers manager also had a brief spell as caretaker manager of the full-team; taking charge when Wales played Yugoslavia in 1988. Fans of puns will also be glad to know that he spent time as a driving instructor between coaching roles; so we can at least be sure he won’t pull out without clear indication (Shut up groaning, you’ve only paid £1).
Rovers 1-2 Walsall
Tuesday 12th February Rovers 0-0 MK Dons
Nope… we’ve got nothing, absolutely bugger all.
Monday 18th February
Crawley Town 1-1 Rovers
Its Monday, its 200 plus miles away and you need to negotiate London at rush hour to reach it, yep it can only mean that you’re live on Sky Sports. ‘Scintillating’, ‘mesmerising’, ‘a perfect advert for League One’; those are just three phrases that will never be used when describing this game to future generations. A dull, drab draw in a town that exists only as an extra set of lights to point incoming pilots the way of Gatwick Airport is no-one’s idea of fun; except perhaps James Husband who scored Rovers’ goal with a welltaken diving header.
Your kit choices are so wonderful that sales of all options go through the roof.John Ryan decides you’re the man to take control of the Rovers before leaving on the spaceship he promised to Kyle Bennett for the planet Alick to create a race of perfect toothed red & white hooped superbeings.
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PREVIOUSLY AT THE ROVERS // CONTINUED Thursday 21st February
A day of welcome PR positives for Rovers with a trio of good news stories from the club. Firstly came the news that the club, perhaps encouraged by the recent birth of the first child of our former fanzine editorial team (Congratulations Nathan and Lucy by the way), will now be operating a crèche on matchdays, so you can rest assured that your offspring’s first words won’t be “Get it for’rards!” Also the club announced that one lucky fan, Joshua Thompson, would get to appear in the team photo; “Joshua will be the envy of his friend…” the club website announced. Supporting Rovers still making kids the social outcast at school then – jut the one friend? And lastly in the PR positives hat-trick Paul Keegan and Gary Woods manned the phones in the ticket office to help sell Early Bird Season Tickets. We’ve suggested they get Mark Albrighton to man the cancellations desk.
Friday 22nd February
Shelton Martis leaves Rovers by mutual consent, the defender had suffered constant recurrent injuries over the last twelve months and has struggled to become a fixture in anything other than the treatment room. As Martis hobbles out the door, two fresh faced youngsters come
the other way on loan with Everton and England under 19 star John Lundtsram , and Burnley based Kiwi Cameron Howieson coming in to boost the Rovers midfield. They’re not the only new additions either as the club unveil a new Viking mascot, which looks uncannily like a foam rendering of Brian Kilcline.
Saturday 23rd February Rovers 1-1 Yeovil Town
Rovers run of defeats comes to an end with a home draw against an inform Yeovil that we were ultimately unfortunate not to take more from. Paddy Madden had given the ludicrously bright clad Glovers the lead, but Rovers hit back just before half-time with a header from Billy Paynter and perhaps should have had more with numerous chances missed and what looked a strong penalty appeal waved away. James Hayter received a suitable ovation, and a nice shiny plate too, on his return to the Keepmoat, but unfortunately ended the afternoon leaving the field on a stretcher with an injury which has thankfully proved not too serious.
Monday 25th February
A boost for the Belles, the borough and the stadium s it is announced that this year’s Women’s FA Cup Final will be held at the Keepmoat Stadium on the 26th May. The Belles start on the road to, er, Doncaster, at Doncaster; drawn at home to fellow FAWSL side Bristol Academy in the FA Cup 5th round on 17th March.
45 tweeters reply with apologies that you were quite correct old bean and they shall buy a shirt post-haste. The other calls you a twat. Back to page 6
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Tuesday 26th February
Shrewsbury Town 1-2 Rovers
Its perhaps a solid indication of the madness of League One this season that after five games without a win Rovers can still go top of the table for the first time the moment they do pick up three points. Rovers looked the better side for long periods, especially after the home side were harshly reduced to ten men, but it was only with quarter of an hour remaining that they took the lead through James Husband. The win looked to have evaded them in the final minute as Tom Eaves’ shot slipped through Gary Woods’ fingers, but the keeper’s blushes were spared by an injury time winner from Kyle Bennett. The win meant that for the first time since that Mansfield moment ten years ago Rovers would go newly atop of the table. It’s been a while. Is it still de rigeur to drink a daft amount of Jack Daniels and end the night sat atop a Lincoln barge singing ‘Fortune-West; to the tune of Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out in these situations?
Saturday 2nd March
Rovers 3-0 Hartlepool United
There we go. This is more like it. Now top of the table Rovers kick-in and start playing like leaders too with a devastating display against Hartlepool. Iain Hume, Jamie Coppinger and Billy Paynter are all on target for Rovers, the latter edging his total for the season into double figures with his strike.
Steve is currently... Thirsty
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Tuesday 5th March MK Dons 3-0 Rovers
What a difference a few days make. From being the toast of the town on Saturday Rovers turn in a terrible performance at the world’s most popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
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PREVIOUSLY AT THE ROVERS // CONTINUED soulless of soulless out-of-town stadia to be comfortably despatched by the team who we choose not to name nor acknowledge. Despite the fact that Rovers are top the defeat sees some supporters on twitter and facebook deriding Bryan Flynn as ‘not good enough’ and ‘out of his depth’. Flynn may be out of his depth in a lot of things; swimming pools mainly, but manager of Rovers is not one of them.
Wednesday 6th March
The long awaited vote on next season’s home and away kits takes place with supporters able to choose from five home and five away designs adapted from supporter submissions to fit manufacturer Avec’s templates. The choice isn’t the most inspiring or aesthetically dazzling it has to be said, but we certainly cannot fault the process or the inclusion of fans’ wishes. We’ll still moan at the end result mind, but at least we’ll know its partly our own fault.
Friday 8th March
Throw-back Friday as Neil Sullivan is recalled from his loan spell at Wimbledon in view of Gary Woods picking up an injury in midweek, and Mark Wilson is also given a
signing-on form. Wilson has been training with the club for months, and so has simply been added to the roster on no-contract basis in case of emergency. A sensible enough move, unless you frequent the forums, in which case for ‘sensible move’ read harbinger of the apocalypse and reason to chuck Bryan Flynn in The Don without a trial. Football eh?
Saturday 9th March
Bournemouth 1-2 Rovers
To the South Coast, and a victory against all odds as Bournemouth have much of the possession and the chances but can’t find a way past Neil Sullivan. The veteran twice denies Brett Pitman with great saves in the first half and then thwarts Lewis Grabban with a long tale about his experiences during the war in the second to keep the Cherries at bay before Billy Paynter volleys Rovers ahead. A late Matt Tubbs goal looks to have secured a point for the home side, but within a minute James Husband emerges from the fog to volley in the winner from a tight angle and send the 600 travelling Rovers fans a very Northern form of bonkers. A great result is made even better with those around Rovers dropping points, and as we go to print the team sit three points clear at the top of the table, and ten points clear of seventh placed Bournemouth.
GW
Evans takes the envelope with a nod and a wink of his heavily mascara’d eye. He runs off into the night muttering about the pies in Seth Bennett’s fridge. Do you a) Call Radio Sheffield to warn Seth? Go to p22 or b) Call Rotherham Utd as you’d like Evans’ mascara as a present for your Wife, go to p26
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WHAT ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT? Jack the Miner continues to don his mining helmet and take his pick-axe where few others dare to go... on to the forums of our League One rivals to find out what they’re saying about us. The Saturday ritual. Somewhere, one of the Sodje’s is getting sent off.; Ricky Ravenhill is getting booked and Scunthorpe are losing. Some football fans are heading for home, looking forward to a beer, the Football League Show and the Sunday papers while others are storming out of stadiums with faces like thunder. Their weekend is ruined. They can’t bring themselves to look at the League tables and they dread Monday morning, knowing that an armchair Manyoo ‘fan’ who has never been through a turnstile in his life will be the first to have a pop. In a car park a young fan and his mate Terry are so furious about the four-nil home defeat that they fling their scarves into a puddle and vow never to return. On the top deck of number 21 they dissect the game and list all the reasons why it would be a waste of time and money to go anywhere near the place again. To work off their frustration they get off in Bawtry and walk the remaining 3 miles home and get caught in the heaviest downpour in years. It was the worst of all possible Saturdays. They’ll be popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
back at the first opportunity, with muddy scarves. I don’t have a scarf to throw in a puddle these days and I haven’t been on the number 21 since 1984 but the quality of my weekend is still dictated by the final score. In recent months I’ve added the new ritual of looking at the postmatch comments of our opposition supporters. On the good days – and there have been many this season – it’s been a never-ending delight to repeatedly read that Rovers are the worst side that anyone has played this season. To summarise, we lack quality, we offer no goal threat, we are vulnerable at the back, and we get the rub of the green and it’s an affront to decency that we’re anywhere near the top of the table. It comes from jealousy, spite, denial and dimwittedness but to a greater or lesser extent I reckon we’re all guilty of it when it comes to giving credit to the victors. Yet it’s all the more difficult to fathom when our own supporters join in with this vitriol. I read recently that one Rovers fan reckoned this was the worst Rovers side he’d ever seen in his life in which case he must be 6 months
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WHAT ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT? // CONTINUED old and congratulations go to his parents for producing a prodigy that has mastered the internet at such a young age. Another argued that the side wasn’t good enough and should be broken up at the end of the season. Unless I’m living in an Ashes to Ashes type parallel universe, this is a Rovers side currently sitting on top of League One. I assume he didn’t see Rovers before Sir Francis Tierney sent us into an orbit of success and I can assure him that much of the 70’s and the late 80’s and 90’s what bilge of the highest order. As they say, with friends like these... In recent weeks the Stevenage fans have been wishing it was true that Gary Smith was to replace Dean Saunders. The Smith Out campaign has gathered momentum since the Corporal’s late winner. They weren’t happy.... ’Forget local derbies. If there’s one team I hate losing to it’s Donny with their long tradition this and ex Championship that’ . Well, yes, that’s us alright. A respected, famous football club. Something for the minnows like Stevenage to look up to and aspire to I guess. But no!...
‘ I hate these b....... Always the same. Hume was typical. Dirty, cheating scumbags playing on the wrong side of the rules’. A bit rich coming from a team that had Westley as manager and a club that touted the tacky-made-for-TV idea of allowing the fans to vote by mobile phone on what substitutions should be made during a game. I was reluctant to look at the MK Dons sites after the dour draw. In doing so, it means I have to acknowledge their existence. They weren’t complimentary, although for once, you’d struggle to disagree.
’Just how bad were Donnie? By a long way the worst team I’ve seen us play all season, including Cambridge City. If that’s all that a top 2 side in this league is capable of then we’ve made an even more monumental mess of things’...’Calling them dreadful and one-dimensional would be an insult to dreadful and one-dimensional teams.’...’Doncaster were bafflingly incompetent and pathetic.’ But lethargy has already set in for some MK fans. ‘Can’t even be bothered to listen to games any more, let alone attend’. Yeah, it’s a bummer when your side doesn’t win every game 6-0. Perhaps the Football League, having gifted you a
Steve Evans knocks on your door upset that your DD shirt implies he’s a massive tit. Do you a) Agree & apologise, inviting him in; go to page 27, or b)Pass him a brown envelope containing 10% of future shirt sales, go to p10
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ready-made position in the League, could grant you a series of byes into the FA Cup Final and fast-track you to the Premiership so you can avoid all the tedium of slowly progressing through the leagues like, well...AFC Wimbledon. My niece lives a few doors away from Pete Winkleman’s vast home. Every night her cat goes over the wall and into his grounds for a poo. I love the way that cat thinks. Some Yeovil fans, clearly accustomed to being our bogey side, got a bit of a shock when Rovers turned in a storming second half display. ‘Blimey, Donny aren’t usually as good as that’...‘quite happy to come away with a point instead of the traditional 3. That last 45 minutes showed why they’re right up there.’ Despite the odd ‘Doncaster were nothing special’ and ‘They certainly didn’t look like a top if the table team tonight’ comments, the Shrewsbury fans were refreshingly honest and complimentary after their defeat.
‘Don’t understand the nonsense on here about Doncaster being average or nothing special. Not special compared to United or Real Madrid but in terms of who’ve been down here this season only Yeovil looked
better. I thought Doncaster had pace everywhere, had a clear team plan and had a work rate that was as good as I’ve seen here all year. Despite the shocking sending off decision we were second best for most of the game. I would be very happy if we shaped up and played like Doncaster did tonight.’...‘beaten tonight by a side that is going up, simple as, outclassed’ The Monkey Hangers were equally magnanimous and took defeat in their stride. Despite their impressive recent run it seems that few ‘Pool fans expected to get anything from the game....
’No complaints, Donny have 4 or 5 real class players and Pools won’t face another side as good’...‘ a class act...just better in every part of the pitch’. But there is always somebody clutching at straws.. .‘our team were knackered from recent heroics.’ Yep. That must be it then. I didn’t take another look at the MK sites. I didn’t need their opinions. I had a few of my own. The drive home was only made tolerable by the knowledge that as the lights of Milton Keynes faded in my rear view mirror, there was a cat called Sox digging a toilet in Winkleman’s vegetable patch.
JTM
The new skirts are welcomed by the team, especially Rob Jones who often wanders the locker room in the latest from Ann Summers. Back to page 6. popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
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WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND Deep inside the Dutch countryside, beneath what looks from the surface to be a very ordinary windmill, Dutch Uncle has been hard at work in his underground statistical bunker to bring you three items of random unconnected miscellany
Football League Level 3 and 4 Champions First of all, although there is a long way to go, no shortage of stiff competition, and worrying blips in form, nevertheless some people are still tipping us as possible champions this season. You may be unaware that Rovers are currently the only team to have won a third or fourth tier championship on six occasions (Division 3 North in 1934-35, 1946-47, 1949-50, Division 4 in 1965-66 and 1968-69, and Division 3 in 2003-04). This is over the whole period since a third tier was introduced in 1920-21. There were two parallel regionalised
Divisions 3 North and 3 South from 1921-22 until 1957-58, and these two were replaced by a third and fourth tier in 1958-59. They were originally named Divisions 3 and 4, and were re-designated Divisions 2 and 3 with the introduction of the Premiership in 1992-93. They were re-branded again in 2004-05 and called Football Leagues 1 and 2 below the Premiership and Championship. Brentford, one of our main challengers this season and our opponents on a potentially crucial last day of the season, are one of five teams just below us in the table of leaders below:
Tier 3 and 4 titles from 1921 to 2011-12 Tier 3 and 4 Title Wins to 2011-12 Doncaster Brighton Brentford Chesterfield Notts County Plymouth Lincoln Grimsby Millwall Reading Swansea
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Total Regionalised Tier 4 Tier 3 Div 3N Div 3S Div 4 Div 3R FL2 Div 3 Div 2R FL1 1 6 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 5 2 1 1 1 5 3 1 4 1 1 4 2 2 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 4 2 1 1 4
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Seasons’ Leading Goalscorers in League Matches This season the race for Rovers’ top scorer is wide open with up to five players (Cotterill, Paynter, Brown, Jones, and Hume) potentially in with a shout to score double figures of league goals. This spreading around of the goals amongst many players rather than one or two players dominating the scoring is a relatively modern phenomenon. The most dramatic instance I can find of the five forward players in the old 2-3-5 system dominating the scoring for a club in a football league season is from the remarkable Chester team of 1964-65. They scored 119 league goals and all but three were scored by the forward five players (G.Talbot 28, M.Metcalf 27, E.Morris 24, H.Ryden 20 and J.Humes 17). Just to underscore this, these five players also scored all 22 of Chester ’s goals scored in cup matches meaning that these five scored no fewer than 138 of their 141 goals that season. They must have been fun to watch since their defence was very leaky and they finished in only 8th place in Division 4, just one place above Rovers. Doncaster ’s League goals scored that season also saw a similar, if less spectacular, distribution with five forward players (A.Jeffrey 36, A.Hale 13,
A.Broadbent 10, P.Robinson 8, A.Tait 7) scoring 74 of the 84 scored. Alick by the way was the Football League’s leading goalscorer across all four divisions that season. By way of comparison in the 2007-08 season, our last season in League 1 when we were promoted to the Championship, our 65 league goals were spread between sixteen players, plus 2 own goals, with our topscorer having only 7 (J.Hayter, P.Heffernan, J.Price) with two others on 6 (L.Guy, R.Wellens) and two more on 5 (P.Green, B.Stock). All of this means that this season’s achievement of two Rovers’ players (Cotterill & Paynter) each scoring 10 or more league goals in the same season has become very rare. Indeed, although this occurred in a total of 40 of our first 63 league seasons, in our last 22 league and conference seasons it has happened only once. That was in the glorious 2003-4 Division 3 (level 4) championship winning season when no fewer than 4 players achieved this feat - Greg Blundell with 18 league gaols, Leo FortuneWest with 11 and Chris Brown and Michael McIndoe with 10 each. The previous occasion was as far back as 1989-90. The full table can be viewed over on page 16:
The diagonal stripe leads to a buyout by Red Stripe lager. John Ryan retires to Barbados where he makes a 12th man appearance for the West Indies Cricket team against a touring Hereford Utd side. Back to page 6. popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
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Doncaster Rovers Goalscorers: 2>10 league Goals in a Season Season 1923-24 1925-26 1927-28 1928-29 1929-30 1930-31 1932-33 1933-34 1934-35 1935-36 1937-38 1938-39 1946-47 1950-51 1951-52 1952-53 1953-54 1954-55 1955-56 1956-57 1959-60 1960-61 1961-62 1963-64 1964-65 1965-66 1967-68 1968-69 1972-73 1973-74 1974-75 1975-76 1976-77 1977-78 1979-80 1983-84 1984-85 1988-89 1989-90 2003-04
Div 3N 3N 3N 3N 3N 3N 3N 3N 3N 2 3N 3N 3N 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 3R
T.Keetley T.Keetley T.Keetley T.Keetley L.Lievesley W.Bott A.Waterston R.Dodd A.Turner R.Baines E.Perry M.Kilhoury C.Jordan P.Doherty B.Tindill R.Harrison C.Lawlor J.Walker B.Tindill A.Jeffrey J.Fernie T.Leighton T.Leighton C.Booth A.Jeffrey L.Sheffield A.Jeffrey A.Jeffrey M.Elwiss P.Kitchen P.Kitchen B.O'Callaghan P.Kitchen J.Laidlaw S.Lister C.Douglas G.Snodin P.Dobson D.Jones G.Blundell
21 24 36 40 12 17 24 24 25 19 24 14 42 15 11 12 17 15 18 15 19 16 14 23 36 28 12 12 11 10 21 22 23 13 12 15 18 11 12 18
B.Poyntz H.Keetley A.Hall F.Keetley M.Patterson R.Smith J.Beynon A.Turner R.Baines S.Burton M.Kilhoury E.Perry P.Todd R.Harrison C.Lawlor B.Tindill B.Tindill B.Tindill A.Jeffrey B.Tindill T.Leighton A.Broadbent B.Larkin A.Hale A.Hale A.Jeffrey K.Webber J.Regan J.Haselden B.O'Callaghan B.O'Callaghan P.Kitchen B.O'Callaghan B.Owen A.Warboys E.Moss C.Douglas M.Rankine L.Turnbull L.Fortune-West
10 17 18 10 11 11 13 14 21 15 14 14 24 13 10 10 12 13 13 15 15 13 12 20 13 22 12 10 10 10 11 22 15 12 11 15 10 11 10 11
J.Lambert
11
W.Bott
10
S.Burton S.Burton
10 12 R.Dodd
11
A.Malam F.Dell R.Maddison B.Tindill
12 12 C.Leyfield 17 J.Kirkaldie 13 C.Lawlor
11 A.Malam 13 J.Thompson 10
E.McMorran
10
J.Mooney J.Mooney
12 10
A.Broadbent
10
R.Habbin I.Nimmo G.Snodin
10 10 13
C.Brown
10 M.McIndoe
11 G.Little 13
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Please note there can be significant discrepancies between sources when it come to goalscorers, so the above figures are not necessarily 100% accurate, especially in the early years.
record of 123 league goals. The other two occasions were in the 1920’s when Tom Keetley scored 36 out of 54 goals with Allan Hall, and the next season 40 out of 50 goals with brother Frank.
One other feature from this table is the stand out achievements of those fondly remembered partnerships of Alick Jeffrey & Laurie Sheffield and Peter Kitchen & Brendan O’Callaghan, who were the last two partnerships to score more than 20 league goals each in a season. Alick & Lauries’ combined total of 50 league goals has been beaten on only two occasions, and equalled once. One of these was by Clarrie Jordan and Paul Todd with 66 between them in the record breaking 1946-47 season when we scored a club
Match Swings & Late Goals
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Finally, with our change of manager, I can provide an update to earlier articles on late goals, and on points gained from losing positions and points lost from winning positions in league matches since 1993. You may remember that those articles compared the statistical (but not tactical) performances of Rovers under Dave Penney and Sean O’Driscoll. You may also recall that I used the old one point for a draw and two for a win system popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
since this was symmetric - i.e. a late equaliser or winner had the same effect on both sides, namely + or -1 point. You may recall that Dave Penney’s teams, in his approximately 5 years in charge, had a net positive of 18 points in that he picked up 44 points from losing positions (24 draws and 10 wins) and lost 26 points from winning positions (16 draws and 5 defeats). By comparison Sean had a net negative of 15 points in a similar time span with 44 points won (22 draws and 11 wins) but no fewer than 59 points lost (25 draws and 17 defeats). I refuse to comment on tactics, but would point out that Dave Penney’s games (1.5 seasons Conference, 1 at level 4 and 2+ at level 3) were at a lower level than Sean (nearly 2 seasons at level 3 and 3+ at level 2). Add to this the facts that Dave had a record breaking +11 at level 4 in 2003-4 which skewed his figures, and that Sean’s negative figures all came at level 2, and my conclusion is that the level of opposition is the single greatest factor in the comparison of the two managers’ figures. This is confirmed by looking at Dean Saunders’ figures. Last season at level 2 he had a net negative of 5 points (he picked up 9 points from 5 draws and 2 wins, but lost 14 points to 2 draws and 6 defeats) whereas this year at level 3 he had a net positive of 6 points (picked up 7 points via 3 draws and 2 wins and lost only 1 point in the draw against Sheffield United). This gives Dean a total net positive of one point over his time as our manager. It is worth noting that with Brian Flynn/Rob Jones
starting so well against Stevenage that this season’s current net positive of +9 is second only at the moment to that remarkable season of 2003-4. The picture and conclusion when looking at late goals is very similar. The earlier article looked at goals scored after 80 minutes of a game and how the result changed in the last 10 minutes. Dave Penney’s team scored 57 and conceded 29 goals after 80 minutes in the matches in his 5 years in charge, with a net gain of 9 points (19 draws and one win achieved, 10 draws and one defeat conceded). By comparison Sean’s teams scored 40 and conceded 56 goals with a net loss of 14 points (16 draws and no wins achieved, 26 draws and 2 defeats conceded). All the above comments about level of opposition would seem to be equally valid, and are backed up by Dean’s figures. At level 2 last season 5 late goals scored and 14 conceded meant he had a net negative of 6 points (picked up 1 point from 1 win, but lost 7 points to 3 draws and 2 defeats). However this year at level 3 the 7 late goals scored during Dean’s reign and 6 conceded have meant a net positive of 3 points (picked up 6 points via 6 draws and lost only 2 points in 1 defeat and 1 draw). Thus Dean’s final tally is 12 scored and 20 conceded with a total net negative of 3 points. * For the older amongst you, this article is not dedicated to Dave Clarke (3 appearances 1969-70) or Dave Clarke (15 appearances 1993-4) since they have an extra ‘e’ in their name and did not wear number 5. BW
Evans says your Wife will never be an Andy Warrington and eats the shirt designs. Do you a) Design a whole new range of shirts? Go to page 29, or b) Admit what happened to the board? Go to page 34. popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
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THE BELLES, THE BELLES It’s that time of year again, just as one football season draws to a close another is only just beginning as the Doncaster Rovers Belles get set to kick-off their 2013 FAWSL season with tomorrow’s FA Women’s Cup tie against Bristol Academy.
We say it often enough in this fanzine and on our associated social media, but really is time for the town to back the Belles. Consistently achieving they have been in the top flight every season since the National League’s inception and have also been incredibly active in the community coaching and encouraging young girls throughout the borough and encouraging them to progress in the sport themselves. All this with a fraction of the money available to the men’s game, and a fraction of the backing of the town. Of course many of you will always keep an eye out for the result, and check on the League table, and whilst that may help you keep tabs, and maybe give you ammunition over Liverpool or Everton supporting colleagues, it doesn’t truly help the team as much as getting down to a game and getting behind them physically and vocally. The Belles’ attendances in the FAWSL have
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not been terrible, but they could be, and deserve to be, much better. After she was cruelly injured in the opening game of last season the Belles will be hoping to make more of the services of England star and popular figure Sue Smith this coming season. Sue not only brings a wealth of talent, but also an experienced head in the middle of a very youthful Belles side. Four of the current squad have received caps for England at under 19, 21 and 23 level; Kasia Lipka, Beth England, and teenage strikers Jess Sigsworth and Millie Bright have all worn the national shirt in recent months. For the Belles, who don’t have the financial backing of most of the other sides in the league, nurturing and progressing local talent is the key to being competitive, and though resultswise the last two seasons may have been a struggle the progress of these local products in those campaigns can only give optimism for the season ahead. So forget Super Sunday tomorrow, forget the sofa, and instead get back down here to the Keepmoat and give one of the Town’s most successful sports teams the support they deserve.
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#10 Millie Bright As part of our continued support of Doncaster Rovers Belles, we are delighted to announce that the fanzine will be sponsoring striker Millie Bright for the 2013 season. Millie, still only nineteen years old, made her 1st team debut debut for the Belles within days of her 16th birthday, coming off the bench against Watford at the Keepmoat back in August 2009. She has been in and around the 1st team squad ever since and with the departure of Precious Hamilton to Lincoln ahead of last season was able to make a move for a regular starting place in the squad and staked her claim with a goal in the pre-season fixture with Manchester City.
Described as a tall, powerful, athletic striker with an good eye for goal by the Belles website, Millie’s impressive form has already seen her capped by both the England under 19 and England under 23 squads. Having scored twice during last season’s FAWSL campaign, one in each game against Lincoln, Millie will no doubt be keen to add to her tally this season and hopefully catch the eye of Hope Powell and the senior squad selectors before 2013 is out. The fanzine will keep you updated on Millie’s progress, and that of the Belles too both in future print issues and also via our website: www.popularstand.wordpress.com
Your designs are so bad, a local judge passes a law requiring you to have an East Riding Sacks logo on all your clothing. You change your name to Mark Weaver and live in the woods in shame. popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
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DOWN MEMORY LANE Jack the Miner’s extensive research and tireless, in-depth reportage has unearthed some moving accounts of early Rovers memories from some great Doncastrians... and Jeremy Clarskon
Dame Diana Rigg, DBE, Actress
I don’t remember my first game but I remember very clearly the first time I took my Avengers co-star Patrick Macnee to Belle Vue. We had raced up the A1 in an open topped sports car after filming finished. I was still in my Emma Peel one-piece leather cat suit and Patrick was wearing his trademark John Steed bowler hat and carrying the famous umbrella. Of course we got a few funny looks as we queued to get in but all was ok until we got the gate when a copper said ‘you can’t bring that umbrella in here mate’ and Patrick said ‘but I’m Steed from the Avengers’ and the constable said ‘Yeah and I’m Emma Peel’ and I said ‘No. I’m Emma Peel’, which I was, and we all had a bit of a laugh about it. Anyway I was a bit miffed because Keith Webber was playing instead of Pancho Regan and I always felt the Regan/Jeffrey duo offered more of an outlet for Brian Usher and I was proved right because it was a tedious bore draw and near the end Patrick ran on the pitch and nicked the ref ’s whistle and the crowd loved that and carried him all the way down Leger Way on their shoulders after the final whistle until we got to The Salutation
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where Patrick set up a free bar and sang rude rugby songs all night and I was sick in the bogs.
Lesley Garrett, CBE, Soprano
My favourite Rovers memory was when I took Anton du Beke, my Strictly Come Dancing partner, to Belle Vue the day we were presented with the League Two trophy. Anton had been asked by John Ryan to give a few dancing lessons to help with the team’s goal celebrations on the big day which was something Anton was reluctant to do. You see a few years earlier Anton had given lessons to Justin Jackson and like he said ‘that was a complete waste of bloody time’ which was funny because I always said that Justin Jackson was a waste of bloody money and we had a bit of a chuckle about it. Is this where you want me to sing? Anyway, Tim Ryan, Mark Albrighton and the others refused and Greg Blundell was only interested in trying to offload some cheap DVD players and in the end Adriano Rigoglioso was the only one who wanted a lesson so Anton, knowing it’d be a waste of time again, walked out.
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I found him later at a chip shop in Hyde Park and I spilled mushy peas and gravy all over the front of my frock but it was a great day. Do I sing now? I can if you want me to.
Jeremy Clarkson, Git
I had absolutely no interest in the place and frankly I’ve tried very hard to pretend I’m not from the area, hence the phoney Southern accent I adopted years ago. Still, going to watch, Dongchester Town, or whatever they’re called, was too good an opportunity to miss. You can imagine how excited I was as I teased my perm and slipped on my cheap washed out jeans and headed North with the intention of belittling the sad sops. Sooo many opportunities for cheap, predictable put downs and sarcasm. Classic. Ruined a good pair of cowboy boots in the car park at Bile View, or whatever it’s called, as I recall. What happened to Dumcaster Villa, or whatever they’re called? Actually, don’t bother. Being a smug **** takes a lot of effort and I really need to go practice. Now shove off.
Sir Douglas Bader, CBE, DSO & bar, DFC & bar, World War 2 Fighter Pilot
(from an old radio archive speaking in 1974) I moved to Spotborough in the early 20’s and Tom Keetley became a big hero of mine. I recall playing football in the courtyard when I was
imprisoned in Colditz and as I robbed Binky of the ball and rounded Bodger I was giving myself a running commentary. As I rocketed the ball past Biffo in goal I shouted ‘and that’s unbelievable from Keetley. He really is a class apart as he punishes Rotherscum with an absolute beauty’. At this point a German guard sticks his chest in my face and says ‘So, you are a fan of ze Doncaster Rovers, ja? As ve say in zis country they are scheisse, und der Keetley ist eine big girl.’ And all the guards joined in...’Ja, Tom Keetley ist eine big girl.’ I was a bit miffed about that as Tom had a goals per game ratio of 0.75 per game. I never managed to escape from Colditz and whilst I’d done my bit in the war, I resolved to get even for the Germans insulting the great Tom Keetley and to this day I’m happy to say I’ve never drunk German wine, I have never owned a BMW and I refuse to eat German sausage. I like to think that somewhere up there Tom approved of my boycott of German produce. In our next series of reminiscences, David Jason explains how the filming of Open All Hours almost ended Peter Kitchen’s career during a kickabout with Ronnie Barker, Neil Dudgeon talks about the difficulty of shooting Midsummer Murders whilst listening to Paul Mayfield get very excited on Rovers Player and Brian Blessed shouts a lot. JTM
this is merely an extra paragraph to thank those who read every bit of popular STAND. Well done you! popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
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SECRET LIVES OF THE ROVERS Continuing his series of exposé on former Rovers men Mike Follows uncovers the secret cross-dressing, gender-bending past of Warren Hackett. You may remember him as the 1990’s left back with an alleged fondness for a spliff but since a chance encounter with an acquaintance of his in a London boozer, the popular STAND team see Warren Hackett in a very different light. For beneath the assumed identity of an average Division Three full back lay a shocking revelation: Hackett was actually a woman with a very big secret. He was the alter ego of the exiled Queen LaMbikiza Sibonelo MngomeZulu of Swaziland. It was last March following the Rovers’ surprise 1-1 draw at West Ham that this amazing tale unfolded. Whilst killing time in the Flying Scotsman pub in King’s Cross, local man, Fred Turps overheard me talking about the Rovers and offered to share an amazing story in return for a pint of Strongbow and five pound coins “for the ladies”. As you know, here at Popular STAND we leave no stone unturned in our quest for the truth so this was a small price to pay for a story from such a credible source.
Turps took a swig of his cider, dropped a pound into a the pint pot proffered by a passing scantily-clad Russian lady and commenced with his no-holdsbarred account of how he came to discover Hackett’s amazing double life: “I remember in 1990 I was living in Leytonstone when an African lady and her daughter moved in across the road at number 17. After a week or so I didn’t see the lady again. I did see a man coming and going with a kit bag though.” “I thought nothing of it until one morning when I saw the young man in the front bedroom putting on a bra. It was a stroke of luck that I happened t be using my Nikon Lookout II action Binoculars to watch a coal tit hopping across the top of number 17’s upstairs bay window at the time or I may never have found out what was going on!” Fred turned to take another swig of his pint, asked me to lend him a quid for a bag of dry roast nuts
Radio Sheffield inform you Seth doesn’t live there anymore and his pies were all eaten by Andy Giddings & Rob Staton during an all night Glee marathon.Back to p6.
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and pushed his NHS specs firmly into place on the bridge of his bulbous, purple nose as the lovely Tatiana gyrated on stage. He then dropped another pound coin into a passing glass before turning round to continue his tale: “I nipped over the road that afternoon and collected some items of ladies’ underwear from the washing line. I had a plan to confront this woman and find out once and for all what was going on. When she returned home with her kit bag I marched over there with the underwear in my hand and asked her to explain all. At first she tried to claim that the knickers belonged to her daughter but I soon made her confess when I showed her a video that I’d taken of a Wood pigeon sitting on top of the telegraph pole in front of her house whilst she was coincidentally getting changed in the background.” “She invited me in to her best room and, lighting a joint began to confess her secret. As you know, the Swazi economy is financed largely by the illegal export of marijuana, predominantly to South Africa. As a consort to King Mswati III of Swaziland, it was easy to cross the border with no questions asked so the temptation to get involved in this lucrative trade was too strong to resist.”
Downing the remainder of his cider and adding another pint onto my order, Turps took a moment to stare at the voluptuous performer on stage, adjusted the crumpled copy of the Weekend Sport in his lap and pressed on with his amazing story: “It seems that Queen LaMbikiza had got too deeply into the drug trade and crossed some pretty nasty Afrikaaners so she needed to find a place to lie low for a while. As she had already sent her daughter, Princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini to school in Hertfordshire, London seemed like a sensible option. But she knew that the drug gang would be looking for her so she needed to go deep undercover. She got the idea to pose as a man whilst reading an article about the American investor, Warren Buffett so she stole his name. She then took the surname of Father Jack Hackett from Father Ted and came up with her new identity.”
Gavin Baldwin admits he ordered skirts to engage with Rovers Transvestite fanbase. Do you a) Applaud Rovers liberal approach to increasing ticket sales? Go to page 13, or b) Take designs for shorts to John Ryan? Go to page 23.
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SECRET LIVES OF THE ROVERS // CONTINUED “She had plenty of money as you would expect after ripping off an international drugs cartel but she needed a cover story for her income and amazingly she managed to convince the Manager at Leyton Orient that she was a St. Lucian international footballer who had been on the books at Spurs! The plan worked so well that a few years later, her niece Princess Tetsimba tried the same trick by telling Graeme Souness that she was George Weah’s cousin, Ali Dia. Unfortunately Tetsimba wasn’t as good at football as her aunt and she was soon found out.” “I kept Queen LaMbikiza’s secret for the four years that she lived over the road. She was always worrying that the drug lords would track her down in London and she constantly had a bifta
on the go to calm her nerves. I think it all became too much for her so she moved up North to Doncaster and I never saw her again. It wasn’t all bad news though because as luck would have it, a couple of 21 year old graduate girls moved into number 17 and I spent many a happy evening bird watching if you know what I mean!”
Next Issue: The final installment in this tedious series!
MF
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John Ryan loves your designs, but feels they should reflect his experience in the cosmetic surgery industry, do you a) Add a diagonal stripe to option D and hope for the best? Go to page 15, or b) Add option DD with a picture of Rotherham United boss Steve Evans on the chest? Go to page 12.
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WHEN MANAGERS MOVE ON This isn’t the first time a manager has left Rovers in the middle of a promotion-chasing season. In this article, taken from a piece which appeared in the matchday programme a decade ago, John Coyle looks at what happened in 1965-66. Having decided to appoint a playermanager ahead of the 1964-65 season, Rovers’ choice for the job fell upon 32-year old Bill Leivers. A native of Bolsover, Leivers had started his career with Chesterfield before moving to Manchester City for a fee of £10,000 in 1953. Leivers was a defender who was equally at home at right back or centre half. In 1956 he won a FA Cup winners’ medal with City when they beat Birmingham 3-1. The game achieved fame as the one in which City’s German goalkeeper, Bert Trautman, played on despite breaking a bone in his neck. Leivers had a virtually new team with which to work when he started his new job in July 1964. Only ten senior players remained from the previous season. After a poor start to the campaign, Leivers brought in a number of new faces including Ken Oxford, David Raine, John Wylie and Phil Robinson. He was helped by the fact that Alick Jeffrey had rediscovered his goalscoring touch. The Rovers’ legend, now restored to full fitness, was an ever-present and notched 36 of Rovers’ 84 League goals, the club’s best final tally since the 1946-47 season. The 1964-65 side was entertaining but ultimately unsuccessful but a 9th place finish and improved home attendances offered promise for the popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
future. Leivers himself made a limited on-field contribution, injury restricting him to only 19 League appearances. He attracted comment by twice using goalkeeper Fred Potter as a forward, once in a 0-3 defeat at Tranmere but then more successfully when Rovers won a FA Cup replay at non-League Scarborough in December 1964. Leivers’ men began the 1965-66 season with considerable optimism, reflected in two 10,000 plus crowds for the opening games of the season. Rovers rewarded their fans with two 4-0 victories over Lincoln City and Hartlepools United. One of Leivers’ pre-season signings, centre forward Lawrie Sheffield, scored three in those two games. Sheffield’s partnership with Alick Jeffrey was to be a key factor in Rovers’ eventual success that season. The manager strengthened his squad by signing Bob Gilfillan, Tony Coleman and the outstanding defender John Nicholson, who became club captain. Despite an embarrassing FA Cup exit at the hands of nonLeague Wigan Athletic, and a dip in form around Christmas, Rovers were handily placed in 6th at the start of February 1966. On 10th February 1966 Rovers’ fans received a massive shock when it was announced that Bill Leivers was leaving the club “by mutual consent.”
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Chairman Hubert Bates emphasised that Leivers had neither resigned nor been sacked, while Leivers himself said he had appreciated the support of his chairman. While Leivers took up a new job as a car salesman, Rovers fans were left to speculate as to why a manager who had apparently turned their club around had left so abruptly. Some answers were provided in November 1966 when Leivers returned to football management at Workington. His new chairman, Tom Kirkpatrick, claimed that Leivers had left Belle Vue because of “a disagreement over team selection.” Questioned by Doncaster Evening Post writer Joe Slater, Leivers admitted that he left “because of continual disagreement over my team selections.” The smoking gun had at last been discovered, and the hand that pulled the trigger appeared to be that of Hubert Bates. Unlike many of the men who occupied the Belle Vue “Hot Seat” in the 1960s, Leivers went on to enjoy some managerial success. After a year at Workington he became manager of the ambitious nonLeague side Cambridge United. He led them to the Southern League title two years running and in 1970 they were elected into the Football League. Leivers took United to promotion from Division Four in 1972-73 and after leaving the Abbey Stadium he managed Chelmsford City and Cambridge City before retiring in 1989.
After Bill Leivers’ sudden departure Rovers did what they normally did in a crisis: turn to Jackie Bestall. The chief scout and former manager was placed in charge of team affairs in February 1966 alongside trainer Frank Marshall. Their appointment seemed likely to be a brief one as Rovers’ board announced they would be advertising for “a qualified coach with League experience” to take on the job. Bestall and Marshall’s first game in charge resulted in a 1-0 win at Rochdale and they followed that up with a home victory over Chesterfield. Goalkeeper Fred Potter was injured in the latter game and with his deputy, Roger Chapman, having a nightmare in a 3-4 defeat at Wrexham, Bestall signed Oxford United’s tall, experienced goalie Harry Fearnley. The new custodian seemed to give his defenders renewed confidence and Rovers suffered only two more defeats as they went on to win the Division Four Championship for 1965-66. The board had decided to retain the caretakers until the end of the season, even though 25 men, including some “high-calibre candidates” had applied for the manager’s job. If the decision to keep Bestall and Marshall in post was justified by events, the decision not to appoint a permanent manager in the summer of 1966 was most surprising. The board merely restructured the existing management team with Bestall designated as “Acting Team
Rotherham’s front office aren’t sure but suggest maybe it’s Maybelline. Back to page 6.
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Manager,” Marshall named as coach and with Secretary Tom Garnett taking a role in playing matters. Marshall, who was born in Sheffield in 1929, had been a journeyman midfielder playing for Scarborough, Rotherham United, Scunthorpe United and Rovers before joining the training staff in 1962. Garnett had been a director of Northwich Victoria and secretary of Crewe Alexandra before joining Rovers as secretary in 1961. He was recognised as an efficient administrator and his role was to negotiate contracts and transfer deals while Bestall picked the team and Marshall coached them. Rovers’ pre-season optimism was shattered in September 1966 when club captain John Nicholson was killed in a car crash which also left Alick Jeffrey badly injured. The shocking news seemed to affect morale and Rovers suffered some heavy defeats including a 0-4 home reverse against Darlington and a 0-6 thrashing at QPR in successive matches. Worse was to follow in November 1966 when, with Jeffrey still on the injured list, the board infuriated the fans by selling Lawrie Sheffield to Norwich City for £12,000. At the next home game, against Mansfield Town, supporters vented their fury on Chairman Hubert Bates. The visitors won an exciting game 6-4 but the contest took second place as fans shouted abuse at the Directors’ Box. The club’s response was to announce that they would be
appointing a permanent manager as soon as possible. There was no criticism from the board or the fans for Bestall, who was recognised as doing a decent job in difficult circumstances. However, at the age of 66 he was considered rather old for front-line duties. In December 1966 Bestall was able to resume work as chief scout when Rovers appointed Keith Kettleborough as playermanager. Jackie Bestall had a further brief spell in charge of team matters in November 1968 following George Raynor’s resignation. Now is perhaps the time to pay tribute to a great servant of Doncaster Rovers. He managed two teams (1946-47 and 1965-66) to Divisional championships and in between times he discovered many a fine player in his role as chief scout. A man who was loved by his players and respected by all at the club, Bestall was granted a welldeserved testimonial by Rovers in 1970. He retired soon after and died in April 1985 at the age of 85. Jackie Bestall
JC
You invite Evans in for tea. As the kettle boils, you find him in your fridge with a face full of pie. He offers to take your Wife on a month’s loan. Do you a) Accept his offer? Go to page 33, or b)Throw him out on his ear? Go to page 17.
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TO LINDUM AND BACK As the season nears its conclusion Chris Kidd ponders on how the squad has done this far, and whether they have the staying power for the run in. At the time of writing Rovers find themselves at another crossroads in the 2012/13 season as they take the trip to Bournemouth for what might be a massive league-defining game. Win and Rovers stay top and possibly increase the gap between the automatic promotion spots and the play-off places, lose and Rovers could find themselves struggling to stay in the play-off mix. After losing at MK Dons and three successive draws in February Rovers have been a little out of form of and now have to contend with injuries to Jones, Syers and Keegan amongst others as they try to stay on the promotion trail. In a situation like this a club will sometimes make a couple of loan signings just to keep the wheels on the promotion bus turning. Rovers have done exactly that with the signings of Lundstram, who is currently England under 19 captain, from Everton and Cameron Howieson from Burnley who is yet to feature for the first team. Additionally Rovers have recalled Sully from his loan spell at AFC Wimbledon as Gary Woods continues to feel the promotion jitters and have allegedly re-signing Mark Wilson who has played a few games for Gainsborough Trinity this season. The four names above
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hardly add the experience and steel to a promotion ‘run in’ which the average supporter may hope for but perhaps they strike a chord of a club operating within its means as it strives for a return to the second tier at the first time of asking. Gary Woods has had a difficult few weeks between the sticks after surviving most of the season going unnoticed due in part to the solid defence playing in front of him. Just recently he has undoubtedly cost us a few goals; unfortunately as a keeper mistakes mean goals and that usually means points cost as well. Woods has come on a lot since crawling out of Sully’s shadow, especially with his distribution which is absolutely pin point. There is a lot more to being a keeper than being able to pass well and Woods has lacked a bit in recent weeks, however we must remember he is still 22 which is very young for a goalkeeper. It’s a shame that since Saunders left for the not so green pastures of Molineux that the defence just doesn’t quite hold the air of invincibility it has held until his departure. That is the single most worrying thing for the last ten games as Rovers have been defensively solid and unspectacular everywhere else and just when it popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
matters the granite head of Jones is not at our disposal. The other area of the team which continues to cause consternation is the midfield. Out wide Rovers have been brilliant, with plenty of flair and guile to call upon in Cotterill, Coppinger, and Bennett, plus the rising star Husband. The middle has been less than inspiring. Keegan offers something but doesn’t have the entire package; Syers is encouraging and reminds me very much of Paul Green with the engine and stamina of an ox and has the sought after skill of popping up in the box and scoring goals. Martin Woods has again suffered with injuries and sadly you have to wonder if he will ever be free from injury now having been hampered for so long. James Harper was once the Rolls Royce Paul Green in his prime, had energy to burn, ran the length of the field countless times during a game and scored goals. Now he appears to have lost his legs and struggles to really get into the game. That brings us nicely onto John Lundstram the Everton youngster who many feel will make it big in the game. He certainly isn’t afraid to put a foot in and is always looking for the killer ball to set up an attack, it’s all there, you can see it, just like with Ryan Mason, Matt Mills and David Wheater. At the current time Syers and Lundstram would be my preferred central
midfield partnership, hopefully the former can shake off his latest injury. Whilst we’re considering loan players, has there been any better loan signing than Iain Hume in recent years? He’s that player who playing for the opposition you always hate, he buzzes around your defence causing havoc, putting defenders under pressure, using his experience to conveniently wind opponents up and weighing in with the odd goal. He’s that annoying wasp that during the summer months when you’re sat in a beer garden enjoying a drop of the amber nectar keeps making a move on your pint, you ‘waft’ him away but to no avail, he keeps coming back, he wants that beer and eventually he either gets in there or you get stung, he’s won either way. It’s been a joy to watch Iain Hume playing for Rovers, he isn’t prolific but you want him in the starting eleven; why wouldn’t you? It remains to be seen if Rovers have what it takes to gain promotion, they couldn’t be better placed for it but there is a nagging feeling that it just can’t last. There are some big games to come, many on home turf which hasn’t been happy hunting ground for two years now. Will Flynn lead Rovers to the Championship once more? Stay tuned.
CJK
Do you design your kit a) On classic Rovers kits of the past with a nod to the future? Go to page 7, or b) Knock one up at the last minute with an alcohol fuelled crayon, much like this game? Go to page 19. popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
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BLOWING MY OWN TRUMPET Modern stadia are a marked improvement on what went before. Or are they? Editor Glen Wilson wraps a belt round your forearm before injecting you with a big dose of nostalgia. I’ve mentioned this before in these pages, but a couple of years back I was in a pub when I noticed the television above the bar showing a rugby league match. There was no sound, but the anchor and pundits were rolling through their pre-amble in front of backdrop of red seats and newish concrete; I gazed for a good couple of minutes wondering where they were; Salford perhaps? Maybe St Helens. Wakefield? One wide-panning shot later I clocked it. They were at the Keepmoat. The fact that I couldn’t recognise the place I’d sat in every other Saturday for the previous three seasons spoke volumes about the nondescript nature of modern football stadia. Remember the Beautiful South song Rotterdam; “this could be Rotterdam or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome,” as time goes by that song resonates less as inconsequential turn of the century pop and more like knowing foresight toward the future indeterminate follies in which we would watch our football.
eradicated, and replaced by indifferent banks of safe plastic; the Hospital in the corner at Gay Meadow, the angled stands of Layer Road, the steps to the pitchside at Saltergate, all gone in the name of uniform progress. Of course nostalgia is just heroin for the old, and so for the young, or the newly converted, football has only ever taken place at these out of town boxes, but trust me kids, it wasn’t always like this. Back in our day it may not have been nowt but fields, but it was at least a miss-match of concrete, wood, wrought iron and grass-banks. Where you now feel corporate we once had character, so yes it may be safer now, and more family-friendly, but who wants that when you could have had all this;
1. Terracing
Often lamented, and always slated for a comeback with groups such as the Football Supporters Federation leading the charge. The thing is though; those campaigning for return always focus on the same With each passing season of arguments throwing out words the oddities that mark out the like ‘atmosphere’, as if taking out grounds as our own within the the seats will suddenly turn the haze of goals and banalities of the moaning sods behind you into the Football League Show are flag waving Ultras of the Curva popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013 30
Nord, or ‘cost’. The real beauty of terracing was not in either of these aspects, but the simple pleasure that if the person behind you was ‘the Coach’, or ‘Shoutybags’, or that air-horn toting Mario Brother, you could just, simply, and effortlessly move further along. Bliss.
2. Pillars
I know what you’re thinking, and yes I agree - especially having watched Rovers from the back of the top tier at Hillsborough which seems to have the biggest concentration of poles outside of Warsaw – that cantilever stands are a great and welcome invention. But for as long as they exist you will never have the joy of locating your seats in a stand to find that your mate is sat slap bang behind a thick iron girder (hello Scunthorpe) and can see just the near corner flag, and a bit of the halfway-line.
then once you get there drive round the town with your head out the window looking skywards like the idiot focal points in those US documentaries on storm chasers. It was a foolproof method, and one without which we’d never have sampled the delights of a Telford Goods Yard of a Friday night. Frankly if you’ve not driven excitedly (and ultimately mistakenly) towards a distribution plant in Northampton then you’ve not lived.
3.Proper Floodlights
Proper bloody great lights on proper metal structures in the proper corners of proper grounds. Not only were these things used to light up the match, but men being men, in the days before Sat Navs and GPS on your phones, floodlights were also the sole reference point when heading to an away game. No need to look at a map, follow signs for Cambridge,
You tweet the designs. It’s retweeted once and receives 46 replies saying “Harper is rubbisher than iz Kyle Bennitt”,do you a) Correct their spelling and grammar? Go to page 8, or b) Reply that Harper and Bennett both make a valuable contribution? Go to page 34. popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
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BLOWING MY OWN TRUMPET // CONTINUED 4.A Sensible location
There was a time when football grounds existed within the communities to which their team belonged, surrounded by the houses of those who supported them. Out the door, hop over the wall, through the turnstile, in the ground. At Luton you still have to go through such a house to get in. Now each new ground is plonked in an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere, three miles from the railway station or town centre, you know, ‘for ease of access’. And even more galling is the realisation that the more we stick grounds out here, the less chance we have of supporters sitting on roof-tops and chimney stacks for important Cup games. No-one is going to risk
FK Vojvodina’s Changing Cottage
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climbing a PC World for a glimpse of a giantkilling.
5. Cottages
Quaint little houses tucked away in the corner of the ground that host the changing rooms of teams. Thankfully Fulham have preserved the one after which their ground was named, but there used to be many others. You have to negotiate the one in the corner of Worcester City’s St Georges Lane to get on or off the terraces meaning that if you time your exit right you hear all manner of managerial expletives coming out the back window. In Novi Sad, Serbia, FK Vojvodina a semi-detached house at one of their ground housing their changing rooms, with the referees traipsing down from upstairs to knock on the respective front doors of the opposing teams and see if they’re coming out to play. Miles better than seeing two stewards wheel out some sponsor laden concertina plastic.
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6. Foreboding Ends
Nothing daunts an away side like turning up on a cold windswept grey day and realising that in order to break down your opponent you must play towards a menacing sounding enclosure straight out of a Roy of the Rovers comic; the Cold Blow Lane end at The Den, the Cemetery End at Bury’s Gigg Lane, Valhalla at Cambridge United. Ok, the last one is made up, but for some reason attacking the Findus Family Stand will never quite instil the same fear… unless you’re allergic to horsemeat I suppose.
7. Away Fans Getting Wet
You’re playing awful, you’re getting tonked at home, and you’ve not even had so much as Ken Avis accidentally leaving his mic. on to cheer you up, but, as they sky darkens, and the spatter of raindrops appear on concrete it matters not a bit, because now, over to your right, the away fans who have been giving it large all afternoon are about to get a soaking, and there is no way for them to hide. The schandenfreude of seeing the away fans get a soaking on the uncovered terrace is one of football’s great delights; also, imagine how much less memorable that Dalian Atkinson goal for Villa would have been if the first supporter running up to him had, had no cause to be wielding an umbrella.
8. Snack Bars With a View
Concourses never used to exist at football grounds; we just thought it was the plural for really fast planes. And with nothing beneath the stands but earth or ash or yet to be discovered mining subsidence the snack bars sat on the terraces themselves. The upshot of this was that you didn’t need to make a mad half-time dash, you didn’t have to worry about missing goals, because you just simply took your place in the queue and watched the game carry on over your shoulder. If you were really lucky, your team would score, and you’d be able to take advantage of the bedlam to jump a good fifteen places in the queue (hello Orient away circa 2003). Or even better, if it was truly your lucky day a hoofed clearance would cannon in through the window sending the sauce bottles flying and bringing the biggest cheer of the game, before it was thrown back on the field, coated in more grease than Stan Burton’s barnet.
Evans force feeds pies to your Wife before starting her up front against Torquay.He pronounces her the new Adam Le Fondre and offers her a job as his pre match fluffer, back to page 6.. popularSTAND // ISSUE 63 // MARCH 2013
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BLOWING MY OWN TRUMPET // CONTINUED 9. Anecdotal Toilets
No, I’m not clutching at straws, and I know what you’re thinking; toilets are toilets and much of a muchness; metal urinal, breezeblock wall, eye-level poster featuring a bikini clad model advertising something sexy like contents insurance; and the gents are much the same too. But you ask anyone who went to a match prior to the turn of the millennium and they will give you a story of the horrors of football sanitation which had long existed on the mantra of if it aint broke don’t fixit, and even if it is it’ll probably do for another half a century. Prior to the Taylor Report installing toilets basically meant building a brickwall and painting the bottom half of it black. There was the open trough at Rotherham, the wall
with a pipe attached at York and they were just the highlights. And let us not forget the portacabin toilets on the Pop Stand terrace, not because they were particularly bad, but because it was wildly understood that the window above the middle urinal offered one of the best vantage points in Belle Vue.
10. Character
I suppose all of the above basically adds up to this; football grounds in the 1980s and early 1990s were for the most part shitholes and death-traps, but they were our shit-hole and death traps, and the quirks that made them deadly or intolerable for us were rarely the same as the oddities which rendered other people’s tumbledown tin-sheds inhospitable. Stuff your premier seats and big screens, give me a terrace that leaks and a scoreboard that only goes up to 5 and I’ll be much happier, along with wetter, colder and more miserable. Its how GW football as meant to be.
45 tweeters say you aren’t a real fan for a missing the trip to Tiverton because your cat died. The other one calls you a twat. Back to page 6.
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