Doncaster Rovers F.C. Totally Explained

Everything about Doncaster Rovers F C totally explained

Doncaster Rovers Football Club (or informally Donny) are an English professional football club, based at the Keepmoat Stadium in the town of Doncaster, South Yorkshire. In the 2008-9 season that'll be playing in the Football League Championship.

History

The club was formed in September 1879 by Albert Jenkins, a fitter at Doncaster's Great Northern Railway works in response to the emerging popularity of the game in the nearby city of Sheffield. In 1938 the capacity of Belle Vue was increased to 40,000 and it was in 1948 that the stadium recorded its highest attendance of 37,099 against Hull City, although apocryphal accounts refute this and claim that many more gained entry to the ground by climbing over walls and thus avoided having to pay.
They hold the record for the most wins in a league season (33 in 1946-47). In 1997-98, Doncaster also set the record for losses in a season, suffering the humiliation of enduring a record 34 league defeats as they finished bottom of Division Three and went into the Football Conference. Just after this relegation, chairman Ken Richardson was sent to prison after he tried to set fire to the Belle Vue ground in hope of being able to pay off the club's debts with the insurance money.(External Link

) They returned to the league five years later as Conference playoff winners, and were Division Three champions the following season.
   Doncaster is the only team to win the Fourth Division/Third Division (fourth level) championship more than twice (three times in 1966, 1969, and 2004). These changes in League names led to a complication however, when Rovers tried to retain ownership of the actual Third Division trophy. Football League rules state that any team who wins a trophy 3 times can keep it. The Football League however, claimed that the Rovers couldn't keep the trophy because the name had changed and in theory, Rovers hadn't won that particular league 3 times. The titles won in 1966 and 1969 were in fact Fourth division (albeit the same in all but name).
   Doncaster were the last team to win the Division Three before it was renamed League Two.
   In 2005-06, Doncaster beat two Premiership teams in the League Cup - Manchester City and Aston Villa. They reached the quarter finals of the competition where they were knocked out by Arsenal on penalties. Harry Gregg kept goal for Doncaster in the 1950s, and was sold to Manchester United in December 1957 for £23,500. At the time, he was the most expensive goalkeeper in the world. He went on to help save lives in the Munich air disaster and was a regular goalkeeper for Northern Ireland.
   The late Billy Bremner, who achieved fame for his playing career with Leeds United and Scotland, managed Doncaster twice, his final spell ending in November 1991 - six years before his death.
   Doncaster Rovers were involved in the longest ever football match, against Stockport County at Edgeley Park on March 30 1946. The match was the second in a Division Three (North) two-legged cup tie and, after 30 minutes of extra time, was deadlocked at 2-2 (also the score in the first leg). After the referee had sought advice from the authorities, it was decided that the game would carry on until one team scored. However, after 203 minutes, and with darkness closing in, the game was finally stopped. Stories abound of fans leaving the game, going home for their tea, and coming back to watch the end of the game. The replay, at Doncaster, was won by Rovers 4 - 0.
   After difficult times for the club in the 1980s and 1990s they've recently found their best form for arguably the past 50 years. Successive promotions in 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 under the helm of manager Dave Penney has returned them to the Coca Cola League I. Penney left in August 2006 and was replaced with former AFC Bournemouth manager Sean O'Driscoll. The club has few financial worries due to owner John Ryan's commitment to invest heavily into the club. A new stadium was completed in December 2006 and their first game at their new Keepmoat Stadium was against Huddersfield Town F.C. on New Year's Day, 2007. The first goal scored at the Keepmoat Stadium was by Mark McCammon. Notable fans include singers Joe Longthorne and Tony Christie and the boxer Junior Witter; all have featured on Doncaster Rovers' official website. 2007-08 has proved to be one of the most exciting seasons in Doncaster's history. They were in serious contention for a top-six finish almost from the very beginning, but defeat on the final day of the season cost them automatic promotion and they finished third. After a 0-0 draw away to Southend United in the playoff semi-finals first leg, Rovers beat their opponents 5-1 at home in the second leg to advance to the playoff final at Wembley where they beat Leeds United 1-0 to move into Football League Championship after a half century absence.

Mascot

The team's mascot, portrayed by Andrew Liney, is a brown dog known as Donny Dog that wears a red and white Rovers jersey. Before a scheduled appearance during the game against Huddersfield Town at the Galpharm Stadium on 12 September 2006, police prevented Liney from entering the stadium in costume, citing unspecified "police intelligence", and refused him permission to wear any part of the costume within 50 metres of the stadium.

Achievements

Carling Cup, Quarter Finals
- 2005-06 Knocked out Manchester City of the Premiership in a 3-0 on penalties(External Link) and Aston Villa 3-0(External Link) en route to the Quarter Finals where narrow defeat to Arsenal on penalties(External Link) brought an exciting cup run to an end.

Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners

2006/2007

Football League One Play-Off Winners

2007/2008

Nationwide League Division Three Champions

2003/2004

Third Division North Champions

1934/1935, 1946/1947, 1949/1950

Fourth Division Champions

1965/1966, 1968/1969

Nationwide Conference Play-Off Winners

2002/2003

Nationwide Conference Cup Winners

1998/1999, 1999/2000

Sheffield & Hallamshire FA Senior Challenge Cup Winners

Players

� As of 18 April, 2008.

Current squad

Notable former players For a complete list of former Doncaster Rovers players with a Wikipedia article, see .

England

Syd Bycroft

Brian Deane

Kerry Dixon

Leo Fortune-West

Alick Jeffrey

Glynn Snodin

Ian Snodin

John Stiles son of Nobby Stiles nephew of John Giles

Charlie Williams

Northern Ireland

Alan Blayney

Harry Gregg

Republic of Ireland

Gerry Daly

John Sheridan

Peter Doherty

Alfie Hale

Kit Lawlor

Scotland

Wales

Brian Flynn

Neil Roberts

Neville Southall

New Zealand

Dave Mulligan

Jamaica

Darren Moore Further Information

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