Barnsley 0 Doncaster Rovers 0: Fans make a fitting salute as chairman bows out

Close to 2,000 Doncastrians paid their respects to the fallen in an immaculately observed minute’s silence ahead of Saturday’s ‘Pitmen’s derby’ before turning their attentions to football and saluting one of their own.

John Ryan, standard-bearer in the remarkable resuscitation of Rovers from near death in the late 90s to a club with a proud and vibrant beating heart, confirmed his resignation as chairman at kick-off amid blackening skies.

With that decision, the storm clouds behind the scenes at the Keepmoat with Ryan locked in a bitter dispute with fellow majority shareholder Terry Bramall over the club’s future gathered force.

Decision made, Ryan solemnly watched the first-half action unfold at Oakwell in the directors’ box before making his way into the away end to sit with his people.

Passionate strains of ‘There’s only one John Ryan’ were heard at regular intervals along with ‘Walking in a Ryan Wonderland’ and ‘You’re Rovers until You Die’. And, it has to be said, there were some choruses of ‘We want Bramall out’ from sections of the Rovers contingent.

It was easy to forget that a football game, let alone a South Yorkshire derby and a key one at that, was taking place following the shock development.

But, somewhat fittingly, the pluck and resolve that Rovers displayed in hauling themselves up from close to oblivion with Ryan at the helm following the wretched final days of the Ken Richardson era was on show at the chairman’s own ‘Last Post’ at Oakwell.

Back in Ryan’s first season as chairman in 1998-99, the notion of Rovers playing Barnsley on an equal footing in a league derby was a stratosphere away.

Fifteen years ago, Rovers lost 2-0 at Stevenage and were bottom of the Conference. It has been some journey since for the club and its fans, whose tributes left Ryan feeling overwhelmed.

Ryan, applauded by Rovers players in the visiting dressing room after the game when he informed them of his decision to step down, said: “You saw the tremendous reception I had from the fans, it was quite extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything like that before. It certainly brought a tear to my eye.

“I had the send-off of all send-offs. Being a fan since 1958, I thought it would be very appropriate to end my reign sitting back with the fans, who have certainly backed me over the past 15 years.

“All good things have got to pass and 15 years, after all, is a pretty good stint.

“I’ve done what I intended to do all those years ago in 1998 when Doncaster Rovers had just been relegated out of the league, had four players and the stand burnt down.

“I made certain predictions and every one came true.”

He continued: “It is a very sad day for me, but I feel a football club is either going forwards or backwards.

“I really wanted to have a go at the upper echelons of the Championship and maybe even the Premier League.”

While it was a raw day for Ryan, it was difficult not to spare a thought for the man he fought so hard to bring to Rovers in manager Paul Dickov after the game.

After some difficult times behind the scenes at previous club Oldham, the respite he has been afforded across the Pennines has been short.

Not that his side did not do him proud.

His patched-up defence, in which young Luke McCullough was outstanding, helped secure a point which looked unlikely, especially when the Reds were awarded a 19th-minute penalty.

But Chris O’Grady’s effort, which followed the clumsiest of challenges from Bongani Khumalo on Marcus Pedersen, was well saved by former Tykes loanee Ross Turnbull.

Rovers dug deep for the remainder of the game and displayed the graft that personified Dickov during his playing days.

Although a few scares did arrive along the way, with Jean-Yves Mvoto somehow spurning a golden chance before O’Grady’s penalty and substitute Tomasz Cywka heading another excellent opportunity wide with the last action of the game.

Dickov said: “It’s disappointing because John wasn’t just my chairman, but is a friend as well. It’s a sad loss for the club because his enthusiasm and passion is there for everybody to see. Not just since I have been here, but for the last 15 years.

“John will be a massive loss, but my job as manager is to keep things going. I’ve had worse than this; remember I was at Oldham for two-and-a-half years and when players aren’t getting paid and things like that are happening, you’ve got to deal with it, roll your sleeves up and lead by example. And that’s what I will be doing.”

Dickov, whose side’s sole chance arrived at the death when Richie Wellens fired wide, added: “They really dug in and had a right good go. If players work hard and give it everything they have got, you have got a chance of picking up results.”

For Dickov’s good mate David Flitcroft, frustration was etched on his face after watching his side have the better of the derby only to possess a blunt knife on the attacking front.

A draw may have extended the Reds’ unbeaten streak to four games and secured a first clean sheet since April, but it was little consolation to the Barnsley manager.

He said: “If we had scored one goal and I thought there would have been an avalanche coming. We’ve got to kill teams off. It took Chris a while to refocus after the penalty because that’s Chris; he feels like he has let everyone down.

“He missed a penalty, but he’ll reset and recover and go on to the next game.”