Sweet redemption for Doncaster Rovers ahead of Easter double repeat

What a difference a year has made in the fortunes of Doncaster Rovers. Leon Wobschall reports as sets now focus on lifting the title.
Doncaster Rovers Alfie May celebrates promotion with fans after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: Jon Buckle/PA Wire)Doncaster Rovers Alfie May celebrates promotion with fans after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: Jon Buckle/PA Wire)
Doncaster Rovers Alfie May celebrates promotion with fans after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: Jon Buckle/PA Wire)

FOOTBALL is full of strange quirks of fixture fate as Doncaster Rovers can certainly attest to this Easter.

For many connected with the club, that traditional holiday was a washout last year and it had nothing to do with the notoriously lousy British Bank Holiday weather, either.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Rovers were on the floor and close to being down and out in their League One safety quest after a grievous Good Friday defeat at Colchester United and an equally shattering Bank Holiday Monday late home loss to Blackpool.

Doncaster Rovers manager Darren Ferguson celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: Jon Buckle/PA Wire)Doncaster Rovers manager Darren Ferguson celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: Jon Buckle/PA Wire)
Doncaster Rovers manager Darren Ferguson celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: Jon Buckle/PA Wire)

Fast-forward to this Easter and another holiday trip to North Essex to face the U’s and a Keepmoat meeting with the Seasiders provide a delicious opportunity for a touch of karma.

To say Rovers had a grim time of it at this same juncture last year is putting it mildly. Successive losses took their losing sequence to seven matches and their crippling winless streak to 15 games in all competitions – and left them ensconced in the relegation zone. They were to stay there.

How things have changed. Promotion is in the bag and if Darren Ferguson’s side triumph in their two Easter appointments, the title could be secured as early as Monday afternoon if results go their way.

Sweet redemption is the phrase you are looking for.

Doncaster Rovers' James Coppinger celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: PA)Doncaster Rovers' James Coppinger celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: PA)
Doncaster Rovers' James Coppinger celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: PA)
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Defender Andy Butler acknowledged: “It is a complete turnaround from last year after going 17 games without a victory. It is brilliant and the gaffer and all his staff have transformed the club.

“It is refreshing to see the steps that the club have taken to get back up there. It has been joy to be part of it.

“Hopefully, this year will be a complete turnaround and the title is what we are aiming for.”

For Rovers, promotion did not just end an eight-month journey from the start of the season, but one which had lasted just under a year in reality.

Doncaster Rovers manager Darren Ferguson celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: Jon Buckle/PA Wire)Doncaster Rovers manager Darren Ferguson celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: Jon Buckle/PA Wire)
Doncaster Rovers manager Darren Ferguson celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: Jon Buckle/PA Wire)
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Witnessing those post-match promotion scenes that all managers hanker for on Saturday, Ferguson would have been forgiven for casting his mind back to last April.

The date of April 30, 2016 to be precise when the Rovers manager experienced the polar opposite in terms of emotions as the club reached the end of the line in the railway town of Crewe Alexandra – a 3-1 loss effectively consigning the club to relegation.

Chants of ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’ rang out from the irate away contingent at Gresty Road and while Ferguson’s ashen-faced look after the game spoke volumes about his sense of dejection and professional hurt at Rovers’ demise, his utterances also spoke of his fierce determination and resolve to rectify matters.

Ferguson spoke about ‘big changes’ ahead as he addressed the press in south Cheshire and plainly did not hang about in implementing them with several players told they could leave as he set about overhauling his squad in double-quick time.

Doncaster Rovers' James Coppinger celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: PA)Doncaster Rovers' James Coppinger celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: PA)
Doncaster Rovers' James Coppinger celebrates promotion after the Sky Bet League Two match at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. (Picture: PA)
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The fact that the Rovers hierarchy showed such a strong jaw and stuck with their man, when many other boards would have dispensed with their manager’s services following such a disastrous, season-defining run of wretched form – the club were in 11th place at the start of January – was worthy of much credit in hindsight.

Probably even more significant was the financial backing afforded to Ferguson to allow him to quickly bring in several key signings to start vanquishing memories of a torrid campaign at the earliest available juncture.

Tommy Rowe, Matty Blair and Mathieu Baudry all arrived before the end of May, while John Marquis was brought in before mid-June. Stealing a march on their rivals was the appropriate term.

Those deals – and several others besides – were completed with a clear sense of purpose and foresight.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

They were signings which have ultimately proved good enough to break the back of League Two and most of the club’s immediate rivals. This was a season when promotion was a ‘non-negotiable’ in the words of Ferguson, who was backed with the biggest budget in the division, apart from Portsmouth and ‘not too many others’ according to chief executive Gavin Baldwin when speaking to The Yorkshire Post last summer.

Butler said: “Last season wasn’t a good one and the gaffer did say that maybe everything was a bit stale – and it probably was.

“Sometimes, you have to take two steps back to take one forward. The club stuck with him and have got their rewards now.

“The recruitment in pre-season was brilliant. Not just ability-wise, but character-wise.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We have got the right characters this year and more leaders and characters in the dressing room. It’s a good mixture with youth and experience. Tommy Rowe was a statement in terms of what we wanted to do. Then we brought in the likes of Blairy, Mathieu Baudry and John. Not just good players, but great lads.

“We put pressure on ourselves and the team is full of winners and the gaffer is a winner.”

Now Rovers can enjoy their Easter, although given the culture that has been fostered by Ferguson and company, the real party will be reserved for when they hopefully claim the title.

That would be a fitting send-off to a fine season which has been as exemplary as last year was unsatisfactory and disorientated.