DONCASTER ROVERS F.C.

'Doncaster Rovers Football Club' (or 'Donny' as they are often known) are an English professional football club, based at the Keepmoat Stadium in the town of Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

Contents

History

Mascot

Achievements

Players

Current squad

Notable former players

References

External links

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 (42 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.[1] They returned to the league five years later as Conference playoff winners, and were Division Three champions the following season. The 2006-07 season is the club's third successive season in League One.
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 could not keep the trophy because the name had changed and in theory, Rovers had not 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 Third division before it's name changed to League 2 the following season.
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. The replay, at Doncaster, was won by Rovers 4 - 0. Stories abound of fans leaving the game, going home for their tea, and coming back to watch the end of the game.
After difficult times for the club in the 1980s and 1990s they have 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.

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 meters of the stadium.^[1]

Achievements

★ 'Carling Cup, Quarter Finals'

★
★ 2005-06 Knocked out Manchester City of the Premiership in a 3-0 on penalties[2] and Aston Villa 3-0[3] en route to the Quarter Finals where narrow defeat to Arsenal on penalties[4] brought an exciting cup run to an end.

★ 'Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners'

★
★ 2006/2007

★ 'Nationwide League Division 3 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 6 July, 2007.''^[2]

Current squad

Notable former players

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

References

1. "Donny Dog Barred!", Doncaster Rovers official site
2. Squad Numbers Sorted

External links

★ Official site