Conference trucks::football;1

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Note 255.0                  Doncaster Rovers Anyone?                  No replies
FORTY2::FOWLERM                                       8 lines  12-AUG-1992 10:31
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Ahem.

While I hesitate to open myself up to the scorn of a nation, are there any more
Doncaster Rovers fans out there?

No? I thought not..

Ho hum.

If CEEFAX is anything to go by Donny look set to become the latest victims of
the Inland Revenue, scourge of all things good and decent as it is.

Apparently there have been some irregularities in the Rovers tax payments, in 
that we have never paid any. Personally I thought that was because we never had
any money since we sold our best players for six pound fifty in 1937 (it was a 
lot of money back then). However, we have been told to find some grotesque sum 
by January 9th (I think) or kiss goodbye to our dreams of a place in the GM
Vauxhall Conference next year.

All this raises the question as to what do you do if your team goes the way of 
Maidstone and Aldershot. I just hope it doesn't doom me forever to a lifetime
supporting Grimsby Town (they are the local team where I come from). Perhaps
I'll just end it all now. Ho hum.

Just think, without the great Doncaster Rovers (official nickname "The Rovers")
football will never be the same again. Someone else will be bottom of the league
every year.

Your despondant correspondant (I put a lot of thought into that)

Mike

    Just so you don't feel totally alone...
    
    I'm always sorry to hear of any club facing the chop, but when it's a
    Northern team it is particularly sad (I live in Leeds).
    
    Here's hoping they find the dosh.
    
    Lofty.
    

Bum. It was going so well as well. 8-)

Can anyone in this conference receive West Country television station? Thing is,
this Saturday they are showing Torquay versus Donny and I was wondering whether
I might be able to bribe them to video it for me. If anyone can oblige, I'll be
eternally grateful and will faithfully promise to do absolutely anything in
return.

Cheers,

mike

    Mike,
    
    
       I live in Cornwall and can receive Westcountry, they don't show much
    footy down here as they highest team they have is Plymouth. When is it
    on? Let me know and I'll video it for you. 
    
    cheers
    Gary

                      <<< Note 174.5 by FILTON::KENT_G >>>
                              -< Help is at hand >-

>    Gary


     Wot no comment on last night's games??


     Stuart

Gary,

Brilliant, thanks very much. I'll remember you in my will for it (don't get too
excited). 8-)

According to 90 Minutes, it's at 5 p.m. on a programme called Scoreboard (local
highlights). What do you want me to do? I could send you a cheque for a
videocassette and a couple of pints, whatever's easiest for you.

Cheers,

Mike

    Mike,
    
      I think this is just the highlights from the days games, normally you
    get more action on the Monday evening programme. I video and send up to
    you, can you give me an address. You can send the tape back if you
    like.
    
    
    Stuart,
    
      Don't want to tempt fate by bragging, especially if your lot beat us
    in the League. I managed to watch the game on Sky, it was the biz, and
    I thought Mr Keegan was extremely fair in his after match comments (Mr
    Dalglish take note???!!!). 
    
    Life still treating you OK then??
    
    cheers
    Gary

                      <<< Note 174.8 by FILTON::KENT_G >>>
                                -< here we go >-

>    Life still treating you OK then??
    
     Yep, thanks. I hope you have adjusted painlessly to life in Wales.

     Good football from your lot last night, marred only by Pleat's 
     normal cliched ridden soundbites after the game. He's a good
     coach and he knows his way round London.
     
     Good luck,

     Stuart
     
     

I noticed yesterday in the transfer chaos that meets the deadline that Donny had
sold Tony Cunningham to Wycombe for an undisclosed fee. This would be fine, but
for the fact that the last I heard was that Cunningham had replaced Steve
Beaglehole as player-manager. Surely it's not really on for a manager to
transfer himself? It doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the team he's left
behind does it?

Bum. Why couldn't I have been born near a decent team. 8-)

Mike

I went to see Donny take on Crewe at Belle Vue last Saturday and, my, they were
poor. Normally my eight foot thick rose tinted specs would see me safely through
such a personal disaster, but not this time. We drew nil-nil, but the biggest
cheer went up for some berk we brought on in the second half with a joke
haircut. Jamie Lawrence I think his name was, previously of Sunderland. very
fast, no discernable talent. I got quite excited when our winger (Don Page)
played a few good touches, but he obviously gave up after that and did nowt else
for the rest of the game. Our best player by a mile was a central defender
called Russ Wilcox who must be about 50.

Still, it's nice to see that not all managers have lost their faith in
kick-and-rush football.

Pardon me while I cry,

Mike

    Mike,
    
    Surely they can't have been that bad; after all, aren't Crewe one of
    the best teams in the Division?
    
    For some odd reason, I decided to go and watch Rochdale vs. Wycombe on
    Easter Monday and was quite impressed by the standard of football at
    this level. There was certainly a level of passion that I have noted as
    lacking in the odd 1st Division game earlier this year.
    
    Rob

Rob,

Perhaps I am being a bit unfair to the lads, but I can't help but compare the
match to the halcyon days when I watched us get beat 3-1 at Gillingham, having
missed our early goal due to parking problems. 8-)

Crewe were one of the better teams in the league, but are now "enjoying"
something of a decline, and have slipped from 8pts (?) clear at the top of the
table to third or fourth overall. Plus, neither of their top two scorers were
playing. Donny hit the post once, but other than that, the game was like an ITV
comedy series based around unlikely comic happenings in a penalty area. 

When I think back, I have to admit that Russ Wilcox did play very well, and Don
Page had some smart lycra shorts but that's about it for the Donny faithful. I
was surrounded by old boys with flasks of coffee who had been watching the
Rovers since the early days of the Crimean War and they seemed to share my
opinion. Perhaps we're just hiding our talent so that no big club e.g. Witton
Albion buys them off us for a packet of Smarties and a nice smile.

One interesting statistic is that, since taking over as player manager, striker
Ian Atkins has played his first three games of the season and scored no actual
goals. Cynical, me? Naaahhh.

Away to Sunny Scunny on Saturday, and we're in for a pasting I suspect. However,
the blind loyalty of a lifetime leads me to predict a 2-0 victory for Donny.

Mike

In a frenzied outburst of boredom I produced the following side made out of
ex-Donny players who are still playing (with the exception of Tony Woodcock who
was too good to leave out):

Goal:	Mark Crichton	(Grimsby)
Defence:Dylan Kerr	(Reading)
	Rufus Brevett	(QPR)
	Glynn Snodin	(Aberdeen?)
	Ian Snodin	(Everton)
Midfield:Mark Rankine	(Wolves)
	John Moncur	(Swindon)
	Kevin Noteman	(Mansfield (getting desperate))
Attack:	Tony Woodcock	(Forest)
	Mike Jeffrey	(Newcastle)
	Brian Deane	(Leeds (even more desperate))

Manager: Joe Kinnear	(Wimbledon)

Good, eh? We sold this lot for a combined total of approximately �1million,
which is less than half what leeds paid Sheffield United for Brian Deane. What a
damning indictment of the parasitical nature of supposed class clubs (and
Mansfield).

Mike

    Mike,
    
    Said like a true supporter. I've noticed that you also write quite a
    few notes in the Villa and Liverpool notesfiles. Do you also support
    these clubs or is your true, blind loyalty still with Donny. I take it
    you come from Doncaster?? 
    
    Paul.
    
    
    

Paul,

I come from a village near Doncaster originally (West Stockwith) but I moved to
a town near Grimsby (Louth) early on. Not early enough to prevent me from
developing a love for the Rovers though. 8-)

I vaguely follow Villa because a lot of my friends (2) are from Aston, because
nobody is ever particularly desperate to discuss the nether regions of the third
division, and because Donny's appearances on tv are few and far between. Plus
the Villans play fairly decent football. Assuming you have no interest in
scoring goals of course. I wouldn't really call myself a Villa fan except under
extreme provocation e.g. Villa winning or Gary Waite entering a note, God bless
'im. Obviously, neither of those two things is likely to happen in the near
future. 8-)/8-(

Liverpool I have little regard for other than preferring them to Man Utd. And I
suppose, traditionalist that I am, it's nice to see the reds doing well.

You're not the first to be puzzled by my footballing allegiances, but I hope
that clears things up a bit.

Cheers,

mike

    While we're on the subject of records (?), howsabout this for a season:
    
    Doncaster Rovers 1946-47 Division 3 (north) Champions
    
    Played:	42
    Won:	34
    Drawn:	 4
    Lost:	 4
    Goals:     123
    Points:	72
    
    Top scorer:	Clarrie Jordan (42)
    
    We're the best, we are. 8-)
    
    Mike

    Been down the pub Mike ?

    Cynical git. You're just bitter.

    Tomorrow is a key day. We're 6 points ahead of Brighton with two games
    left to play for both sides, but they've scored more goals than us.
    If they do us tomorrow at the Goldstone Ground (entirely likely) we
    need a point against Torquay next Saturday to stay up. Pants. I didn't
    think it would get this close. We should never have fired Sammy Chung.
    This is the second time in recent years that we've flirted with
    relegation. 
    
    If we go down, we are absolutely stuffed. Our ground isn't good enough
    to get us back even if we do win the Conference next year, and the
    Council won't let us build a new one. At least Brighton might have a
    future even if they get relegated this time.
    
    Mike
    

    
                       Chung to trys to windup Donny

 Sacked manager Sammy Chung has granted Doncaster a 28-day stay of
 execution.
 Chung agreed to an adjournment in Manchester today after issuing a
 winding-up petition against the third division club.
 He took over at Belle Vue in July 1994 but was dismissed by owner Ken
 Richardson two hours before the opening match of the season against
 Carlisle.
 Chung, 62, has not worked since and decided to take the matter to court
 after failing to reach a financial settlement with the club.
 He is being backed by the League Managers Association, who believe the
 results of his case could herald radical changes in the game.
 Chung, who has spent a lifetime in football, issued a statement after the
 adjournment to his solicitor Martin Price.
 "I instructed my solicitor to issue a winding-up petition against
 Doncaster Rovers in an attempt to recover sums due to me from my
 dismissal in August," he said.
 "It is not my intention that the club should go out of business but that
 it should honour its obligation to me and other creditors.
 "The winding-up petition was due to be heard at Manchester this morning
 but the club has asked for 28 days in which to sort its affairs out.
 "As I wish to see the club continue to function and be placed in a
 position where it can honour its obligations, I instructed my barrister
 not to oppose the club's position."
                                  [Back]

    It gets worse. Our noble benefactor, Ken Richardson, has assumed control 
    for team tactics, team choice, everything really. I'm surprised he's
    not too busy, what with defending himself in court against charges of
    trying to burn down our stadium. I can't ecen begin to imagine what
    manager Kerry Dixon does with his time any more.
    
    The council want to knock down the ground because it's an eyesore and
    stands in the middle of the town's leisure and retail development
    park.
    
    None of our half-decent players, okay, neither of our half decent
    players, will sign contracts with us, so I suspect they're on their
    way. They're not superstars, so they'll probably just sign for some
    half-decent third division side that will at least pay them
    occasionally.
    
    Life's crap when even Jordi Cruyff would be a great addition to your
    squad.       
    
    Mike