I’m not entirely sure what the history of Boxing Day is, or indeed how it got its name. I’d look it up, but I’ve foolishly chosen to write this in the one café in London that manages to boast floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides, yet receives no phone signal and offers no wifi. What is this 2012? Anyway, let us presume it is due to a tradition relating to boxed gifts of some kind, and not a long and sustained marketing campaign by Don King or the WBA. Continue reading “On Boxing Day Football”
Out of the darkness comes light. From the fug of Mad Friday hangovers and the pea-souper of doom hanging over the Keepmoat, Rovers delivered an awakening away performance to bring much-needed festive cheer. Continue reading “Swindon Town 0-1 Doncaster Rovers: 250 word match report”
Take this game out of the context of the season thus far and it would simply be a frustrating 90 minutes. One in which Rovers dominated possession, and had the more efforts on goal, but were picked off by an away side who dug in and seized upon two mistakes. Those games happen. Continue reading “Doncaster Rovers 1-2 Gillingham: 250 word match report”
Rovers at Rochdale
A must win game for Dickov
Or so people said Continue reading “Rochdale 1-3 Doncaster Rovers; 250 word report”
In issue 72 of popular STAND, editor Glen Wilson (not Glenn Whelan) attempted to get to the bottom of recent discord in Rovers’ support, and see if we couldn’t all get along nicely. Continue reading “Support Work – time for Rovers fans to work it out”
Having been hugely let down ten days earlier – not by the postponement, but by the realisation the hosts’ mascot is a weird seagull, and not a big horse in a cape called Weston the Super Mare – we chose not to revisit the Somerset coast. Instead, we phone in this report from the sofa. Continue reading “Weston-Super-Mare 1-4 Doncaster Rovers; 250 word match report”
Much to our surprise, popular STAND has been included on the shortlist for Fanzine of the Year at the FSF Awards. Here, editor Glen Wilson, expands on what this means for a publication like ours, and for his own sanity. Continue reading “FSF Fanzine of the Year – popular STAND makes the shortlist”
This was the second time I’ve watched Rovers host MK Dons and today, as with that last time, I found myself gazing towards the away end wondering, ‘what did you all used to do of a Saturday afternoon?’ Are Milton Keynes’ garden centres in crisis? Continue reading “Doncaster Rovers 0-0 MK Dons; 250 word match report”
Sometimes 250 words is more than you could ever need. Rovers offered the square root of nothing as they failed to get a foothold of any kind in this game whilst a Walsall side – uninspiring but effective – took control without having to break sweat.
The first half passed with all the excitement and event of a tax self-assessment – forty-five minutes without a shot on any sort of target. Luke McCullough manfully stifled Tom Bradshaw, Rovers failed to support the hard-working but isolated Theo Robinson.
But then in injury-time came the breakthrough, a neatly worked free-kick caught Rovers napping and James Baxendale skipped in to drive a shot past Marko Marosi. The Slovakian keeper, on for the injured Jed Steer would do little but fetch the ball from his net all afternoon.
Second-half, and despite a couple of tactical shifts from Paul Dickov, anything approaching conducive threatening play evaded Rovers whilst Walsall took advantage of the gaps left by absent full-backs; Sawyer getting his second assist of the game to find the unmarked Bradshaw for 2-0.
A free-kick in off the post made it 3-0 and the game was over. Alex Peterson went on to run around in the vague vicinity of Robinson, but nothing changed. The quality and promise of Fulham evaporating into the exhaust fumes of the adjacent M6 traffic with every passing minute.
by Glen Wilson
As I sat down to write this, a retweet appeared in my timeline. The picture within it showed a grin in a suit, pointing at a huge yellow screen, genuine smugness on his face as he gestures at a number. £800,550,000. An obscene amount of money. The national debt of Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic combined. And, ludicrously, the amount spent by Premier League football clubs in the latest transfer window. With three hours still to go. This isn’t football; it’s commodities trading. Continue reading “Why Non-League Day will always be more important than Deadline Day”
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