“I can cope with being in the National League, relegation is part of being a football fan, but what I want is a sustainable club with decent morals and values and not one which is part of one man’s ego.”
Continue reading “Editorial: Board Out? Board In? Or Just Shake It All About?”
Mick died in September. I don’t know how old he was. Older than me, but still in the ballpark of years at which people, upon hearing of his passing, would shake their heads and comment that it was ‘no age at all’.
Continue reading “Beneath the Statue: Remembering Mick”
In the last edition of this fanzine I wrote about enjoying the opening games and weeks of a new season. About optimism and about how enjoying watching football should be the thing which sets the tone, not the results or what they might mean.
Continue reading “Marshall Matters: Starting to take a back seat”
The streets of South London were eerily quiet as I emerged from my house and walked the short distance down the road to the tram stop. An early autumn breeze blew through the trees and the skies were still dark, occasionally illuminated by streetlights and the big forecourt sign at the Shell garage.
Continue reading “For Peat’s Sake: To Barrow… via Dublin”
Jack Peat set out to tackle this season’s most pressing question; why weren’t Rovers relegated sooner?
In all my years of watching Rovers, I can recall only a handful that have felt as abysmal as this one. Indeed, off-field matters excluded, this has probably been the worst. Performances both home and away have been uninspiring. Players have struggled to gel. Any positive moments have been fleeting and all too often dissipated in the same puff of smoke in which they appeared. It has been tough, and few people reading these pages will need reminding of that, but what has been most perplexing of all in my view is that we weren’t put out of our misery sooner.
Continue reading “The Bottom Six”
At the end of the summer I sat in the same spot I’m writing this editorial, whilst Richie Wellens looked back at me and my decor via Zoom, and told me that he didn’t foresee Rovers being in a relegation battle come the second half of the season. A couple of weeks later Gavin Baldwin told the BBC that ‘we are nowhere near [a relegation battle] at this stage’.
Continue reading “Editorial: Where did it all go wrong for Doncaster Rovers in 2021-22?”
Right, cards on the table from the off here so we all know where we stand before I crack on. When I read that Gary McSheffrey had been given the role of Doncaster Rovers manager permanently my first reaction was disappointment. It wasn’t what I’d been hoping for, for two reasons. Firstly because he’s done a great job with the academy, and if we’re to salvage some sort of continuity from the last 18 months then I felt this was the space in which to do it, and let him carry on his good work. And secondly, because I felt that what our squad needed was a fresh pair of eyes on it to come in, without allegiance or empathy, and make bold decisions on what happens in the January transfer window.
Continue reading “You can’t spell new manager without ‘anger’”
There’s an adage football fans have long forgotten, that if we can’t say something nice, we shouldn’t say anything at all. So instead of writing about our current season I’ve cast my mind back to another time of Keepmoat Stadium upheaval. One which ultimately delivered the most incredible thing I’ve ever witnessed at a football match.
Continue reading “What would Billy Sharp do?”
In issue 103 of popular STAND fanzine, editor Glen Wilson tried to shake off the mundanity of lockdown, by revisiting some past footballing hate.
Continue reading “Magic Hate Ball”
Twenty-one years ago popular STAND fanzine was established because Doncaster Rovers were teetering on the edge of existence, and our founding editor believed ‘the other fanzines that were around were being too easy on the club’s owners and its plight.’ In short, we were set up to speak up and to speak out against those who didn’t uphold what the game and what our clubs were about. Continue reading “Twenty isn’t plenty in football’s unending banterfication”
popular STAND fanzine 