Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, England. The team compete in

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

, the fourth tier of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

. The club play their home games at The Keepmoat Stadium, having moved from Belle Vue in 2007. Their home strip consists of red and white hoops, which has been the main design of the club's home shirt since 2001 through different variations. Rovers often sport a third kit each season promoting mental health charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), with proceeds of the particular home games being donated to said charity.Doncaster Rovers Historical Kits
Historicalkits.co.uk. Retrieved on 24 September 2012. The club was founded in 1879 and turned professional six years later, moving to the

Intake Ground The Intake Ground was a football ground in Doncaster in England. It was the home ground of Doncaster Rovers between 1885 and 1919, and is still used today as a football field. History Doncaster Rovers started playing at the Intake Ground in 18 ...

. They entered the Midland League in 1891 and were elected into the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

in 1901. The club lost re-election votes in 1903 and 1905 and so returned to the Midland League. They were admitted into the Football League for a third and final time in 1923 and went on to win the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

in 1934–35. The club won two further Third Division North titles in 1946–47 and 1949–50, having been relegated from the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1937 and 1948. Doncaster found themselves in the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

after suffering successive relegations in 1958 and 1959, though would win the Fourth Division title in 1965–66 and 1968–69. The club continued to move between the third and fourth tiers, winning promotions in 1980–81 and 1983–84 and relegations in 1983 and 1988, before suffering relegation into non-League football in 1998. Doncaster regained their Football League status after winning the 2003 Conference play-offs and then went on to win the Third Division title in 2003–04. They won the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and the next year won the League One play-offs to secure a place in the second tier for the first time. They spent four of the next five seasons in the Championship, winning the League One title in 2012–13, though were relegated out of the Championship in 2012 and 2014. Relegated into

in 2016, they won an immediate promotion in 2016–17 and remained in League One until their relegation in 2022.

History

Early years

The club was formed in 1879 by Albert Jenkins, a fitter at Doncaster's Great Northern Railway works. He gathered together some friends to play a match against the Yorkshire Institute for the Deaf and Dumb in September 1879. The institute side took a 4–0 lead but the game ended as a 4–4 draw. On walking back from the game, the team took a rest at the Hall Cross, and had a discussion in which they decided to play more and called themselves Doncaster Rovers. The first match under the name was on 3 October 1879, a draw away against Rawmarsh. The club turned professional in 1885. Gradually, they became the main team in the town, and appear to have had their first professional players in 1887–88. Rovers first entered the FA Cup in 1888–89, losing 9–1 to Rotherham Town at home. Season 1890–91 was to be a significant move forward. The club were a founder member of the Midland Alliance League and came second. The following season, saw them enter the Sheffield and Hallamshire FA Challenge Cup, beating Sheffield United 2–1 at Bramall Lane to win the final. That same season, they also moved up to the Midland League, becoming Champions in 1896–97 and 1898–99. They were first elected to the

1901 Events January * January 1 – The Crown colony, British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and Western Australia Federation of Australia, federate as the Australia, ...

, as a replacement for New Brighton Tower. Their first season in the League was in fact the one when Doncaster achieved their highest position ever (7th in the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

). They only lasted two seasons in the league before being voted out in favour of local rivals

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, having finished the 1902 season in the bottom three. They spent the following season in the Midland League, only managing 11th place out of 18 but were elected back to Division 2. This time, in

1904–05 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, Doncaster finished bottom with W3 D2 L29, adrift by 12 points, gaining only 8 points – an unfortunate still standing record. They were voted out once again. The following several seasons saw them finish lower midtable of the Midland League, till between 1910 and 1913 they had greater success. The last few years before the war mediocrity returned, and in August 1914 debts run up over the years led to voluntary liquidation. However, a new club was formed in time for the 1914–15 season and was accepted into the Midland League to continue where the old club had left off. The outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

meant the club closed down, and the army took over its ground using it as a depot.

Inter war period

The Club reformed as a limited company after the war in 1919, rejoining the Midland League a year later playing at their new temporary Bennetthorpe Ground. The first two seasons Rovers finished lower-mid table. The third season they moved to Belle Vue, finished runners up and were accepted into the Football League Division 3 North for 1923–24 to replace

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921 Stalybridge Celtic ...

. The first match back in the Football League was a 0–0 draw against Wigan Borough at Belle Vue on 25 August 1923, with Rovers playing in red tops with white shorts. One of the players in that first match was Rovers legend Tom Keetley who went on to become the Club's highest scorer with 186 goals in 241 appearances. Doncaster ended the season in 9th place. The next few seasons saw them rise towards the top of the table, then decline towards the bottom, before in the early 1930s finishing consistently near the top and finally becoming Champions in 1934–35. Rovers spent two seasons in Division 2, relegated in 1936–37. However, they did well in the following two seasons before the outbreak of war, being runners up in Division 3 North, with only the champions being promoted at that time.

Second World War – late 1990s

Doncaster Rovers were involved in the longest ever competitive football match, against Stockport County at Edgeley Park on 30 March 1946, in a Division Three (North) cup tie. The match was deadlocked at 2–2 at 90 minutes, and after two 10-minute periods of extra time there was no further score. The rule at that time was that the game would carry on until one team scored. However, after 203 minutes, and with darkness closing in, the game was finally stopped. Fans were said to have left the game, gone home for their tea, and come back to watch the end of the game. The replay, at Doncaster, was won by Rovers 4–0, goals coming from Steven Bain, Billy Mortimer and a late double from Graeme Dunne. In 1946–47 Doncaster set a

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

for the most games won in a league season (33), when they won the

title. The following season saw them relegated from the

, but two years later with Peter Doherty as player-manager, they won the Third Division North again. This time they stayed in the Second Division for eight seasons, their most successful period to date. During this time, several high class players were with Doncaster including

Harry Gregg Henry Gregg, (27 October 1932 – 16 February 2020), was a Northern Irish professional footballer and manager. A goalkeeper, he played for Manchester United during the reign of Sir Matt Busby, with a total of 247 appearances for the club. He w ...

who kept goal, and was sold to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

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 Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Another player, lesser known outside Doncaster, was Alick Jeffrey.

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager, who managed Manchester United F.C., Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 197 ...

, manager of

, had lined him up to be bought, however in October 1956 Jeffrey badly broke his leg playing for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

under-23s. This ended his move and any chance of what was seen to be an almost certain glittering international career to come.

Billy Bremner William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Regarded as one of the game's great midfielders, he combined precision passing skills with tenacious tackling and physical stam ...

, who achieved fame for his playing career with Leeds United and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, managed Doncaster twice, his final spell ending in November 1991 – six years before his death.

Richardson era

During the early 1990s, Ken Richardson, who was later described by detectives as "the type that would trample a two-year-old child to pick up a 2p bit", took over as the majority shareholder of the club. He ploughed a lot of money into Doncaster Rovers with one thing on his mind, a new stadium. When he was refused a new stadium by the council he soon lost interest. Richardson hired three men to torch Belle Vue and planned to sell the ground to developers. The attempt put Richardson in jail for four years, ruined Belle Vue and Rovers were edging closer to relegation. In 1998 Rovers dropped out of the league with a −83 goal difference. He withdrew his financial backing and as a result the club was subject to an administration order. The better players left to ease some of the financial burden but unfortunately, the players who were left at Rovers were just not up to the task. The fans blamed Richardson for effectively destroying Rovers and even a funeral was held at Belle Vue on the last game of the 1997/98 season complete with coffin along Carr House Road. Just weeks after Rovers were relegated, Richardson was found guilty of trying to set fire to the Rovers ground, apparently hoping to pay off the club's debts with the insurance money.

The rise

The Westferry Consortium took over the Club just before the beginning of the 1998–99 season with a commitment to invest heavily in the club. The details of this season are collected in Ian McMahon's book ''The Only Way Is Up''. They also brought in John Ryan as a non-executive chairman and he took over at the end of this season. Having aspirations of returning it to the second tier where he had seen them when he was a boy, he stated he would build a new stadium within ten years, both of which he went on to achieve within the ten years. Doncaster found their best form in 50 years in the 2000s. After five seasons in the Conference League, under the helm of manager Dave Penney the club returned to the fourth tier (known at the time as Division Three) after winning the 2003 Conference Play-Off final, in the only sudden death goal (also known as a "Golden Goal" and officially known as "Promotion Goal" in this game) in history of English football promotion play-offs. In 2003–04, the first season they were back in the Football League, Rovers achieved promotion to the third tier as Champions. Doncaster were the first team to win the Fourth Division/Third Division (fourth level) Championship three times, 1966, 1969, and 2004. Football League rules state that any team who wins a trophy three times can keep it. When Rovers tried to retain ownership of the actual Third Division trophy, the

claimed that Rovers could not keep the trophy because the league names had changed from ''Fourth'' to ''Third'' Division, and so they had not won that particular league three times. Doncaster were the last team to win Division Three before it was renamed

. In 2005–06, Doncaster beat two Premiership teams in the League Cup –

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. They reached the quarter finals of the competition where they met

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. They went ahead in normal time and

equalised, and in extra time Rovers went up for a second time but

Gilberto Silva Gilberto Aparecido da Silva (; born 7 October 1976) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder most notably for English Premier League club Arsenal, Super League club Panathinaikos F.C., Clube Atlétic ...

equalised in injury time and the North London side went on to win on penalties. Penney left in August 2006 feeling he had taken the club as far as he could and was swiftly replaced with former

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

manager Sean O'Driscoll, with

Richard O'Kelly Richard Florence O'Kelly (born 8 January 1957) is an English former footballer turned manager; whose most recent position was Dean Smith's assistant head coach at Premier League side Aston Villa. He began his career at Walsall in 1979, as they ...

as assistant manager. A new stadium was completed in December 2006. Doncaster's first game at the new Keepmoat Stadium was against Huddersfield Town on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

, 2007Doncaster 3–0 Huddersfield
BBC News (1 January 2007). Retrieved on 24 September 2012. and the first goal scored at the Stadium was by

Mark McCammon Mark Jason McCammon (born 7 August 1978) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in England, he represented the Barbados national national team at international level. After starting his career with Cambridge United ...

2007–present

On 1 April 2007, Doncaster Rovers travelled with their new manager to the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

to play Bristol Rovers in the

final. Playing in front of over 59,000 people, this was Rovers' first major cup final in the club's history. They got off to the perfect start when a tap in from

Jonathan Forte Jonathan Ronald James Forte (born 25 July 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker; he last played for League Two club Exeter City. Born in Sheffield, he represented Barbados at international level. Forte's first profe ...

and a brilliant finish from Paul Heffernan put Rovers 2–0 up within the first 5 minutes. However, after a brave fight back from Bristol Rovers, the game finished 2–2, so it went to extra time. In the second half of extra time a

Sean Thornton Sean Thornton (born 18 May 1983) is a former professional footballer. He made 11 appearances in the Premier League for Sunderland in the 2002–03 season and has made over 200 appearances in the Football League, mostly for Sunderland, Doncast ...

corner was headed home by skipper Graeme Lee who had come forward from his central defensive position. Doncaster held on to claim their first major trophy. Doncasterplayoffwinners

2007–08 proved to be one of the most exciting seasons in Doncaster's history. After a slow start they were in serious contention for a top-six finish for much of the second half of the season. Defeat away at

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

on the final day of the season cost them automatic promotion and they finished third, with Nottingham Forest taking 2nd place. After a 0–0 draw away to Southend United in the playoff semifinals first leg, Rovers beat their opponents 5–1 at home in the second leg including a James Coppinger hat-trick to advance to the League One play-off final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

on Sunday 25 May 2008 where they beat Leeds United 1–0 to move into

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

after a half century absence. A James Hayter headed goal in the 47th minute was enough to secure victory in front of over 75,000 fans at Wembley. The first half of the 2008–09 season saw Doncaster struggling to adapt to the Championship despite a promising start with an away win over newly relegated Derby County. A long run of bad results saw them bottom of the Championship on 20 December 2008 following a narrow 1–0 defeat to

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

at home. Rovers managed to turn things around soon after and enjoyed an undefeated run of 8 Championship games, starting with a thrilling 4–2 win at relegation rivals

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on Boxing Day. The win against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

on Saturday 14 February was especially memorable considering it was the first time Doncaster had defeated the Owls in any league competition. The streak ended at the hands of

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

on Saturday 21 February after a 3–1 defeat at the

Liberty Stadium The Swansea.com Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Swansea.com; formerly Liberty Stadium) is an all-seated sports stadium and conferencing venue located in the Landore area of Swansea, Wales. The stadium opened in 2005 and was named the Liberty Stadium. It ...

. Doncaster Rovers secured their place in the Championship for the 2009–10 season after an emphatic 3–0 win at Home Park against

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. Doncaster ended their first season in the Championship comfortably in 14th position, finishing above 8 former

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

teams, including

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, Crystal Palace and Derby County. The survival was also a major feat, as before the start of that season, they were tipped by many as strong favourites for relegation. Doncaster finished the 2009–10 season marginally better than their first season back in the Championship, in 12th and earning two more points than the previous season with 60 points. This was despite a promising period towards the end of the season which saw Doncaster close to the play-off places, thanks in part to Sheffield United loanee Billy Sharp who scored 15 goals during his stay. The 2009–10 season's success became a football league record. Having become the first team to be bottom of the table at Christmas, but still managed to survive the drop. The

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season proved to be Doncaster's most trying season in the Championship thus far. Despite a club record signing of £1.15 million for Billy Sharp, the season was plagued by injuries to key players, as well as poor form. They finished in 21st place, 6 points clear of relegated local rivals Sheffield United and

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

. Rovers struggled in the 2011–12 season; seven games into the season, Rovers had failed to win a game ( no wins, one draw, six losses). This led to the sacking of manager

Sean O'Driscoll Sean Michael O'Driscoll (born 1 July 1957) is a former professional footballer and manager. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, Doncaster Rovers, Crawley Town, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Walsall. He was known by the nickname "N ...

and assistant manager

. On 23 September 2011,

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

was unveiled as the new boss, leaving

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. His reign started unbeaten in three games. With the controversial help of football agent

Willie McKay Willie McKay is a British football agent, based in Monaco. He was the agent of many top-level footballers, mainly based in England and France, specifically the Premier League His clients include James McFadden, Joey Barton, Henri Camara, Scot ...

, Rovers brought in several players on loans and short-term contracts, and on low wages, including

El Hadji Diouf El Hadji Ousseynou Diouf (; born 15 January 1981) is a Senegalese former professional footballer. Throughout his career, Diouf played as a winger or a forward. Having started his professional football career in France with Sochaux, Rennes an ...

Pascal Chimbonda Pascal Chimbonda (born 21 February 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Chimbonda began his professional career in 1998 with Le Havre, where he featured over 100 times combined for the club's first team ...

, Herita Ilunga, Carl Ikeme,

Frédéric Piquionne Frédéric Michel Piquionne (born 8 December 1978) is a Martiniquais former professional footballer who played as a forward. Piquionne's former clubs are Golden Star of Martinique, Nîmes, Rennes, Saint-Étienne, Monaco, Lyon, Portsmouth, ...

, and

Habib Beye Habib Frédéric Beye (born 19 October 1977) is a former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He is the manager of Championnat National club Red Star. Born in France, he represented the Senegal national team. He is also a pundit ...

. However, Doncaster were relegated to League One with three games still to play. Many supporters blamed the failure to stay in the Championship on McKay's involvement, others felt it was worth the try. At the end of the 2011–12 season, chairman John Ryan deemed the McKay "experiment" over as it "didn't work" and "wouldn't work in the third tier" anyway. The squad was rebuilt for the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season with 19 players leaving. Expectations were low, but after an average start, Saunders' team ended up firmly in the promotion positions by the end of 2012. On 7 January, Saunders filled the vacant managers position at Wolves and on 17 January caretaker manager

Brian Flynn Brian Flynn may refer to: * Brian Flynn (footballer) (born 1955), Welsh football manager * Brian Flynn (baseball) (born 1990), American baseball player * Brian Flynn (cricketer) (1929-1986), Australian cricketer * Brian Flynn (ice hockey) Brian ...

was given the permanent managers job till the end of the season with Rob Jones as player coach. In an incredible finale to the season at

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

, they beat

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

0–1 when James Coppinger scored in the last seconds of 5 minutes of added time, only seconds after Brentford's

Marcello Trotta Marcello Trotta (born 29 September 1992) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Avellino. Club career Early career Born in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy, Trotta began his career in the youth team at Serie A cl ...

had hit a penalty against the crossbar. If Brentford had won, they would have been promoted and Doncaster would have to compete in the play-offs. As it was, the goal put Doncaster one point above Bournemouth as champions. Following promotion to the Championship for the 2013–14 season, Brian Flynn was moved to become Director of Football and overseeing the newly formed ''development squad'' which would be playing competitive games.

Paul Dickov Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

was brought in as manager with Brian Horton as his assistant. To boost support for their chosen charity, Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice, the club signed One Direction singer

Louis Tomlinson Louis William Tomlinson (; born Louis Troy Austin; 24 December 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Tomlinson began his career appearing in television dramas before he auditioned ...

on a non-contract basis. On 9 November, John Ryan gave an emotional farewell and stepped down as Chairman of the Club after 15 years, minutes before the kick-off against a Championship encounter against Barnsley at Oakwell, amid reports of boardroom disagreements following a proposed takeover bid by a hedge-fund consortium led by Sequentia Capital. On 3 May 2014 Doncaster were relegated back to League One after just one season following a 1–0 defeat to Leicester City on the final day of the season. Rovers finished the 2014–15 season in 13th place, before being relegated to League Two after finishing 21st in 2015–16 with new manager Darren Ferguson. The 2016–17 season saw them being promoted back to League 1 at the first attempt in 3rd position Darren Ferguson left his post in June 2017 and was replaced by another former Peterborough boss in

Grant McCann Grant Samuel McCann (born 14 April 1980) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder in the Football League. He was most recently the manager of EFL League One club Peterborough United. Born in ...

ahead of the 2018/19 season. Under McCann, Rovers finished sixth in League One, qualifying for the end of season play-offs where they faced Charlton Athletic over two legs. A 2–1 defeat in the first leg and an early

Krystian Bielik Krystian Bielik (; born 4 January 1998) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre back and defensive midfielder for club Birmingham City, on loan from club Derby County, and for the Poland national team. He first played senio ...

goal in the second left Rovers with a mountain to climb at The Valley, but goals from captain

Tommy Rowe Thomas Malcolm Rowe (born 24 September 1988) is an English professional footballer who primarily plays as a winger but can also operate at left back and currently plays for Doncaster Rovers. Career Stockport County Rowe was born in Wythenshaw ...

and

Andy Butler Andrew Peter Butler (born 4 November 1983) is an English football manager and player who plays for Farsley Celtic F.C., Farsley Celtic as well as being youth development phase coach at Scunthorpe United F.C., Scunthorpe United. Born in Doncast ...

forced extra time.

John Marquis John Edward Marquis (born 16 May 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-forward for EFL League One club Bristol Rovers. Career Millwall Born in Lewisham, London, Marquis progressed through the ranks of Millwall, sign ...

put Rovers ahead for the first time in extra time, only for Darren Pratley to equalise a minute later. Rovers lost the penalty shoot-out 4–3 with misses coming from Rowe and Marquis as they fell just short of making the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

showdown. McCann left in the summer for Championship side Hull City and was replaced by former defender

Darren Moore Darren Mark Moore (born 22 April 1974) is a professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He is the current manager of Sheffield Wednesday. Born in England, he earned two international caps for Jamaica. Moore is a ...

ahead of the 2019–20 campaign. Moore moved to struggling

on 1 March 2021, and

was appointed as interim manager for the remainder of the season. For the 2021-22 season, former trophy winning Doncaster Rovers player Richie Wellens was installed as first team manager, with Noel Hunt as assistant manager.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Academy

The youth system currently has Category 3 status with the U18 academy team playing in the EFL Youth Alliance North East Conference league.

Non-playing staff

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Danny Schofield Daniel James Schofield (born 10 April 1980) is an English former footballer and manager who is currently head coach of EFL League Two club Doncaster Rovers. Playing career Huddersfield Town Schofield was signed by Huddersfield Town from Brod ...

, - , Assistant Manager , , Chad Gribble , - , First Team Coach , , Paul Green , - , Goalkeeping Coach , , Ian Bennett , - , Head of Sports Science , , Sam Bowring , - , Head of Performance Analysis , , Ryan Simpson , - , Head Scout , , Michael Cairney , - , Physiotherapist , , Michael McBride , - , First Team Coach , , Jessica Jardine , - , Club Doctor , , Dr Tim Douglas , - , Head of Academy , , Tony Cook , ,

Stadium

1885–1915 – Intake Ground

For the first six years the club began playing their games wherever they could, on playing fields at Town Moor and the Racecourse. They gained a permanent ground in 1885 when they started playing their games near the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and so was known as the Deaf and Dumb Ground. A year later the stadium was officially named as the Intake Ground. A few months after completion, the roof blew off the stand, and the same happened in 1894 on the press and team officials stand after a gale.