Eleven years as a season ticket holder. Three promotions; One league title; One National Cup Win; One League Cup Quarter Final; Two Sheffield Cups; One ‘Great Escape’; Two very successful managers; One Willie McKay, and now, one imminent relegation.
The writing’s been on the wall for a while. Rovers first fell into the drop zone on the 16th August, and bar two weeks at the start of October have remained there ever since.
The season did change in September however, despite similar results regularly since. Sean O’Driscoll, who established the club in the Championship after winning the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and League One play-off final, was dismissed with a club on the slide.
No doubt a huge injury crisis that swamped the club last season played it’s part, even as players became fit, form and confidence remained unchangeable, and ‘King Sean’ was dismissed on the 23rd September, just days after the owner, John Ryan has hailed him ‘the best manager in the Championship’. He didn’t have many fans on his back- with the exception of those fans ‘who wouldn’t be satisfied if we won the European Cup’ (he later proclaimed). But with his earlier statement, it begs the question, was it a dramatic U-turn, or was his hands forced, by difficult directors, who later left the club.
What happened next was equally astounding. Before proven successors could be linked, presumably the likes of Paul Ince and Roy Keane would have been linked, both up-and-coming managers with a fight, and a proven instant impact in the football league in recent years. Who knows what would have happened if the directors had opted for this path. Instead a quite different approach was taken, and the same news bulletin that announced SO’D’s sacking declared Dean Saunders had abandoned Wrexham’s title challenge, to take up a challenge at the opposite end of the table, three tiers higher.
How quickly Saunders was appointed poses suspicious, as does why a man with no football league managerial experience was handed the role at a club desperate for results. Yes, it was a clear, decisive decision that had been made to benefit the club, but was there surely no tapping up? Could a deal have been really done that soon? I trust the club’s judgement as I always have.
Saunders was no stranger to relegation battles, as no fewer than eight times he faced the dreaded drop during his illustrious career, which also saw him feature for Liverpool during the 1990s.
Things started off brightly, Rovers collected seven points from the first three games with impressive wins over Crystal Palace and Peterborough along with a draw with Hull, but things turned ugly when Sky Sports and Leeds United came to town.
Things had changed. It wasn’t just a case of the new manager’s ‘honeymoon period’ was over. It was more than that. Rovers, regarded by many, as a team with very limited finance, had somehow been able to start an England International, in the form of Chris Kirkland, and French International Pascal Chimbonda, famously regarded as a disruptive influence on the bench. That week was the start of the Willie McKay era. That week, many months ago, back in October, was the week the relegated Rovers. As for the Leeds match, the club were embarrassed. They were destroyed 3-0.
That was the start of a bad run of form. A 2-1 defeat to Blackpool, 3-1 to Portsmouth, a 1-1 draw with bottom-of-the-table Coventry City, 3-1 against Middlesbrough, 2-0 at Barnsley, 0-0 with Watford, 3-2 at Millwall were results that followed, only with a rare victory over Ipswich the only glimmer of hope during the autumn.
During this spell results dwindled, from 12,000 down to 8,300. But importantly, there was one more significant viewer. Willie McKay.
His wikipedia, openly states Mr McKay (an ironic contrast to the Porridge character of the same name) as a criminal. Banned by the FA in 2008 for his involvement in the transfer of Benjani. McKay arrived at Doncaster with the ambition to ‘make serious money’ out of the club, through the form of player progression, whilst clearly alienated the club’s supporters.
Under normal circumstances, signings such as El-Hadji Diouf, who made his debut against Middlesbrough on November 1st may have been praised by supporters, but McKays crazy intention to use our beloved club for his savage, selfish ambitions, as a stepping-stone was met with justified anger. No fewer than an incredible seventeen loans and free transfer have been made by McKay. These clearly disrupted team spirit, with players such as Chimbonda also being played when a better player (James O’Connor) was available. A clear division between the old guard and the egos were formed. Diouf often refused to pass too, stopping Rovers from capitalising on fantastic opportunities.
Prize-asset Billy Sharp was sold, Wales midfielder Brian Stock got injured, John Oster hit a poor run of form and was banished to the bench, all perhaps contributed to a miserable season, but McKay’s scheming is the undoubtedly factor. Having said that, had Habib Beye not formed a magnificent partnership with Sam Hird, the club would have conceded for fun, and presumably been relegated much earlier. This rare discovery was perhaps the highlight of a poor season. We also seemed to improve against higher placed teams, as the experienced Premiership superstars, ouced Southampton and Leicester in December and holding West Ham at Upton Park, a stark contrast to being demolished away at Watford, against Notts County in the cup, and at home to Millwall, the latter a 3-0 thrashing.
Dean Saunders was unfortunate enough to be stuck in the middle. With the lack of job security a managers job was difficult at the best of times, but with a desperate need of a goalscorer and a hard-tackling defensive midfielder, and due to the position of McKay being landed with half a dozen target man unaccustomed to English football instead, he has my dearest sympathy, and I’ve seen enough quality from the Welshman that I’d like to see him stick around. His tactics are often shrewd, his substations (I highlight the West Ham away match as an example) are good. The trouble is, he’s let down by those ‘too big for the club egos’ that show much more willingness to party in Bournemouth instead of produce the goods against Millwall and Barnsley, and as a fan of a club, I find these menaces a disgrace to football, especially my club.
Like I say, I hope Dean Saunders can show more consistency, and be allowed to sign his own players in the positions that need strengthening. We can bounce back, but the next few months are crucial.
Rovers Till I Die.
