One Nasty Experiment: An Incredibly Risky Solution Downgrading The Ethics Of A Club

The sacking of Sean O’Driscoll caused uproar in Doncaster. ‘Noisy’ was highly regarded in bustling South Yorkshire town, as the club’s greatest ever manager. In his first season he guided Rovers to success at the Millennium Stadium in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. The following campaign the club won promotion to the Championship, via an illustrious play-off final victory at Wembley, when they impeccably beat the much-fancied Leeds United by a goal to nil.

O’Driscoll then kept the limited-resourced club in the division, performing the miracle of the great escape in 2008-09, despite sitting bottom at Christmas. The red and white wizards also mounted a promotion campaign in 2009-10, but faded their form faded towards the end of the season.

But, disaster struck in November 2010, with the club 7^th in the Championship. The squad was swamped with a mammoth injury crisis, which they never recovered from, and with three wins in the whole of 2011, the former-Bournemouth manager was expelled from the Doncaster hot seat on 23^rd September.

The sacking caused displeasure to say the least amongst the Doncaster fan base, with the majority of supports in awe of their quiet messiah. There were no ‘O’Driscoll Out’ calls at matches, but the man, who was also publicly backed by his chairman, John Ryan, just a handful of days earlier

What came of even more a surprise was the arrival of his immediate successor. Wrexham manager Dean Saunders was appointed- not on a caretaker basis- but on three-year deal, at the time of the appointment, the Welsh club sat behind Gateshead in the Conference, three tiers below his new side.

But Rovers aren’t a club with a fan base capable of jumping on the ‘Sack the board’ bandwagon, after John Ryan saved the club from the verge of bankruptcy before his tenure lead to two Conference Cups, Promotion from The Conference and From League One through the play-offs, The Division Three Title at the first attempt, The Carling Cup Quarter-Finals, The JPT and establishing the club in the Second Tier of English Football in just a 13-year stint. The fans remain greatful for these honours under Ian Snodin, Dave Penney and O’Driscoll (along with the less successful Steve Wignall).

The unrest was temporarily forgotten however with wins over Crystal Palace and Peterborough, and a draw with Hull in Saunders’ first three games. But, could this prove to be just a honeymoon period, as the club was then hammered by Leeds United on live television and also suffered defeat at the hands of Blackpool and Portsmouth following the international break.

There was also another factor that eased the doubters following “Deano’s” arrival. Saunders suddenly appeared capable of attracting many high-profile names to the club. El-Hadji Diouf was immediately linked as was former Real Madrid star Mahamadou Diarra. Then out of the club confirmed the signings of Pascal Chimbonda, Henrita Ilunga and finally the loan of England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland to the Keepmoat Stadium. How could a club whose record transfer in 2009 was the tiny £300,000 deal that brought Matthew Mills from Manchester City, suddenly be able to afford the wages of such established Premier League and La Liga stars?

The answer to this question was revealed on Thursday, with the sceptics again coming out in force to criticise a scheme that could easily result in the demise of the club quicker than their turn in fortune since the revival in the late 90’s.

As on Thursday, the ‘Director of Football’ role, which has created huge controversy before steered its ugly head again, as football agent Willie McKay was appointed Doncaster Rovers’ transfer dealer, with any signings the club makes to be going through him, with manager (or should that be ‘Head Coach’?) Dean Saunders having the potential to veto.

It’s unclear how long this deal has been in the pipeline, however it is unlikely the philosophical O’Driscoll would have agreed to a great lack of freedom that the new regime limits the ‘Head Coach’ or ‘Manager’ of.

An McKay’s interview with the Daily Mail, he also made some unfriendly statements about the club’s supporters, potentially causing unrest with the fans at such an early stage, such as ‘My valuation of Donny was nothing. They have no fan base and everyone in Doncaster supports Leeds, Sheffield United or Sheffield Wednesday, who can all get 30,000 in their stadiums.’ Although he may be right in hinting the club has a significantly less fan base than its Yorkshire rivals, I am aware from my experiences in the Doncaster school system that we are by far the most supported team in the town compared with others, with probably the unmentioned Manchester United sitting 2^nd. The problem with the people of Doncaster is many people in the district do not like football, perhaps caused by the embarrassment caused by the team unattractive history in the forth division during the 80’s and 90’s. Calling a club that has achieved so much in their recent history ‘nothing’ is a huge stab at the ambitious club.

McKay’s plan will see the club attempt to reduce the wage bill- therefore promote uncertainty on the side’s highest earning current stars. The likes of Billy Sharp, John Oster and Brian Stock apparently have no future at the club under the new regime. Which considering the nearest transfer window is three months away how will that act towards motivation of such individuals?

Instead of these long-term solutions the club will opt for quick fixes ranging from high-profile free agents and loans, which has seen the club linked from anyone from Diarra to Michael Owen to Carlos Tevez in recent weeks. Through the new agent-system, the club will attempt to put players in the shop window. Obviously downsides to this is everyone playing for themselves rather than as a team, and a lack of team spirit and gelling which will make Dean Saunders’ position practically impossible. The style of play cannot be perfected to one concentrated in training sessions over a long period of time, but must be one people can fit into automatically. This is obviously one opposition managers can stop with ease. How does that boost results for a team deep in the relegation battle?

Perhaps it will boost attendances with famous, international names joining the club. But I think most fans prefer to see winning games, supporting a group ethic that they can be proud of; not a bunch of arrogant individuals who believe they are bigger than the club and will leave at the first opportunity. The stars linked also have attitude problems, which will also create problems within the patient culture of the club. The attendances will dwindle again if the results do not match the names on the team sheet.

For me this is a recipe for disaster, and if the result is what I’m expecting. It won’t be the stars ‘of Lorient’ at the Keepmoat Stadium next season, but our own unwanted internationals gracing the turf at L. Orient in League One in 2012.

McKay out.

A slide of the times?

Written 23rd May-2nd June

As the final day of the Premier League once again adds a nervous twist, the tightest relegation scramble in recent history saw Blackburn, Wigan and Wolves, all with their stories of worry throughout the season, before pride prevailed with effective performances and triumph on survival Sunday.

It was not so happy a story at White Heart Lane or Old Trafford for the visiting clubs. West Ham’s sorrow had already been drained, thus their horrendous horror show at home to Sunderland is irrelevant in many senses. It merely ruled Kevin Keen, surely, out of the running to become the new permanent manager at Upton Park. Consequently the biggest question in the country was not a lot to do with the Hammers, but who would join the London club in the Championship. The subjects were unfortunately Blackpool and Birmingham who would subsequently suffer the pains of Millwall, Barnsley and Doncaster next term.

On December 31^st, Blackpool sat in a very comfortable 9^th in the Premier League, with games in hand on all of their opponents, at that point it looked like the Seasiders were more destined for the likes of sunny skies of Portugal and Cyprus in the Europa League, than the West Yorkshire clouds of Huddersfield and Leeds in the Championship. The club had picked up 25 points from their opening 17 games at that point. They went on to claim just 14 more, from their final 21 matches, finishing rocked in 19^th place on 39 points.

Birmingham on-the-other-hand did make it to Europe after beating Arsenal at Wembley on 27^th February. However a fear of relegation had been a threat rather than a certainty for most of the season, as they spent much of the campaign outside the bottom three. However injuries came at a cost, and one win in the clubs last eight games saw the club slip below Wigan and Wolves and into the Championship. And thus, the Championship beckons.

The English top flight, however is not the only league with freefall on the cards, as for Birmingham and Blackpool a trip to Doncaster is due, who themselves saw a drop from 14^th to 21^st since the turn of the year, coupled with just three wins against Scunthorpe, Derby and Burley as the worst injury crisis imaginable hit the South Yorkshire club.

(League Position at the end of each month)

The low point of Rovers’ season was a 6-0 drubbing to Ipswich. The Reds fielded a severely under-strength team, which included a rookie goalkeeper, no established centre backs, a defender in midfield, the absence of their skipper and no fit centre forwards. Perhaps it should have been anticipated that the score line was to be as atrocious as it was.

It could be argued that the 2010-11 season has been on the cards for numerous years, as the club’s strength in depth has been a concern ever since Rovers’ Wembley triumph in 2008, but never has it been exploited to this great a degree.

For me, however, the problem arose last summer. I took the trip to Blackpool in April 2010, with Rovers still having a slim chance of entering the Play-offs. Rovers welcomed back Paul Heffernan who returned from his loan spell at Bristol Rovers. He had only returned to the club the previous morning, but it showed the lack of strength in depth in strikers over a year ago. Blackpool was victorious by two goals to nil, and went on to win promotion. Rovers then released Heffs and Lewis Guy, who joined League One clubs which left Rovers with an ageing James Hayter and injury prone Steve Brooker as the only established strikers at the club.

The two most defining moments of the season arguably happened last summer, as Jason Shackell signed for Barnsley ahead of Rovers, creating a void at centre half that was never properly filled. Also the record signing of Billy Sharp from Sheffield United, although adding to the worryingly low list of strikers, meant that the club had effectively spent its transfer budget.

During the summer of 2009, Rovers had sold two items instrumental to their promotion to the Championship and remaining there in their first full campaign. Richie Wellens departed for Leicester City, and Matthew Mills exited south to Reading. Rovers filled these voids by signing John Oster on a free transfer following his release from Crystal Palace and Shackell on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers. Both signings were mammoth successes, as the club drove from relegation candidates in their first season to Play-off contenders the next.

Shackell subsequently opted to move to Barnsley last May, and Rovers were forced to shift their attention to a host of replacements. They signed Shelton Martis, Wayne Thomas and George Friend.

At full strength Rovers are a decent acquisition. This was proved when the club’s early season form took them to what looked originally like play-off contention. Rovers’ fans did have their concerns though; in particular George Friend looked a long way off the pace at left back and was subsequently dropped. James Chambers remained sidelined throughout the season, bar unsuccessful spell in the side in January, as Rovers opted to sign Joseph Mills on loan to fill the void, first in October before returning in January.

Rovers were in fact 7^th when they drew with to-be-promoted Swansea City on 20^th November, they went on to record just four more victories in the entire campaign, of which only Derby County were beaten elsewhere than the Keepmoat Stadium. However the start was also less than perfect, with the wins prior to this point merely coming over the three relegated sides, along with Portsmouth and Hull who were still in disarray following relegation from the Premier League, just adding to the small pride of beating Premiership-bound Norwich and Millwall on South Yorkshire turf.

The defensive crisis that followed after Christmas staggers belief. As Thomas and Martis battled with injuries following the victory over Scunthorpe on January 1^st, Rovers switched their attentions to signing Dennis Souza and Matt Killagallon, who were both reported as established championship defenders. Rovers failed to keep a clean sheet with Killgallon in the side as they slumped to 16^th in the Championship table prior to the Burnley tie on 1^st February, as the Middlesbrough defender formed an unstable partnership with Adam Lockwood.

Rovers kept three clean sheets following 2^nd January, at home to Burnley (O’Connor, Hird, Friend, Chambers), away at Nottingham Forest (Martis, Hird, Friend, Mills) and at home to Crystal Palace (Dumbuya, Thomas, Friend, O’Connor). Therefore, as you can see, to a certain extent the revival of George Friend at the heart of Doncaster’s defence paid dividends, with Sam Hird also a key player on occasion as the young defender staked a claim for first team pride when often hope was a lost cause.

It’s hard to judge whether, therefore it was the lack of the settled team or the quality of the team that stumbled upon. I think both need to be blamed unfortunately targeted.

As Rovers therefore switch their attentions to the future the strength in depth of the squad has been thoroughly tested and questioned, and not just in defence.

Rovers’ record in the absence of Billy Sharp is atrocious, with Dean Sheils often deputising. With Rovers claiming only two wins in the record-signing’s absence. Sheils is supposed to be an international footballer, however inadequate displays and this appalling record as the former-Hibernian star has tarnished, unrecognisable undoubtedly to his former followers.

Sharp’s record, does go to show exactly why Ipswich Town made such a substantial bid to lure the former-Sheffield United forward to Portman Road.

It therefore remains key for Rovers, perhaps more than usual this year, that any deadwood is removed from the club, but key, quality players remain, while new players are purchased to push the club back towards the Play-off places & the promises of the Premier League.

Civil War At Anfield

It’s been a traumatic twelve months for football. Last summer the sport gasped as Real Madrid and Manchester City spent excessive amounts to entice the best players to their magnificent stadiums. We saw prize-asset Cristiano Ronaldo depart the Premiership for sunnier climates, before the division was thrown into the public eye for the wrong reasons, as the credit crunch hit hard and Portsmouth became the first team in English top flight history to enter administration. But nothing could really have foreseen the fiasco that has taken centre stage in the North West, as Liverpool’s internal hierarchy hit boiling point, and fuelled a bitter conflict as the club was divided.

Although the top story on the news this week stresses the magnificent survival of those miners who luckily escaped from deep depths in Chile, it is the chilly scene at Anfield that is attracting as much outside interest, and how a club with its terrific stature can be throw in equally as deep problems.

As recently as 2007, football’s European governing body, UEFA, slandered Liverpool’s fans as ‘the worse in Europe’, but surely even those supporters merit sympathy for the sudden downfall of their famous side. The crisis, although it was obviously not labelled as such way back then, began in the same year as the governing body’s evil words; as during 2007 Tom Hicks and George Gillett, two American businessmen with sporting backgrounds, became owners of the club.

Rick Parry’s sale to the ambitious Texans was made because he believed the move would take the club to the next level. Three months after the takeover- and following no concrete financial support, as there was no transfer window in this time- the club reached the final of Champions League, a feat that was never matched during Hicks and Gillett’s less than fruitful reign.

The club purchased striker Fernando Torres from Athletico Madrid for an audacious fee around £30million in summer 2007 to demonstrate their ambitious intentions; incidentally the club hasn’t won a major trophy since this purchase, despite Torres setting the world alight on many occasions with his vast goal scoring tally. The huge fee of the transfer has certainly placed a nail in the Americans’ coffin, but the Spanish magician is not the main culprit in the demise of the illustrious club.

As the recession hit numerous businesses hard throughout the world, Liverpool too began to mourn a sudden loss of finance, and during 2010 Hicks and Gillett were pushed towards the exit door. The club agreed a deal which would refinance the side, but it pushed Royal Bank of Scotland into the driving seat, at which point- Hicks and Gillett will argue- things subsequently took a turn for the worse.

June 2010 saw the first major twist in the ongoing saga following Martin Broughton and his team’s arrival, Hicks and Gillett continued to battle with financial strain along with added pressure, and once again attempted to refinance the deal they had with the club. The Royal Bank of Scotland squadron, which slightly outnumbered the pairing of the Americans, blocked the deal. The global recession showing its effects, Hicks and Gillett were in financial ruin and the bank was showing no sympathy.

A change of manager could have prompted a revival; it merely showed deeper problems as Rafa Benitez was dismissed after the owners had their own revolt against the Spaniard. The current Inter boss said in September, "The last year at Liverpool I had directors who knew nothing about soccer and you couldn't talk about soccer with them." A fierce critic who is unlikely to shy away from media frenzy, Benitez was forced to assemble what has been regarded as the two-man team at Anfield with Steven Gerrard and Torres the only prize assets. Fulham boss Roy Hodgson replaced Benitez, despite the imminent sale of the club. He was a manager with no previous experience of getting a club into the ‘top four’. He also had to contend with the previous boss’s stars returning from awful performances at the World Cup.

The sacking of Benitez and hiring of Hodgson no doubt took another chunk from the American owners’ wallets, another flawed decision, as the new owners may not have their style of football on the pitch, and therefore Hodgson’s job clearly not stable. Hodgson was immediately under pressure to deliver instant results, which with another man’s squad was far from a given.

As the takeover edged closer to its epic climax, October saw the evil Hicks and Gillett attempting to be very counter-productive and difficult to RBS’ plan to sell the club, yet the business was still edging closer to a sale.

October 6th brought change. Royal Bank Of Scotland, and subsequently Liverpool FC, had found a buyer. New England Sports Ventures, the owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team had agreed a deal. Martin Broughton then stated a disapproving view on Hicks and Gillett: “I am only disappointed that the owners have tried everything to prevent the deal from happening and that we need to go through legal proceedings in order to complete the sale,”. The quotes coming out of the football club as the sale became concluded were more of relief than looking to the future. The loyal Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said: “"Everyone knows it'll be a good thing for the club," James McKenna, who runs Spirit of Shankly boldly stated: "We need to rid the club of Gillett and Hicks. It does not matter where they come from as long as they understand Liverpool Football Club. That was the problem with Gillett and Hick, they never really got Liverpool.”

It proved that the owners did more harm than good. But unfortunately for Liverpool’s supporters this wasn’t the end of the tale. On October 7th the sale- believed to be in the region of £300 million- was sent to the courts to decide whether Hicks and Gillett had the grounds to sack Royal Bank of Scotland’s Purslow and Ayre. The court case was due to take place the following Tuesday. This brought with it the very real threat of administration, despite this Purslow stated: "I'm completely focused on making sure the sale completes. I'm not contemplating administration and nobody should be."

By Friday 15th Hicks and Gillett were gone. John Henry had become the new owner of the North West giants. A new era dawned. But a week of anti-climaxes and an embarrassing public affair left red faces by the Mersey. Roy Hodgson spoke of how a cloud had been lifted above the Anfield Kop. “"It's a very good day for the club," Hodgson said just before the deal was confirmed. "It's a relief...it's been a very difficult couple of weeks. There's no doubt a cloud has been lifted from the football club today."

As for the former owners, they wouldn’t die down. Tom Hicks stated the deal was an “epic swindle”. They even tried taking the club to court again, this time in Texas, but the English court stated whatever the outcome was of that case, the ruling wouldn’t over rule the decisions made in London. The Americans had been foolish not only with their ruling of the club during their tenure, but their actions during the sale prospect. It’s safe to say it’s not just a relief to Liverpool Football Club that they are now away from the club, but also away from the beautiful game as a whole.