Doncaster

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 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 Football League in 1901, 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). They only lasted two seasons in the league before being voted out in favour of local rivals Bradford City, 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, 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 meant the club closed down, and the army took over its ground using it as a depot.

Inter war period

The club re-formed 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.

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 for the most games won in a league season (33), when they won the Third Division North title. The following season saw them relegated from the Second Division, 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 who kept goal, and was sold to Manchester United 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. Another player, lesser known outside Doncaster, was Alick Jeffrey. Matt Busby, manager of Manchester United, had lined him up to be bought, however in October 1956 Jeffrey badly broke his leg playing for England under-23s. This ended his move and any chance of what was seen to be an almost certain glittering international career to come. Doncaster suffered two consecutive relegations in 1958 and 1959 to drop to the Fourth Division.

Billy Bremner, who achieved fame for his playing career with Leeds United and Scotland, 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 Football League 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 League Two.

In 2005–06, Doncaster beat two Premiership teams in the League Cup – Manchester City and Aston Villa. They reached the quarter finals of the competition where they met Arsenal. They went ahead in normal time and Arsenal equalised, and in extra time Rovers went up for a second time but Gilberto Silva 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 manager Sean O'Driscoll, with Richard O'Kelly 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, 2007 and the first goal scored at the Stadium was by Mark McCammon.

2007–present

On 1 April 2007, Doncaster Rovers travelled with their new manager to the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff to play Bristol Rovers in the Football League Trophy 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 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 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.

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 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 on Sunday 25 May 2008 where they beat Leeds United 1–0 to move into Football League Championship 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 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 on Boxing Day. The win against Sheffield Wednesday 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 on Saturday 21 February after a 3–1 defeat at the Liberty Stadium. 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. Doncaster ended their first season in the Championship comfortably in 14th position, finishing above 8 former Premier League teams, including Charlton Athletic, Southampton, 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 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.

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 and assistant manager Richard O'Kelly. On 23 September 2011, Dean Saunders was unveiled as the new boss, leaving Wrexham. His reign started unbeaten in three games. With the controversial help of football agent Willie McKay, Rovers brought in several players on loans and short-term contracts, and on low wages, including El Hadji Diouf, Pascal Chimbonda, Herita Ilunga, Carl Ikeme, Frédéric Piquionne, and Habib Beye. 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 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 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, they beat Brentford 0–1 when James Coppinger scored in the last seconds of 5 minutes of added time, only seconds after Brentford's Marcello Trotta 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 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 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 One at the first attempt in 3rd position, missing out on the title on the final day of the season.

Darren Ferguson left his post in June 2018 and was replaced by another former Peterborough boss in Grant McCann 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 goal in the second left Rovers with a mountain to climb at The Valley, but goals from captain Tommy Rowe and Andy Butler forced extra time. John Marquis 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 showdown.

McCann left in the summer for Championship side Hull City and was replaced by former defender Darren Moore ahead of the 2019–20 campaign. With the club sitting around the play-offs in December, the club's season looked to be going well. However, Moore moved to struggling Sheffield Wednesday on 1 March 2021, and Andy Butler was appointed as interim manager for the remainder of the season. Doncaster finished the season in 14th place in League One.

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. Wellens was relieved of his duties as Doncaster Rovers manager on 2 December 2021. Doncaster appointed then under-18s manager Gary McSheffrey as the interim manager, later deciding that McSheffrey was a good fit, and gave him the position full-time on 29 December 2021. Doncaster Rovers finished the season in 22nd place, relegating them to League Two. Rovers then finished 18th in League Two in the 2022–2023 season, sacking McSheffrey in October 2022 then his successor Danny Schofield after the season's end, before re-appointing Grant McCann as manager on 12 May 2023.