The Spit and Sawdust Derby

PREVIEW: Doncaster Rovers v Rotherham United
SkyBet League 1, Sat 11 November 2017 (12:30pm), Keepmoat Stadium.

Teams representing two forgotten post industrial South Yorkshire towns - in Doncaster and Rotherham - go head to head on Saturday at “dinner” time, as the locals would call it.

People in posh areas, like Sheffield – who boast a gleaming ‘Steel City’ derby – have lunch, while Rovers and Millers fans enjoy scraps, yet the allure of this fixture won’t be lost on the supporters who’ll revel in their share of the satellite spotlight.

And while a culinary theme pervades, there is the sense that the reason these two old foes haven’t crossed paths for more than a decade is that they’re either feast or famine.

Last season, the sides were two divisions apart, with the Millers dining among the Championship’s financially gluttonous elite and duly coming unstuck under the stewardship of three managers. The latest on that list, Paul Warne (below right), was an impish striker during his Millmoor heyday who’s swiftly transitioned from fitness coach ‘flogger’ to tracksuit wearing ‘gaffer’ and, contrary to his belief, it suits him.

An intricate character, he’d be the first to admit that he’s a relative novice in the role and thus surrounded himself with experienced campaigners of his nuggety ilk during a vital summer period.

 

Saturday’s adversary Darren Ferguson (above left) has quite the opposite complexion on his hand. The Scot, who has presided over 500 games in his managerial career, has a squad of fledglings looking to impose themselves on the rough and tumble of the third tier.

And, while the Millers were struggling to land a glove on the heavyweights of the Championship during the last campaign, Ferguson saw his side ease themselves out of the basement division, thus immediately atoning for a relegation in which he himself shoulders a fair amount of blame.

Such is the undulating nature of these two clubs that last season’s scenario was a complete role reversal of the 11/12 season. Yet hopes of a reunion, even in a cup competition, never materialised as the pair continued to elude each other since a meeting in January 2007 when Doncaster, in their plush Keepmoat Stadium, ran out 3-2 winners.

Bound for the second tier less than 18 months later, they were everything the Millers were not. United wound up recipients of a 17 point deduction and would swap their crumbling Millmoor abode for an outdated – and out of town – athletics stadium.

Times are rosier now on the River Don thanks to their New York Stadium home though, a ground which Doncaster will frequent later on in the campaign.

With Rotherham on the play-off fringes and Doncaster flirting perilously with the relegation places, it’s probably a good idea to savour these occasions while they last.

Stick t’kettle on.