The Sporting Hack

It’s 3.56pm on Sunday 2 January 2022 at the Mazuma Stadium in Morecambe. My phone has one unread text message containing four capitalised words : ‘REPEAT NOT OVER YET’ For context, at that moment, Doncaster Rovers were 3-0 up away from home at half time against a relegation rival and looking good for their first win on the road at the twelfth time of asking. Gary McSheffrey after that Morecambe loss Sixty minutes later, the right boot of home midfielder Toumani Diagouraga smashed the ball in to the top corner of the net and secured a scarcely believable 4-3 comeback win for the hosts. In fact, the second half was believable. Not only that, but it had been accurately forecast! Whether an optimist, pessimist or realist, that second half performance should have surprised absolutely nobody when it comes to talking about the crop of 2021/22. It was a season defining moment, a six pointer which could have been the difference between League One survival and relegation. In addition to that, it...

Darren Ferguson doesn’t suffer fools. Not players, press or board members. A conflict of views with the latter proved to be the catalyst from his departure from Doncaster Rovers. I was there for his unveiling as manager in October 2015 (above) and was present at what proved to be his final post-match interview 928 days later following a dour goalless draw with AFC Wimbledon. He looked fed up. In his first interview though he was bristling with eagerness and wanted to cut short the pleasantries in order to get on with the job in hand. Doncaster had begun the 15/16 season sluggishly but shaking them out of their slumber never seemed insurmountable for the Scot who boasted prior success at Peterborough. Rovers were relegated but Ferguson stayed put. He was going to have to be pushed before he would walk and highlighted once more his belligerent streak. The louder the dissenting voices grew, the more he dug his heels in – it was admirable in a way. A summer rebuild was ...

Darren Ferguson’s departure from Doncaster Rovers on Monday evening received indifference from most quarters. Fergie's time is up While foreign supporters wave white handkerchiefs as an expression of disgust, no one in South Yorkshire, it seemed, was reaching to mop away the tears for the outgoing boss who had taken Rovers sideways, at best, and then left midway through the first screening of this year’s Love Island. That may seem harsh, but the consensus that Rovers players were “on the beach” towards the end of the season was inescapable. Anyone who thinks differently – particularly when a side goes five games without scoring - has their heads buried in the sand. Ferguson arrived a dozen games in to the ill-fated 15/16 season and attempted to pick up compatriot Paul Dickov’s tatty rag of a squad. It was to get worse before it got better. Players who were past their best and on big money were not ideal ingredients to avoid a second relegation in three seasons. Nonethel...

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 strik...

Former Wrexham manager Dean Saunders crosses swords with former Racecourse Ground veteran midfielder Darren Ferguson for the second time this season. The Welshman was victorious over the Scot in the sweltering heat of London Road back in October as Rovers prospered 2-1 thanks to a thirty yard wonder strike from Brian Stock and Kyle Bennett’s winner. The only win in the last five games for either team was Peterborough’s 3-0 demolition last weekend of troubled Bristol City which saw the Posh rise to the comfort of 18 th place. Rovers, by contrast, will have to show character if they are to get a maximum for the first time since the start of the year and try and climb out of trouble as they languish in 24th. Rovers will also have to try and avenge last week’s 3-2 defeat suffered at Elland Road without injured quartet James Coppinger (cheekbone), Habib Bamogo (hamstring), George Friend and Martin Woods (both knee). Mamadou Bagayoko, the rangy Malian striker, who had given Rovers a tw...