Doncaster Rovers put the boot into Coventry City at the weekend and beat them 2-0 to take the Sky Blues down to League One with them.
While Coventry have already announced a complete overhaul and restructure of the footballing side, Doncaster find themselves in a whole different predicament.
When Dean Saunders was appointed to take over from the long serving Sean O’Driscoll, players with proven Premier league pedigree were arriving at the Keepmoat.
A roll call of big name players who have arrived in South Yorkshire are; El Hadji Diouf, Frederic Piquionne, Herita Ilunga, Pascal Chimbonda, Habib Beye, Marc-Antoine Fortune and Carl Ikeme.
Players with vast amounts of Premier League, European and international experience to form the backbone of a squad which would, when Saunders arrived been looking to make a push towards the play offs.
In reality, Saunders has not managed to inspire the team to get out of the relegation places since October, and even the home win against high flying Southampton failed to ignite any sort of run of results to turn things around.
They now find themselves back in League One, which their chairman John Ryan has worked so valiantly for them to avoid falling back into.
When they moved into the new ground five years ago, promotion was the objective, and a prolonged period in the Championship the minimum requirement.
Three years after promotion, Donny find themselves back where they started off, and with a squad, one would think not in any financial state to be playing at the third level.
The loanees will be returning to their parent clubs, but there will have to be a monumental turnaround in playing staff to equip Rovers for a first time tilt at promotion back to the Championship.
The side will have to have a much younger, streamlined and energetic look about it to have any chance of an immediate return, and the wage bill will also need trimming significantly.
Rovers’ supporters understandably have had their doubts about Saunders, and not being able to get the required results out of this squad of players is a blot on his managerial CV.
However, League One maybe a more appropriate level for a man whose only other job in club management was in the Conference with Wrexham. He did a good job with the resources, and Rovers fans will be hoping that they see that sort of turnaround at their club too.
Knowing the lower leagues, and knowing the players that can get you out of those leagues is one of the challenges which lies ahead for Doncaster, and indeed all relegated clubs.
It was something that Doncaster have failed at catastrophically this season, while a club like Charlton, who pass Doncaster on the way back up to the Championship and recruited 18 new players before this season kicked off, have undoubtedly gotten right.
The question is, will Saunders be allowed to start the rebuilding and if so will he this time get the squad which is capable of competing at the right end of the league, or will his lower fantasy league football see Doncaster entrenched as a third division club for the foreseeable future?
image: © bevkevtrev
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