Season Review 2013-14

It's over for another year, a season that has many ifs and buts, and has no doubt gave us every emotion. Fitting to this I have contacted a die hard Rovers fan called Josh Arnold to write his season's review. Many of you may know Josh, if not by name, probably by face in and around the grounds. Josh has not missed a game this campaign, which makes him very qualified to give his views. I would like to express my thanks to Josh for taking the time to write this, you have been great!

Enjoy!

Doncaster Rovers Fc season review 2013-2014

What another roller coaster season once again following Doncaster rovers it came down to the last minute of the last game of the season to decide our fate. The fans and players felt every emotion going until the final whistle sounded at the end of the Leicester match. The result didn’t go our way but no one could have blamed any of the players for the determination and effort to play for the shirt and attempt to keep us up in the championship.
Pre-Season was very tough and a lot of unrest with news of a possible takeover by Sequentia Capital. The Takeover talk came at the wrong time in my opinion during last summer we needed a clear plan to allow us to build a good enough squad in order for us to stay up. The takeover talk was still surrounding the club with a week before the season which didn’t help but the players we managed to bring in with the small amount of time we had was very pleasing. The quality of Mark Duffy, Harry Forrester, and Ross Turnbull was great and it showed that Paul Dickov contacts in the game managed to help us get these types of players in. Throughout pre-season I was confident we were good enough to avoid the drop which was always our target.  
We started off the season with a similar team to what we went up with which was a good decision by Paul Dickov because every player deserved their chance for a few months to show us what they can do and in the first month we picked up a few notable results with a win against Blackburn and a Draw against Wigan. The following month in September we picked up 5 points so it was very pleasing to have picked up 9 points in the first two months with us dropping points against teams because of referring decisions i.e. Watford away. From October this is when we our form began to drop with such a small squad we started to pick up injuries and with the lack of experience began to show. In October we started to concede a lot more goals with a 4-0 and a 4-1 defeat to Middlesbrough and reading respectively. 
November provided to be a better month for us with us picking up a great win at home to QPR which raised many eyebrows in the championship because QPR was on form at that time with Charlie Austin scoring goals left right and centre. The disappointing factor was that we dropped four points to other relegation candidates Charlton and Barnsley which was disappointing because we should have been looking to win in them type of matches. December one the most vital months in the football season it can prove vital because you play lots of game over a short time. In December this is the month I started to get nervous about because we had lots of key injuries at this point and the results can speak for themselves. We managed to concede 13 goals in six games which is great but we had to have a makeshift defence before we could improve in January.
January couldn’t come quickly enough and thank fully Paul Dickov was heavily backed by the board with the signings of Abdoulaye Méïté, Gabriel Tamaș and Billy Sharp. These players were very pleasing for the fans to see with the amount of experience and quality they would bring to the club. The Signing of Abdoulaye Méïté particularly worked the best he managed to play in the majority of the games. In every game he played he might not have the pace but he had a good footballing brain and he was always there to make a vital interception or tackle. Obviously at the time every single fan was over the moon with the signing of Billy Sharp but they do say never go back and in this case it may be correct .In the majority of matches Billy looked like he wasn’t in the zone lacking that big of sharpness or match fitness. Just like many other fans I will remember and always be grateful for what Billy did during his first few seasons for the club.
January provided a good month we narrowly lost at QPR to a late Charlie Austin goal but then we picked up a respectable 7 points which started to push us to closer towards the safety mark. Just like typical Rovers after a good month in January we had a poor February which is typical Doncaster we always lack consistency. In February we dropped points to Yeovil and Barnsley which would have disappointed many fans because for us to achieve safety we need to be picking up as many points we can when playing teams around us. March was a fantastic month with wins against Huddersfield, Watford, Sheffield Wednesday and finally Leeds after years of trying. At the end of the month we all became confident because we was 8 points clear of the drop zone and we only needed another win to guarantee championship survival.
In true rovers fashion the Rovers Players took the run in to the deciding day after not winning in the final 7 games. In the Run in I became very nervous and frustrated because in games at home to Birmingham and Bolton we expected to pick up some number of points after a very good season at the keepmoat. In both of the games none of our squad turned up for a period of time which cost us because in this league you need to be at your best for every minute of the game or the quality of the players in this league will punish you and this is what happened. On the other hand in games at Ipswich and Millwall we performed very well but referring decisions cost us. At Ipswich we was deserving of a point and that is what we would of got if the referee made the correct decision to give a free kick for the tackle on Gabriel Tamas or at Millwall if Abdoulaye Méïté wasn’t wrongly sent off we may of got more than a point because we would have had 11 players on the pitch. Leicester away felt a strange day and I could have sensed it was going to go down go the wire and that is what happened and sadly this year it didn’t quite go our away but we will come back up a bigger and stronger team. 
The things that need to happen for next season is Paul Dickov gets a hassle free summer to build a team that he thinks will be good enough to get Doncaster rovers back in the championship. Ideally I would like to start building a team for the years to come with us bringing in players in for 2/3 years rather than 6/12 month contracts. We need a mix of players that we can develop for the future but have the quality to play in league one such as Luke McCullough and a mix of senior players who have been there and done it Paul Quinn rob jones etc.
Rovers Till I Die
Josh Arnold

Massive thanks to Josh, I'm sure he, like all of us will be eagerly anticipating the start of the 2014/15 season!
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