Doncaster Rovers' Gregg Blundell celebrates at the end of the match against Cambridge United that secured his team promotion to the Second Division
Rovers return
By Dean Jones. Tuesday, 13 April 2004.
Each week we will be naming our Team of the Weekend from all levels of football. After their promotion heroics yesterday, Doncaster Rovers are the inaugural winners.
Doncaster Rovers fans are still in dreamland today after seeing their team complete a second promotion in a row.
Rovers won promotion from Division Three following a 2-0 win over Cambridge United on Easter Monday that put them 14 points clear of fourth-placed Torquay.
The success follows on from last season's Nationwide Conference play-off glory when Doncaster returned to the Football League after a five-year wait, thanks to victory over Dagenham & Redbridge.
A double promotion would be a huge achievement for any club. But for Doncaster, who came so close to going out of business, it is quite remarkable.
The club have made huge strides since chairman John Ryan saved the club from extinction in 1998 and splashed out £4million on keeping them afloat.
Here is a full run-down of the ups and downs of an eventful history at Donny:
1879 - Doncaster Rovers Founded
1935 - Division 3 North champions
1947 - Division 3 North champions
1948 - Achieve highest ever attendance as 37,149 watch Division Three clash with Hull City.
1950 - Division 3 North champions
1966 - Division 4 champions
1969 - Division 4 champions
1998 - Relegated from the Football League and faced with extinction as club struggle to find funds for training equipment and wages.
1998 - John Ryan moves on from board of directors to become Chairman and purchases the club name. Ryan ploughs £4m into the club to help restore them to the League.
2001 - Ryan steps down as Chairman and threatens to withdraw funding after a new Council hesitate over the go-ahead for a new stadium.
2003 - Doncaster win promotion back to the Football League after beating Dagenham in a play-off Final.
2004 - Achieve second successive promotion after 2-0 win over Cambridge pushes them into the Second Division. Plans in motion to move into a new stadium by start of 2005-06 season.