The Rise of The Vikings - Doncaster Rovers FC

[BigMoMo]

DONCASTER ROVERS F.C.
The Rise of The Vikings

Established in 1879, Doncaster Rovers are won of the oldest teams in English Football. Yet, they have never one a top flight championship. That seems to be coming to end though with a Anonymous Sugar Daddy pumping in money into the team. It is the said the new Billionaire Owner has pumped in around $40,000,000 in funds for a new manager to work his magic. Will the Viking's Rise succeed? Or will the ship sink from all the gold weight?

Full Name: Doncaster Rovers Football Club
Nicknames: The Rovers, Donny, The Vikings
Founded: 1879
Ground: Keepmoat Stadium
Chairman: The Billionaire
Manager: Mr. X
Captain: Dean Furman
Rivals: Rotherham United and Barnsley
Current Season League: Football League 1
Last Season League: Football League Championship (Relegated)
Trophies: -None-

[BigMoMo]

SQUAD

TRANSFERS IN

TRANSFERS OUT

[BigMoMo]

DONCASTER ROVERS SPLASH OUT THE CASH

It has taken Mr. X and the Doncaster Rovers F.C. 3 weeks shake up the squad. Many had seen it coming, but the changes made to the team has led to fans to be a little more relaxed in knowing that Mr. X, the new manager, is taking things seriously. Reports from an insider say that Mr.X had pushed the Owners to invest in the youth system. A reported deal of $25,000,000 was shelled into a new Youth Academy along with 3 top scouts. 2 Scouts, Veini Rasanen and Pekko Mikkola are from Finland while a 3rd, Selcuk Saglik, comes from Turkey. The 2 Finish scouts are said to be experts at finding these diamond in the rough of the European continent. While Selcuk is said to be one of the best in his domain. With contacts in Asia and Africa, Mr.X and the fans will be hoping he could find them the next Drogba or maybe even the new Yaya Toure, but an Arda Turan would not be too shabby either.

Onto the new signing though, there is much to be talked about. The biggest signing of them all is easily Chipciu from Barcelona B squad. It was said that Barcelona were looking to offload the 25 year old and Mr. X was able to snap him up for $1,600,000. He didn't stop there either, he went on to sign another midfielder by the name Buchtmann from Germany`s second division, FC. St. Pauli. His former club were reluctant to let him go, but a transfer fee of $2,500,000 was enough to see him change countries.

Many believe that the best of the signing would not be Chipciu or Buchtmann, but the signing of a young 17 year old Argentinian striker by the name of Ezequiel Ponce. Many have touted him to be an up and coming prospect. Newell`s Old Boys fought very hard to keep the youngster, but Mr.X made an offer they could not refuse. A fee reported to be anywhere between $1,500,000 and $2,250,000 was needed to secure Ponce`s services.


There were also other significant signing to be reported. Abner joined the team for a season long loan from Real Madrid to fill add depth to the defence core. Abner was also joined by another LB, Javier Calle, from Independiente Medellin of Colombia. Mr. X didn't stop there and decided to loan another defender from Atletico Madrid, Lucas Hernandez.

Fans were not sure how to react to Robinson`s sale though. One of the clubs` top striker was sold without thought by Mr. X on the same day that Ponce arrived at the club. It seems that Mr. X took a decision to get rid of a striker the moment Ponce` deal was finalized. The quickness of the sale was surprising to say the least.

It seems that Mr. X has a plan and is working meticulously to make it work. The seasons` a few days away from starting and it will be only a matter of time until we find out if he has made the right decisions. Below is the full list of players who have joined/left the club since Mr. X` appointment.

-IN-
Alexandru Chipciu - CAM - $1,600,000 (FC Barcelona B)
Christopher Buchtmann - CM - $2,500,000 (FC St. Pauli)
Ezequiel Ponce - ST - $2,000,000 (Newell`s Old Boys)
Javier Calle - LB - $70,000 (Independiente Medellin)
Abner - LB - Season Long Loan (Real Madrid)
Lucas Hernandez - CB - Season Long Long (Atletico Madrid)
Luis Canga - CB - Free Agent
Cedric Djeugoue - CB - Free Agent

-OUT-
Theo Robinson - ST - $470,000 - Colchester United FC
Liam Wakefield - RB - $30,000
Mitchell Lund - CB - Season Long Loan (Northampton)

[BigMoMo]

Ben Amos Latest Signing

Mr. X makes headlines again in South Yorkshire by making a new signing for the Vikings. This time from Manchester United`s reserve. Ben Amos has been with United since 2001 and was part of their youth academy for 7 years before making 7 senior United appearance since 2008. Since than, Amos has been loaned out to 5 different teams. He will finally get the chance to prove that he is a first team quality player after signing a 4 year contract with Doncaster Rovers.

’We believe that Ben Amos will be the answer to our keeper’s needs. Jed Steer is a young and upcoming keeper, but we needed a more experienced keeper until Steer comes into his own. Amos is that guy. He grew up with that Manchester United mentality and I for one, grew up admiring their Youth Academy system.’ said Mr. X. Ben Amos has made a total 61 senior appearances for 6 teams in 7 years. The 24 year old is excited to make his debut for Doncaster Rovers.

Ben Amos is the latest addition to Mr. X’s club renovation that has seen 8 new faces with Amos being the 9th player on that list. The scout report on Amos is that he is a very good shot stopping goalkeeper and has the potential to be a Premier League starter in the future. Whether he will fulfill his potential is unknown, only time will tell if he is that keeper. ’Its great to know that Mr.X has given me the chance to prove my abilities. He has promised me first team play and im eager to prove to everyone that im number 1.`Ben Amos`attitude is a welcome one to Doncaster who are still hurt after their demotion from The Championship last year.

There is still belief that Mr. X has his eyes on more targets. The season is only 2 days away and whether he will have time to get players in before then is still to be seen. There are rumours that Mr. X is in contact with FC Barcelona B for a second player. For now though, he will be working hard with the players he had signed thus far to make his philosophy working. Things are looking promising.

[BigMoMo]

Last Minute Transfer Signing: Panic?

Just when it looked like Mr.X was done with player signing, the team comes out to announce the signing of 24 year old midfielder Rodney Strasser of Genoa from Serie A. Not many have heard of this man, let alone I, not known for his midfield pedigree, it seems to be more of a depth kind of signing. Knowing the influx of transfer funds from the new owners, fans would have thought a better known player would have been the better option.

With the season just getting underway, Mr. X was sure to have the right balance of players for the upcoming season. Yet, three games into the season, the new manager was forced to find a replacement for his newest signing Alexandru Chipciu. The ex-Barcelona player was injured during a game against Rochdale, which ended in a goalless draw. When the diagnostics showed that Chipciu will miss a minimum of 5 weeks due to Shoulder Dislocation, Mr.X was to make a decision. To wait for his return or not to? Than again, he was looking for a good strong midfielder to help on the Defensive Midfield role.

'We needed a strong body in midfield to give us more depth, and with the amount of games to come, another body was need asap. When we found out that Strasser was for sale, we were told that for a small fee, his services would be ours, and that is that. Strasser is now a Viking.' Strasser was not available to the media right away.

Onto another transfer news, Mr. X also advised us that his 3rd string goalkeeper, Marko Marosi, has been loaned out to Gillingham for the rest of the year and believes that it will do him good.

Rough Seas for Doncaster Rovers

As you might have realized, the season has already started for Doncaster. The Vikings have played a total of 11 games this season. 9 games have been played in the Football League 1 while the other 2 have been for the Capital One Cup, in which they have won both, thanks to their 3rd striker Curtis Main, who is slowly becoming a club hero with 3 goals in his only appearance that have come in the Capital One matches.

In the Football League 1 division though, it's a different story. 9 games in, Doncaster have only been able to win 4 games and draw 3 others. It's still early going for the Rovers this season, they are only 6 points before league leaders Notts County. The real worry is the up front for Doncaster. New signing Ezequiel Ponce from Argentina has yet to register a goal this campaign. To make matters worse, the whole team has only been able to score 8 goals in 9 games, with only 1 scored by a forward (Nathan Tyson) and another coming via and own goal during a 1-0 win over Crawley Town a fortnight ago.

While the front might be having issues producing, the back 4 have been solid as a rock, even without one of their top FB players Cedric Evina. Evina has been out since the start of the season and should be back in the coming days. Mr. X will have to think twice before inserting him into the line up though. His replacement Abner has been doing a stellar job at Left Back. Abner isn't the only one though, new free agent signings Luis Canga and Cedric Djeugoue have proven to be great pick ups. With the addition of Ben Amos between the sticks and Reece Wabara on the Right Full Back position, the Doncaster backline has been hard to break down.

Riding High in Capital One Cup

As mentioned earlier, Doncaster have won both their Capital One Cup ties by beating Port Vale 3-0, followed by a 1-0 win over Morecombe. Curtis Main has grown to be a hero in the two games. Bagging 3 goals and game winners in both games. None bigger than the one against Morecombe. Morecombe were shown a red card in the 2nd half, but Coppinger failed to convert the penalty kick. With less than 5 minutes to go in the game, Main was found running behind the defense by Buchtmann to cooly put it past their keeper and advance Doncaster into the 3rd round.

On the Horizon

In the coming weeks, Doncaster will have much to work for. 2 of their next 3 Football League 1 opponents are in the top 5 of the league. While their next fixture will be against Burnley of the Football Championship in the 3rd round of the Capital One Cup. It will surely be a tough opponent for Mr. X and his team. Doncaster will also get their J. Paint Trophy campaign against Gillingham. It will be nice to see if their loaned keeper Marko Marosi will make an appearance. That will take place in 2 weeks time.

Chipciu is about 1-2 weeks away from making his return to the team, while Evina is only days away. Mr.X hasn't ruled Evina out for the Capital One Cup tie against Burnley yet, but he looks to be a game time decision. The rest of the team seem to be in good condition. Mr. X did promise that he will try to play as many youngsters as possible during the Cup runs, will see if he stays true to his words against Burnley.

The next update will include results from Capital One Cup, J. Paint Trophy and League 1 games. We have received the list of players from the Youth Academy that Doncaster have signed and we can't wait to show them to you. Once we have gone through the list and confirmed they are correct, we will publish them. Until then, Go Vikings Go!


-Side Note-
Hope you guys are enjoying the format. I still didn't get the chance to update the 2nd post of the page with more details about the club, squad and what not. Still trying to figure out how to post a table into the forum. Should be up as soon as possible with as many details as possible, not just club info, but transfers, stats, schedule and results of course. Stay tuned.