Mark Weaver on his time at Doncaster Rovers (Part 2)

He is the second-most despised figure to have ever been associated with Doncaster Rovers.

Hated by supporters of all ages, Mark Weaver, second-in-command to the even more reviled former owner Ken Richardson, presided over the ultimate nadir in Rovers’ 142-year history as the club lost their Football League status in 1998 amidst a putrid stench of chaos, scandal and corruption.

In an acrimonious Belle Vue campaign during which the club was brought to its knees under the controversial ownership, there was farce upon farce (on and off the pitch), death threats, administration, pitch invasions and protests aplenty. Unsurprisingly, the eventual record of ‘Won 4, Drew 8, Lost 34’ remains the worst ever recorded by a Football League club to this day.

It's a far cry from the present time with Rovers flying high in League One and in with a very realistic chance of achieving automatic promotion come the end of this season with home nowadays being the plush 15,000-capacity Keepmoat Stadium.

After Mr Weaver's recent re-emergence on Twitter under the username @MWeaver72139842 following years out of the public eye, it provided an opportunity to put forward many pertinent questions which many fans have wondered in the time which has elapsed since that fateful period - primarily, how could an ownership deliberately attempt to rip away the heart and soul of a community and purposely destroy a football club?

There's certainly every reason to be sceptical about anything which Mark says though his acceptance of my request for an interview at least allowed the chance for many pertinent and forthright questions to be asked over the course of what turned out to be a three-hour conversation.

In the second of a three-part instalment, the former General Manager discusses the tumultuous 1997/98 season which saw a fat 'keeper from the Stockport Sunday League join the club, Danny Bergara, takeover speculation involving Anton Johnson and chaos on the team bus at Leyton Orient.

A fat 'keeper from the Stockport Sunday League

With Kerry Dixon out of the picture and a multitude of off-field issues caused by Ken Richardson completely withdrawing his financial support, things rapidly unravelled as Doncaster Rovers plunged to the foot of Division Three - a position where they'd stay for the entirety of the 1997/98 season.

Protests against Uncle Ken's unpopular ownership were growing by the week - both in terms of the numbers involved and the ferocity of the protests, thus resulting in a poisonous atmosphere around Belle Vue.

By October, Rovers were still winless, hopeless and largely clueless on the pitch. 

Richardson attended a game for the last time as Hartlepool United were surprisingly held to a 2-2 draw on Saturday 11th October, with fans' protests overshadowing the football action. It was after this point that Weaver, still the General Manager, solely bore the forefront of supporters' ire because he was perceived as a 'mouthpiece' and 'puppet' who was destroying the football club.

The best example of just how shambolic things had become perhaps occurred a week earlier when Dave Smith, a 'larger than average' goalkeeper who lived on the same street as Mark Weaver, was recruited from the Stockport Sunday League and featured in a 3-1 home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion. 

Only days later, Rovers were reported to the Football League for deliberately fielding a weakened side.

When I ask Mark what exactly he believed a player from such a ridiculously low level could bring to the world of professional football, the story was explained of how his neighbour ended up in goal.

"On the [previous] Tuesday night, we were playing away against Wigan at Springfield Park with the reserves," he said. "We had a goalkeeper called Gary Ingham. He couldn't play because he was working - they [his employer] would let him have time off for league games but not the reserves and he had a good job and didn't want to give it up. We only had him on a part-time contract.

"Ken rung me and told me that he was coming to watch because we had a few kids and trialists playing, but I told him that we didn't have a goalkeeper. He asked 'What's that 'keeper like at your club, Bramhall?' I was still involved there but someone else was running it for me by then.

"I told him 'He's not bad and that he used to be at [Stockport] County as an apprentice but had put a bit of weight on. Ken told me to get him in. It wasn't unusual for a reserve game.

"Now Dave was six foot, had a belly, but used to be a very good outfield player so he had a good foot on him. Ken watches him take his first goal-kick and he went 'F**king hell. What the f**k is that?' Did you see how he picked that lad out on the wing?

"Two minutes later, he pulls off a 'worldie' save from a corner, then starts kicking out of his hands, which he could do well, and Ken turns round and says 'You c**t. We've not had a goalkeeper all season yet he's got one at his own football club!', then he starts telling others.

"We won, Dave didn't concede and played well. Ken wanted him in and I told him that he couldn't play [for Doncaster Rovers] and that playing in a reserve game at Wigan wasn't the same as the Football League, but he still wanted him in anyway.

"Ken then starts getting the rumour around the club that I want him for myself and that I was letting the club down and asked if he could speak to the lad direct. He lived three doors away from me so I went round and told him that Ken wanted him to play on Saturday against Brighton. He said 'You're joking!' but then five minutes later he knocks on the door, said he'd spoken to his dad and this was his one chance to play in the Football League, so why not?

"Well let me tell you he f**king regretted that!," laughed Weaver. "One of the lads who knew me and who regularly turned up at my house to give me grief, had recognised him as my neighbour because he'd come out one night when they'd turned up and ran away. Word got round quickly and the rest is history!"

Mark states that it was in the aftermath of this episode where, for the only time he seriously contemplated walking away from the club altogether but felt doing so would have been a cowards way out.

He added: "The good thing about it was it put an end to Ken because he never turned up again. On the Sunday morning, after that had been done to me and after seeing the kid in tears because he was a neighbour and a good lad, I really did think 'F**k you!'. I didn't turn up on the Monday or Tuesday, but then the administrators started ringing me asking what was happening and I felt I was letting people down [at the club] who'd been good to me and that quitting was the cowards way out."

Nowadays, it's believed Dave Smith is married and works in the Greater Manchester area providing support and assistance to disadvantaged children and vulnerable young adults - however, he's no longer in contact with his former neighbour-cum-manager.

The goalmouth which Dave Smith filled at Belle Vue (Photo: Doncaster Free Press).

Anton Johnson's potential takeover

As autumn turned to winter in 1997 and with Ken Richardson no longer on the scene on matchdays, rumours of a potential takeover were rife.

Rovers had long since been in administration and one person who was consistently linked with buying the club was Anton Johnson - a controversial self-made millionaire with a less than re-assuring past. 

The Essex nightclub owner who, apparently, had 'shook hands with Ken Richardson on a deal' had been banned from all football involvement following a scandal at Southend United over a decade earlier and at any other time supporters would have been disgusted to see such a figure wanting to become their new owner. However, such was the apathy, hatred and bitterness towards Richardson's ownership and Weaver's day-to-day involvement, the flamboyant Johnson was perceived as a potential saviour.

His regular appearances on matchdays in both October and November 1997 - including at a home fixture against Cardiff City where he was accompanied by both Kerry Dixon (who he planned to re-install as manager) and the Sky Sports cameras, led many to believe that a takeover deal was imminent but Weaver says this was never the case because Johnson hadn't proved that he had funds for the takeover.

"What I did, like any businessman would do, was ask for proof of funding from a solicitor," recollected Mark. "I said I wouldn't talk to anyone until proof of funds was shown and he couldn't do it. Three million pounds was the starting point and he didn't even have that money.

"He also broke the rules. He came in to the dressing room at the Colchester away game. We were losing 1-0 and he said to the players that if they turned things around then he'd give everyone £200 but it was breaking league rules. You can't just offer professional footballers extra money to win a game because it has to be in the contract. I went 'What the f**k?' and went mental at him, threw him out and told the players to ignore what he'd said because he had no authority and shouldn't have even been in there. 

"If that story had got out, there would have been 'hell on'. The FA hated Ken so if that had got out, I'd have been blamed because I was the official that was in the dressing room, not Anton Johnson. He got told where to go that night!"

News of Mr Johnson's dressing room appearance did, nonetheless, filter back to the Football League headquarters and it's alleged they quickly informed Weaver that the future of the club would be in jeopardy if it was sold to the Essex businessman - by coincidence, this happened on the same day that Johnson was interviewed on Sky Sports' Soccer AM programme claiming that he'd be the new owner.

"They [the Football League] came to see me at Barnet away and told me that if he took over, the club was finished because he was banned," added Mark.

"The guy didn't have a pot to p*ss in. He was driving around in a Porsche which he had on lease and living in a shanty. All he did was waste our time!"

Danny Bergara's ill-fated tenure

With Anton Johnson's prospective takeover ultimately failing to materialise, one catastrophe after another continued to follow on the pitch and results meant Rovers remained rooted to the foot of the Division Three table as the season meandered towards its halfway point.

The manager's position was a poisoned chalice with Colin Richardson (no relation to Uncle Ken) in charge for a short time following Kerry Dixon's resignation before the strongly-principled Dave Cowling lasted only a number of days before he too decided that he couldn't put up with interference from above and opted to step away from the hot-seat.

Ultimately, the next incumbent was former Stockport supremo Danny Bergara.

Quizzed about how the Uruguayan ended up at Doncaster Rovers, Mark replied: "Purely and simply, we needed a UEFA qualified coach so we got the money for the kids. He'd done an absolutely unbelievable job at Stockport where he took them to Wembley four or five times and got them promoted. Players spoke highly of his coaching and he lived in Sheffield which was only half-an-hour away. 

"He was prepared to work for f**k all as well - that was a big help!"

Described as 'the nicest man you could ever wish to meet' it didn't take long for Bergara to realise the gravity of the situation which he'd stepped into and the hassle and aggravation was just too much for him to cope with - something which prompted Weaver to make the bold choice to name himself as the next manager at the end of November.

He continued: "That dugout at the old ground was a lonely place with the paddock behind for everyone to give you grief and they shouted all sorts at Danny. He just couldn't understand why he was getting such grief. He came to me [after a home defeat to Rochdale] and said 'I just can't take anymore!'.

"We were playing Hull away in the next game and I went in the press and said 'Either leave him alone or it'll be your worst nightmare and I'll be manager of this football club until the end'. We went to Hull and it was typical red rag to a bull and all they [the fans] sang throughout the game was 'Bergara Out, Bergara Out!' instead of 'Weaver Out' so I went in the press the following Monday and said that Danny had resigned and I was now the manager.

"As everyone knows, Danny stayed and coached the team until the end. He picked the team, did everything. I didn't have the time to do that as I was too busy saving the finances, but my name was put on it as 'Manager' and to be fair nobody else's name deserved to be put to it because it was a joke."

Bizarrely, as fate would have it, Weaver somehow won his first match as 'manager' as Chester City were beaten 2-1 infront of just 824 spectators at Belle Vue. Mike Smith scored the winner in the 83rd minute and it was Rovers' first three points since the last day of the previous campaign.

"It's actually the only game I did run the football club," he joked.

"Danny Bergara had said they [the players] were like donkeys on a beach so I pinned it up on the wall and told them 'That's what your own boss f**king thinks of you' and they weren't half fired up.

"We only beat Chester because they were playing Wrexham on the following Friday night in the FA Cup, so they didn't want to know, the pitch was quite hard and the lads were fired up because of what I'd pinned up on the wall. 

"We just happened to fluke a win - anything we did win that season was a fluke!"

One point which I raise with Mark is that if, as he claims, Bergara was the manager 'to all intents and purposes' then why was there footage on the They Think It's All Rovers! documentary of him in the dressing room dishing out instructions and team talks at various games?

He answered: "It was once or twice when I said something. The games I was in there were Swansea away where we drew 0-0; Cambridge, which was on the documentary, and Peterborough away where we won 1-0 when they were virtually top of the league at the time. 

"I didn't do it every week and it was because some of them said 'We just don't understand Danny'.

"But it wasn't just a one man job to be in the dressing room. Nobody wanted to put their name to it [as manager] so I had to go in there, fill the team sheets in and sign them. I had to make sure that was right and, it might sound paranoid, but it came to a point where I didn't trust anyone to do what was right if I wasn't there."

Danny Bergara on the sidelines (Photo: LMA).

A shambles at Leyton Orient

Arguably Rovers' lowest ebb, at least on the pitch, in what was already a torturous and traumatic season came just after Christmas when they were stuffed 8-0 at Leyton Orient.

It was a game where Mark openly admits the scoreline could have been '22-0' as opposed to only an eight-goal defeat and he expressed gratitude to O's boss Tommy Taylor who withdrew both of his strikers despite the fact there was around 30 minutes left on the clock and his team were chasing a club record win. If his counterpart in the opposite dugout hadn't made those substitutions purely out of sympathy, there's every likelihood Orient would have hit double figures.

The former General Manager also strongly feared it could be Rovers' last ever outing - something which was primarily due to the financial impact caused by the 'joke' postponement of the Boxing Day home fixture against Mansfield Town.

Even still, the game at Brisbane Road, two days later, almost didn't take place.

In what must have been a farcical situation, even though the Rovers squad had arrived safely in East London, players were reluctant to get off the team coach. Why? Incredibly, the driver was threatening to return to Doncaster without them unless he was paid the money owed to him.

The farcical fiasco prompted Weaver, who'd made his own way to the capital from Stockport, into impromptu 'mad dash' visits to several cash points around Brisbane Road in the run up to kick-off in order to get the money to pay the ransom demand. 

If anyone thought things couldn't get more utterly ridiculous then they were wrong. 

Once the no doubt already seriously-disillusioned players were actually inside the dressing room, they were quickly informed that they were going to be made 'part-time' with immediate affect - this discussion, anything but motivational, taking place during the pre-match team talk!

No wonder they lost 8-0!

"The Mansfield game was called off and it was a joke," explained Mark. "There was a hole about the size of a fifty pence coin in the roof and they said it was dangerous. 

"Our intelligence told us that Mansfield were bringing 4,000 fans - they were riding quite high at the time and that crowd paying £5 each would have been £20,000. We expected a few more home fans because it was Boxing Day so that was another £20,000 which we were relying on and we'd brought programmes in for the game, food as well, which were a league requirement and we lost the lot. 

"Instead of making money, it [the postponement] cost us money. It nearly bankrupted us. It cost us money which would have kept us going for another month."

On the fateful Leyton Orient trip, he continued: "I got a phone call [from the administrators] telling me that I had to play all the kids. I couldn't play anyone who was on appearance money, and most of them were, and I couldn't play anyone who wasn't a kid.

"I drove there in my car from Manchester, went into the ground and spoke to Barry Hearn (former O's chairman) and I asked him 'Where's the team? Where's the players? Where's Danny?' He told me they were on the bus and wouldn't come in.

"I went on the bus and they said the bus driver was going home because there wasn't a cheque for him at the ground [when they set off from Belle Vue]. The driver said 'I've driven down because I've been told you'll pay me. It's £900 and I want it now!'

"I ran round London with my cash card, my wife's cash card and a friend's cash card. Barry said he'd help us if it came to it but I went out, got the cash myself and paid the coach driver to stay there otherwise he was taking the team straight back. The lads had told him they wouldn't get off the bus, otherwise they'd have had no way of getting back home!"

Discussing the enforced decision to go part-time, he added: "A lot of the players were getting expenses for travelling to Doncaster for training and I couldn't afford to give them that any more. I had to make every cut there was to be made."

Plunging towards the inevitable

Despite a surprise 1-0 win over Shrewsbury Town in early January 1998, the writing had long-since been on the wall in terms of the direction which the club was heading.

It wasn't a case of 'if' Doncaster Rovers would be relegated; instead it was a case of when the inevitable would happen. Far more pertinent, however, was the question of whether the club would actually be able fulfil their remaining fixtures and stave off the grim prospect of going out of existence altogether.

By this point, Ken Richardson was now in America and had zero involvement, with football matters having been left to his General Manager. Protests against the ownership regime continued to be just as vociferous as previously with 'Richardson Out!' being daubed on the exit gates from the Popular Stand.

Speculation regarding potential takeover deals continued to dominate column inches in both the Free Press and The Doncaster Star newspapers, before inspiration was offered from an unlikely source with Uri Geller wanting to help the players with some 'brain training' exercises!

Famed for his spoon-bending lunacy, the psychic's offer was met with disgust by the remaining players in Rovers' ever-diminishing squad who felt this was yet another p*ss take at their expense. They subsequently went to the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) to complain.

"The Daily Star said they'd give us money if we did it," commented Weaver. "Bearing everything in mind, I was desperate for the money so I thought it was brilliant and we were looking at £20,000 - even Uri Geller was willing to pay some!

"All the lads would have got to go and stay in his house overnight and everything but the players went to the PFA and said they didn't want to do it. Exeter did it instead and got the money!"

Having escaped the chance to witness some spoon-bending shenanigans, Rovers' threadbare squad instead found hope from a new recruit in the shape of Padi Wilson - someone who'd previously been on the books at Plymouth Argyle in the division above.

The striker was on target in a defeat at Cambridge United before playing his part as the team, somehow, won 1-0 in a midweek match at Peterborough United. Nevertheless, the new recruit wasn't available for selection for much longer afterwards because he'd been imprisoned for driving whilst disqualified.

The surprise win at Peterborough was followed up with a point in a 0-0 draw at Brighton & Hove Albion on a Heart Of Football 'love in' Valentines Day where supporters of both clubs stood together to highlight their respective plights caused by poor ownership.

"I still speak to Brian Horton who was Brighton's manager on that day in February and he reminds me that there was only three points in it at that time and he put his reputation on the line," reminisced Mark. 

"Even after all our crap results, they were only just above us in the table but I knew there was only ever going to be one outcome.

"I was being told that I had to get rid of more players. I had Tony Parks, the ex-Tottenham 'keeper in the nets and Danny George from Nottingham Forest in midfield, so at least had some experienced players, but as soon as February ended, the administrators told me they had to go and we were left with the kids.

"There was only one way the club was going and that was down!"

Rovers' results quickly went awry again after the enforced cuts and on Saturday 14th March future manager Dave Penney was on the score-sheet for Cardiff City in a 7-1 hammering at Ninian Park.

Recalling events, Weaver said: "The 'keeper (Craig Davis) got sent-off at 3-1. He was only playing for a pair of gloves each game because of how bad things were. He didn't get any money at all and after he was sent-off, every single player refused to go in goal.

"I had a player on loan called Robert Pell who Rotherham had let me have for nothing because they felt sorry for him. I turned to him and said 'Either you go in the nets or you're going back to Rotherham and back to running with the reserves. At least here, you get to play'. 

"He said he wasn't f**king using his hands and I told him I didn't give a sh*t so long as he went and stood in the nets, but we were stood arguing for five minutes."

The 'Goals Conceded' tally hit the 100 mark just seven days later with Lincoln's Jae Martin claiming that accolade in another triumph for the away team at Belle Vue. Then, three weeks later, Rovers travelled to Chester City's Deva Stadium knowing they had to win to have any chance of staying in the Football League.

By this point 'Uncle Ken' was, quite laughably, back on the scene.

According to Mark, interference from above rarely happened during his own tenure. He says the team was 'picking itself' simply due to the lack of bodies available, whilst some players, such as Jim Dobbin, were left out as a cost-saving measure to avoid paying out appearance fees.

Nevertheless, one instance of Ken involving himself, as was shown in the 'They Think Its All Rovers' documentary, took place on that fateful day at Chester where he telephoned each player to offer tactical advice and instructions - despite the fact he wasn't even present at the game!

"There was no way I could stop him ringing people because he had a major say and was owed a lot of money, but his involvement [from October onwards] got less and less," explained Weaver.

"He went to America in the December and didn't come back until March and there were rumours that he wasn't going to come back because he was facing trial. He never phoned from America; he just text me and said 'Only Eight?' taking the p*ss out of me because we got beat 8-0 at Orient.

"He then phoned me on the way to Chester [in April] when I had a couple of lads in the car with me because I was driving there direct from Stockport. He said 'I've been looking at the fixtures and if we win this game and win that game, I think we can stay up' and I just told him we had no chance."

Rovers subsequently lost the game 2-1 which meant they were mathematically relegated.

One of many protest banners (Photo: Doncaster Free Press).

For the third and final part of Mark Weaver's interview, click here.

If you missed Part 1 where Mark Weaver discussed how he met Ken Richardson and be employed by Doncaster Rovers, his relationships with Kerry Dixon and Sammy Chung and the Main Stand arson attack, click here.