Mark Weaver on his time at Doncaster Rovers (Part 3)

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 last of a three-part instalment, the former General Manager discusses his controversial and infamous appearance at the Colchester United game, the prolonged summer takeover that followed and his motives in choosing to stay put despite such ferocious abuse.

Belle Vue in a worn down condition during the 1990s (Photo: Unknown).

Weaver's appearance against Colchester

Arguably the single, solitary action which consigned Mark to being the second-most despised figure in Doncaster Rovers history happened on the final day of the 1997/98 campaign.

With emotions running higher than ever previously, a 5,000-strong crowd was expected at Belle Vue for what would be Rovers' final fixture in the Football League against Colchester United - opponents who, by contrast, were in with a chance of winning automatic promotion.

Undoubtedly the defining images of the day came several hours earlier as a funeral cortege which included several hundred fans made its way down Carr House Road towards the old ground - with many amongst that number pondering whether this would be the last time they'd ever get to see their team in action. Would Doncaster Rovers soon cease to exist? Would more clubs follow the same path due to bad ownership?

Passions and tensions were running high yet the situation was completely inflamed when Weaver, who throughout the week had explicitly stated in the press that he wouldn't be in attendance because 'it would be like a murderer attending his victim's funeral' very visibly showed up - albeit flanked by more minders and bodyguards than ever before.

His presence was perceived as insulting and provocative and after many threats of violence, a pitch invasion and significant protests, he was forced to leave Belle Vue for his own safety at the advice of South Yorkshire Police who were trying their best to prevent a riot!

I press Mark sternly on why he felt it necessary to turn up - given what he'd publicly said beforehand. Surely, even he could realise that by doing so would only cause problems and appear to be the actions of a mindless moron intent on causing problems and suffering to others?

Nonetheless, he claims his presence was necessary due to Football League rules and that, if he hadn't done so, the league monies would have been withheld and the club would have ceased to exist - an idea that would seem largely incredulous to most people!

"I told the whole of the Doncaster and the press that I wasn't going to turn up for the last game against Colchester and I wasn't going to," commented Weaver. 

"Colchester's position needed to be decided - they could have been in the play-offs or gone up directly, so the game needed to be played. It was a full house, which the league didn't want - they would have preferred it to be played behind closed doors because they thought there would be a pitch invasion.

"I got a phone at four o'clock on the Friday before the game and they [the Football League] wanted to know which director would be present at the game. I told them 'none' and they asked me who would be in charge? I was told that I must be present at the ground. 

"I also got told to bring in another full set of goal nets, which I got from Sheffield United or Sheffield Wednesday, and they brought free of charge on one of their own vehicles. We put them at the Rossington End of the ground and hid them. If anyone came on [to the pitch] and broke the crossbars, the plan was that the game would be abandoned, the ground would be emptied and then it would be played.

"I told the police what the Football League had said and they told me 'Don't worry, leave it with us because we have the final say. Pop your head out, let them [the fans] see that you're here and we'll tell you to leave!' They put me in a police car, took me away to a hotel and I just stayed on my mobile phone in case there were any problems."

He continued: "Had that game not been played, the league monies wouldn't have come because the play-offs wouldn't have been able to be completed, the administration wouldn't have been done and that meant Doncaster Rovers would have been kicked out of football."

Unsatisfied with this response, I interject to press more sternly on why, for this one game, somebody else - whether it be a known individual like Joan Oldale (former club secretary) or an anonymous figure, couldn't have been appointed as a director or designated to oversee events.

I put it to Mark that this alleged Football League rule didn't even need to be public knowledge and surely, any alternative had to be better than him showing his face to already irate fans. Did he just turn up for his own warped satisfaction or to deliberately cause problems?

"Joan Oldale was frightened for her life. She'd had been a director and she wouldn't have been one again and I wouldn't have put her through that anyway," expressed Weaver.

"It wasn't so much a director [the Football League wanted to be there] but somebody had to be in charge. The named people at The FA were me, Julie Richardson and Ken Haran. I think Reg Ashworth might have been a director, maybe Lisa Mabbutt and I hadn't seen any of them for a year.

"So we had no directors, no chairman and the only person named in the Football League handbook was me (as manager) - not even Joan though I don't think she'd have been suffice anyway. They told me 'You've got to be there because you're the person running that football club.'"

Despite the fact that almost a quarter of a century has elapsed since this fateful era, Weaver is adamant in his opinion that fans halting games was counter-productive and their actions could have brought about the end of the football club.

"The Doncaster fans just didn't realise it was a Catch 22 situation," he added.

"They were trying to destroy games but what they were doing was destroying their own club because if they hadn't completed that last game, Doncaster Rovers wouldn't be there [in existence] now - they'd never have come back from the Northern Counties East League because they wouldn't have had a ground.

"It would still have been sold to Dennis O'Brien and he'd still own Doncaster Rovers Football Club Limited like he does to this day. All the money people would have gone but they'd have been no new ground built - it was John Ryan who did that because he got hold of the football club."

Action from the final game against Colchester (Photo: Unknown).

The 1998 takeover

Within days of Doncaster Rovers completing their final Football League fixture, negotiations over a takeover reached an advanced stage though it wouldn't be until Tuesday 18th August - some three months later, that everything was finalised.

The new ownership would be Westferry Limited - but even then it was a deal mired in controversy with the club's name featuring heavily in the subsequent Moriarty Tribunal. 

Westferry, through Kevin Phelan and Denis O'Brien (the Irish billionaire behind the takeover) stated quite openly that they were only interested in the redevelopment value of the land where Belle Vue was located. John Ryan was eventually handed the football side of things.

Mark describes the takeover as yet another 'nightmare' period and one where the club was just a matter of hours away from ceasing to exist altogether.

He said: "On the Monday after the Colchester game, they put in a deposit of £750,000 to buy the club and complete the takeover by June 1st.

"It got to June 1st and they wanted to see certain things. I told them the club was in administration and the minute they bought it, it would be out of administration and they didn't need to see the books - the administrators had them and there couldn't be any debt as it wasn't allowed. There was no better time to buy a football club.

"They were waiting on a letter from the council to say there would be a deal [on the Belle Vue land] so I told them they might as well wait forever and take their £750k back.

"It went on and on. Kevin Phelan got Ian McMahon in and I told him he needed John Ryan because he had money, he loves the club but he didn't want to buy it. He just wanted to help the club and that he'd get Ian Snodin and all the others in."

Mark continued: "It got to the Friday before the first day of the season against Dover and they hadn't paid. Ken phoned me and said the solicitor had told him the money hadn't been received. Snodin was ringing asking what was happening and the league was ringing me asking what was happening. 

"They were about three hours away from being kicked out of the league because nobody was in charge and I convinced and begged Ken to let that game be played.

"He said 'No! They haven't paid. They've been given extra-time and gone past that deadline so f**k them' and that he'd keep the deposit. I begged and begged and begged Dinard Trading, a company based in Switzerland, and Ken to give them [Westferry] until Tuesday and let them play the game and we got an assurance from the solicitor that they were acting to sort a deal out!

"I brokered that allowance. Ken, rightly so, thought they could be being horrible and not travel to Dover and play the game, or that someone might be behind it. He asked 'If they've got all that money on the Tuesday, why won't they have it today?' - quite normal questions to ask really. 

"I spoke to Kevin Phelan and he asked to meet me at the Four Seasons Hotel near Manchester Airport. He spent £18 on a little mouthful of whisky, showing off, and put my hand on the table and said 'We've got a deal. Let my lads go to Dover tomorrow and I promise I'll pay you on Tuesday'.

"I rung Ken, told him I'd done a lot for him, begged him and he said they could play, but they had to play in an East Riding Sacks kit. 'Snods' was ringing me asking what was going to happen and I told him that they still hadn't paid so I didn't know, but they paid the money on Tuesday and that was it!"

Shaun Goodwin leads out the team at Dover Athletic in August 1998 (Photo: Unknown)

Mark's real motives!

In the relatively early stages of our interview, Mark admits it was 'financial gain' from the sale of the shares in Doncaster Rovers, of which he'd negotiated his own cut, that made him stay put at Belle Vue for the full duration of the 1997/98 campaign.

Though he wouldn't specify a precise amount, he did state it was 'a good six figure fee' which he pocketed.

He also believes it was necessary for him to look after his own interests because his reputation had been 'destroyed beyond repair' due to events during his two-year tenure as General Manager which meant he'd never get another job in football.

"As it was getting towards the 1997/98 season I was thinking that if things went right and I could do what the administrators wanted me to do, which was virtually impossible, then I could earn a nice few quid," explained Mark.

"Ken was valuing the club at less than it actually was so I saw an opportunity.

"It could have been a Bury [ceased to exist]. The council wanted it to be a Bury. Ken wanted it to be a Bury. At times I think some of the fans were misled by other people involved, stoking them up, who wanted it to be a Bury and who would have been happy to see Doncaster go.

"I made for myself, I'm not denying that, but I also kept the football club alive because nobody else really gave a shit. I was determined that I'd get the club through administration, which I was commended for in Leeds County Court. They couldn't believe I'd done it on so little money."

Mark also states it was prospective new owners contacting him directly during the year-long administration process which strengthened his desire to profit from the situation.

"I knew I could get a good deal and I knew I was going to sell the club in November 1997," he recalled.

"Ken, and the other shareholders in Switzerland who weren't putting anymore money in, were asking for two-and-a-half to three million pounds. What I knew was that I could get more because what were people doing? They were ringing me! There were plenty of people who didn't have a pot to p*ss in but I knew there was one person waiting in the wings who was willing to pay a lot of money!"

Mark then used an analogy to illustrate how he brought interested parties together before using skulduggery to negotiate his own cut from any future deal.

"If you were selling your house tomorrow for £200,000 but your neighbour says 'I can get you £350,000' what would you say?," he asked.

"Would you tell your neighbour 'If you can do that, I don't mind giving you £75,000 of that?' Would your neighbour say 'I'm only going to tell you who the buyer is if you give me so much of that money?' So, in other words, your neighbour is the only person who knows the one willing person who'll buy it. You don't and they won't come to you - and they came to me!

"They wanted things doing properly, they wanted everyone out of the club. They didn't want the football. I knew John Ryan did want the football but didn't want to buy it so bring the two parties together and what have you got?

"I had Kevin Phelan to do that. They [Westferry] only wanted the lease of the club. I brought them forward and they didn't want to invest in the football club because he, Denis O'Brien, couldn't as he owned shares in Celtic at the time which he'd bought from Martin O'Neill, but I knew somebody who would take the football club on in John Ryan. 

"So I got Kevin in touch with John Ryan and said 'Offer it in!'"

When I put it to Mark that several fans may interpret the contents of this interview as him 'passing the buck' and trying to rid himself of blame for what happened during the late 1990s, he scoffs at the suggestion and is very forthright in his reply.

"I relegated them and I've got no problem with that!," he commented. "There's no buck passing. Ken Richardson wasn't there after October and we weren't relegated then. 

"I take full responsibility and it isn't a case of me blaming anyone else. I was convinced from the Brighton game onwards, it was only going one way and there was nothing else anyone could do to stop that. If that's called 'deliberately relegating' then so be it.

"If there'd been £100,000 per week coming in, they wouldn't have been relegated but if you've got only £2,000 per week coming in then you're only going one place!"

Mark Weaver at a meeting with supporters (Photo: Doncaster Free Press).

Threats and intimidation

With Mark mentioning that people 'turned up at his home address' and alleging he received bullets through the post when discussing how Dave Smith came to play for Doncaster Rovers, I use this answer as the perfect time to challenge him on what knowledge he had about the threats and intimidation which many prominent figures involved in the 'Save The Rovers' campaign claim to have received along with others who were protesting independently.

Allegations of car tyres being let down, receiving threatening phone calls, discovering paint daubed across their property or being followed home, amongst many other things, have long since existed and it's a subject we come back to at various points as I press inquisitively and persistently for answers. 

Nevertheless, Weaver is defiant and vehement in his response: "I honestly don't know where it [the allegations] came from. I've got a clean record and I've never done anything. I didn't even nick apples as a kid and I've never let anyone's tyres down."

Asked who exactly he believes could have been responsible, he stated: "To point the finger is wrong. I know it wasn't me. What I would say is anyone who had an interest in the profit of the ground had an interest in what was going on and I soon realised that it wasn't just about the football."

We come back to the subject once more when discussing Ken Richardson's court case where it's alleged, again, that several fans who travelled to Sheffield Crown Court for the trial were intimidated and had the tyres of their vehicles purposely let down or slashed in car parks close to the venue.

Mark again rubbishes the suggestions, claiming them to be 'glorified' before adding: "Let me tell you there were enough people [in court] who were more than capable of threatening the people there because Ken knew some proper lads and he was well liked in racing circles. He had some powerful friends, but nobody threatened them. I was there and they couldn't - they just kept their counsel and just let things go. What would have been the point?"

Fans protests at Belle Vue (Photo: Doncaster Free Press).

Life after Doncaster Rovers

After his conviction for his part in the Belle Vue arson attack, Richardson served his prison sentence at HMP Thorpe Arch where, somewhat ironically, he shared a cell with convicted rapist Owen Oyston - the same controversial figure who was caught up in several ownership issues during his family's reign at Blackpool FC.

Mark says that he visited his former acquaintance in prison on some occasions and that, once released, Richardson relocated back to the Isle Of Man. The pair haven't spoken for around a year but it's believed that Ken, nowadays aged 83, is in good health amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

Though neither man has been involved in a professional football club environment in the years which have elapsed since this acrimonious era, Mark has worked at grassroots level - running a Sunday League side in the Stockport area called Cale Green FC.

I quiz Mark on whether he's been recognised at any point by Doncaster Rovers supporters in the years since and he admits there have been a couple of occasions - both times, coincidentally, in Blackpool.

"The first one was just after I left in 1998," he said. "I went to the illuminations with my kids in the September and I'd come out of Blackpool Tower at about six o'clock. It was windy and wet and we were walking down the sea front and I heard a voice say 'That's f**king him!' It's Weaver!'

"I went 'Oh my God' and told the kids and the missus to stay where they were. They chased me towards Coral Island. I jumped in there, went into the market and then hid in the car park."

He continued: "About two years afterwards, it was a lovely day in November and I was driving down the seafront going towards Fleetwood. 

"There was a pedestrian crossing and a guy started walking across and he had a Doncaster Rovers shirt on. He was looking at my car, then stopped in the middle of the road, looked straight at me, stared for ages, and started pointing his finger.

"The lights changed and I carried on but put my thumbs up and said 'Yes it is!'"

If you missed Part 2, where Mark discussed the 1997/98 season, click here.

If you missed Part 1, where Mark discussed how he came to meet Ken Richardson, click here.