Source: FOOTYMAD
O'Driscoll Departs Donny
Rovers become first Championship club to change manager. Sean O’Driscoll has become the first managerial casualty of the 2011-2012 Championship season after paying the price for Doncaster’s terrible start. The 54 year old former Fulham and Republic of Ireland midfielder joined Rovers in September 2006 when the Reds South Yorkshire rivals were languishing in 13th place in League One. O’Driscoll who had taken Bournemouth through the Division Three Play-Offs in 2003 before arriving at the Keepmoat Stadium, guided Rovers to the Football League Trophy that year, defeating Bristol Rivers 3-2 in the final at the Millennium Stadium, before taking the club into the second tier of English football for the first time since 1958 the following year by winning the League One Play-Offs. But finishes of 14th and 12th in their first two seasons in the Championship have not been able to save O’Driscoll after Doncaster ended last season just one place and six points above the drop zone as they failed to win any of their final 12 matches which included a 2-2 draw at Oakwell. That dreadful run has continued into the new season and Rovers are rock bottom with just one point after losing six of their seven matches. Although externally the writing has looked on the wall for O’Driscoll for some time the timing of his departure comes as something of a shock as on Wednesday, chairman John Ryan publically backed his manager by saying “I have never responded to hotheads who want to sack somebody. I don’t think it has ever worked- look at Sheffield United” 48 hours later however, O’Driscoll was gone with Rovers swooping quickly to take former Liverpool striker Dean Saunders from Wrexham who had guided the Welsh outfit through difficult financial times to second in the Blue Square Premier, and his message to the media was somewhat different, telling BBC Sport: "We really couldn't let it get much worse. We tried to back Sean as best as we could, but in the end we felt a change was possibly the right thing to do. The whole club needed a lift and I think Dean is the perfect man to do that." In total Sean O’Driscoll was in charge of 268 games at Doncaster Rovers, winning 97 drawing 72 and losing 99. He lost four of his five matches against Barnsley.
