After starting out on Manchester United's books he joined Rovers as a schoolboy and went on to make 181 first team appearances before attracting the attention of Premier League hopefuls Wolves in 1992.
The £70,000 transfer fee helped financially troubled Rovers fight off the bailiffs and he spent four years at Molineux before spells at Preston, Sheffield United
Another season comes to an end this weekend and there's no question Rovers have done remarkably well - especially considering they were one of the favourites to go down.
In the end avoiding relegation has been pretty comfortable and it bodes very well for next season.
Before the season started I honestly thought they would stay up and would pose a good challenge if they were able to invest up front because their midfield and defence is as good as any in that league.
Even when they were in trouble at Christmas I still believed they would stay up because when I spoke to people, and from what I saw when I went to see them myself, it was clear they never looked like a side struggling for confidence.
They were passing other teams off the park without getting their
rewards.
The turning point came against Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day and it sparked a fantastic run of form.
At one stage Rovers looked like an outside bet for the play-offs if they could have kept up their form!
The belief in the whole team is remarkable and it stems from the manager, who gives them the confidence by telling them to keep doing what they have been doing since he took over - keep passing the ball.
When a team is losing games it takes a lot of bottle to keep passing the ball around and it is testimony to the management team that they have continued that.
The midfield players - Brian Stock, Richie Wellens, John Spicer, James Coppinger - have all done really well and have particularly impressed me this season.
So has Martin Woods, who has really knuckled down and deservedly got his rewards, while Matt Mills has been excellent.
Mills is commanding in defence - but very calm at the same time.
He has a lot of authority about him in a cool, calm way and it seems to
me that there is a lot more to come from him
The next step for Doncaster is to see if they can sneak into the play-offs next season.
That has got to be their goal.
There will be a great atmosphere at Molineux on Sunday and watching the Wolves players and fans celebrating winning promotion can only be a good incentive for Rovers to push on next season.
FULL article appears here http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/free-press-sport/Expert-Corner-Mark-Rankine.5221822.jp
Another season comes to an end this weekend and there's no question Rovers have done remarkably well - especially considering they were one of the favourites to go down.
In the end avoiding relegation has been pretty comfortable and it bodes very well for next season.
Before the season started I honestly thought they would stay up and would pose a good challenge if they were able to invest up front because their midfield and defence is as good as any in that league.
Even when they were in trouble at Christmas I still believed they would stay up because when I spoke to people, and from what I saw when I went to see them myself, it was clear they never looked like a side struggling for confidence.
They were passing other teams off the park without getting their
rewards.
The turning point came against Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day and it sparked a fantastic run of form.
At one stage Rovers looked like an outside bet for the play-offs if they could have kept up their form!
The belief in the whole team is remarkable and it stems from the manager, who gives them the confidence by telling them to keep doing what they have been doing since he took over - keep passing the ball.
When a team is losing games it takes a lot of bottle to keep passing the ball around and it is testimony to the management team that they have continued that.
The midfield players - Brian Stock, Richie Wellens, John Spicer, James Coppinger - have all done really well and have particularly impressed me this season.
So has Martin Woods, who has really knuckled down and deservedly got his rewards, while Matt Mills has been excellent.
Mills is commanding in defence - but very calm at the same time.
He has a lot of authority about him in a cool, calm way and it seems to
me that there is a lot more to come from him
The next step for Doncaster is to see if they can sneak into the play-offs next season.
That has got to be their goal.
There will be a great atmosphere at Molineux on Sunday and watching the Wolves players and fans celebrating winning promotion can only be a good incentive for Rovers to push on next season.
FULL article appears here http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/free-press-sport/Expert-Corner-Mark-Rankine.5221822.jp