Bristol City star McIndoe's proud of miracle man Ryan

DONCASTER ROVERS died on May 2, 1998. To mark their club's passing, a few hundred supporters invested in a coffin and marched behind it from the town centre to their Belle Vue ground, writes Andy Stockhausen.

After performing the last rites, a bugler played the Last Post and they watched their team lose 1-0 to Colchester United and tumble out of league football.

Attendances had dropped to just 739, for the visit of Barnet.

Belle Vue's main stand had almost been burnt to the ground in 1995. By 1999, Ken Richardson, the Isle of Man-based Rovers owner, was beginning a four-year jail term for conspiracy to commit arson.

Richardson reluctantly relinquished control. Enter John Ryan, based in Knutsford, but a former Rovers director and one of the nation's leading plastic surgeons, who had first visited Belle Vue in 1958 and watched Jimmy Hill score five as Fulham won 6-1.

Ryan bought the club for £50,000 and made four promises: to return Rovers to the league; to secure them a new ground; to take them to a cup final and to restore them to the second tier. Not surprisingly, people thought him mad.

Rovers escaped the Conference and rejoined the Football League in 2003. Last year they swapped Belle Vue for the council-funded Keepmoat Stadium, the centrepiece of a £32 million complex just off the M18, which they rent for £250,000 a year.

They won the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in 2007, beating Bristol Rovers at the Millennium Stadium, and then defeated Leeds United, in the League One play-off final at Wembley last season to fulfil Ryan's fourth promise.

People said it could never be done, yet Michael McIndoe proved a willing disciple following his transfer from Yeovil Town to Doncaster in 2003.

He, for one, had faith in Ryan and became a ready convert to the Yorkshireman's footballing revolution, making 137 appearances for Rovers, scoring 35 goals and helping them win promotion from League Two in 2005.

Now on Bristol City's books, the Scottish-born winger will certainly not make the mistake of under-estimating Rovers when they visit Ashton Gate this afternoon.

"What John Ryan has achieved in such a short space of time is quite incredible," said McIndoe.

"I know him very well and I know what he's done for the club. He's invested his money very well and taken them from the Conference all the way up to the Championship.

"I've made the same journey and I know how difficult it is. He's turned the football club around and deserves tremendous credit." Now managed by Sean O'Driscoll, Rovers boast players who have experienced the hard knocks of lower-league football. That they are now plying their trade in the second tier comes as no surprise to McIndoe.

He added: "I said when I was playing for Doncaster, they had a lot of young lads capable of playing at a much higher level.

"We had it at Yeovil and it was the same with Donny. Now some of those players are in the Championship and they are there on merit."

City have yet to win a home game in three attempts. For McIndoe, the reason is straightforward; Ashton Gate has played host to Derby County, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City to date.

"I think our away form has been better than our home form because the sides we've played at our place have been much better than the others," said the Scot. "Birmingham and Derby were in the Premier League last season and QPR have spent money and are one of the promotion favourites.

"No disrespect to Doncaster, but they are slightly different. This is a game we can win and one we need to win."