It’s almost 40 years since Doncaster Rovers last played Everton, but the game is still fondly remembered by fans and former players.
“I think everyone from Doncaster was at Goodison Park that day,” one supporter tells The Free Press.
“Our whole village went in a coach.”
Around 10,000 Rovers fans made the journey to Liverpool for the FA Cup fourth round tie, which Everton won 2-0 thanks to goals from Trevor Steven and Gary Stevens.
The Toffees were the FA Cup holders and would go on to finish as runners-up behind Manchester United that season.
The disappointment of losing 1-0 in the final was comforted by the fact they had been crowned champions of England just two weeks previously.
Howard Kendall’s side had also lifted the European Cup Winners’ Cup earlier that week.
It was a glamour tie for Billy Bremner’s young guns, captained by a 21-year-old Ian Snodin.
“We were all sat up at the training ground in Kirk Sandall (Pilkington Recreation Ground) when the draw was made,” recalls Ian.
“It was raining and we were sat around Billy Bremner’s car, he had the radio on.
“It went ‘Everton’ and to be fair all the lads went ‘we will have a bit of that’.
“They were flying at the time.
“To play someone like Everton, who were top of the league and winning trophies – at Goodison Park – you would expect us to say ‘we don’t want that one’.
“We were absolutely buzzing for the tie.”
And why not? Doncaster had already beaten a First Division club, QPR, in round three.
“We were a good side,” recalls John Buckley, a former Celtic youngster who had been signed by Bremner the previous summer following Doncaster’s promotion from the old Fourth Division.
“Ian was a great player, he really was. When I trained with him the first couple of times I thought ‘wow, this lad is good’.”
The tie also presented an opportunity for Ian and his older brother Glynn, a left-back and veteran in relative terms at the age of 24.
“There was a lot of speculation at the time about clubs interested in me and Glynn,” Ian remembers.
“I thought if there was a pedestal to put yourself on it doesn’t come bigger than a Division One side away from home. But it wasn’t just about me and Glyn.”
The pair would leave Doncaster that summer.
After a spell at Leeds, the younger Snodin brother went on to sign for Everton and become a club legend, not least because he turned down an offer from Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish to sign for their neighbours.
He is still revered by the club’s fans to this day and is now an ambassador there.
Glynn joined Sheffield Wednesday, where he stayed for two seasons before reuniting with Bremner at Leeds.
The pair would later return to where it all started to manage Rovers following their relegation to the Conference.
The highlight in charge was winning the Endsleigh Trophy Final – the Conference League Cup – but that January afternoon at Goodison still lives long in the memory.
“It was incredible, the amount of supporters we took,” Ian says.
“Even though we got beat 2-0 we put in a credible performance.
“For the Evertonians, there was an expectancy to get the job done. The Doncaster fans just made a day of it, they got behind us for 90 minutes and never stopped singing.
“It was a day I’ll never, ever, forget.”
Buckey agrees: “We didn’t play badly.
“We never deserved to win the game but the manager afterwards was like ‘wow, they (Everton) are a good set of kids.”
Ian, usually a central midfielder, was deployed as sweeper to help his side soak up the pressure. After all, they were a Third Division outfit playing the best team in the country away from home.
But it still represented a change in direction tactically from their ambitious boss.
“We very rarely got beat and when we did we got beat 4-3, 3-2,” says Buckley.
“Billy wanted us to score and create chances. He said ‘I can take the other end (conceding), that happening, but I want us to be a forward-looking team, that’s what we do.
“It’s really sad he’s no longer with us. He wasn’t a brilliant coach, but what a motivator he was.
“He used to say to me ‘you are one of the best wingers I have seen’. I wasn’t, but he was just telling me for my confidence.”
Ian enjoyed a father-son relationship with Bremner.
“Billy first gave me the captaincy at 18,” he says.
“I think I was a bit young but he saw things in me.
“It was a big privilege, a big honour, because I had a lot of growing up and filling out to do at that age and we had some experienced players at that time.
“It was quite daunting at first, but it just showed what the manager thought about me.
“My manager was one incredible man. I absolutely adored him.
“He knew how to treat me and he was very, very close to my mum and dad.
“It broke my heart when the man died. If it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t have played for Leeds or Everton, or been in the England set-up.
“I built a house in Doncaster and called it Bremner Lodge. The man was an absolute genius. My dad is my dad but he was my second dad.”
So, how do both former players see this week’s Carabao Cup meeting playing out?
“It should be something for the Doncaster players to think ‘right, let’s go’,” says Buckley.
“You always remember the big games where teams came and you were as good as them.
“It’s a game where you can go and make a name for yourself.”
“I want it to be a great tie,” says Snodin, now based in Southport.
“I’m quite looking forward to it.”
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