'I knew what was coming' - Matty Blair breaks silence four years on from 'sad' Doncaster Rovers exit

Half-an-hour in the company of the former Doncaster Rovers man is time well spent.

Blair hung up his boots in September 2022, but had crammed plenty into his playing career by the time injury forced him to call it a day. That included four promotion-winning seasons, including one with Rovers in the 2016-17 campaign.

There's more on that later. First, it makes sense to start with how Blair's time in South Yorkshire ended.

He was offered an extension to his deal back in the summer of 2020, in the wake of the Covid-enforced early finish to the season, but on reduced terms. He ended up rejecting it and ultimately moved on to pastures new at Cheltenham. Although Blair himself begrudgingly accepts there was plenty of competition for places, he wasn't happy at how the process was played out.

"When Covid happened I sort of knew what was coming," he told the Free Press. "How it came about, I don't agree with. I saw it coming probably from February time onwards.

"I read the script and actually actioned myself before Covid, which was actually one of the best decisions I made. Otherwise I'd have been in a pickle further down the line."

That 2019/20 season saw Blair fall down the pecking order under Darren Moore. Before then, he was a regular under both Darren Ferguson and Grant McCann, making 40-plus starts in each of his three full seasons at the club and helping them seal promotion before playing a prominent role in reaching the League One play-offs in 2019. Whilst he accepts that competition is part and parcel of the industry, he still rankles with the way his injury was managed in that final season.

"I was mis-diagnosed," he says bluntly. "I think it was a six to eight-week injury at first, but it ended up taking me 11 weeks to recover.

"I needed an operation that I never got. I was in the last week of my rehab, which is the crunch week, and I could do only 90 per cent of the stuff. Within 20 seconds of looking at it, the guy who I originally should have seen but who was on holiday at the time, said it'll never repair. And so I needed an op. It was mid-January by the time I was actually fit again. I played a couple of games, did okay but nothing special to suggest Darren (Moore) wanted me back in the team. The midfield was Ben Whiteman, Ben Sheaf and Jacob Ramsey with a couple of others in there too.

"I didn't agree with the way it was done but it is what it is. I ended up going to Cheltenham and winning League Two, playing Sheffield Wednesday - my brother's team - playing Man City. So maybe it happened for a reason."

The manner of his exit from Rovers, at a time when supporters were locked out of grounds amid pandemic restrictions, meant Blair was not afforded a proper goodbye from DN4. That felt cruel for a player who was a firm favourite on the terraces for not only his fully-committed approach but also his reliability and work in the community.

But it didn't sate his appetite for the club. That much is clear not only during our conversation over Zoom, but also from the fact Blair was in the stands for Rovers' play-off tilt last season - nearly four years on from his departure.

Pictured in the away end at Gresty Road for the first leg at Crewe, Blair raised a few eyebrows by sporting a replica shirt with former colleague Tommy Rowe's name on the back.

He picks up the story: "I just really enjoyed watching the ride they were going on last season. Then when it got to the play-offs I got in touch with Rowey and I've got one of his shirts upstairs. I was like 'I'm there and I'm getting fully involved!' It was great to experience it from a fan point of view for once.

"I think I'd come up to a game in February which was near the start of that amazing winning run. And speaking to people who watch them every week they were saying 'we're good, we just need a bit of consistency'.

"I jumped on the bandwagon and was very much invested. It was amazing to watch."

Blair hopes they can go one better and seal promotion next term. And there aren't many better people to ask about what a promotion-winning team looks like than someone who did it four times in his career.

As ever though, he caveats the answer with a dollop of self-deprecation.

"This may sound really weird and maybe a bit corny but when you play with players like Rowe, Coppinger and Butler - they turned me from a footballer into a pro.

"I'd won promotions before then but that team and that season - and I'd like to think I played my part in it - those lads were just proper. You had John Marquis basically scoring every week, he was unbelievable. I'll not reel through the whole team because they were all wicked.

"When I walked into that environment with that group, we just loved being in each other's company. That's how you get your winning teams.

"I've had four promotions and the key is everyone getting on, being intelligent enough to know what each other needs and the manager knowing conducting it all.

"I really hope Donny do it. Like I've said before, I felt so at home. I had three to four fantastic years there. It's an amazing place and it was sad to leave.

"I felt I could've given a few more years, if given the opportunity."

The second part of our chat with Matty Blair will be published on Monday (June 17).