Wignall is cash casualty

Steve Wignall became the biggest casualty so far of Doncaster Rovers' cash crisis when he was sacked as manager of the Nationwide Conference club yesterday.

The hard-up South Yorkshire side also dismissed their chief executive, Joe Hoggins. In a statement, the Belle Vue outfit declared that both departures "were due to severe financial constraints." Rovers, among the best-supported clubs in the Conference, were expected to be up alongside Boston United and Dagenham & Redbridge at the top of the table, especially when they paid £100,000 to sign the prolific Rushden & Diamonds striker Justin Jackson in the first month of the season. However, little has gone right for Donny this term.

Jackson has never found the form which helped take Rushden to the title last year and Rovers are down among the mid-table pack, 14 points adrift of the leaders, Boston. Off the field the situation has been even more bleak since the club's chairman and major backer, John Ryan, resigned two months ago.

Ryan left because he felt Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council was failing to help the club relocate to a new stadium, but it is believed he was also feeling the strain, as are several of his fellow Conference chairmen, of running a club with a full-time playing staff without the level of TV revenue enjoyed by teams in the Nationwide League.

Before his exit Wignall had to part with three key players, Barry Richardson, Paul Carden and Barry Miller, for economic reasons. His assistant, Dave Penney, has stepped up to take caretaker charge of the team, starting with tomorrow's FA Umbro Trophy third-round tie at home to Harrogate Town.

While Wignall is out of a job, another manager made his return to the Conference this week. Mark Wright has been given the tough task of rescuing Chester City's season.

Wright, the former Liverpool and England defender, made his managerial reputation at Southport last term. He moved to Oxford United last summer, but left the Third Division club in November when faced with disciplinary difficulties after being accused of racially abusing a black match official. His first priority is avoiding defeat in tomorrow's Trophy tie at home to Stourport Swifts.