Doncaster Rovers’ fifth round FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace – their first game at this stage of the competition in 63 years – represents their biggest cup match since 2005, when they hosted Arsenal in the League Cup quarter-finals.
Very few factors remain the same for Rovers since they took a team featuring Aleksandr Hleb, Gilberto Silva and Robin van Persie to penalties – Gilberto having to score a 120th-minute equaliser before the Gunners won the shoot-out.
They have long since left their ramshackle Belle Vue home for the modern Keepmoat Stadium. The coaching staff have left, the ownership has changed hands, and every member of the playing squad has either moved on or retired. Except one.
Only 38-year-old midfielder James Coppinger remains from the Doncaster Rovers squad that took Arsenal to penalties in the 2005 League Cup quarter-finals
James Coppinger played 102 minutes that night, and on Sunday, aged 38, will almost certainly start against Palace. He signed for Doncaster from Exeter for £30,000 in 2004, and has stayed ever since.
In that time he has earned two League One promotions, including a Wembley play-off final victory over Leeds, Yorkshire’s traditional big footballing beast, after scoring a hat-trick against Southend in the semi, which he describes as his finest career moment.
He has made 585 club appearances – no other Rovers player in history even comes close – and is still a crucial figure, with 12 assists in all competitions this season. In the last two campaigns, he has won the club’s Player of the Year award.
None of which, he admits, was ever in his career plans.
‘I never envisaged being there for 15 years,’ he tells Sportsmail. ‘But at the same time I knew I was joining an ambitious club, and I felt my career progressed as the club did.
Coppinger scored a hat-trick in Doncaster’s League One play-off semi-final victory in 2008
‘I didn’t feel there was any need to move on – it would have been solely for the money. I didn’t feel the need, I was happy, my family was happy. As Doncaster progressed, I progressed, we went hand in hand.’
All of which is a long way from the troubles of his early career which nearly saw him walk away from football entirely.
Aged 17, he was plucked from Darlington’s academy by Kenny Dalglish’s Newcastle for £500,000, but played just 11 minutes of Premier League football over four years before being sold to Exeter, where he was relegated from the Football League.
A young player suddenly struggling in non-league on the other side of the country to his family, Coppinger readily admits he was ready to give up football entirely.
He says: ‘I was on the verge of quitting, I was considering what else I could do, I was serious about it, I spoke to my girlfriend and family. It wasn’t what I expected it to be like – away from home, with Exeter we got relegated out the Football League, I didn’t want to go back there, I considered packing it in.
Coppinger made his 600th career appearance against Oxford in December 2018
‘I fought through it, and I met [motivational speaker] Terry Gormley, he picked me up mentally and influenced my life. I had come to Doncaster, the manager, Dave Penney, he’d told Terry about me. I was performing in training but not on a Saturday. I met Terry at Belle Vue, and from the first session he transformed my results. I put it down to meeting him, changing how I looked at football.’
Did this early turbulence have an impact on his latter career loyalty? ‘Potentially; I saw a lot of players move on from Doncaster, they would get more money but they weren’t enjoying where they were playing or weren’t playing at all.
‘I’ve played more than 600 games in my career – for me it has always been about playing football. I never wanted to go to a club and be a bit part player, I do it because I want to be fighting for a spot in the team.
‘I went to Nottingham Forest for four months [on loan after being relegated from the Championship], but that was due to the finances of the club, I always knew I would come back.
‘On a personal level, I would have liked to have moved to a Premier League team. In an ideal world, to move back to Newcastle would have been a dream come true. I made my Premier League debut under Sir Bobby Robson, but mentally I was never ready for that, which disappoints me – I wasn’t aware of the opportunity at the time.’
Mentality is crucial for Coppinger, who, along with Gormley, has set up Promindset, effectively self-help for footballers.
The 38-year-old has set up ‘Promindset’, providing self-help advice for professional footballers
Coppinger says: ‘It’s about trying to help players, based on my experience, to let them understand that how they think has the biggest bearing on how they perform. A lot of young professionals tend to blame outside influences, which effects their performances.
‘We do workshops and one-on-one sessions to give them the tools to deal with setbacks, loss of form, injury, personal issues. People are more aware of these things but they need to learn how to deal with them.’
Coppinger, however, has no plans to give up playing just yet. His contract is up at the end of the season but he has no plans to hang up his boots – and hopes his loyalty to Doncaster is worth at least another 12 months.
‘I don’t feel just because I’m 38 I should just pack it in,’ he says. ‘I’m still enjoying playing football, being part of the team, and I feel I have more to offer. I just take it season by season.
‘Football is a ruthless industry and loyalty is very rare. I like to think that loyalty has been reciprocated, from the club and from the fans over 15 years.
‘To get to the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in 63 years is a huge achievement, and a good opportunity for the young players – and myself – to be part of something special. We did it against Manchester City, against Aston Villa, and nearly against Arsenal back in 2005, so it’s possible.’
