Terry Bramall lays out his ambitions for Doncaster Rovers

And while he admits he is unlikely to see it realised in his lifetime, he dreams of Premier League football for Rovers.

During Monday’s Meet The Owners event at the Keepmoat, the 79-year-old was asked what division he believes Rovers belong in.

His response touched on his beliefs in the way Rovers are operated and ultimately where he sees the natural progression of the club leading.

“When Dick [Watson] and I first joined John Ryan at Doncaster Rovers, I was introduced to a chap called Sean O’Driscoll who was quite blunt,” Bramall said.

“He said ‘how much money are you going to put in and are you going get us to the Premier League?’

“I don’t think I was quite as blunt in my reply but if I knew then all that I know now, I would say that it’s about much more than money.

“You have to build a foundation and a structure so you have it in harness.

“It’s no accident that the teams at the top of the Premier League, some of them have stadiums on 75,000 and 65,000. I think Chelsea have the smallest out of those.

“Some people call me Bramallovic but I’m not Bramallovic, I’m only Bramall.

“I would say since that conversation with Sean we’ve made huge strides to deliver a structure to this club that will then grow.

“I think it’s quite exciting.

“Will I see it in my lifetime that we’re competing at the top of the Championship, I’m afraid that I doubt it.

“But if we’re there, it will go because it’ll become an attractive club to others who are prepared to put the millions in and who think that is the way forward.

“I make no apology for the concentration of our efforts which are for the town as a whole. That is why I first came into the club because Doncaster was good to us, whether that’s the administration of the town or the people, because we employed some great people.

“We do feel a debt to this town and I’m still here nearly 16 years later.

“I feel we are making progress and I hope in your lifetime we will get to those ambitious heights again.

“There’s a lot to be said for having a well managed club so you don’t get a Bolton situation, or a Derby situation with huge debts.

“We don’t want that and I couldn’t sleep at night if we did that because what a mess it would leave you people in.

“I know you don’t want to be losing every week either.

“I’ll tell you how I measure it. We’ve been living in our house for six and a half years and for some reason when we built it, we didn’t put our flagpole up.

“We ceded to my requests two or three years ago and we now have a flagpole at the entrance to the house and we have a Yorkshire flag.

“Well, I have a Doncaster Rovers flag and when the Rovers win, the flag goes up - and I want it to stay up.”

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