Doncaster Rovers: Why John Marquis is ready to put his feet up for a while

'I'll be trying to get some rest but that'll only last until my little girl is getting me up at six o'clock.'
John MarquisJohn Marquis
John Marquis

Even if baby Primrose does not seem so keen, rest and recuperation is on the mind of her dad, John Marquis, after a long, hard season for Doncaster Rovers – and it is hard to blame him.

Though he did not feature in the Checkatrade Trophy, the striker missed only 231 minutes of football for Rovers in League One, FA Cup and Carabao Cup combined.

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That is 231 minutes missed out of a possible 4,680. He played more than 95 per cent of all game-time for Rovers in those three competitions.

Both Marquis and manager Darren Ferguson admitted he probably should have sat out a few more – particularly towards the end of the season when Rovers played seven games in three weeks – but his importance to the team was too great.

“I wouldn’t say it’s felt difficult,” Marquis told The Star. “Obviously physically it was very demanding.

“If we have Saturday-Tuesday games for the first four weeks of next season it would be as hard as it is now.

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“But coming to the end of the season, when I’ve racked up 50 starts, I can only remember one or two when I’ve been subbed off.

“I’ve played a lot of minutes and I’m happy for that.

“But as the manager has said, there would probably have been a couple of times when he’d have liked to have rested me but he’s not been able to.

“I’ll get some rest now.

“I’ll probably sleep for about three days and then go again.”

At one stage last month, Ferguson described Marquis’ hamstring as ‘hanging off’.

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Thankfully, his situation improved, unlike team mate Tommy Rowe who required surgery to fix an issue with his hamstring.

And it was a good thing too as Marquis was determined to power through until the end of the season.

“The hamstring’s not as bad as Tommy Rowe’s!” he said.

“There are a lot of bumps and bruises going on for a few people.

“I was struggling before we played MK Dons but I just wanted to play.

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“If the hamstring had gone, that would have been it and there were only a couple of games left.

“I just wanted to give everything for myself, my team mates and the club so I wanted to put myself out there as much as I could.

“I wouldn’t have gone against the physio’s word. If he’d had said for me not to play then I wouldn’t have played.

“I felt like it was a calculated decision where I could play an it’s not felt as bad as it did.

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“It’s gradually getting better so it’s rest now and I’ll come back for the first day of pre-season fit and raring to go.”

So rest and recuperation are firmly in his plans for the next few weeks.

But Marquis says his desire to put his feet up will not last long.

“I’ll get some rest in,” he said. “We’ve got some holidays planned to just rest and relax.

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“But after the first two or three weeks you get a bit bored, itchy feet and start creeping back into the gym.

“You do a bit of running because you want to get back and that’s the bit where you forget about last season but want to get going.

“Faces will be leaving, new players will be signing over the summer and it gets exciting.I can only describe it like going back to school. It’s exciting.

“After the first couple of weeks I’ll be looking to get as fit as I can to hopefully get another 50 games next season.”