Today (Sunday) sees the League Two Play Off Semi Finals First leg as well as the National League Final at Wembley.
Grimsby Town face Salford City at Blundell Park without a Gas representative, while the visitors, as far as we can tell have just one former player in their ranks in Matt Butcher.
The combative midfielder arrived at The Mem, on loan from Wycombe Wanderers, in January 2025 and went on to appear in 18 league games for us before the end of the season. He had previously been out on loan with Gosport Borough, Woking and Yeovil Town as well as playing for St Johnstone, Accrington Stanley and Plymouth Argyle before joining Wycombe in January 2024.
On leaving Rovers he joined Salford City last summer and made a swift return to The Mem, scoring against us as we defeated his new side 2-1 on 27th September. He scored five goals in his 38 league appearances for Salford in the season just ended.
In the other League Two Semi Final, Chesterfield take on Notts County and the home side have two former Rovers players in their squad, namely Lewis Gordon and Sil Swinkels.
Gordon was unveiled as a Rovers new signing on the pitch at Burton Albion prior to the opening game of the 2022/23 season, a game in which we were 4-0 winners.
His Rovers career took in 61 league games, and he has now equalled that figure with Chesterfield, for whom he signed in May 2024. He appeared for The Spireites in last Saturday’s 2-1 win against Swindon Town, which sealed their play off spot at the expense of the Wiltshire club.
Dutch defender Sil Swinkels also faced Swindon Town last Saturday. Still an Aston Villa player, he joined Rovers on loan in February 2025 and scored on his debut, against Stockport County. His Rovers career took in 14 league games and two goals.
In the summer of 2025, he was sent out on loan again, to Exeter City but was recalled and sent out on loan to Chesterfield, in January of this year for the remainder of the season. His Chesterfield career has taken in 22 league games to date.
Former Rovers goalkeeper James Belshaw appeared in our first and last league game of the season just ended. He was in the Harrogate side that beat Rovers 1-0 on 2nd August last year, and in the Notts County side in last Saturday’s 1-1 draw.
In two spells with Harrogate he made 119 league appearances, while there were 80 league appearances in a Rovers shirt. The popular shot stopper was born in Nottingham and is now playing for the club he supported as a youngster.
In the middle of the park we are likely to see Ollie Norburn. The former Rovers player has played against us for a number of clubs since leaving The Mem, where he made a total of 56 league appearances after joining us, initially on loan from Leicester City in September 2011.
Capped by Grenada, Norburn is four short of making 400 first class appearances for the various clubs he’s played for.
Behind the scenes at Meadow Lane is Sam Slocombe; the former goalkeeper is listed as being a First Team Coach on the club’s website. Sam appeared in 25 league games whilst at The Mem and made 147 league appearances for County before joining the coaching staff.
It’s a big day for National League sides Boreham Wood and Rochdale, who meet at Wembley in the National League Final. Wood are bidding to become an EFL side for the first time in their history, while Rochdale are hoping to rejoin the competition after finishing the National League season as runners up to York City, with both clubs achieving over 100 points.
There appears to be one former Rovers player behind the scenes at Wood. Ross Weare, signed by Gerry Francis from QPR in June 2001, made just 10 league appearances for Rovers before a persistent back injury forced his retirement. He is the current Head of the Boreham Wood Academy and also a First team Coach at the club.
Although there are three former Rovers players included in the Rochdale squad on their website, it seems that Tyler Smith is the only one likely to feature in the final. He was on the bench last Sunday when Dale were 2-1 winners in the play off semi final against Scunthorpe United and, over the course of the season, has scored five goals in 22 league games.
Tyler scored three goals in 20 league appearances for Rovers after joining us, on loan from Sheffield United in July 2018. This is his second spell with Rochdale, having first joined them on loan in January 2020. He returned to Spotland in October 2025 following spells at Swindon Town, Hull City, Oxford United, Bradford City and Barrow.
David Tutonda, who appeared in 20 games for Rovers in 2020/21/ has played 10 games for Rochdale this season, though his last appearance was as a 90th minute substitute in a 1-0 win against Boston United on 7th March
Bryant Bilongo, who scored once in 23 games for Rovers, joined Rochdale in January of this year but has made only three appearances for them, all from the bench. His last game was in a 3-1 win against Eastleigh on 14th March when he went on in the 72nd minute.