After the horrors of the previous season which had seen the Rover relegated from the old Third Division after just one season, following their promotion campaign of 1965/66, a season of relative tranquillity was required to put the club back on an even keel.

Sixty-year old George Raynor had been appointed as the Rovers' new Team Manager during the summer and the former Swedish National Coach looked to have quite a task on his hands as the new season opened.

The opening games provided little in the was of encouragement as the Rovers had to wait until their sixth League and Cup fixture before they tasted victory via an away win at York City. The next home game, against Rochdale, was also won as the Rovers finally got the winning habit. October also saw a couple of good wins, although there were two heavy defeats at Port Vale and Luton Town.

The League games to the end of the year averaged almost a point a game. One of the highlights of the period was a win at Halifax by the odd goal in five, with new signing Tommy Aiken scoring on his debut for the Rovers. The games over the festive season provided a brace of draws with Crewe Alexandra and the Rovers entered the New Year with one eye on their League position following their mediocre form thus far.

However, the New Year saw a marked change in the Rovers' fortunes. Adverse weather conditions meant that the Rovers played just once during January, 1968, although they did take this opportunity to complete a League 'double' over York City, following another home victory. February provided further success at Belle Vue, although only one point was garnered from three away games. Nevertheless, there were signs that the team was finding a level of consistency and the following month proved to be a real purple patch for the Rovers as they won all five of the League games played during the month.

By this time, the Rovers were fairly shooting up the table, and looked set for a late promotion push, but they ran out of gas towards the end of the season, drawing games when a win would have served their cause much better. Having said that, it is only right to record that only four of the last 22 fixtures were lost, whilst 12 were won, and a final League position of 10th, just seven points away from a promotion place, was a massive improvement on the previous season's performance.

The FA Cup saw the Rovers account for York City and Workington (after a replay), before losing at home to Swansea Town in round three. The League Cup saw them eliminated in the first round when Scunthorpe United won by the odd goal in three at Belle Vue. The Rovers were involved in a complex transfer deal in February 1968, when no fewer than five players moved in a deal involving Rotherham United.