Re: The Future Of The Dons : Sun Jul 05, 2015 7:13 am  

According to someone on the fans facebook page, two signings soon to be announced, so could be some good news there.

Re: The Future Of The Dons : Sun Jul 05, 2015 8:36 am  

Here's my guess on the club's thinking with regard to this season:

After finishing fourth last season, the club thought they already had a squad good enough to hold their own in this league. With Bradford and London coming down, they probably thought getting into the top four was an unrealistic aim this season.

They decided not to invest extra money to bring in better players as they felt we weren't ready for a crack at Super League until we'd got better structures in place, such as youth development, and possibly a second team. Finishing 5th to 8th was probably their target.

In effect, we'd be treading water this season with a view to building for the future.

Bringing in the young lads was part of this development programme. If the team were doing well enough (not fending off relegation) these lads could be given game time as part of their development.

They'd showed loyalty to the players who had done so well last season and spent more money than they'd ever done before keeping the team together.

What went wrong?

All the other clubs had decided not to stand still and overtook us by some considerable margin. They have probably used DR to better effect than us too.

Lessons to be learned:

Never under-estimate the opposition. Always aim to improve because you can't assume others won't.

The future:

Building a team from a position of strength is always easier than building a team from a position of weakness (which is where we're at now). We missed that boat. We haven't got to assume that life in the lower league will be any easier than this one. We need to plan accordingly.

Invest money now to start building before this season ends. Try to get the fans back onside by showing intent for next season as soon as possible.

Apart from a few who think that a new coach is a wand-waver who can put all problems right immediately, I'd hope the majority will see that we do need some time to re-build. The club need to show us the recovery is beginning before this season ends or else we'll all go into the winter fearing more of the same in 2016.

Getting any lost fans back will be difficult but the club needs to try to start to restore people's confidence in them now by showing they're serious about putting things right.

Re: The Future Of The Dons : Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:22 am  

Another very good post DM

Re: The Future Of The Dons : Sun Jul 05, 2015 12:30 pm  

Just been down York road and seen a Fev shirt a rhinos shirt 2 rhinos car stickers but nowt from the dons but I'm not surprised
And no I wasn't wearing any of mine either

Re: The Future Of The Dons : Sun Jul 05, 2015 3:23 pm  

Feel for the Dons Faithful. Things looked pretty positive at the end of last season. Such a shame to see you guys hit the skids so spectacularly this season. Hope you come good for next year.

Re: The Future Of The Dons : Sun Jul 05, 2015 4:13 pm  

TOMCAT wrote:

Feel for the Dons Faithful. Things looked pretty positive at the end of last season. Such a shame to see you guys hit the skids so spectacularly this season. Hope you come good for next year.

Thanks Tom.

We're used to adversity around here and we've not had any for a few seasons. It's like the bad old days all over again. When these things have happened in the past, the future of the club always became doubtful. Hopefully, with the backing of Club Doncaster our future should be safe.

How things go from here probably depends mainly on how much Club Doncaster are prepared to invest.

Re: The Future Of The Dons : Mon Jul 06, 2015 10:00 pm  

Double Movement wrote:

Here's my guess on the club's thinking with regard to this season

[b][i]The future:

Building a team from a position of strength is always easier than building a team from a position of weakness (which is where we're at now). We missed that boat. We haven't got to assume that life in the lower league will be any easier than this one. We need to plan accordingly.

Invest money now to start building before this season ends. Try to get the fans back onside by showing intent for next season as soon as possible.

Apart from a few who think that a new coach is a wand-waver who can put all problems right immediately, I'd hope the majority will see that we do need some time to re-build. The club need to show us the recovery is beginning before this season ends or else we'll all go into the winter fearing more of the same in 2016.

Getting any lost fans back will be difficult but the club needs to try to start to restore people's confidence in them now by showing they're serious about putting things right.

Lessons should be learned from the Rovers relegation to the Conference in 1997. Many fans assumed that they would quickly rise up that league and be promoted back to the Football League. In fact they almost went straight down through the Conference finishing the season 4th from bottom and it took 5 years for that status to be regained.

I like to think that the planning is already in hand including a full assessment of which players will be released or leave by their own wish. The key will be to hit the ground running.

Re: The Future Of The Dons : Tue Jul 07, 2015 1:11 am  

Brief notes from a meeting tonight that the fans committee attended.
GT stated that the players are low on confidence and low on fitness and it is something the coaching team are working hard on.
Gavin Baldwin has stated that there are 2 plans that have been discussed. one If we stay up and one if we go down. Money has been available to the club and still is, When it is mathematically impossible to stay up then they know which plan to use.
GT has had quite a few players talking to him already and hopes to have his signings sorted as early as possible. He has stated that we have some decent players at the club and would like some to stay, and some would be going but would not name names apart from a positive comment about Kes.
There is hopefully 2 players coming(hopefully on Tues 7.7.15) but again will not mention names until he has got the signature.
Carl has stated that mistakes have been made this season but it a learning curve and hopefully one to put right in future.
We relied too much on the dual reg earlier in this season which didnt give our players time to gain experience, and the calibre of DR that has come this year was nowhere near the skill levels of the DR that we had last year.
The club want to right the wrongs in the future. I will put the full meeting minutes on when Jackie has typed them up and emailed me them.

Re: The Future Of The Dons : Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:08 am  

Hiya peeps, I think that the above statement from the meeting sums up what we the fans have been saying for months, especially the DR issues. I also think that champ, 1. rugby is where we will be next season and have thought that for a long time. This season must go down as the Strangest in my 30 plus years following this club I still cant understand how the majority of players we have now took us to fourth in the league last season but now we cant, win, score trys or even compete with other teams (the writing was clearly on the wall with the defeat at NWC in the cup.)And then the departure of PC (which was nailed on) who suddenly re,found himself and signs for Fev, who then a few weeks later sack their coach ?. Strange goings on all around .I for one will keep supporting the players the club and the management and try to keep a positive outlook, the clubs around us will be watching very carefully and trying to take some of our best players (Clarke , Goat, and one or two more are to good for champ.1.. lastly I would like to bid a fond farewell to MR Dons himself non other than the magnificent Shaun Leaf he has stuck by this club through thick and thin and has always given 100% when he plays, for which I thank him. I will be there Sunday , don't expect anything at all but a decent performance/effort from the players would be nice to see. COYDs.

Re: The Future Of The Dons : Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:05 pm  

A statement from the club: http://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/article/44062/club-statement

A statement from the club: http://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/article/44062/club-statement