Why should not dissatisfied customers express their views?
They used to know what they were getting in Doncaster Rovers. An entertaining style of play; a manager who believed utterly in what he was doing and explained in detail what he was aiming for; a squad of committed players who understood what they were required to do who trusted their manager and worked hard at their task. They had in John Ryan, a long-term leader who they knew cared passionately for everything and everybody at the club. All in all it produced an entity which delivered more success than in the previous 50 years and gained the respect and admiration of the press, commentators and the whole of the Championship.
The situation is now turned on its head. There is uncertainty everywhere. John Ryan is not running things on his own any more. At the heart of the club there is an unpublished agreement involving a football agent whose past has given cause for adverse comment in the media, yet whose influence seems real. They have a new manager who has reversed the entire philosophy of his predecessor. Instead of what is sophisticated and modern, he advocates simplistic solutions. Get the ball up the field - stop them scoring – shoot more often - not get injured. His tactical variations amount to “if that doesn’t work, we’ll try something different."
They have been unsettled by two of the biggest investors leaving the board and the CEO resigning since the new regime took over. And they see even the future of the stadium in doubt.
On top of all this, results are disastrous so it is not surprising that they worry about the future of their club as it flounders pathetically downwards. They find it embarrassing, they don’t know what is going on and it is hurtful in every kind of way.
Instead of steadying the base, the “Experiment" seems to has put the club in disarray. Instead of getting better, results have worsened progressively as the new regime established itself, rather underlining how it just has not worked. They worry what will happen next year when we will have the football equivalent of a sinking ship with all the associated connotations
If they had wanted a detailed analysis of the developing project they will have been disappointed. All they got was a repeated assertion that those coming into the club were Premier League players which was put across as reason in itself never to doubt their ability or commitment to the club. Unfortunately despite their alleged quality the manager was never able consistently to blend the skills of the freshly-arrived talent with the existing pool, which is indisputably his role. As albirossi put it, DS’s team (in contrast to SOD’s) is less than the sum of its parts.
The now dissatisfied customers have received no encouragement in terms of solutions to the problems on the field from a manager who has the ability to speak fluently whilst offering no insight into the underlying causes of our continuing decline. He has failed to recruit suitable new players, failed to organise his teams on the field and has utterly failed to instil confidence in their play. A manager who says in his post match interview that none of his players can score goals and then lists all the members of the opposing team by name as having “goals in them" would cause me to severely question his leadership qualities. If he were my boss I would conclude that he did not want me to be part of his team any more and naturally I would probably not want to play for him again either.
So in what respects have these unfortunate fans misjudged the situation?
Keep Quiet at the Keepmoat
posted on 11/4/12
Azza, can you imagine the level of support for Yeovil at the keepmoat on a cold Tuesday night in November?
No disrespect to Yeovil whatsoever there, just used them as an example to back up Azza's point.
posted on 11/4/12
Don't think your far out with 6000 Azza. Do that's a gate receipt cut of about 40% or £1M
posted on 12/4/12
A list of stats:
Average attendances for DRFC for the last five seasons:
2011-12 9375
2010-11 10258
2009-10 10711
2008-09 11964
2007-08 7968
The top four lines are of course our Championship seasons and it shows a gradual decline, possibly caused by a significant rise in floating fans after our promotion drfifting away.
They gradually fall away as interest wanes and our fall from grace continued.
Possibly some of the fall is brought about by the ever decreasing number of local derbies with Weds and Sheff Utd getting relegated.
The massive drop to the 7968 average in our promotion season is alarming as this was the average gate when we were doing well of course.
We have been saying for a few weeks now that the average number of away fans will drop in L1 unless the number of local derby games is high but that doesnt look likely.
Gates of 6000-6500 are very much what we will be seeing as has been said.
posted on 12/4/12
We've strayed from the original subject, but looking forward is less depressing ........... or is it? Anyway we can always hope for change.
I have three points to make: Swansea have for some time shared their ground with the Ospreys who are a top RUFC team and I know at least one of their followers who has been attracted to buy a season ticket for Swansea's matches and there may have been advantageous terms in buying both.
Swansea is the second city in Wales and has a much wider hinterland than Doncaster. It's quite a long way to Cardiff and the extremely fierce rivalry makes it an unlikely cross-over.
Lastly, Swansea, through Sousa and Rogers have stayed loyal to the attractive football which began under Martinez. How I wish we had, but on a practical level, falling gracefully whilst maintaining your footballing principles is more likely to give next year's potential fans some reason to come back than the Saunders method. Some of the adjectives which we have seen in the media to describe recent performances ought to embarrass him, yet he still finds new reasons to explain away their mediocrity. It is incredible that the man who said "You shouldn't have injuries" when he first came is now claiming that "the whole team is injured". Do people swallow this? It just fills them with the depressing expectation that there is little hope now and probably none in the foreseeable future either.
Instead of making excuses for himself, why does he not apologise to the thousands he has let down? And as no constructive solutions are likely come our way from DS, it is JR to whom we now look for some encouragement for the future.
posted on 12/4/12
Come on Donaldo, give the guy a break. So'D made it clear that the club would have to move backwards to move forwards - we all know that. The board gambled on "the experiment" as a means of trying to keep us in the Championship whilst the "rebuild" was planned in the background - they probably believed that to do nothing would see us relegated in any case and so they felt they had nothing to lose. At the same time, they decided to part company with So'D for whatever reasons. None of that is DS's fault. All Managers try to protect and defend players in public, stressing the positives and down-playing the negatives in any performance and finding other reasons to explain defeats - bad luck, poor refereeing decisions, injuries - it is part of trying to maintain confidence.
The experiment ultimately has not proved to be successful. We all knew the risks but the Board decided it was worth a go - fair enough - they were trying something innovative and unfortunately it didn't work - at least they tried.
We all now know that barring an absolute miracle, we will be in Division 1 next season. So let's now give the Manager the opportunity to build something in the more traditional way. There is no doubt that he has put his all into trying to keep us up so he absolutely deserves our support in my humble opinion.
posted on 12/4/12
If anyone wants to hear a good variety of excuses trotted out on a regular basis have a listen or read some of Keith Hills' at Barnsley.
He is at least as good as our Deano.
To back up what you say though Crazy, what Saunders says to the press and what he says to the players in private are probably all together different.
posted on 12/4/12
Agreed Hound and he is open in saying that whilst we have been competitive on the whole in general play we have just not been good enough in front of goal and to some extent too sloppy in defence. I don't see that as making excuses - I think he's absolutely hit the nail on the head.
posted on 12/4/12
At least it's better than saying he was well satisfied with our performance but then going into loads of compliments for the team that beat us, or saying how good they are BEFORE we play them.
Sound familiar?
posted on 12/4/12
I diverted the thread onto th financial side of things because this is, in my opinion at the root of our problems. No financial problems would have meant:
- fewer handouts / less money donated or loaned from the board - so we would probably not have lost 2/3 major shareholders
- SOD would have been better financed preventing the slide. So no loss of footballing reputation, no experiment. Just a side at least holding its own in the championship.
The experiment was always going to fail for really obvious reasons (effect on team morale, stability, fitness of out of favour players brought in, understanding of game plans and tactics throughout the squad....). It was a bad decision to try it. For me it was a thoroughly ill-considered attempt to stay in the championship on the cheap. Finally, to say it was a short-term plan is also not correct. McKay is on record saying that the experiment could become a model for other clubs and that he was aiming to get Rovers to the premier league using this model. That does not sound like the experiment was being seen as a quick-fix. More a long-term solution to our financial issues (it was also going to eventually half the wage bill).
Deano has yet to impress me. He joined the club with full knowledge of what was being attempted and was behind it. Now we hear that everything he has done so far has been temporary. Sorry, not accepted. He's signed 15 players or so, all of whom he could have vetoed. All short-term yes, but this was how he was going to run the club, not by bringing in players on longer-term contracts.
I hope now the experiment is abandoned. If Deano and/or Willie McKay decide to walk away, I would not be unhappy although you will not find me calling for either to go just yet.
If we are going back to a more conventional approach, ok, let Deano build a team in the closed season that will get us at least a mid-table finish. Willie could help with his contacts although his help should be restricted to Deano's wish-list and in the main, longer term contracts. More than 2 players from 15 who we "could only dream would play for Donny" would also be good.
posted on 13/4/12
Hound and Crazy: I am not being very charitable to DS I know, but it is difficult to make honest comment on our current position and prospects without making statements on the decisions and the explanations of those who are running things.
Let us hope we do not have to embrace an influx of more McKay's clients. Where would the next tier come from? I shudder to think.
I am sure you know that I thought DS's appointment was too hurried to have been properly thought through and he was obviously chosen because he was considered fitted for the peculiar situation at the club. I can see the qualities that would have made him an attractive candidate. He has a strong outgoing personality with a good deal of charm, was probably wanted by McKay for the role and may even have been a condition of McKay’s participation plus of course the kind of distinguished playing career which make him equal to any incoming McKay client. But if this had not been the brief would he have been chosen over an up-and-coming young coach from some lower League club? I doubt it
This brings me to the problem with those SOD squad players who will still be contracted with us next season. Unfortunately I can't see that his relationship with those of them that had to be cast aside to populate the shop window can be ideal. And that is not a good base to build on.
So by reverting to a traditional operation would it not make sense to make a new appointment of someone with a good record in more conventional methods?
I am afraid that my priority is not Dean Saunders’ career, but DRFC. If we have no success in our next 4 games to give some hope I would definitely fire him and he would scarcely have grounds for complaint. He came here to save our season, signed up the plan to do it and has failed to move us even one place up the table. If his contract depended on competence in his role could he argue that he had met the condition on this basis?