Me and DRFC

[The Red Baron]

One of the things that always sustained me through the dark times- the long runs in Division 4 in the 70s and 90s, relegation to the Conference etc- was the hope that we would one day see better times. Well, we did, and then some! I always hoped to see Rovers play in a major Cup final, appear at Wembley and get up to the old Division 2 in my lifetime, and they achieved all that in the space of less than 2 years.

Now, as I expressed in my "Sir Edward Grey" post last week, I feel those days are gone and will not return. If the last 4 years proved nothing else, it was that Rovers don't have the fanbase to sustain second tier football for any length of time. Worse, the dreaded "FFP" or "SCMP" regulations will mean it is impossible to build up a Championship-standard side by front-loading investmnent. Oh, and the rules on youth development will mean that any gems unearthed by Rovers will be snapped up for a pittance.

Will I still continue to support DRFC? Yes- I have my season ticket, alliance membership and I have tickets for the York and Walsall games in my possession? Will I feel the same again about DRFC and football in general- well, I wonder...?

[Albert Trousers]

People need to grab some reality & realise who we are & where we fit in the pecking order. I enjoyed the Conference years but was overjoyed to get back into the league, I enjoyed the Championship years (something I never thought I would see) & would love to get back there one day. I am also looking forward to watching us against teams of a similar stature next season, who we play & who plays for us is immaterial I follow Doncaster Rovers regardless, if you have witnessed Prince Moncrieffe & Weavers fat mate in nets we are in for a treat next season regardless!

[SkellowRover]

What disappoints me is that we achieved JR's dream of getting into the Championship and that was it, the end of the road. When we got into the 2nd tier the club had a golden opportunity to build on it's success, we had 8k season ticket holders, the best manager the club has ever had and a good side playing attractive football, yet all our money men were interested in doing was 'covering the shortfall' and nothing more which has resulted in a downhill struggle since.
Can we recover from it? Maybe but i doubt it. We are a shambles behind the scenes and are paying for it on the pitch with a scratch squad that will finish in the bottom half and if we get many injuries i fear the worst as many teams before have suffered 2 consecutive relegations. On top of this we have a dwindling fanbase due to a few reasons..... the apathy of the doncaster public, fans not bothering as they are only used to success and long serving supporters that are simply falling out of love with the club and the game as a whole.
Our season starts proper on Saturday and we don't have a fit recognised center half but you can tell how the fans are feeling by ticket sales. Yes i know it's only the league cup but we have sold only just over 2k tickets for a derby match against one of our fiercest rivals from back in the day, which about sums it up.

[Albert Trousers]

Our season starts proper on Saturday and we don't have a fit recognised center half but you can tell how the fans are feeling by ticket sales. Yes i know it's only the league cup but we have sold only just over 2k tickets for a derby match against one of our fiercest rivals from back in the day, which about sums it up.

I reckon about 70% of our current fan base will have never seen us play York or be able to name 1 of their players.

[Chris Black come back]

"Moneymen only interested in covering the shortfall"! They have no compulsion to cover even that! Why should they spend millions and millions of their own money paying for our dreams? Let's remember that none of them are ever going to make any money out of this. They have poured millions of their own cash away to "cover the shortfall" with precious little response from the local populace.

Also, the consensus appears to be that the new Chief Executive is doing a great job trying to turn round the operational side of the club. Bit much to say we are a shambles still.

[Rovin Reporter]

J/R the best thing ever to happen to the Rovers must be hurting at all this and many more posts but he says it's a new era and time will prove him right as success returns along with the fans . Onwards and upwards .

[streatham dave]

Well said Pud and those who have helped to turn this post into something more positive. Go or don't go.Personally i'd prefer that as many people as possible go when finances and work allow to watch the team in red and white hoops. Would the people who are moaning about spoiling a hard built reputation have been saying that had the experiment worked? Maybe a few would but most wouldn't. Support your club rather than navel-gazing or go and support another club with an unblemished reputation. Tell me which one it is when you find it.

[RobTheRover]

The fans now need to be the definition of "supporter" not "backbiter", "protagonist" or "cassandra".

Let's put an end to this endless infighting. Mistakes were clearly made over the past couple of seasons,  which the club have recognised and are trying to a) put right (in infrastructure terms) and b) mitigate against happening again through better financial control. I know this doesn't satiate the "I want it all and I want it now"  fans,  but it's not designed to.

For the ones who want to rake over "soul selling" I suggest the time to draw a line is now and decide which side you want to stand on. The club needs its fans now more than any time in the last dozen years. Please,  nobody turn your back on it just yet.

[Norfolk N Chance]

The fans now need to be the definition of "supporter" not "backbiter", "protagonist" or "cassandra".

Let's put an end to this endless infighting. Mistakes were clearly made over the past couple of seasons,  which the club have recognised and are trying to a) put right (in infrastructure terms) and b) mitigate against happening again through better financial control. I know this doesn't satiate the "I want it all and I want it now"  fans,  but it's not designed to.

For the ones who want to rake over "soul selling" I suggest the time to draw a line is now and decide which side you want to stand on. The club needs its fans now more than any time in the last dozen years. Please,  nobody turn your back on it just yet.

Why would anyone turn their back on the club?

Think people need to look up the word supporter....

[streatham dave]

Who is Cassandra and does she know anyone who can play football well and is willing to sign in the next few days?

[RobTheRover]

I'd have Boycey at the back every day of the week.

[Rover19]

Who is Cassandra and does she know anyone who can play football well and is willing to sign in the next few days?

I hear that Trojan could do the job in league one, worth a short term contract?

[Chris Black come back]

The fans now need to be the definition of "supporter" not "backbiter", "protagonist" or "cassandra".

Let's put an end to this endless infighting. Mistakes were clearly made over the past couple of seasons,  which the club have recognised and are trying to a) put right (in infrastructure terms) and b) mitigate against happening again through better financial control. I know this doesn't satiate the "I want it all and I want it now"  fans,  but it's not designed to.

For the ones who want to rake over "soul selling" I suggest the time to draw a line is now and decide which side you want to stand on. The club needs its fans now more than any time in the last dozen years. Please,  nobody turn your back on it just yet.

You are right Rob but there are folk on here who are equating our current situation to that around the Richardson era, in terms of supporter morale and relationship with the club. This is madness and those making these statements need to be challenged. Also folk need to accept that SOD was an excellent manager but he wasn't a messiah and indeed he was a very naughty boy who tried to leave us twice in the space in 12 months.

[NorthNorfolkRover]

Please could people hurling abuse under the "Im a real supporter get behind the club" banner stop it. They arent ambassadors for the club as they are alienating the wavering fans who will be needed to retain a decent fan base. Gartom had a cheery nature and wouldnt hurl abuse at people who had genuine concerns. The new administration isnt half as nice.
I find any organisation incapable of a bit of self examination to be usually inept and corrupt.

[Sheepskin Stu]

Please could people hurling abuse under the "Im a real supporter get behind the club" banner stop it. They arent ambassadors for the club as they are alienating the wavering fans who will be needed to retain a decent fan base. Gartom had a cheery nature and wouldnt hurl abuse at people who had genuine concerns. The new administration isnt half as nice.
I find any organisation incapable of a bit of self examination to be usually inept and corrupt.

I'd rather "the administration" got something done for the fans and VSC members than just being nice. Where did being nice get us? Absolutely nowhere.

[drfc1951]

To the people moaning about the directors not putting their own money into the club, where would we be right now, if they hadnt put the 3 million to cover the shortfall each season.

[Wild Rover]

To me, it seems, that MOST of the supporters on here are more concerned with messages coming out of the club, whether through JR, Gartom, Baldwin, etc etc. These messages are a relativly new thing, of course www based, lets face it 1990 www didnt exist.
I am therefore led to believe that most of the moaners were not around when the only communication was via "Evening Post" or "Free press" or even "Doncaster Gazette and Chronical".

What will be will be as far as DRFC are concerned, i nor any mere mortal on here will change whatever DRFC destiny is.

I have supported since a wee fella ( well age 11 actually, so thats 50 years ), been there , bought T shirt, etc. No change to my support now, whoever is manager, whoever is board member, where ever they play.

[belton rover]

Belton hows about a deal...... Im away until the 27th August so I miss the Bury and Crawley games.........I have one adult and three kids season tickets would you like to take them for those two games, thus having a chance to see how we do in the first two games and see if DS and DRFC can restore your faith? I dont want anything in return only a promise that you will return my STs safetly and promise to cheer in my abscence?

That is a very kind offer Bald, but I am also away for these two games. However, I will promise to cheer along to the radio!

[VivaRovers]

Gartom had a cheery nature and wouldnt hurl abuse at people who had genuine concerns.

Perhaps not, but he wasn't averse from belittling them; "nothing more than self-gratification" was how he responded to genuine questions I raised back in October.

Anyway, a lot of folk were made to feel disenfranchised by the route the club took last season, not solely because of relegation, or because of SO'D leaving, or because of Saunders arriving, but more for a change in overall approach that they couldn't warm to. I'm one of them. To suggest that this makes those people less of a supporter is insulting. Each fan has formed their own individual attachment with the club over time, and so each of us expect different things from the club. Some just want a team to watch, others want more. Neither is right or wrong. The point is you can't expect every fan to feel the same way as you just because you're cheering on the same team. I mean some people didn't view Leo Fortune-West as the messiah. Crazy eh?

For example, I am genuinely concerned by Norfolk N Chance's unwavering tub-thumping, and he clearly doesn't have much time for my more questioning approach to the club over the last year. But, we're both still supporters of the same football club, and ultimately want Rovers to succeed, even if our definitions of success will probably differ.

Feeling disenfranchised from the Rovers is not the same as 'turning your back' or 'abandoning the club'. Just because some of us feel detached from the club right now doesn't mean we all will forever more. I want to be won over by the club again and I hope that in time I will be. But after some of the things that were said and done last season I'm going to be naturally wary about new approaches to begin with. Not dismissive as often caricatured, just wary.

As Rob says there are promising signs of things moving in the right direction. Gavin Baldwin is a welcome breath of fresh air and he seems to have understood what is wanted and needed by supporters, hopefully that'll rub off on other departments of the club. And I've the most faith I've had in years in the VSC right now.

So things are edging in the right direction, and hopefully those who feel detached will feel part of the club once more. But belittling them or questioning their merit as supporters in the mean time certainly won't help.

[ditch_drfc]

Do us a favour? Shut the f**k up with all this depressive shit! If you've fallen out with the club because you can't be arsed to be a real fan through the tough times then so what. Go find another club. Just about sick of all the crap people are coming out with, saying they've fallen out with the club because we got relegated! Quit the bullshit and grow a pair of b*llocks! Fickle "Fans"

[Chris]

Do us a favour? Shut the f*** up with all this depressive shit! If you've fallen out with the club because you can't be arsed to be a real fan through the tough times then so what. Go find another club. Just about sick of all the crap people are coming out with, saying they've fallen out with the club because we got relegated! Quit the bullshit and grow a pair of b*llocks! Fickle "Fans"

I'm not sure if that is a serious post or a joke. I'll assume it's not a joke.

I completely agree with Viva Rovers. There's nothing that I feel I can add to the points he has already made. It's a shame that the above post was seemingly in response to Viva's post. Very similar to the moronic replies his articles used to receive on Twitter.

[idler]

I'd just like to ask everybody one question.
How disillusioned are you with football in general compared to your view on the Rovers.
I think that the game has changed and even if we were doing well something in the game has changed, it's getting too polarised and top heavy. The Premier league are only interested in themselves.
I feel more and more disenchanted with the structure rather than just my team.
I'll still be there next season but it isnt the same and that's not all own to the Rovers. .

[DonnyNoel]

I'd just like to ask everybody one question.
How disillusioned are you with football in general compared to your view on the Rovers.
I think that the game has changed and even if we were doing well something in the game has changed, it's getting too polarised and top heavy. The Premier league are only interested in themselves.
I feel more and more disenchanted with the structure rather than just my team.
I'll still be there next season but it isnt the same and that's not all own to the Rovers. .

I agree with that, its not a Rovers thing for me as I still get the same buzz walking to the ground as ever but I think we are seeing a lull in the games popularity due in part to the swell of money at the top of the game being distributed to players who don't seem to be the heroes we used to look up to.

[ditch_drfc]

Do us a favour? Shut the f*** up with all this depressive shit! If you've fallen out with the club because you can't be arsed to be a real fan through the tough times then so what. Go find another club. Just about sick of all the crap people are coming out with, saying they've fallen out with the club because we got relegated! Quit the bullshit and grow a pair of b*llocks! Fickle "Fans"

I'm not sure if that is a serious post or a joke. I'll assume it's not a joke.

I completely agree with Viva Rovers. There's nothing that I feel I can add to the points he has already made. It's a shame that the above post was seemingly in response to Viva's post. Very similar to the moronic replies his articles used to receive on Twitter.

It was indeed a serious post. Not just viva as i also followed him on twitter and facebook and even had his blog on my phone. It was a generalised message to the people that constantly write depressing messages on here. A message of frustration regarding negative opinions of the club.

[BobG]

But perhaps the very fact that some people dare to write those sentiments you so disapprove of could make you at least wonder, briefly, if things couldn't be done in a different way? when some people express criticism, it usualyl means something, somewhere isn't quite right. You may choose to ignore it, to live with it or to change things as a result of it. But each of those choices really should be a positive choice - made after thinking about the issues in question. Simply being rude demonstrates more about you than you would probably care to admit to.

BobG

[ditch_drfc]

But perhaps the very fact that some people dare to write those sentiments you so disapprove of could make you at least wonder, briefly, if things couldn't be done in a different way? when some people express criticism, it usualyl means something, somewhere isn't quite right. You may choose to ignore it, to live with it or to change things as a result of it. But each of those choices really should be a positive choice - made after thinking about the issues in question. Simply being rude demonstrates more about you than you would probably care to admit to.

BobG

Thanks for the character analysis there, I'll bear it in mind next time I'm watching paint dry.

Once again we're subjected to another of your cryptic messages, that oh so eloquently try to say so much, but actually say little at all.

You keep on saying that things should be done in a "different way".. what are you even on about? You might even have a had a valid point five months ago, but not now. Not with all the background stuff going on at the club, all the fan engagement.

I think you just want to oppose everything and anything the club does, just for the sake of it. Good luck to it. But the next time you want to start a thread about how much Rovers depresses you, or how you don't like Saunders post match interviews, or how we've ran out of money, why don't you just put it all in one long letter. Post it to yourself. Read it. And bin it. Because there's plenty on here that can't be doing with reading it.

[RobTheRover]

Don't get me wrong,  I think many of the challenging points raised are valid and have merit,  but as we've (the VSC board,  I mean here) have worked closely with the club over the summer we have seen the change in attitudes and desires within it that tells us that the mistakes of the past won't be made again.

We've communicated these changes to you,  and yet we still have to go over the same debates we were having in January.  This is why I say it's time to draw a line. The club is no longer the club it was then. It was closed to supporter involvement,  with the exception of JR's chats with Gareth. Now we have a much more open "can do"  attitude,  and access to the real day to day decision making process like never before.

This is why I say it's time to draw a line,  not as a challenge laid down to determine who is a "real" supporter or not,  but because all those things which were wrong at the club seem to be either righted or in the process of being righted. I could tell you,  for instance, that we had an excellent player lined up to join us recently,  but his agent demanded a clause in his contract that he was selected every match he was fit. The club said no. That's a measure of the change that has taken place. The club is now once again the master of its own destiny.

I'm really looking forward to this season,  and I hope (and I'm pretty sure) all you guys are too.

[Sheepskin Stu]

These old wounds are healing but it's a slow process Rob. Like a snake, we need to shed the old skin and become a new club that people can truly get behind regardless of results on the pitch.

As the Beatles said... 

"It's getting better all the time"

[RedJ]

AND I'M FEELING *BOOM BOOM* GLAD ALL OVER

[Chris]

I could tell you,  for instance, that we had an excellent player lined up to join us recently,  but his agent demanded a clause in his contract that he was selected every match he was fit. The club said no.

I know that was only a minor point in your post but bloody hell, what a ridiculous demand! Are such clauses common in football?