Croft

[RobTheRover]

Do well on a small budget.

What is "doing well"?  Avoiding relegation?

I'd take that this season.  Do we need to "grow" into the championship this time around?

[Sheepskin Stu]

Do well on a small budget.

What is "doing well"?  Avoiding relegation?

I'd take that this season.  Do we need to "grow" into the championship this time around?

I'd take that too Rob. We must not kid ourselves. It's an uphill struggle.

[SoundbiteBarmyArmy]

Do well on a small budget.

What is "doing well"?  Avoiding relegation?

I'd take that this season.  Do we need to "grow" into the championship this time around?

I'd take that too Rob. We must not kid ourselves. It's an uphill struggle.

I'd take it three. I think we'll find out tonight what Dickov's true  intention's are for the season.

[RoversAlias]

Tonight? You mean tomorrow night?

[Rios]

We tried to grow into it last time... but then Billy Sharp came along and we got all ambitous and over-reached.

It's not unique to Doncaster or it's supporters that standing still is often worse than going backwards.  I still maintain that the worst thing for us was staying up in the Championship in the third season when we finished fourth bottom and had only 44 points.  After the run we'd been on we really should have gone down and it was only due to there being some pretty poor teams below us that we stayed up.  If we'd gone done we could have re-grouped (like this season) and maybe SOD would have been revitalised being a decent sized club and wage budget in L1 and none of the "experiment" would have been necessary.  All if's, buts and maybe's but we need to take the lessons learnt from last time and not make the same ones again!

[bobjimwilly]

Rios, are you suggesting if we don't play very well and flirt with the bottom 3 all season we should just pack it in and start again in League 1 next season?

 

[Drover]

We tried to grow into it last time... but then Billy Sharp came along and we got all ambitous and over-reached.

It's not unique to Doncaster or it's supporters that standing still is often worse than going backwards.  I still maintain that the worst thing for us was staying up in the Championship in the third season when we finished fourth bottom and had only 44 points.  After the run we'd been on we really should have gone down and it was only due to there being some pretty poor teams below us that we stayed up.  If we'd gone done we could have re-grouped (like this season) and maybe SOD would have been revitalised being a decent sized club and wage budget in L1 and none of the "experiment" would have been necessary.  All if's, buts and maybe's but we need to take the lessons learnt from last time and not make the same ones again!

No matter where we finished,what league we went into,we would have still been unable to shed the financial burden of a massive injury list of contracted players on championship wages.We have only just managed to shed Martis and M.Woods.

[Rios]

Rios, are you suggesting if we don't play very well and flirt with the bottom 3 all season we should just pack it in and start again in League 1 next season?

 

That's one very negative way of interpreting it.  The other is that if you're a small club (that's us for the delusional among us) it's better to be a yo-yo club than one that aims for fourth bottom in the higher division every season.  Crowds die away if you're not winning and pick up if you are, regardless of which division you're in so after the novelty of being in the same division as some of the bigger clubs has worn off fans want to watch us winning regardless of who we're playing.  I have no problem with us getting relegated as long as we're being run in a sustainable manner. 

As for the wages, that's down to offering players inflated contracts to try and ward off the bigger championship clubs.  The opposite strategy is to sell those players to the highest bidder and replace with players identified by a good scouting network.  There are plenty out there and if you got £500k for Husband for example, you spend 1/3 of that on a replacement and use the surplus to sustain the club.   As JR has shown this season as long as you get the right manager in place (Saunders in this instance) the drop down a division can be manageable and indeed successful.  I would hope that this time we'd keep our heads and not let the wage bill spiral out of control.

[RobTheRover]

I agree Rios,  and I'm sure the lessons from last time are not lost on the club.

The big difference this time around is Gavin Baldwin. Gavin is infinitely more dynamic and forward thinking than the post's previous incumbent. 

[PaulRover08]

I agree Rios,  and I'm sure the lessons from last time are not lost on the club.

The big difference this time around is Gavin Baldwin. Gavin is infinitely more dynamic and forward thinking than the post's previous incumbent. 

I would also imagine another key bonus this time is to actually get some income from the stadium. The sort of figures stated for the profit so far will surely go to benefiting the playing staff in some capacity. Though i'm not in the know so just speculating.

[Sammy Chung was King]

For me no team should just go in to a season to just survive,it's a very dangerous game to play,plus very negative,our club since John Ryan took over,has never been negative,having said that most of us in the end the minimum we Want,not expect is for us to stay up.
For me the season when we signed Billy Sharp we didn't over reach,we didn't do quite enough,for me that season Jason Shackell or Elliot Ward permanent,were the difference between us sneaking in to the play offs,instead of just dropping off near the end of the season,the experiment was the season we over reached,but it didn't work.

The team we've come up with,is spirited but limited,we need to add a touch of class here to give us an edge at this level,the spine of the team is pretty good but still needs a bit of attention,a good experienced number 1,a back up keeper who puts genuine pressure for the shirt on the number 1,hopefully Spurr stays,but if not find his replacement,we need a quick centre-half,a bit of creativity in midfield to help Cotterill,i'd like to see a holding midfielder with a bit of presence who can also pass a ball,Danny Powell at MK Dons is a great player,whether we could afford i'm not sure if he's out of contract or not,we do need a quicker striker who can finish up front,and if things go wrong a few options that can change a game on the bench.

For me we have a better chance this time of improving all aspects at the club,everything is being run better,more income from the stadium,and on the whole our fans while we like to dream,are not unrealistic in what we can do,it's going to be an interesting ride.

[wilts rover]

Sammy, love it. You say that the spine of the team is good - and then go on to say that the whole of the spine of the team needs changing!