How much

[Chris Black come back]

The best guide - but absolutely not certain - of success is the amount of money available.

The reason we struggled in the Championship once the SOD magic wore off was that we were being massively outspent. SOD could bridge the gap only for so long but then we ended up with Sam Hird and Richard Naylor as a CB partnership.

We have a top half budget but a bottom six team. That really is regrettable. 

[anne honemous]

The best guide - but absolutely not certain - of success is the amount of money available.

The reason we struggled in the Championship once the SOD magic wore off was that we were being massively outspent. SOD could bridge the gap only for so long but then we ended up with Sam Hird and Richard Naylor as a CB partnership.

We have a top half budget but a bottom six team. That really is regrettable.

It's still too skewed with the wages for me.

We probably have 4/5 players on top two wages for this division, yet the rest of our team are on mid-table mediocrity wages.

Ultimately, we have a very mediocre team at the moment.

I just hope DF is allowed the finances to freshen things up in January and sign the certain type of players which we all know we're lacking.

Fingers crossed.

[BillyStubbsTears]

The best guide - but absolutely not certain - of success is the amount of money available.

The reason we struggled in the Championship once the SOD magic wore off was that we were being massively outspent. SOD could bridge the gap only for so long but then we ended up with Sam Hird and Richard Naylor as a CB partnership.

We have a top half budget but a bottom six team. That really is regrettable. 

CBCB

O'Driscoll went on record at the start of 2011/12 saying something to the effect of, "Finally we have a wage budget that's competitive in this division."

And yet, to add to what you said, our back 6 in his final home game in charge was:
Woods
Dumbuya
Hird
Naylor
Friend
Spurr

Two out of six who were remotely Championship quality. And we started the season with seven defeats and a draw.

It's not always about money...

[anne honemous]

I thought SO'D uttered something along the lines of 'We need to accept that sometimes you have to take a step backwards to go forwards' - effectively hinting that 2011-12 was going to be a season where we'd struggle and probably get relegated, after we stayed up on the final day of the 2010-11 and lost at Middlesbrough.

I remember reading a piece on it.

[anne honemous]

Here it is...

I recalled a post-match press conference at Middlesbrough, following a 3-0 defeat on the final of the day of the 2010/11 season, that has always stuck with me.

Rovers had just limped to Championship safety, winning just two games out of their last 26 in all competitions. They finished the season one place above the drop zone and O’Driscoll made the point that the club, given their resources, might eventually have to accept relegation to League One in order to put in place a viable long term plan for future success and sustainability.

At the time I remember thinking it might set off a few alarm bells in the boardroom.

And as I recalled that press conference, O’Driscoll smiled wryly. “That got me the sack by the way,” he interjected tellingly.

My question was whether he now felt vindicated? Rovers are now driven by a long term plan to be sustainable - exactly what he had suggested five years ago. “Not really,” he said. “I was right in the start. “When somebody comes in and says they can get you in the Premier League and you haven’t got to spend any money, if you believe that then you’re stupid.”

O’Driscoll was, of course, referring to the ill-fated ‘experiment’ that arguably prompted and then followed his sacking. What he appears to confirm is that the seeds of doubt about his tenure were sown not just by his team’s poor form on the pitch but by those very comments he made at Middlesbrough.

‘Accepting relegation’ is not something that would have sat kindly with then-chairman John Ryan, who was still daring to dream about guiding Rovers all the way from the Conference to the Premier League.

So when the ‘experiment’ idea was put to Ryan, now aware of O’Driscoll’s viewpoint, he was probably more inclined to go with it. The only way was up for Ryan, not down, and not long term.

O’Driscoll has long since moved on from Doncaster. In the meantime he has worked for Crawley Town, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Liverpool, as well as coaching England’s Under 19s. He is now firmly focused on the future with Walsall.

But his comments seem to suggest what we probably already knew - that his exit from the Keepmoat and the circumstances surrounding it, some five years on, still rankles with him to this very day.

https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/football/doncaster-rovers/doncaster-rovers-that-got-me-the-sack-by-the-way-o-driscoll-1-7721709

[since-1969]

We had our days of glory and the club couldn’t and wouldn’t go on paying out without progress that was sustainable. We are in far better place financially now but progress will be at a financial growth pace and not at a speculative one . DF is being tested to find quality young players who he can build on and start to establish a foundation. I’m no a fan of DF because HIS past days very much mirrored Rovers and O’Driscoll’s .

The so called plan for the future has got of to a stuttering start and IF we survive relegation it will require a full rethink of player purchases and better contingency planning now that the loan market and purchase market are linked to the same start/finish date .

[RedJ]

I thought SO'D uttered something along the lines of 'We need to accept that sometimes you have to take a step backwards to go forwards' - effectively hinting that 2011-12 was going to be a season where we'd struggle and probably get relegated, after we stayed up on the final day of the 2010-11 and lost at Middlesbrough.

I remember reading a piece on it.

That was a weird season, that. It felt as though we were clinging on for dear life and we made it by the skin of our teeth but the day we confirmed our survival I'm sure the gap was six points and although it was a catastrophe we were never really in actual danger of falling into the bottom three because they were that far adrift.

[dickos1]

The best guide - but absolutely not certain - of success is the amount of money available.

The reason we struggled in the Championship once the SOD magic wore off was that we were being massively outspent. SOD could bridge the gap only for so long but then we ended up with Sam Hird and Richard Naylor as a CB partnership.

We have a top half budget but a bottom six team. That really is regrettable. 

We ain't in the bottom 6

[Chris Black come back]

Must have time on your hands comrade.

The sixth bottom team is Wimbledon (who beat us) on 19 games and 20 points with minus 6 goal difference.

We are on 19 games and 20 points and minus 5 goal difference.

So we are a one goal off being in the bottom six.

[dickos1]

I've got two seconds yes mate

[nortikorner]

The Squad is good enough to fight for the play offs  Its the Formation we play.Some players play week in week out without criticism where others are  castigated week in week out  on this forum

[since-1969]

The Squad is good enough to fight for the play offs  Its the Formation we play.Some players play week in week out without criticism where others are  castigated week in week out  on this forum

i very much doubt we’ll get anwhere near the play offs , injuries and out of form players has seen to that , DF is pulling his hair out trying to get Marquis to just get a shot on target and with others not pulling their weight  we are what we’ve earned so far this season but the January window could help if there is a quality striker looking for a club .

[mrfrostsdad]

The Squad is good enough to fight for the play offs  Its the Formation we play.Some players play week in week out without criticism where others are  castigated week in week out  on this forum

This squad is nowhere near good enough to be near the play offs.
I do agree with what you say about formations. Half the time the players don't seem to have a clue what they're supposed to be doing, but we are where we are because that's how good we are