Thankyou Saunders

[oggycompton]

I thought this needed to be posted as I feel there has been far too much Saunders bashing going on. I will post the reasons why I think this is the case :-

He took over a team that was basically in tatters after a failed experiment involving a dodgy agent and a club looking for an easy way out which was willing to try anything to escape relegation. It was clear to all last year that the team either didnt want to be there or were simply not good enough and not interested in the shirt.

This season, granted not all to do with Saunders but the stadium is now ours, and for the first time has operated at a profit.. kudos to JR for this, the wage bill under Saunders has been slashed immensely due to relegation yet with the players he has got in for us, we sit in 2nd place in the league and with all the sides I have seen at the Keepmoat this season, bar Coventry we have absolutely nothing to fear. I think we will obvisouly lose games but I think we will win more than we lose.

He has got us playing an effective style of football that is based on an extremely solid defence with quick skillful wingers (Bennett at start of season anyway) and busy forwards. It may not be the prettiest style of football, but at League 1 level when all teams want to do is pump balls at Jones and McCombe does it really matter? Personally, I would much rather see us winning games than play crab football for 90 minutes and pass teams off the park without ever really threatening the goal, personal preference obvisouly but there is no better feeling than leaving the stadium with 3 points in the bag, from January 2011 under SOD, how often did that happen? SOD was a great manager and we experienced many many highs but he left for a reason, it would be churlish to get him back in my opinion, why ruin what memories we have of him and what he achieved with a side that lets face facts would probably not have many of the players in that Saunders has assembled.

Youth.... Husband, Ball et al coming through and getting a game and playing well. The youth sides are performing well and consistently and with Husband and Ball getting the odd game it can only strengthen the side. Other managers have got rid of youth players in place of tried and tested professionals. The direction the club is going in this respect is very pleasing personally. Who remembers Wade Fairhurst and Craig Nelthorpe, ok not the most gifted of footballers but I remember Fairhurst scoring 2 goals at home and thinking he could possibly be good in the future, then he was shipped out to LEague 2 and never returned, would he have had more of a chance under Saunders?

Personally for me football is football, you cant abuse Saunders for leaving the club, Wolves are a massive club playing in a higher division with a great history. He has almost certainly increased his wages, got a bigger budget, playing in bigger/fuller stadiums and who in their right mind can ever fault a professional in any walk of life wanting to improve themselves and whether we like it or not, Wolves is a step up.

So I say thankyou Dean Saunders, I wish you would have stayed longer but I understand that sometimes that doesnt happen in football. I hope that John Ryan stays true to what he has spoke of and when you are part of a club that arguably has one of the best chairmen in English football with a proven track record of doing whats best for the club, its nice to sit back and see what happens, you can guarentee that it will be the best option for Doncaster Rovers, thank your lucky stars you arent a Blackburn fan with the farciacal scenes going on there with that Shebby Singh.

Rovers till I die.

[Boomstick]

He lacks integrity, leaving clubs before finishing the job. Wrexham and then us. On his cv he has 1 relegation and no promotions.

[oggycompton]

He left Wrexham top of the league, he left us joint top of the league. He was relegated with another managers team with some horrific agent players.

I dont understand why he lacks integrity? He owes Doncaster Rovers absolutley nothing. Does Doncaster Rovers lack integrity for sacking SOD? Its football, players and people move on, I really dont get why people are finding this difficult to understand.

One thing is for sure, we are in a  better state than we were when our last manager left, financially, playing wise and team morale wise.

[bobjimwilly]

He lacks integrity, leaving clubs before finishing the job. Wrexham and then us. On his cv he has 1 relegation and no promotions.

Ask yourself this - if someone offered you a job to do the same thing you're doing now, but would pay you 4 times the money, give you potentially more resources and better facilities to do your job, would you turn it down?

One thing is for sure, we are in a  better state than we were when our last manager left, financially, playing wise and team morale wise.

+1

[Boomstick]

He left Wrexham top of the league, he left us joint top of the league. He was relegated with another managers team with some horrific agent players.

I dont understand why he lacks integrity? He owes Doncaster Rovers absolutley nothing. Does Doncaster Rovers lack integrity for sacking SOD? Its football, players and people move on, I really dont get why people are finding this difficult to understand.

One thing is for sure, we are in a  better state than we were when our last manager left, financially, playing wise and team morale wise.

The team morale was boosted simply by the departure of SOD. Granted Saunders is a likeable character, but it's now the 2nd time he has left without finishing a job. I would have thought he would have looked at the bigger picture to at least get a promotion on his cv. He won't get long at wolves before he gets sacked, then he'll be back in the conference or league 2.
No championship experience - hell struggle

[graingrover]

For me Dean Saunders brightened the scene immediately with his bubbly enthusiasm . He was at first chained to a strategy that was most likely devised by the Board ( who were in desperation) , but once he was free to devise his own strategy and choose his own squad that was it.At Wolves he is faced with the same state of desperation and surrounded by negativism once again . I have no doubt he will impress equally there . 

[oggycompton]

What is finishing the job though in football? Its constantly evolving and goes on forever, so I dont really get what you mean. We wouldnt let him 'finish the job' if we were 24th in the league this season, so why do we expect it to be the same the other way round.

For me in his tenure he has done his job and remarkably well considering the disaster that was the 2011-12 season. If you are honestly telling me that you sat down in the middle of May 2012 and thought to yourself... 'I can see us being 2nd at christmas', you are deluded, the club was in a right mess now off the field and on the field it is in great shape and thats down to 2 people... Saunders and JR.

How do you know he will get sacked? I wonder if Wrexham fans said the same when he came to us? Whats to say he wont turn them aound and then Villa or another Premier legaue team come knocking.

As for the no championship experience, I dont buy that. He played football at the top level throughout his career. RDM did ok at Chelsea for someone with no experience of management at all. Champions League aint bad. You can either manage or you cant, I think what you did as a player has a massive bearing on gaining respect in a a dressing room, and Saunders achieved more than anybody at Wolves, not going to be an issue.

[Donnybax]

Cheers for this season Dean, 2nd in the league and away days have been great

[rtid88]

Can't blame Deano for going at all! He is a manager that is confident in his own ability and with the passion and desire to succeed and manage at the highest level.

He has turned this club around, along with the help of a revigorated board and with Gavin Baldwin, into a club that cares about its players and fans, and he has passed on his passion and desire onto the players!

A large proportion of fans never fully got behind Deano for no reason other than he wasn't SOD, probably the same fans that didn't originally get behind SOD because he wasn't Penney!

I hope whoever we do bring in as the new manager will get the full support of the fans and we can make that push for promotion!

A massive thank you to Deano to getting us to where he has and good luck in your new job!

[Pinter777]

you see the difference we have here is all about loyalty. a fans loyalty to a club blinds his judgment on others. dean saunders is not a rovers fan. therefore his commitment to the rovers cause is less than that of ours. he was offered a job at a larger club, with more prospects, better paid (honestly would any of us turn more money down?) he also needs to look after his own career. deep down he must have left knowing that the team he built was strong enough to finish the job. regardless of his leadership skills, we still have the same squad as last week. im sure if we move on we can still get promoted. instead of moaning lets get behind the team.

[idler]

I don't know how anybody can't thank him for the position that he has left us in. I think that it says more about them than Dean Saunders.
If we don't have the infrastructure in place to succeed without him from here then we don't deserve success.
I believe that everything clubwise almost without exception is in a great position to go forward again.
Keep the momentum going and BELIEVE.

[Barmby Rover]

He came in WITH the dogy experiment and was part of it, he guided the team to the bottom of the league trying to manage a bunch of players with different agendas.
He has built an effective squad for Lg.1 which is doing very well playing typical Lg.1 football, but notlooking like a Championship team. He has done very well and attracted a team with a lot more potential money than we will (ever?) have. Good luck to him, I hope he does well.

[RobTheRover]

He lacks integrity, leaving clubs before finishing the job. Wrexham and then us. On his cv he has 1 relegation and no promotions.

Possibly the most ill-thought out comment I've read on here this week.

As an up and coming manager he has to take the opportunities when they present themselves.  Saying he never finished the job is a ridiculous statement in football - the work is NEVER finished, as expectations and targets creep up with every success.

As I've said elsewhere, I'm no Saunders fanboy but he deserves credit for assembling a squad (on a shoestring budget by our recent standards) to get us into 2nd place when most of us would have taken 20th at the start of the season.

[Dutch Uncle]

He came in WITH the dogy experiment and was part of it,

That's news to me? Anything to do with Nudgarobics Barmby? 

[Bentley Bullet]

If Dean Saunders is accused of lacking integrity and loyalty because he left us for a bigger club, why isn't Billy Sharp accused of lacking integrity and loyalty because he left us for a bigger club?

After all, Saunders hardly left a sinking ship, leaving us joint top of the league, whereas Sharp...............

[drfcsteve]

I don't know how people can say he's left us in a better position than when he came. When he arrived we were in the Championship with a realistic chance of staying up, everyone seems to have forgot we're now in League One.

[dickos1]

Steve you don't half talk some rubbish, people do my head in, never liked Saunders from day one and even when he's done a good job they can't bring themselves to admit it.
If youve forgotten ill remind you we hadn't won in 20 games, won 2 games in 9 months.

[RedJ]

I don't know how people can say he's left us in a better position than when he came. When he arrived we were in the Championship with a realistic chance of staying up, everyone seems to have forgot we're now in League One.

Rather be top of League One than bottom of the league above.


This is also debatable considering the conditions.

[dickos1]

Realistic chance of staying up?? We had won 2 games in 9 months yes 9 months

[coppsisgod]

We were only 8 games into the season though, of course we still had a realistic chance of staying up.

[RedJ]

We were only 8 games into the season though, of course we still had a realistic chance of staying up.

The squad was largely shite for all of last season bar one or two shining lights. No we didn't.

[dickos1]

We'd won 0 out of 19 and 2 out of about 40 what realistically do you think was going to change

[Al4475]

BB
If Dean Saunders is accused of lacking integrity and loyalty because he left us for a bigger club, why isn't Billy Sharp accused of lacking integrity and loyalty because he left us for a bigger club?

After all, Saunders hardly left a sinking ship, leaving us joint top of the league, whereas Sharp...............

OOOOHHHH contentious Dave, very very contentious! Be careful matey! 

TBF: Agreed all hands down!

[RoversAlias]

You cannot possibly say we were as good as down in September, no chance. That is ridiculous.

Were we as good as down after winning only 1 game in 12 in 2008/09? Didn't think so.

[dickos1]

Of course we weren't a good as down, but there was nothing to suggest we were going to turn 2 wins out of 40 around. That isn't a blip in form

[MachoMadness]

You cannot possibly say we were as good as down in September, no chance. That is ridiculous.

Were we as good as down after winning only 1 game in 12 in 2008/09? Didn't think so.

The difference is, back then we were battering teams, legitimately playing well, and were only losing because SO'D insisted on playing players like Lewis Guy, James Hayter, Darren Byfield and Gareth Taylor in front of a proven finisher like Heffernan. As soon as he caved and played Heffs we shot up the league. That team had spine, shape and ability but lacked the cutting edge Heffs provided.

Last season, and the 2nd half of the season before, we were absolute shite. The football was even worse than what we have now and far, far less effective. I remember watching us lump it forward for Chris Brown to chase his own flick-ons for 90 minutes as we lost against a woeful Forest and thinking we were as good as down. I don't see how we could have turned that round. We were almost certainly down, admittedly injuries played their part but that team had no spine and absolutely no will to win. I don't see how we could've survived, obviously we'll never know for sure and it's easy to slate Deano because we did go down under him (not saying you are, RA, just speaking generally here) and hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I didn't see any way we could've turned it round under SO'D. Dickos is right, it wasn't like we were suffering a blip, or playing well and losing. We were rolling over, week after week, and it was embarrassing.

[oggycompton]

I dont think it would have mattered who was in charge last season, with the experiment going on it was nailed on relegation anyway, but the form under SOD was woeful, we were getting pumped every single week.