Doncaster’s Experiment

[South East Rover]

https://www.planetfootball.com/nostalgia/doncasters-experiment-diouf-pires-chimbonda-a-man-with-a-phone/

[Bentley Bullet]

Exciting times! I'm sure the vast majority of fans were all for it initially with the absence of hindsight.

[since-1969]

Exciting times! I'm sure the vast majority of fans were all for it initially with the absence of hindsight.

Why did it fail ?

[jmt23]

The way it was sold to everyone was that we could get these players for a very low wage, the reality was very different and our costs spiralled - I think this may have been the reason for the board room fallout. I do not know who was playing smoke and mirrors JR or WM.

The idea is actually sound, but we were not a team and they were divided on and off the pitch.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I was broadly in favour of it at the time as I thought it was worth the risk if it maintained our championship status and we were led to believe the finances were favourable however, you only need to listen to Copps summary of that time to realise the detrimental effect it had. That said, it didn't fail by much in terms of league status but more so behind the scenes.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and those who were dead against it and accepted relegation was inevitable, may have been right. Would SO'D have stayed on and tried to rebuild a squad in League One? Who knows but other clubs were sniffing around SO'D at time anyway.

[Drover]

When Gareth Roberts contract with us was coming to an end,a relative of mine,who is not a fan of football,was in his company and he told my relative,I go wherever my agent tells me,I don't decide,his agent had told him he is leaving Rovers and the agent also said,he is taking all his other players too,sounds like he had fallen out with our management or was not happy with offers being made.I wonder if this was due to the the start of our association with WM.

P.s. I admit I was excited at the start of the experiment and had hoped we could improve to compete for promotion,sadly it basically backfired because it caused a split with animosity etc in the team.

[VivaRovers]

The idea is actually sound.

It really isn't.

[roversdude]

Nope you get a group of mercenaries, potentially a different group each week who didn’t train, would never make the club any money and from the start alienated everyone. The theory was sketchy and I believe if anyone other than JR had stood there and “sold” it to the fans they’d have been lynched/laughed out of town

[phil old leake]

I remember speaking to someone who had stood next to the father of J O’Connor at a game. His dad had told them it had been really diversive in the dressing room and the contracted players were pxxxed off training every day and some of the experiment were basically tossing it off and some just turning up to play
That was third hand so I can’t confirm how much truth there was in the story
It sounds about right

[DearneValleyRover]

I remember speaking to someone who had stood next to the father of J O’Connor at a game. His dad had told them it had been really diversive in the dressing room and the contracted players were pxxxed off training every day and some of the experiment were basically tossing it off and some just turning up to play
That was third hand so I can’t confirm how much truth there was in the story
It sounds about right

Your not wrong

[donnievic]

I remember speaking to someone who had stood next to the father of J O’Connor at a game. His dad had told them it had been really diversive in the dressing room and the contracted players were pxxxed off training every day and some of the experiment were basically tossing it off and some just turning up to play
That was third hand so I can’t confirm how much truth there was in the story
It sounds about right

be said plenty of times there were split groups in the dressing room at that time and then you also get habib beye turning up on match day/or travel day  with his suitcase to play then go back home on a plane

[NickDRFC]

Two, and only two positives from the Experiment for me:

1. I used to enjoy singing “Sunday, Monday Habib Beye…”
2. Seeing Herita Ilunga play gave me hope that my dreams of playing professional football were still very much alive

[Sammy Chung was King]

It’s opening a can of worms up this post, it left a sour taste in many a rovers fans mouth!.
In hindsight there was always going to be a ‘them and us’ culture created.
Sad going back to Drover’s post, that Gareth Roberts let his agent decide when he left, I always thought the player would be the boss, the agent a go between, between club and player.

[ravenrover]

Only bonus pf the experiment was seeing Diouf in ref and white hoops

[roversdude]

My opinion of Diouf changed somewhat, thought he was a horrible example of a human being with the spitting incidents, however it then turned out he did loads for charity

[drfchound]

Only bonus pf the experiment was seeing Diouf in ref and white hoops

Diouf was by far the best of that group.
He always tried and proved what a great player he was.
On the division thing, I spent a bit of time at Cantley Park that season and the French lads didn’t mix much with our other players.

[Janso]

Two, and only two positives from the Experiment for me:

1. I used to enjoy singing “Sunday, Monday Habib Beye…”
2. Seeing Herita Ilunga play gave me hope that my dreams of playing professional football were still very much alive

"If you can play for Rovers, so can I..."

[Spud]

Two, and only two positives from the Experiment for me:

1. I used to enjoy singing “Sunday, Monday Habib Beye…”
2. Seeing Herita Ilunga play gave me hope that my dreams of playing professional football were still very much alive

3)  Diouff teeing up Billy for that goal....

[Copps is Magic]

I remember being excited just outside the play-offs in the championship, passing teams off the park every week, Billy Sharp kicking hoarding boards.

I do not remember the experiment as exciting times. The opposite.

[Chris Black come back]

Two, and only two positives from the Experiment for me:

1. I used to enjoy singing “Sunday, Monday Habib Beye…”
2. Seeing Herita Ilunga play gave me hope that my dreams of playing professional football were still very much alive

Fully behind (1) above.

Didn’t think Ilunga was that bad though!

[Janso]

Two, and only two positives from the Experiment for me:

1. I used to enjoy singing “Sunday, Monday Habib Beye…”
2. Seeing Herita Ilunga play gave me hope that my dreams of playing professional football were still very much alive

Fully behind (1) above.

Didn’t think Ilunga was that bad though!

Oh he was.

[Move DRFC]

Yeah Diouf was the best thing to come out of it he oozed class.

Maybe if we just went for a smaller group of  players for the experiment ie Diouf Ikeme Beye & Fortuné then the dressing room wouldn’t have had such a big split and it could have worked.

Plessis Diatta Bamogo etc we’re total wastes of space.

[roversdude]

Chimbonda was one of the biggest disappointments, having seen how he could play compared to the can’t be arsed version we got

[Glyn_Wigley]

I got the distinct impression that experiment players had to be played at the expense of Rovers' own players and whether S'OD wanted to play them or not - so any old shit got dumped on us and had to be put in the shop window.

[drfchound]

I got the distinct impression that experiment players had to be played at the expense of Rovers' own players and whether S'OD wanted to play them or not - so any old shit got dumped on us and had to be put in the shop window.

SoD was not manager during the so called experiment.

[Sprotyrover]

I was excited too but !it wasn't my money that was being burned in the Pit!

[Drover]

It’s opening a can of worms up this post, it left a sour taste in many a rovers fans mouth!.
In hindsight there was always going to be a ‘them and us’ culture created.
Sad going back to Drover’s post, that Gareth Roberts let his agent decide when he left, I always thought the player would be the boss, the agent a go between, between club and player.

It probably is like that with many,if not most players,but I have heard several instances of a player saying he just goes wherever agent tells him.I don't know for sure,but I bet Copps did'nt tell his agent,he would rather sign for Exeter than Rovers? 

[Rovers91]

I remember when I was at uni in Newcastle when the experiment was ongoing and was in a sports psychology lecture and the lecturer was talking about team cohesion. He was on about his mate who is a sports psychologist working with football clubs and he used Rovers as an example. Saying his mate said it's the worst atmosphere he had ever come across from a team of professional footballers.

[DRNaith]

It’s opening a can of worms up this post, it left a sour taste in many a rovers fans mouth!.
In hindsight there was always going to be a ‘them and us’ culture created.
Sad going back to Drover’s post, that Gareth Roberts let his agent decide when he left, I always thought the player would be the boss, the agent a go between, between club and player.

It probably is like that with many,if not most players,but I have heard several instances of a player saying he just goes wherever agent tells him.I don't know for sure,but I bet Copps did'nt tell his agent,he would rather sign for Exeter than Rovers? 

Nottingham Forest however...