Budget/Wages/Crowds v's expectations.

[Bristol Red Rover]

Even the Euro "leagues" have lost their appeal. Back in the day, Div One I could take or leave, but the exotic appeal of Euro knockouts was the cream.

[BillyStubbsTears]

That's just two teams though. Liverpool and City are miles clear of everyone else, it's not like Norwich are going to get stuffed every week.

You're kind of making my point for me.

According to the bookies, there's a more than 90% chance that one of those two will win the title.

What on earth are the others playing for? It's pointless.

[RoversAlias]

Of course most sides know they aren't playing for the title at the start of each season anyway, unfortunately. Norwich and West Ham certainly won't be under that illusion, despite the heroics of Leicester a few seasons back.

[tyke1962]

Permit me to post something that many on this board won't like too much , I mean no disrespect I can assure you .

Whiteman has to be sold as Marquis was , you discover players that bigger clubs want then they have to go at this stage of Rovers aspirations to become a championship club .

Yes it's painful and I only know too well what it's like to lose players you love and admire .

The thing is to create a really good budget these are the tough decisions that have to be made , a two or three million pound budget created by selling the talent of Marquis and Whiteman gives you some serious clout at this level .

That kind of spend sets you apart from the rank and file in league one , the budget goes further , significantly further .

You may not like this either but the loans from PL and championship clubs is flawed , a significant hole in the squad was inevitable when you lost Kane and Wilks .

With all due respect you developed Wilks so we could part with £1.2m and buy the lad safe in the knowledge he can cut it at this level .

Develop your own talent and reap the benefits .

Doncaster Rovers can be and should be a significant club with a solid plan to be at the top of league one with a fair chance of reaching the championship .

Don't get me wrong my club haven't got all the answers by any means but we give ourselves the opportunity in the championship by navigating ourselves out of league one .

Rovers seem to have an eye for finding talent and that needs to converte to punching your weight at this level by selling for good money and using those resources to good effect .

The last time we were at championship level we weren't in the market for Malik Wilks but we've signed a further five players this summer for over a million quid .

The owners haven't put a round coin in to the club other than buy it , the gates we enjoy aren't a factor , we get a few thousand more than you but it doesn't equate to that kind of spend , wheeling and dealing is more significant .

We may survive this season and we may not but if we do go down pound to a penny says we get back to the championship relatively quickly given the model .

Trust me we aint bankrolled by any means and as I say the gates aren't that significant that gives us that massive an advantage .

[Filo]

Permit me to post something that many on this board won't like too much , I mean no disrespect I can assure you .

Whiteman has to be sold as Marquis was , you discover players that bigger clubs want then they have to go at this stage of Rovers aspirations to become a championship club .

Yes it's painful and I only know too well what it's like to lose players you love and admire .

The thing is to create a really good budget these are the tough decisions that have to be made , a two or three million pound budget created by selling the talent of Marquis and Whiteman gives you some serious clout at this level .

That kind of spend sets you apart from the rank and file in league one , the budget goes further , significantly further .

You may not like this either but the loans from PL and championship clubs is flawed , a significant hole in the squad was inevitable when you lost Kane and Wilks .

With all due respect you developed Wilks so we could part with £1.2m and buy the lad safe in the knowledge he can cut it at this level .

Develop your own talent and reap the benefits .

Doncaster Rovers can be and should be a significant club with a solid plan to be at the top of league one with a fair chance of reaching the championship .

Don't get me wrong my club haven't got all the answers by any means but we give ourselves the opportunity in the championship by navigating ourselves out of league one .

Rovers seem to have an eye for finding talent and that needs to converte to punching your weight at this level by selling for good money and using those resources to good effect .

The last time we were at championship level we weren't in the market for Malik Wilks but we've signed a further five players this summer for over a million quid .

The owners haven't put a round coin in to the club other than buy it , the gates we enjoy aren't a factor , we get a few thousand more than you but it doesn't equate to that kind of spend , wheeling and dealing is more significant .

We may survive this season and we may not but if we do go down pound to a penny says we get back to the championship relatively quickly given the model .

Trust me we aint bankrolled by any means and as I say the gates aren't that significant that gives us that massive an advantage .

Talent needs to be sold in a controlled manner, we just lost our star striker after the manager decimated our squad and left us in the shite, it was imperative we kept whiteman for now to rebuild around

[sedwardsdrfc]

We've got now till Jan to research proper replacements for Whiteman, hopefully he won't have his head turned but we should plan for it so we can move on quick.

[since-1969]

We've got now till Jan to research proper replacements for Whiteman, hopefully he won't have his head turned but we should plan for it so we can move on quick.

what a load of  tosh !!!

[tyke1962]

We've got now till Jan to research proper replacements for Whiteman, hopefully he won't have his head turned but we should plan for it so we can move on quick.

Absolutely .

[tyke1962]

Permit me to post something that many on this board won't like too much , I mean no disrespect I can assure you .

Whiteman has to be sold as Marquis was , you discover players that bigger clubs want then they have to go at this stage of Rovers aspirations to become a championship club .

Yes it's painful and I only know too well what it's like to lose players you love and admire .

The thing is to create a really good budget these are the tough decisions that have to be made , a two or three million pound budget created by selling the talent of Marquis and Whiteman gives you some serious clout at this level .

That kind of spend sets you apart from the rank and file in league one , the budget goes further , significantly further .

You may not like this either but the loans from PL and championship clubs is flawed , a significant hole in the squad was inevitable when you lost Kane and Wilks .

With all due respect you developed Wilks so we could part with £1.2m and buy the lad safe in the knowledge he can cut it at this level .

Develop your own talent and reap the benefits .

Doncaster Rovers can be and should be a significant club with a solid plan to be at the top of league one with a fair chance of reaching the championship .

Don't get me wrong my club haven't got all the answers by any means but we give ourselves the opportunity in the championship by navigating ourselves out of league one .

Rovers seem to have an eye for finding talent and that needs to converte to punching your weight at this level by selling for good money and using those resources to good effect .

The last time we were at championship level we weren't in the market for Malik Wilks but we've signed a further five players this summer for over a million quid .

The owners haven't put a round coin in to the club other than buy it , the gates we enjoy aren't a factor , we get a few thousand more than you but it doesn't equate to that kind of spend , wheeling and dealing is more significant .

We may survive this season and we may not but if we do go down pound to a penny says we get back to the championship relatively quickly given the model .

Trust me we aint bankrolled by any means and as I say the gates aren't that significant that gives us that massive an advantage .

Talent needs to be sold in a controlled manner, we just lost our star striker after the manager decimated our squad and left us in the shite, it was imperative we kept whiteman for now to rebuild around

GM didn't decimate the squad the club's policy of having key players as loans was more significant with all due respect in my opinion and the fact some contracts were becoming a factor .

Apart from that DM is an upgrade on GM in the longer term again in my opinion .

From what I read on this board and the aspirations many Rovers fans have of seeing championship football that has to be factored in with the realities of the way football is today .

The gates doesn't create the necessary revenue as it stands today to compete consistently at league one level because bigger clubs are now getting relegated from the championship , Ipswich and Sunderland are the recent examples , 24k at Portman Road today .

Rovers have to bridge that gap by selling and smart recruitment with the profits to achieve the goal of championship football .

Ours at times is a painful model but hand on heart it's the only way a club like mine can ever hope to play championship football .

[RoversAlias]

With all due respect Tyke, we know that McCann took this squad apart. The loanees argument doesn't wash because we only had two key players on loan, no more than most clubs. Downing doesn't count because he was signed to cover injury in January, and the player who got injured is still our player (Wright).

Marosi, Rowe, Butler, Andrew. None of these were loanees and all could have easily been retained if McCann had a different attitude.

[Canadian Rover]

With so much written on here in defence and against the board recenlty I'd love to know what the forum users expectations/hopes are.

Although I personally would love to see additional players signed of quality I also wonder just how & why we could do this.

Even with the McCann/cup run & Marquis monies our club would still likely be in shortfall. The owners cover quite huge losses for us each season. We've seen from Bury & Bolton that living beyond your means isn't always a wise thing.

How much do you think the owners should invest each year in the Club?

Long term I would be happy to see us break even each year and if that means no "championship players the so be it" I would also (long term) be happy for us to be a league two club if we were financially solid. Long term team wise: An improvement on local lads becoming regulars in the DRFC first team would be great and to have a manager that's going to stick around for years to come.

I like us being a small club and punching above our weight & I'd like to hear less of what our budget is for each upcoming season and more of what our squad is for the season instead.

What are your expectations of the Club/Board and team? Short and long term and why? (let's try and keep this a positive thread and respect each-others opinions no matter how different they may be)

I've gone back a few years to revisit this post I placed at the time RE: Expectations.

It appears we are where I mentioned in the post above; financially solid but a L2 club.

Now is the time to start brining in younger players and the youth players - I believe the likes of Horton has a chance to make an impact now - he's certainly no worse than Jackson is and our young forwards HAVE to be better than TLO Cukur and Co.

With Copps on board as HOF I truly believe we can start a successful blueprint for improving the club; and I'm nailing my colours to the mast and putting in my faith in the current management team of Mcsheffrey and Sinclair.

We can state a lack of ambition by the board and certainly I'd agree they have failed in their public vision for the club. But with Copp's appointment leading to some genuine consistency and accountability for staff behaviours and decisions I think we are onto a winning formula. Things are going to get better.

[Sammy Chung was King]

We need to build a squad that become assets for other clubs to buy at a good price.
We need to then keep reinvesting the said money into replacements and improving the rest of the club.

We need to realise the value of recruiting the right people for the jobs at the club.
The manager must be as good as we can get so funding isn’t wasted. Also a manager that can develop and improve players.
The scouting system needs to be the best in the lower leagues.

The board need to invest in young talent from lower down and released youngsters.
We need a good mix of experience and youth. A tight squad, with good mentality. Physically and mentally strong with good technique.
So we need good quality coaching.

We need to lose the losers mentality, making excuses.
We need to be able to produce good football and be adaptable to changing to an uglier style if it wins the game.
I think we can do most of this and get promoted but only with the right staff.

We then would need to strengthen again to push for promotion again. We can’t have seasons where we look to consolidate. We need a culture that expects to win. Where it’s a crisis if we don’t.
We need promotion first season, but also need to keep improving things.

 Constantly scouting for replacements for potentially losing players from the squad. There should be a plan for everything. Strengthen from a strong position. The club has a lot of work to build a new squad over the summer to add to those who will still be here.


Promotion is the least we need to be going for. Automatic should be the objective. Without ambition there is no point.