I think that I am starting to fall out of love with all things DRFC...

[The Mighty Brian Rowe]

To put this into some sort of contaxt, yes I have had a drink or two, but was already constructing this in my head as I sat in the Keepmoat this afternoon.

I am in my 40's now and have been following Rovers for as long as I can remember (thank's Dad :-) ) but I am finally beginning to think that enough is enough. I have a season ticket on and off (mainly on) for the last 30 odd years but am finally beginning to think that maybe I shouldn't bother anymore.

It started last Thursday when I suddenly realised " Oh S#!t it's the deadline day for cheap season tickets), so I dutifully trooped off down to the Stadium for yet another another annual form filling exercise (juast out of interest, in this internet age why can't we just provide our current season ticket book and proof of ID and let the computer do the rest?), this time trusting my hard earned cash over our new finance partners Zebra Finance... "Doesn't matter what division we are in, Rovers is my team and that's the way it always will be" which to be fair will always be the case, I could go and live on the moon (or Rotherham) and I'll always be watching the results come through on Sky (or listening on Radio Dee Dah providing the 'Steel City Two' aren't both playing that day) but why am I so pee'd off with all things Rovers nowadays???

Being a man of a certain age, I don't get to as many away games as I used to due to marriage, family and finances but have always been as close to an ever present as there is as home games. Back in the day I used to go to virtually all the away games as well (I used to go on the Travel Club Coach from Thorne - Hello to Iggy, Mr Barnes et al from 'Mr Noble'  and even got banned for a couple of games once for taking a bottle of Stella on board for a night game at 'Ull - the fact I had probably drunk 15 of them before boarding didn't seem to be an issue). I remeber glorious days out at Exeter (was it four or five up before half time until David Roche got sent off and we had to declare) and rotten days at some godawful place near Manchester in our Conference days where we were 3 down after what seemed like ten minutes. I''ve been to Stoke, Cardiff and Wembley; seen us score two in injury time to salvage a draw somewhere (Halifax?), heard them 'run out of chips' at The McCain Stadium and seen Gerry Daley (I think) chase a stretcher bearer of the Belle Vue Pitch for trying to do his job before the whistle was blown to stop play (I could go on and on.....).

I have been through the dark days or Richardson and Weaver, have sat in the middle of the pitch mid way through a game, have stood outside the main stand chanting after having left on mass with 20 minutes to go, and have followed the coffin to the ground on that fateful day. I even shed actual tears in the car park after the Forest game when OBV closed it's gates for the very last time

So anyway, back to the main point of this mad ramble, for the first time in living memory, I have actually considered not religiously going to the Rovers as I have done since time immemorial, but actually picking and choosing my games.

I know I have already ordered my Season Ticket, but it is quite possible that the fine people at Zebra will decline my custom, and in that case, I may decide to fall on my sword and 'opt out'. There are lots of reasons for this but here are just a few...

1. At OBV I could always guarantee to be with my mates, we knew where we stood on the Pop side and would find each other there without fail each and every time. I am now stuck in a corner of the South Stand, and the people I used to stand with are now in comparative luxury in the West. I have my own reasons for moving, but it's fair to say, the Club's pricing structure has something to do with this.

2. Let me make this clear, it makes no difference whether we are in the Premier League or Conference!

3. The usual 'meet beforehand for a pint, a chat and a whine' has now gone. Not a moan at the club, the stadium or anyone else, just a fact of geting old, getting a family and getting skint.

4. Let me make this clear, it makes no difference whether we are in the Premier League or Conference!

5. The atmosphere at the Keepmoat is shocking (I'm sure it was pretty similar at OBV but it can't have been this bad). The stadium seems to have gradually ground everyone down; I remember the atmosphere in the JPT semi against Crewe and in various games against Sheff U etc, but that seems to have long since disappeared.

6. I feel isolated, unlove, almost unwanted. I remeber the days of Rally's at the Dome (Destination Championship anyone)? Silly I know but it made me feel wanted and part of something. As a Season Ticket Holder I'm not really sure what I am getting out of it other than convenience and a 4 year old car sticker. Working where I do, I know for a fact that tickets for 2 of our recent home games have been sold at a fiver each.

7. Let me make this clear, it makes no difference whether we are in the Premier League or Conference!

8. The majority of press comments / interviews by our beloved Chairman, and I bow down to him 100% for everything he has done for our little club, is aimed at the people that don't support Rovers, not us who do. Face facts, those of us who are here are your future, not those who support Dirty Leeds or the Piggies. If we need to cut our cloth accordingly, then so be it.

9. I'm juat not enjoying the football at the moment. I'm not one of those who instantly wrote off the McKay 'project', and was delighted that players of the reputation of Chimbonda and Beye were comeing to play in the hoops. I was initially unsure about Diouf, but have changed my opinion since then and firmly believe Plessis to be a footballuing Collossus of the highest order

10. I juat don't enjoy myself anymore going to a game. I go more out of sence of duty than an actual desire to, I get much more enjoyment out of the odd away game with the social side of it than numerous games at the Keepmoat.

As I said at the beginning of this ramble, I'm not sure how much sense this all will make, and I may well go back and add some bits tomorrow (or take some away) but I'm seriously close to falling out of love with the football club I love. Don't get me wrong, I will never be unfaithful but may have a period of celibacy and see where I get. I am just not enjoying the whole experience of DRFC anymore. The strile atmosphere, the c**k on the microphone, the (nowhere near as good as good they use to be) Vikettes, the loan player not appearing to give a f**k, the 'old guard' also not appearing to give a f**K, probably for different reasons, the 'soundbites r us' manager who appears to not have a clue and to have lost the dressing room, the silent chairmen (who I love as all true Rovers fans must) but who has gone extremely quiet and appears to have lost all help and support around him....

BUT MOST OF ALL I MISS HAVING A FEW PINTS IN THE PARK HOTEL, STROLLING DOWN TO THE GROUND, LAUGHING JOKING CHEERING AND SHOUTING AT A ROVERS TEAM BUSTING THERE BALLS FOR THE SHIRT, EVEN IF THE OPPOSITION WERE CLEARLY SUPERIOR.

Someone please convince me it is worth carrying on, because if the 'Computer Says No' comes back from our friends at Zebra I am sorely tempted to make other plans for a Saturday afternoon.

I could go into detail about some of things I have witnessed on the pitch this Season, but suspect it is time for bed.

Christopher J Noble Esq.

[The Red Baron]

I appreciate where you're coming from, but we need fans like you more than ever now. I hope you'll be back next season.


I hope JR reads this because like you I'd like to have some idea of where the club is going now.

[Dr Fundlekrotch]

As I said at the beginning of this ramble, I'm not sure how much sense this all will make, and I may well go back and add some bits tomorrow (or take some away) but I'm seriously close to falling out of love with the football club I love. Don't get me wrong, I will never be unfaithful but may have a period of celibacy and see where I get. I am just not enjoying the whole experience of DRFC anymore. The strile atmosphere, the c**k on the microphone, the (nowhere near as good as good they use to be) Vikettes, the loan player not appearing to give a f**k, the 'old guard' also not appearing to give a f**K, probably for different reasons, the 'soundbites r us' manager who appears to not have a clue and to have lost the dressing room, the silent chairmen (who I love as all true Rovers fans must) but who has gone extremely quiet and appears to have lost all help and support around him....

Christopher - that paragraph says exactly why your club needs you.  We all go through different phases in life.  Sometimes we need the club more than they need us, sometimes its the other way around.  At the moment you and I, and everyone else on here, are needed by the club (even if nobody over there is actually saying so).

Your comment about going out of a sense of duty amused me.  Yesterday lunchtime my wife said to me, "Why are you going?" and my reply was that "I have to".  I did go yesterday out of a sense of duty, but that's because I still want it all to be there next season when I can go and enjoy it, on those occasions when the stress of work needs unwinding, I need to get away from the outside world and when I need the club more than they need me.  Those times come around quite often.

How good did getting to the Championship feel?  Did it feel better because you'd been through the rubbish of 1997/8?  As Rovers fans we have to take the rough with the smooth.  There's been a heck of a lot of rough since I started going in 1976 but, boy, has that made the smooth taste sweet.  There will be more smooth...we just have to get past April to get nearer to them.

[Berkshire Rover]

I agre with TRB, it's times like this we should stick together. To really enjoy all the good times you have to suffer pain, heartache, the derision of colleagues etc. there is a distinction though between what happens on and off the pitch, the club does need to do more to recognise the seaon ticket holders, make the casual fan welcome and make it easy for people not difficult.

RTID

[Standanista]

I'm feeling philosophical as f*** at the minute, to honest.  I've had a drink as well.    Well, four pints of pissy Bolivian lager.

Brian, as a bloke of a similar age, we've both seen worse than this.  We've made a mark in this division (again - the earlier times being well before our day).  Let's see what next season holds before we get properly depressed again.

You blame your dad.  I blame my mother.  As a Leeds fan since the year dot, it was her that wouldn't let me travel the 25 miles to Elland Road as a youth in 1981, hence I was forced to choose a local club.  Both Donny and Barnsley were playing that night, it was a tug of war between two mates as to which match I went to, I picked Donny, we beat Preston 1-0 and that was it, bollox to Leeds, bollox to Barnsley, RTID.  We all have our crosses to bear (particularly Jesus this week) and that's how Rovers gets into your blood.  We're all pissed off about relegation but all of us with a modicum of grey hair on their chin (I'm talking about blokes, but lady supporters of a similar epoch are naturally included also) have seen, and put up with, a lot worse.

For me, we're down, and now's the time to accept that, get used to it, get over it, and get on with putting a promotion squad and drive together for 2012-13.

[RobTheRover]

Christopher, if you are who I think you are do you sit on the end of the same row as me with your daughter most games?

I get where you are coming from, and one or two of our party have already decided not to renew STs based on the same feelings, but the other posters above are right - this is a time for hope to spring anew, a different challenge, and one that needs people with the club in their hearts.

Keep the faith, as I'm sure there is still some there deep down.

[The Mighty Brian Rowe]

Rob, yeah it probably is, if the Row that Philsky sits on when he comes to jinx to us for another saturday. It's Chris BTW, was feeling much too formal last night :-).

To be honest I'm pretty sure I will be there next year but I'm just not enjoying it like I used to and I fear that even employing the entire Barcelona squad for next year still won't cure all the ills I feel.

[mutleyrover]

Reading that so much of it struck true with me.  Not only Rovers but the game of football needs to take a long hard look at itself why life long devotees to the game and their club are starting to turn their back on it all.

[Rios]

Back in the day I used to go to virtually all the away games as well (I used to go on the Travel Club Coach from Thorne - Hello to Iggy, Mr Barnes et al from 'Mr Noble'  and even got banned for a couple of games once for taking a bottle of Stella on board for a night game at 'Ull - the fact I had probably drunk 15 of them before boarding didn't seem to be an issue). I remeber glorious days out at Exeter (was it four or five up before half time until David Roche got sent off and we had to declare) and rotten days at some godawful place near Manchester in our Conference days where we were 3 down after what seemed like ten minutes.

It's a small world.  I also used to go on the travel club coach at the same period as you and probably know you by site, if not by name!  Spooky.

Trust me Brian, you're not alone.  I feel almost exactly the same way and whilst I've already bought my season ticket it wasn't with any excitement, more a sense of purpose and habit.  Indeed my main motivation for doing so is primarly to see my best mate now we live hundreds of miles apart.

I hope it comes back... the excitement and longing for Saturdays game, but I've gone from playing a small role in helping to save the club and then watch the hopeless but committed Glen Kirkwood give everything to Chimbonda and Illunga, who to be polite about it couldn't give a rats ass about us or our fine club.

I'm also pretty unsure that the KM will ever feel like home and that might be true for most people of a certain age who loved Belle Vue.  Standing would help though!

[German Rover]

Its not only DRFC, my old flatmate is a Leeds fan who feels the same, and I also work with a guy who's a former Hull City season ticket who hasn't renewed for the same reason.  Football is going down the tubes and has been for many years.

Too Corporate, too much money and no love for footballs traditional fan base. 

[roversontheup]

That really hit the mark Chris.  I read it and was nodding in agreement on nearly every point.

Yesterday I went to the match but didn't really want to go.  I went because I felt I would be letting the club down if I didn't.  It's as though there is something 'hard wired' inside me that means I am duty bound to go.  It isn't because we are losing or relegated (all but).  I have been through much worse and in some masochistic way, still enjoyed myself.

 I just am no longer enjoying the experience. Not sure that I can really put my finger on why. The hard wiring says it's MY club and that means we go through thick and thin together BUT on the surface it doesn't feel like my club.  As a season ticket holder of decades I don't currently feel very connected to my club.

I have my ST for next season and am actually hoping that a return to a lower league and a few more traditional values may restore my enthusiasm.  If not, there are going to be a lot more games like yesterday where I turn up out of loyalty.

[Norfolk N Chance]

Or when the going gets hard your not interested!

[keyser_soze]

Or when the going gets hard your not interested!

Harsh but possibly true in a lot of cases. It's very easy to follow a football club when things are going well.

We'll all be very different people to the last time we tasted relegation. I sat down and thought about it yesterday, and the last time we were relegated I was 21 and just finishing University. I'll be 35 this month, it seems like a lifetime ago, we're certainly due some bad times again. It's been very easy to be a Doncaster Rovers fan over the last 14 years. There are teenagers going to the Keepmoat that were in nappies last time DRFC got relegated!

[bobbymax]

I've been going to Rovers' games since '67 and can associate with everything written here. The lads I used to stand with at BV are spread out around the Keepmoat, if they come at all, and I' m just not getting the buzz anymore.
For the first time in many years, I haven't renewed my ST this year for various reasons and, though will probably still attend most games, will inevitably miss some. I don't pretend to know what the answer is; singing sections, standing areas, new manager, different team, the voting out of this joke of a government, but something has to change to get people like me back to the ground on a regular basis.

[The Mighty Brian Rowe]

Or when the going gets hard your not interested!

I'm not sure if that was aimed at me Norfolk, but believe me I've been through the bad times. I've had a season ticket virtually non-stop since the early 80's. It's not the 'going' that's putting me off, but the whole package being served up at present as 'Brand Doncaster Rovers'.

[roversontheup]

I trust this wasn't aimed at me NR.

I don't feel this way because we are losing.  It is more to do with the general atmosphere amongst fans, the feeling of disengagement from my club even though I have followed them since 1962.

[Norfolk N Chance]

Or when the going gets hard your not interested!

I'm not sure if that was aimed at me Norfolk, but believe me I've been through the bad times. I've had a season ticket virtually non-stop since the early 80's. It's not the 'going' that's putting me off, but the whole package being served up at present as 'Brand Doncaster Rovers'.

I dont enjoy it either pal mainly cos of moaning bas**rds every 5 seconds and w**kers on FB and Twitter constantly slagging of our projects and indeed the manager.

First they dont want SOD now they dont want Saunders and some dont even want JR!

But its a marriage and their are massive ups and downs and to be fair if you like the old fashion stuff then some of those away grounds in Div one you will love and hopefully reinvigorate your passion.

[Norfolk N Chance]

Or when the going gets hard your not interested!

Harsh but possibly true in a lot of cases. It's very easy to follow a football club when things are going well.

We'll all be very different people to the last time we tasted relegation. I sat down and thought about it yesterday, and the last time we were relegated I was 21 and just finishing University. I'll be 35 this month, it seems like a lifetime ago, we're certainly due some bad times again. It's been very easy to be a Doncaster Rovers fan over the last 14 years. There are teenagers going to the Keepmoat that were in nappies last time DRFC got relegated!

I liken it to marriage some walk at the first opportunity as their tolerance levels are low others "man up" and see things through!

This is a fact of life and merely an observation and in the end people can do what the f**k they want but dont dare come back when we go through the purple patch like you have never been away!

[RTID75]

Like most exiles that live more than a few miles away, it costs me a fortune in fuel nowadays just to watch the home games. It costs me well over £25 per trip just in diesel now, on top of the cost of the season ticket and parking and programme and half time draw ticket.

It certainly feels like you must be crazy to even consider driving all that way and spending all that money to watch a miserable match and I can identify with a lot of the feelings you've mentioned in your original post.

That said, yes, the club needs us now more than it has done for years, and let's be honest, going down the the Championship is nothing as far as hardship is concerned when you consider what we were having to put up with in the Richardson years.

I will only stop watching Rovers when I literally can't afford it any more, and if that day comes then I'll be devastated.

Chin up, and keep the faith. Results can surely get no worse than what we've had in the last 16 months.

[redandwhitewizard]

35 years of unwaivering loyalty! 2 young teenagers who feel the same even though they have been raised in Leeds addled Pontefract, lets face it they have known nothing but success! Season tkts all sorted for next season. I do agree that some of my enthusiasm has been drained by the largely sterile atmosphere of the Keepmoat and tend to enjoy my awaydays more TBH. Had to voice my disgust at the people who booed Oster, how is it helpful to undermine one of OUR players when we are chasing an equaliser? I am not blindly faithful but there is a time and aplace to voice dissent! And JR is GOD imo. dissent towards him can NEVER be justified.

[Bristol Red Rover]

Good thread

Its very important to keep your customers happy, and the ideal of winning every match is up there but isn't it. I think we are now in a phase where on past performance JR will go all out for promotion next season, at least in his publicity. I don't think thats necessary or advisable.

IMO making this a club for the fans is the way, building on what we have, building for the future, and once again taking the fans views and issues on board in the process. Its a time for the VSC to be welcomed more into the fold, and for sure to have a seat on the board again.

Issues such as the sterile Keepmoat, reserved/unreserved seating, standing, ticketing, etc and most of all the support offered by the the fans in helping out and in new ideas need to be addressed at the highest level.

[BobG]

Well, althjough I've wstvched the Rovers for nigh on 50 years now, thjis is the first time I have ever felt ashamed of them. even when we were shit I supported them. Even when we got laughed at I supported them. They were the club that I supported. But today they have thtrown values and morality out of the window. As Glen said, 1 week to destroy the values built up over a decade. I am ashamed of the club today. And then, of course, there's the corporate bullshit just to top it all off.

I'm sure I shall watch them again - you can't simply walk away from the commitment of over half a lifetime - but the magic sure has gone now.

BobG

[Bruno118]

Good original post. I started following the Rovers the first game in the Conference (although had been to a few games as a youngster growing up) as i felt they needed my support after relegation. The preceeding 14 years has been great - the Rovers has really cemented the relationship with my son who is also a season ticket holder and we have had amazing days out to away games and Wembley, Cardiff etc.

My youngest son is also Rovers mad and we have all renewed for next season. Now is not the time to turn our backs, this is my first taste of disappointment as a passionate Rovers supporter but we carry on. The league you play in is not important to me, what is important is that we rally round and support the great little club we have.   

[Pintolager]

I have to agree with MutleyRover and German Rover on this. I am disillusioned with football and don't think that it is value for money anymore. A fortune to get in, lack of atmosphere, a sport that is dominated by money/corporate/greed. The last 15 months haven't helped my thinking and DRFC has been through far worse than what we are experiencing now but football as a sport is fastly deteriorating to a point where it could implode on itself and not enough is being done about it from within. I now pick and choose my matches mainly due to cost as I too used to be a ST holder also feeling the need to attend matches out of duty. I now would rather put the money that I would put to a ST towards a holiday as I feel I would get more satisfaction out of it.

Football really does need to look itself in the mirror.

[The Mighty Brian Rowe]

I have to agree with MutleyRover and German Rover on this. I am disillusioned with football and don't think that it is value for money anymore. A fortune to get in, lack of atmosphere, a sport that is dominated by money/corporate/greed. The last 15 months haven't helped my thinking and DRFC has been through far worse than what we are experiencing now but football as a sport is fastly deteriorating to a point where it could implode on itself and not enough is being done about it from within. I now pick and choose my matches mainly due to cost as I too used to be a ST holder also feeling the need to attend matches out of duty. I now would rather put the money that I would put to a ST towards a holiday as I feel I would get more satisfaction out of it.

Football really does need to look itself in the mirror.

Couldn't agree more, and much more succint than my OP.

[AbsolutDRFC]

I'm going to get slaughtered for saying this, but I'm not too fussed about the impending relegation.
Why?

Because of 2 men.

Sven Goran Eriksson and Sean O'Driscoll.

Long story I know, but here's my thoughts.

Following England home & away (missed 2 games in 19 years) as well as watching the Rovers, has seen many ups and downs.
The England games, despite the results, were great. Particularly the away games.
Then came SGE....
He was there for the money and despite the best crop of footballers, he totally destroyed the passion of following the country, in terms of pandering to his mates, the Champions League boys. SGE wasn't interested in anything outside of the big clubs and with that brought players who were disinterested in playing for the country.

We have complete berks like Rooney, Terry, Ferdinand who are more interested than anything apart from pulling on that white shirt. It's all about image and how much candy they can make.

And with that brought the divide between the players and the supporters; which exists to a point where I couldn't care less whether we win, lose, draw.
I just go for the social aspect and seeing my team in another country.
But my passion has gone. So when we got mullered by Germany in Bloemfontein, it didn't bother me at all.

And what annoyed me, was that I wasn't bothered. Why had it come to that?


And onto SOD.....
The transition into the Keepmoat from BV, where we had a manager who previously had a passionate team that played a style that kept you on the edge of your seat, to a dismal, boring, arrogant, aloof character that actually took the emotion (for me) out of the game.
Yes, he wanted the highs not to be too high, and the lows not to be too low. Fine.
But he's not a footballer supporter.
I WANT to feel great when we win and I want to feel crap when we lose.
Yet, SOD (like SGE) has robbed me of that.

We want to feel like we're floating off the ground when we win, but he ruined that. And with that style; when we needed bums on seats in those early years at the KMS, he didn't manage that. We went backwards.
In the year we got promoted, we should've been taking teams to the cleaners, but we weren't.
We'd got 1-0 or 2-1 up and close the game out, Italian style. Dreadful.
We had the players to destroy teams.
We got promoted inspite of SOD, not because of him.

It's all about opinons and I respect all the people I know who will disagree. Fair enough.
But I do know a number of people (how used to travel on that same Thorne bus - who did all 46 games in 97/98 - that walked away due to SOD's "style".

And due to his indifference, in terms of his personality and all that went with it; I am not bothered about being relegated.

Yet I should be.......

SGE and SOD have ruined my passion about football.


p.s. for the record, I don't watch Sky Premiership, neither am I a post-Stokie.

[The L J Monk]

In the year we got promoted, we should've been taking teams to the cleaners, but we weren't.

No we shouldn't. We didn't even win the league below, so how we were supposed to be taking teams in the league above "to the cleaners" i'm not sure. We finished 14th in a league where we were surrounded by teams with budgets 5 or 6 times larger than our own.

We got promoted inspite of SOD, not because of him.

If that was the case what stopped DP getting us up?

[pubteam]

In the year we got promoted, we should've been taking teams to the cleaners, but we weren't.

No we shouldn't. We didn't even win the league below, so how we were supposed to be taking teams in the league above "to the cleaners" i'm not sure. We finished 14th in a league where we were surrounded by teams with budgets 5 or 6 times larger than our own.

I think Absolut meant 2007/8 - the promotion season, rather than the one after.

[AbsolutDRFC]

In the year we got promoted, we should've been taking teams to the cleaners, but we weren't.

No we shouldn't. We didn't even win the league below, so how we were supposed to be taking teams in the league above "to the cleaners" i'm not sure. We finished 14th in a league where we were surrounded by teams with budgets 5 or 6 times larger than our own.

We got promoted inspite of SOD, not because of him.

If that was the case what stopped DP getting us up?

The budget.....
It was raised much higher when SOD came in.
Also consider who signed Wellens.... (not SOD).

Sorry, when did we finish 14th in League One?
My point was; given the squad SOD had in League One, we should never even have beaten Leeds at Wembley, we should've coasted 2nd quite easily.

[The L J Monk]

Apologies, I read the year we got promoted as the year we started Championship life - hence the 14th.

Penney had two full seasons in League One. He had a good go at it the first year, and if he hadn't given up so soon we might have taken 6th. However the year after he went backwards. He 'd reached his level - as his subsequent performances have shown - and it was only through Sean O'Driscoll that we were able to reach the next level.

One thing I will agree with you on AbsolutDRFC is that we were right to part with SOD when we did. I however would not have brought Saunders in to replace him.