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

[DonnyNoel]

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 same person who signed McIndoe (not SOD. Or DP).

No one can coast 2nd easily. No one can guarentee promotion in any league as West Ham are showing and Leeds and Forest showed several times in L1 (with bigger budgets than SOD got us promoted with).

I agree with your points about the differences in SODs apparoach and how it wouldn't have suited everyone and agree it went stale under him but I don't think you can decry anyone who gets us promoted to a division we hadn't been to in 50 years and kept us there against all odds (and budgets).

[pubteam]

I think your post raises an important point, AbsolutDRFC. Whilst quite a few Rovers supporters will only ever accept the 'SOD way', your post shows that the 'SOD way' wasn't everybody's cup of tea.

On the whole, I enjoyed the O'Driscoll era, but looking back on it, I can see where you're coming from. It did seem at times like he was trying to dampen the excitement somewhat, and although this may have been a good way to manage expectations, it probably isn't the best way to excite and inspire the supporters, who ultimately turn up to be entertained.

The football, whilst at times good to watch, sometimes reflected this. Maybe we had to be cautious due to the constraints we were under, but it did often seem like we'd only try and adopt a more 'up and at 'em' style when we were struggling - December 2007, and the run after Christmas 2008 spring to mind.

[AbsolutDRFC]

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.

I just wish there was a parallel universe where we could time-travel to see what would've happened if SOD had gone to the Lane!
Maybe that was the time to part.....

But hindsight is such a great thing!

Agreed on Saunders.

I guess JR has a lot to think about over the next 3 weeks.
Is this man to be trusted to continue in his job.....

Interesting times ahead!!

[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 same person who signed McIndoe (not SOD. Or DP).

No one can coast 2nd easily. No one can guarentee promotion in any league as West Ham are showing and Leeds and Forest showed several times in L1 (with bigger budgets than SOD got us promoted with).

I agree with your points about the differences in SODs apparoach and how it wouldn't have suited everyone and agree it went stale under him but I don't think you can decry anyone who gets us promoted to a division we hadn't been to in 50 years and kept us there against all odds (and budgets).

And the beauty of it is, is that we'll all go to our graves, never really knowing whether we'd over-achieved, or whether there could've been more (i.e. Tan Man at Hull, Coyle at Burnley, Holloway at Blackpool or Rodgers at Swansea).
I would love to know how much more their budgets (at that time) were more than ours (at the start of this season).

Whatever; I am REALLY grateful for seeing 4 years at this level.
My dad (RIP) never got the opportunity to see that. All he had was me, dragging him along to watch (mainly) 4th division (and latterly Conference) dross....

[CusworthRovers]

I think the people who are killing footy are the people.

Football was for the people live on a Saturday afternoon. It was the titbit add ons of Keith Macklin on Sunday lunch time to Jimmy Hill on Saturday nights. Everything seemed so warm and cosy with this set up.

Then we had the first live football league games(I recall the Liverpool v Arsenal decider on a Friday night). It was a massive thing.

Before we knew it more were being shown and then Rupert quickly latched onto brand football and all the corporate global brands latched onto the mass media's highlighting of football. Money was and is untold and this filters down into all forms of the games. Whilst in one hand it's helping grass roots and reaching avenues it's never reached before, it's also strangling the life out of the professional game for those that are most in the media spotlight or those close to it.
It's a heavy price to pay, but that priced is being paid by the fans on a grand scale.

Whilst ever enough of us keep buying Sky Sports, Rupert will keep serving Footy up
Whilst ever enough of us keep paying for our ST's, the club in question will keep going and charging what they see fit to compete

I have my ST and I have Sky Sports.

I absolutely love Football. I always have from a kid to the day I die.........and that is the problem

 

[jucyberry]

Reading these posts I can understand how some of you feel, but I would say this..This season has been emotionally challenging on so many levels..It is only natural to feel dissatisfied and disenchanted..

This season has I would think been football's equivelent to coming down from an illegal high..Euphoria at climbing so high, so fast has been smothered by the fall back to earth..

But lets face it, there is no way we could have sustained the climb, we aren't big enough and we certainly don't have the finances to play week on week with the big boys..God alone knows how JR has managed to keep us as high as we have been for so long, many of us could do with a few tips on making a little go a long ,long way....

So many clubs have their backs against the wall now yet we are still at the moment holding our heads above water...We have spent longer in this league than perhaps anyone could have dreamt of, played teams that a decade earlier must have seemed a million miles away.. No one can take that from us..

I can understand the pain I hear it every time the fella gets to his seat..It is hard and after time it is human nature to become accustomed to being one thing...I can't however see our current position as a failure, just as another phase in Rovers history..

We now have the chance to start again, hopefully to regrup and come back even stronger..The heart of Doncaster Rovers still beats strongly, so keep the faith, and you know as well as I that walking away from her isnt an option, hard mistress tho she is proving to be at the moment , because Rovers is carved into your very souls.. If she wasn't you wouldn't be hurting now..

[roversontheup]

 :rtid:I have been trying to work out what it is exactly that is making me feel so disenchanted at the moment. 

It isn't because we are losing and going down. Don't get me wrong I don't enjoy that, but as I have said in previous posts I have supported Rovers through much worse. And whilst I feel distanced from my club probably because we are now a bigger set up. We may still be a family club but the family is much bigger and so everything has to be shared out more. No its not really that either. 

For me it's the internet and this forum and all other forums.  It's like an addiction (I imagine!).  I just cannot stop logging on.  Even after a defeat or bad performance when I know what awaits me.  In the past I would go home and feel quite miserable.  I would talk it through with a few other Rover's fans but then put everything into perspective and look forward to the next game to put things right. But now I go home feeling fed up because we have lost and log straight into a forum where everyone is feeling the same and worse.  I then spend hours reading many folk's depressive, angry and frustrated comments with some pulling my club to bits.

I am not getting at anyone else here.  I am getting at myself for allowing myself to be dragged into an arena that makes me feel 100 times worse than I did before I logged on.

Not sure I have put this very clearly but would be interested to hear if anyone else understands what i am trying to say.

[jucyberry]

When I first met the fella he followed this forum avidly and posted much more than he does now, he says the same thing, it's easier to deal with a bad result by yourself than it is to come here and not only view the post mortem up close but to also feel as if you are elbow deep in the sheer gory innards of the whole experience... It tends to magnify every detail..

It's human nature to shout louder when you are displeased than you do when you are happy after all..

so yes i can undrstand what you are saying.

[The Mighty Brian Rowe]

Still waiting for a reply from Zebra so my season ticket(s) application is still up in the air; still not really sure what to do if they say "no!"