My take on this disastrous season!

[donnygreenjeans]

Warning long rant...........I've been watching the rovers for about 30 years now and in those times i've seen the good, the bad and the ugly and this season it falls into the latter two, the turmoil the club has been through both on and off the field has been ridiculous, it started with the timing of getting rid of SOD and bringing in Mckay and Saunders, anyway here goes on what has gone wrong.....

John Ryan......I feel sorry for JR as he was put in a corner over SOD and bringing in Mckay and Saunders, in the days before SOD left the club JR said on the radio that clubs who sack their managers get relegated and that he backs SOD 100% and then a few days later SOD goes and JR said on the radio that he had a change of heart, the interview didn't sit with me it felt like JR was backed into a corner, it would be nice to hear JR say that the 'experiment' has failed but i know he won't

Willie Mckay......When his name was linked with DRFC i knew this was going to be bad news, apart from following DRFC i am also a keen fan of horse racing and Mckay's name is synonymous as being a dodgy character, his experiment has failed miserable, where are the fans who were saying that this is going to be a great thing for the club? they are quiet now.
With the exception of a few players, the players that have been brought to the club haven't lived up to the hype that was being talked about them, where are the likes of Plessis, Bamogo and Diatta? are they still at the club? and how many players have been sold after playing for us? as that was one of the main points of bringing these so called superstars to the club, the only success that has happened and the success is for a player and not the club is the career of Fortune who now starts regular for WBA, Mckay said that We will take players and give them a shop window to perform by playing every week.
One of the players who Mckay brought in was Diouf, IMO i have not seen the potential Diouf can bring, some games he's played well other games (espically lately) he's gone down to easy, spat his dummy out and picked up needless yellow cards for complaining to match officials, some fans on this forum said he was the best player in 50 years to put on a rovers shirt, i'm sorry but you are completely wrong, is he still being investigated for his nightclub visit before an important match or has it been swept under the rug?
Not only the quality of players that have come to the club being severley been questioned but also the quantity, at one time there were  40 players at the club, 40!!! I know that there has been a dressing room divide, early in the season when this was raised it was clearly rebuffed as being 'b*llocks' but players were and are not happy with what's gone on, copps interview confirms this that there has been no team spirit.

Dean Saunders..............When he was appointed i thought it was a wind up, i asked the question like a lot of fans "why dean saunders", it was then discovered that he is on Mckay's books, IMO i hope he does the honourable thing and step down at the end of the season as i don't think he has the credentials to get us back up to the championship and his managerial skills have to once again be questioned. Weren't fans calling for SOD's head after saying he had only won 1 game out of 19? what is dean saunders record at the moment? we have got still three games to play yet, it could be a whole lot worse than SOD, the majority of performances we've played under saunders have been boring, long ball, spineless and lacklustre, i could go through game by game of the games i've seen home and away that could back my arguement up but i'll name just a few, Leeds at home lost 3-0, Notts county at home lost 2-0, Barnsley away lost 2-0, Watford away lost 4-1, Derby at home lost 2-1, Millwall at home lost 3-0.
Staff and players have left the club because of saunders, an example of this is MUD the kit man, he was part of the rovers furniture, he left because of saunders, if you think i'm talking 'b*llocks' ask MUD yourself, the players that have left have been Ryan Mason, he left halfway through his loan because of saunders, this is a player who Redknapp sees potential in as when Mason was here under SOD, mason liked the way the club was run and wanted a permanent move here but redknapp refused this. Can fans remember Lalkovic? the striker who was half decent when he was here? saunders bombed him out of the club and gave no explanation why.
Saunders pre and post match interviews at times been bizzare, he compared us to Mike Tyson, mentioned snooker, and more recentley when everyman and his dog knew we would be going down, saunders thought we would stay up by winning our remaining games.
IMO i can't see us rooting up trees in division 1 if saunders is still in charge, how many players has saunders used this season and he still doesn't know his best team, we've used 5 keepers this season.

This season has been a disaster and at times embarrassing, before the portsmouth match early today, Beye scored our first goal by a defender and it's the first time at home this season we 've score three goals,  Tevez was linked with us which was laughable. Anyway end of my rant, we'll see what next season brings.

[Bessie Red]

Although this season has been a huge dissappointment I believe the downward spiral started the minute the second Sheff Utd goal went in at Bramall Lane last season in the game just after SOD had been linked with them.

Firstly I think SOD not getting that job was a massive downer for him (following on from the Burnley fiasco) & he lost his focus somewhat.
Secondly I believe most of the players that SOD stayed loyal to were starting to age & were unable to keep up their performance levels consistently. Most of those players (JOC,Stocky,Hayter,Lockwood,Gillett etc) were excellent League One players overacheiving week in week out for nearly two years & I think it just caught up with them.
Thirdly & probably most crucially major reconstruction of the squad was not made over last summer. Now this may be because the money wasn't there & if that is the case then we couldn't of done anything to prevent the relegation confirmed today whether or not SOD had stayed.

Remember though relegation is not the end of the world in footballing terms (I thought that was back when relegation to the Confrence was confirmed) & you need to taste dissappointment to make the successes all the more enjoyable.

Its time to move on from the horrendous 18 months just gone & start to concentrate on a new beginning in League One.

[Rovin Reporter]

John Ryan.....he got what he paid for and next season he will get the same ..I don't mind what he says now .. its all too late . He should come clean and admit it was him that got it wrong and him that took the  steps to remove SO'D NO one else.  Saunders was poor judgment and a panic measure to get the wage bill down because of the board room mess J/R is no mug but is  not without blame and we would all benifit from knowing if this backward step is going to prohibit future growth supporter loyalty. Money IS all this was about not the teams status in the championship for religation was always on the cards so a McKay approach was taken on as nothing to loose only pride. I don't think the club wants championship football untill  they get players who will play for less money in the short term. So if we want to get back up we either pay more at the gate or find a NEW sugar daddy as J/R is spent up where Rovers are concerned .

[dickos1]

Yep cause it's that easy to find a sugar daddy ain't it. Just deal with it will you and stop looking for people to blame.

[Rovin Reporter]

So you think what? It was just our turn to go down .For this club to progress it needs money and championship football provides this . So get over it is easy for me but why will it still result in even lower crowds next season so does your message go for those too because I've got my season ticket have you or your mates?

[WBDRFC]

So I guess that nobody listened to the Radio Sheffield interview yesterday then?

[dickos1]

I've got my season ticket, yeah. The point being were a small club, with a small fan base with just one benefactor. We need to re-build, it's nobodies fault. Our fan base has rised dramatically over the last ten years. But now it's on the fall again, people will stop coming now because they're only used to success. Now is the time it brings out the men from the boys..

[Rovin Reporter]

We were always punching above our weight, and this showed the minute we bought Sharp as we did not bolster the team with players to help make the all important move up the league. So what was that all about , did we dream this or we lead to believe that the club had ambitions of Premiere league status , all this talk about Blackpool and Burnley , I will say it again J/R made this happen , he wanted us there and when he had NO backing from the masses of Doncaster and the Board , he wants us back down before we go bankrupt. Good while it lasted but at least say it was a gamble too far Mckay and all . SO'D was the right man for us or his like will be needed again . for he is someone that make a team out of very ordinary players , He did not want much just a little faith in him to guide the players . with one or two additions over the season we may have stayed up. I can only ponder at what he is thinking now , but i;m sure he did not want to see this happen . I for one am looking forward to news that we have begun preparation to attack league 1 so to attract the missing fans we will need to keep us a float, A clean slate new management team is what is required along with a sensible pre season  . Lets just the post mortam over with . But it's up J/R to do this not just us .

[roverstillidie91]

We need a Sheffield United kind of approach. New manager with new ideas. Wipe the slate clean. Bring in a few players depending on who stays and the play offs should be a realistic aim.

[Wellred]

another dreamer.