If we can keep this squad together

[selby]

Leadership of a club does not start with the manager,it is with the board.
   John when chairman had other things to do,and to his credit built a stadium,a training facility, and a great first team squad.
   He resurrected the club but had to sell the first team to the Doncaster public, to lift the club from its lowest ebb.
   He was fantastic at this,nobody could have done it better,we the supporters will be forever in his dept.
   The price we pald was the infrastructure of the club,we were top heavy and totally dependant on the first team doing well.
   That is now slowly changing for the better,we have great leadership again at board level with better business acumen,and crucially more patience to see the job through, and build the club on better foundations.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

It's hard to know from the outside who's steering the ship. Is it DF's vision and the board are buying into it? Or is it the board who have the plan, and DF is executing the plan?

Either way, it seems to be a good partnership and one that is all too rare in football. For what it's worth I think DF has similar characteristics to the business acumen of the owners. Fair but very firm and determined to succeed!

[BobG]

Given their respective positions and experience, Baz, I'd be quite surprised if the vision isn't coming from the Board and the execution from the manager. That's how it should be and it's how it usually is - unless you get the odd situation like Arsenal have been in for a while now.

Cheers

BobG

[silent majority]

Have to agree Bob. The noises the board have been making for the last few years are now bearing fruit and being seen to be put into action. That, and a business strategy being carried out by the CEO which bolsters the playing budget.

[hoolahoop]

The squad as it is including the loanees is good to go for League One. As said, firming up the young lads on permanent deals will be a priority for DF.

At the rate we're going that task will be much easier. With McCullough to come back, ATS, Lund and maybe McSheffrey, DF will have to add the odd quality player and perhaps allow 3 or 4 to leave. No room for sentiment.

DBR - i'm in your camp brother.

Ready made for league one as it stands right now

Its the combination of leaders everywhere + talent + graft from everyone + top leadership

I'm with you all too . Now and only now has DF cone into his own , he is building a team with the same attitudes and qualities of the one's he managed at the Posh. Interesting and exciting teams hopefully without the defensive frailties they had at times.

Hardest job will be keeping Darren Ferguson much beyond next season.  The players WANT to play for him.

[DRNaith]

I'm not overly concerned with keeping the loan players that we currently have. If Ferguson can bring in this level of quality to a league two club, I'm excited to see what he will do if we get into league one!

[MrFrost]

Have to agree Bob. The noises the board have been making for the last few years are now bearing fruit and being seen to be put into action. That, and a business strategy being carried out by the CEO which bolsters the playing budget.

Hard to disagree with you on this SM. I'm excited to see what their plans are when we reach League One.

[idler]

The squad as it is including the loanees is good to go for League One. As said, firming up the young lads on permanent deals will be a priority for DF.

At the rate we're going that task will be much easier. With McCullough to come back, ATS, Lund and maybe McSheffrey, DF will have to add the odd quality player and perhaps allow 3 or 4 to leave. No room for sentiment.

Fergie I think was mightily relieved to still have a job after the end of last season. I'm sure he appreciates the patience and faith that the board have shown. I think that he will want to repay that and also build a future here.
I think that he has learnt a lot since leaving Preston and coming here.

DBR - i'm in your camp brother.

Ready made for league one as it stands right now

Its the combination of leaders everywhere + talent + graft from everyone + top leadership

I'm with you all too . Now and only now has DF cone into his own , he is building a team with the same attitudes and qualities of the one's he managed at the Posh. Interesting and exciting teams hopefully without the defensive frailties they had at times.

Hardest job will be keeping Darren Ferguson much beyond next season.  The players WANT to play for him.

[silent majority]

Have to agree Bob. The noises the board have been making for the last few years are now bearing fruit and being seen to be put into action. That, and a business strategy being carried out by the CEO which bolsters the playing budget.

Hard to disagree with you on this SM. I'm excited to see what their plans are when we reach League One.

Not just that, but for several years beyond that as well.

[Al4475]

The board have certainly pulled through - and it's very exciting! The whole club has been revamped top to bottom over the last few years and it's now bearing fruit! A littl patience was required and a coupla steps backward to make leaps forward (I'm talking infrastructure and planning here not first team.) As things stand we are in good hands and the cherry on the cake is that the first team are flying too! Brilliant! Now we need to get more through the gates!

[DonnyOsmond]

I remember an interview he did where he said the reason he failed at Preston was because it was older players who wouldn't buy into what he was saying and didn't have the stamina to play to the levels he expects. I think last season we had the same issue and he's managed to sort that out, going forward we'll do well with the right players. He is a bit stubborn in his style of play and wherever he goes he'll require time to bring in the players that buy into that style but once he's got his team they'll do well.

[Dutch Uncle]

Hardest job will be keeping Darren Ferguson much beyond next season.  The players WANT to play for him.

The board showed remarkable patience and loyalty to DF, and did DF not say something in close season about unfinished business or his indebtedness to the club or something similar? I would think/hope DF will want a crack at getting us to the championship and staying there, and would want to see that through.

[wing commander]

Lads, lads calm down. Some ridiculous comments on here. We'll need a lot more to go up next season. The top end of league 1 is poles apart from the rubbish we are playing every week now

     I have to agree with this...Whilst there is no doubt we look a fantastic side this season,it has to be tempered with the quality we are playing against which on the whole isn't very good at all...I've watched a lot of opposition players this season and thought how the hell did anyone think you could make a pro player...Weve all seen teams go straight through a couple of divisions and this could well happen but I'm not getting carried away...

[CrippyCooke]

Have to agree Bob. The noises the board have been making for the last few years are now bearing fruit and being seen to be put into action. That, and a business strategy being carried out by the CEO which bolsters the playing budget.

Hard to disagree with you on this SM. I'm excited to see what their plans are when we reach League One.

Not just that, but for several years beyond that as well.

Are board members still having to cover our annual losses or is the club more self-sufficient these days?

[silent majority]

Have to agree Bob. The noises the board have been making for the last few years are now bearing fruit and being seen to be put into action. That, and a business strategy being carried out by the CEO which bolsters the playing budget.

Hard to disagree with you on this SM. I'm excited to see what their plans are when we reach League One.

Not just that, but for several years beyond that as well.

Are board members still having to cover our annual losses or is the club more self-sufficient these days?

Well the accounts usually tell the story. It must be said that we are in a far better place due to the success of Club Doncaster etc. but we do need to rely on the current owners otherwise we wouldn't be at the right end of this division.

[swintonrover]

Out of interest S_M, is there any club in the 92 that is completely self-sufficient and if the owner left could keep running as they currently are?

[silent majority]

Out of interest S_M, is there any club in the 92 that is completely self-sufficient and if the owner left could keep running as they currently are?

There's quite a few these days, especially in the PL where making profit is the order of the day!

There are others throughout the EFl as well. In the Championship only 3 clubs made a profit last season, Wolves, Cardiff and Rotherham.

[drfchound]

The defence is good now that the right players are in the right roles.
Baudry in particular has made a massive difference.

As for back to back promotions, I have tried to get that bet on with William Hill and Sky Bet but neither will offer me odds on it.

If anyone on here can come up with anything would you be good enough to let me know please.

nobody is going to give you more than 4/1 iv'e priced Rovers at 10/1 ONLY for the championship next year s0meone might offer 12 if you are lucky really so  it should be less than 4/1

bookies are not a charity although once this year they were a charity (offering those odds on Rovers when they played Portsmouth )

Got my bet for back to back promotions with William Hills at 9/1.

[Donnywolf]

Tight gits !

[drfchound]

Maybe but CLH suggested it could be 4/1 and the other bookies I asked wouldn't or couldn't set any odds for me.
I suppose if it is ,as you suggest, miserly, then they think it is a strong possibility.

[Sammy Chung was King]

The board are always judged on what happens on the pitch with the results it's unfair but that's football. They are probably doing very similar things to when most of us were giving them stick last season.
Last season was an unavoidable 'train wreck' it just gained momentum and no matter what the manager tried he couldn't turn it around. He made mistakes as did the players all i asked was for them to learn from them this season.
 So far they seem to have took in what went wrong and things have been done slightly different looking towards the future with players while building a team that could serve us for a fair few years.

[drfchound]

Agree with most of that Sammy however the relegation was avoidable.

[DonnyOsmond]

It has meant we could have a clear out and we'll end up better off next season.

[GazLaz]

The defence is good now that the right players are in the right roles.
Baudry in particular has made a massive difference.

As for back to back promotions, I have tried to get that bet on with William Hill and Sky Bet but neither will offer me odds on it.

If anyone on here can come up with anything would you be good enough to let me know please.

nobody is going to give you more than 4/1 iv'e priced Rovers at 10/1 ONLY for the championship next year s0meone might offer 12 if you are lucky really so  it should be less than 4/1

bookies are not a charity although once this year they were a charity (offering those odds on Rovers when they played Portsmouth )

Got my bet for back to back promotions with William Hills at 9/1.

9/1 is a big price for promotion next season. We couldn't be any bigger than 20/1 to win the league.

[ballysbackin]

I agree with Hound that Relegation could have been avoided and I have wondered for a few days where or how to get this bit in..But here we are 18 games from end of season, we look comfortable and should avoid relegation, Last 17 games last season we were looking comfortable too. Just 12 months ago..Now I do not think we will go down this year and Yes I do think we will go up, I would feel more happy if Carlisle sold Charlie and Grimsby sold Omar.... mainly to reduce Carlisle's firing power for our game there and also the Grimsby game is similar. Two very good forwards - Yes we have got fire power too and Marquis will go nowhere and neither will Williams or Mandeville. I just would feel happier if our foes lost some weaponry.

IMO I believe that all players we have will be here next season including Evina because if you read DF's comments I think he does not know what to do ref Evina,

 

[ballysbackin]

Part one done

WYKE HEADING TO BRADFORD

Carlisle striker Charlie Wyke is having a medical at Bradford after the League One side triggered his release clause, which we believe to be £250,000.

This deal should be complete this afternoon.

[drfchound]

I will be surprised if Bogle is still at Grimsby tomorrow.

[ballysbackin]

Think Rotherham have gone back with around £850k plus add ons..

[ballysbackin]

Now this IS interesting - perhaps Wycombe on full transfer

MILLWALL EXIT

Paris Cowan-Hall has left Millwall after the club and player agreed to terminate his contract.

[Jonathan]

I'm sure the overall strategic vision comes from the Board but credit must be shared with DF who I think is the perfect fit to deliver this. It's clear he shares the same outlook on how to deliver results in both the current year and the longer term. As such, it proves that the meticulous recruitment process that brought us the current manager was, ultimately, worth the effort.

Last season was obviously a disappointment but it would've been beyond stupid to fire a manager they tried so hard to source and recruit. The game is wrecked by short termism and it's very exciting and encouraging to see us bucking that trend. Credit to all involved.