Belles v Burton Alb.

[graingrover]

2-0 home win for Belles in Andy Butler’s first game with three new signings .There is still a lot to do in this rebuild but I would welcome a special occasion game at Keepmoat to see if a few Rovers fans would get behind Andy’s team  now ...160 there  today .A season ticket is very cheap and would show we care .

[eastender]

It wasn't Butler's 1st game.

[RobTheRover]

1st game proper.

[Dutch Uncle]

The first game was a cup tie against a team near the top of teh next league up - still proper match IMHO

Today was a match against against the bottom team in the same league and a team that has lost every league match so far. Next week we play Solihull, the second bottom team who have only won one match. Important to win these games, but not to get carried away. Good for Andy B today though, and the new signings.

Agree with Grainge's comments

[RoversAlias]

Is there anywhere to view the league table? It doesn't seem to load on the FA website and I can't find it anywhere else.

[Dutch Uncle]

Is there anywhere to view the league table? It doesn't seem to load on the FA website and I can't find it anywhere else.

Go on DROS, go to teams and Belles comes up. Then under matches there is a link to the league table on the FA Full Time website

Edit: Just visited it, and it is aleady updated to include today's result.

[graingrover]

You can find it on DROS ..under the Belles link

[graingrover]

It seems to me this new Belles is the essence of a community club .Andy Butler has openly invited local club managers who are experienced in the women’s’ game  to contact him ..he is seeking both advice and to build a network and perhaps feeder clubs .That said the Belles and Rovers  combined run teams down to age 12 so there is a lot of talent in our own pipelines .
The new CEO told me of a personal ambition to provide student players with educational support to get to University ( through the Academy ) hoping to build long term loyalty but also adding value in our own local community as per the Club Doncaster  mantra .Great stuff in my view .

[BVB]

Today was a must win game for the Belles in terms of Butler’s first league game, the need to put more distance between themselves and the two bottom clubs, and for a much needed morale-boost.
So very pleased that this is what they got.

Apart from an even 15min in the first half and a wobbly 10 mins in the second after they scored, Belles dominated and had numerous efforts that had they gone in would have better reflected their dominance - particularly in the 2nd half where apart from that 10m spell it was virtually one way traffic. The balance and commitment of the team was much better and the two subs (both of whom scored the goals) gave that additionality to take advantage of a tiring Burton.

Butler and Buxton were constantly instructing and encouraging with authority which as you might expect is a very noticeable improvement on the previous management - yes it was against the bottom team, and yes Belles will face more challenging games against superior opposition where they will get resoundingly beaten, but today there was a feel-good factor that was tangible from the off and that can only help build confidence and self belief for a group of players who have been struggling to perform. Furthermore former players are returning to the club which shows a willingness to play under B&B which clearly wasn’t there before.

A theoretically tougher game next Sunday against the team immediately below but Belles beat Solihull away and if they play anything like they did in the 2nd half today and with  a little more clinical finishing then another 3 points in the bag and an increased gap over the bottom two.

Moderator can we have Belles emoji pls ta.

[dknward2]

Great to hear hope they can get themselves back to where they belong

[graingrover]

Thankyou BVB for your match report ..may I ask if you work for the club ?
The fact that we have players coming back is good news ..only wish it could be Siggy and Courtney Sweetman . who are now both starring in the Premiership .If only the previous owners had relinquished their hold on the club earlier eh!

[BVB]

graingrover no I don’t work for the club - just got a sense of injustice after what its been through recently so try to support as I can.

Would be great if any of those players from those times were to come back once they’ve had their fun in the top div!

[RoversAlias]

Is there anywhere to view the league table? It doesn't seem to load on the FA website and I can't find it anywhere else.

Go on DROS, go to teams and Belles comes up. Then under matches there is a link to the league table on the FA Full Time website

Edit: Just visited it, and it is aleady updated to include today's result.

Cheers, it was the page on the FA website that wouldn't load for me earlier. Working now.

Small steps forward for the Belles, hopefully the positive momentum continues from here.

[DonnyOsmond]

What are the long and short term ambitions of the club? Do they want to get back to the top level?

[BobG]

Will only load the table down to 4th place for me - Bedworth United. And all the links to fixtures and results etc are therefore dead too.

BobG

[BVB]

It seems to me:
short term: no further relegations
and consolidation at 4th tier.
Mid / longer term: squad enhancement and commercial development/backing to support promotion back to 2nd tier.

How long mid/longer term will be is anyone’s guess at moment- perhaps we will get better picture of “the plan” once we know where Belles finish this season.
Looking at what other ambitious clubs are doing at this level eg Wolves, it will need some money thrown at it to do so - particularly with the financial stipulations for playing at Tier 2 which of course was the Belles’ downfall when the main sponsor pulled out 2 years ago.

Also Belles have already suffered from good young players leaving to go to teams in higher leagues in order to further their careers - which is nor uncommon and fair enough but may in turn stifle/ slow down any progress - though as I have said in a previous post, Club D can’t afford to not be seen to be successful here.

NB Getting transferred to the Northern division of Tier 4 rather than being in the Midlands division for next season would be a major step in being able to recruit and retain locallyregionally based players.

[BVB]

try copying and pasting this link for the league table - works for me:

http://fulltime-league.thefa.com/ProcessPublicSelect.do?psSelectedSeason=412303412&psSelectedDivision=495841721&psSelectedCompetition=0&psSelectedLeague=872938

[graingrover]

When  I am occasionally in communication with the club on this I get the feeling that it is first and foremost a community venture to bring some degree of gender equality to the efforts the club makes in Junior football .
Whilst the Belles were foundering on the rocks the big club names were beginning to cash in on sponsorships that stick more easily to the name of Man City than Donny Belles .Man City is hardly profiled as a Community club .They will go down the same route of employing world stars not stars from Manchester .I hope Belles will become successful on the field of play but do not wish them to join the prima donnas of the Premiership .

[BVB]

Wouldn’t disagree with any of that.
Strange though that as they are now both under the Club Doncaster umbrella that DRFC appear to be continuing with their girls football deveiopment programme separate to that of the Belles.

[Bristol Red Rover]

Wouldn’t disagree with any of that.
Strange though that as they are now both under the Club Doncaster umbrella that DRFC appear to be continuing with their girls football deveiopment programme separate to that of the Belles.

Maybe that's just a question of taking time to fully integrate the Belles? I'd have thought that would be a priority, though if there is always a possibility that the Belles drop out of the Club Doncaster set up then it could be folish for the club (DRFC) to drop their own input into the women's game.

[graingrover]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATBOJdWrgEo&feature=youtu.be

[Danensian]

Is there anywhere to view the league table? It doesn't seem to load on the FA website and I can't find it anywhere else.

There is a link from the Belles section of the Rovers website Matches tab

[Danensian]

The appointment of Andy Butler and Russ Green's statement of intent are two important steps towards restoring the Belles' fortunes. Hopefully in the longer term it will be possible to attract significant sponsorship to sustain the club at the top level but until then Club Doncaster will have to provide the seed money to help get them there. There are some promising young players in the current squad for Andy to build on. It would be good to see more Rovers fans at Oxford Street to support the girls.

[Bristol Red Rover]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATBOJdWrgEo&feature=youtu.be

Good interview. AB showing how he is getting the most of what is there, a calm and positive manager, very much like DM.

Money is always going to be the bottom line in progress, but if the squad can climb two to five places in that league, it leaves a good place to build from for next season.

[graingrover]

Leandra Little would be a great signing to provide a solid defensive backbone and she is an ex Captain and favourite with 60 games  at Belles and 10 at Liverpool  is now at Sheff U  though 35 yrs of age (as Andy Butler) would be a great asset .

[Bristol Red Rover]

Leandra Little would be a great signing to provide a solid defensive backbone and she is an ex Captain and favourite with 60 games  at Belles and 10 at Liverpool  is now at Sheff U  though 35 yrs of age (as Andy Butler) would be a great asset .

Sign as player/ trainee coach if finances can stretch that far?

[graingrover]

Just two seasons ago.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44796845

[Danensian]

When the Belles were in their pomp they were the go-to club for talented young girls from a wide catchment area.  However now that they have  been overtaken by the likes of Sheffield United it is going to be more difficult to attract those girls and some sort of imaginative recruitment strategy will be needed to ensure access to them.

[BobG]

Does anyone know what happened to prompt the previous long term sponsor into walking away? It wasn't very long after they'd announced the building of a purpose built training centre and hostel that was going to care for not just players but coaches and managers too. They reckoned at the time they had the site all lined up and cutting the first sod wasn't far away. 

Plus ca change....

BobG

[graingrover]

Lygo family and the BPP university did not have the money to continue to pay a professional squad BOB G but though Rovers  were in negotiation with them they hung on letting one player go after another . By the time they relinquished power all those good players had gone and they got relegated twice .A disgrace .
Btw Russ told me that he hoped to be able to give the young players the chance to study under the cclub Doncaster Academy to encourage them to stay with us rather than to go off  elsewhere during their student years .