JR stirring it

[Fal]

With all due respect, as a chairman who brought us back from the dead and made us successful again to now seeing all what he built being slowly but surely ripped apart I would be pissed off too. He has the keepmoat full with his ambition and enthusiasm, now we barely reach 5-6000.

I want nothing more than for the current board and the management team to have a great season next year to bring the fans back on side but sadly there’s too much negativity around the club and far too much talk and information these days on how tight we are currently and our lack of wanting to spend any money.

He is right if we want to be successful again we need to invest, sadly the current owners are happy being self sufficient and hoping that recruitment of frees and loans will go well and that we will go back up again or it will go the opposite like it did this season.

[Jonathan]

I think people are confusing sniping and stirring with genuine frustration and anger. He put 15 years of hard work and millions of pounds into the club before stepping down believing the club was in better hands to push forward.

Citing ill health as a reason for his rant is also a fairly low shot.

If that’s aimed my way I certainly wasn’t citing ill health as a reason for his rant. I was just pointing out that he didn’t sound at all well and I genuinely hope he’s okay. He’ll always have his place in Rovers folklore for what he did and I prefer to remember him for that than the things that happened later.

You’ve got to take bits of the interview with a pinch of salt. He’s the master at generating soundbites (those of us old enough will remember “blood on the streets”). The suggestion he’s not welcome at the stadium is complete and utter nonsense. He could attend a game whenever he wants. But the quote has got a lot of attention and caused people to draw all kinds of conclusions and you have to feel like that’s the reason he dropped it in. I doubt that part of him will ever change but we loved him for that when he was here and I agree we miss his way of generating publicity.

It’s very easy to look back at that time through rose tinted specs though. For all our success on the field there was a complacency and apathy off it. The role and input of the CEO (Dave Morris) was certainly questioned I recall, but he was JR’s man and there was no Netto brigade personally abusing him. JR himself expressed public frustration that our on field achievements didn’t always capture the imagination of the wider Doncaster public in the way you might like. He threatened to walk when the fans turned on his choice of manager (Wignall) but it’s easy to forget these things.

Football is full of ups and downs and we’ve had our fair share of ups this last 20 years. We’ll come again.

[Bentley Bullet]

In my opinion, for what that's worth, I think we're going to have to change the policy of self-sufficiency. We've just been relegated, and I'm not even sure if we've achieved self-sufficiency yet! If it's the case that we haven't reached it yet, how far down the league ladder will we have dropped before we do reach it?

[GazLaz]

We were successful in the Ryan era because we spent a lot more money than we could really afford. That’s fine if you have owners that are prepared to cover the losses. It’s far from the norm at this level though.

[Glyn_Wigley]

In my opinion, for what that's worth, I think we're going to have to change the policy of self-sufficiency. We've just been relegated, and I'm not even sure if we've achieved self-sufficiency yet! If it's the case that we haven't reached it yet, how far down the league ladder will we have dropped before we do reach it?

Let's spend money we don't have. It's worked wonders for Scunthorpe, it can for us too.

[Bentley Bullet]

Unfortunately, to be a successful football club (on the pitch) it is all about spending money. That's why they have rich owners.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

We were successful in the Ryan era because we spent a lot more money than we could really afford. That’s fine if you have owners that are prepared to cover the losses. It’s far from the norm at this level though.

This pretty much sums it up. He quite rightly says to be successful like we were we need to spend big. That's probably correct.  What he doesn't have is a plan to do so and he couldn't sustain that himself either.  Calling for more funds from the current owners is everyone's right but it's unlikely to succeed we all know that.

Again it's an interview given to someone not trained to probe and carry that out and causes unnecessary stirring and he knows that this will happen. 

Unfortunately for John Ryan now, financially he is no different to many of us in that he wants the spending but doesn't have the means.

Note none of this demeans John's achievements at all.  Overall he was hugely successful and has a strong legacy aswell.  Its a little bit of a shame he can't become a fan, attend as many games as he likes and be positive about it all.

[Bentley Bullet]

In my opinion, for what that's worth, I think we're going to have to change the policy of self-sufficiency. We've just been relegated, and I'm not even sure if we've achieved self-sufficiency yet! If it's the case that we haven't reached it yet, how far down the league ladder will we have dropped before we do reach it?

Let's spend money we don't have. It's worked wonders for Scunthorpe, it can for us too.

Scunthorpe are where they are now because they've stopped spending money they don't have!

[Glyn_Wigley]

In my opinion, for what that's worth, I think we're going to have to change the policy of self-sufficiency. We've just been relegated, and I'm not even sure if we've achieved self-sufficiency yet! If it's the case that we haven't reached it yet, how far down the league ladder will we have dropped before we do reach it?

Let's spend money we don't have. It's worked wonders for Scunthorpe, it can for us too.

Scunthorpe are where they are now because they've stopped spending money they don't have!

Scunthorpe are where they are now because they started spending money they don't have.

[Bentley Bullet]

Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have!

[steve@dcfd]

Our owner has the money he chooses only to spend through Club Doncaster what is required to help us be self sufficient.
Like BB has said whether we have reached that level we will see next season.
It’s up to him what he does with his money not me and he will never spend like other clubs to put us in danger so why people keep saying it to make a point is wrong.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have!

So, spending money you don't have doesn't get you any higher than where Scunthorpe are now. Hmm.

[Alan Southstand]

I wonder how it’s going at Bournemouth and Brentford?

[Bentley Bullet]

Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have!

So, spending money you don't have doesn't get you any higher than where Scunthorpe are now. Hmm.

What?

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I wonder how it’s going at Bournemouth and Brentford?

Have a look just how much they've spent to get there. I think even with the player sales Brentford lost huge sums recently.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have!

So, spending money you don't have doesn't get you any higher than where Scunthorpe are now. Hmm.

What?

You just said that Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have.

So spending money they don't have has put them where they are. This is not a convincing argument for Rovers to spend money they don't have too.

[ctay]

I think we are on about two different things. Spending lots and getting in to debt and what I think JR means is invest in a couple of players where you are pretty certain you are going to make money.... i.e Whiteman, Sharp etc.

I think what most people wanted from the Marquis and Whiteman money was a small amount to be spent on players with potential. This is why I think the netto brigade have an issue. We replaced with loans and free transfers. The problem for me is the recruitment and if they can identify the correct players.

JR has every right to be as pissed off as we are, more so actually.

[Glyn_Wigley]

As pissed off as we were with JR's experiment of free agents?

[Copps is Magic]

Thought the interview was quite tame, actually.

[Alan Southstand]

Remind me again how much Brentford will be getting next season, bfyp?

[ctay]

As pissed off as we were with JR's experiment of free agents?

I could see why he did it. Did I agree.. no.  It was never going to work, but he got drawn in to it. If you ask him, I he would probably admit he got it wrong. He was trying to hold on at that point I think.

I would rather have kept SOD, gone down and trusted him to bring us back. Would that have worked.... no idea.

[Bentley Bullet]

Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have!

So, spending money you don't have doesn't get you any higher than where Scunthorpe are now. Hmm.

What?

You just said that Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have.

So spending money they don't have has put them where they are. This is not a convincing argument for Rovers to spend money they don't have too.

I said Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have and are back where they are now because they've stopped spending money they don't have!

[idler]

Remind me again how much Brentford will be getting next season, bfyp?

I know and am related to Huddersfield Town fans that are in two minds about going up.
Premier League make weights with players that don’t care about the club just the Premier League wages and then getting toned most weeks. The gulf in Football is always getting wider.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have!

So, spending money you don't have doesn't get you any higher than where Scunthorpe are now. Hmm.

What?

You just said that Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have.

So spending money they don't have has put them where they are. This is not a convincing argument for Rovers to spend money they don't have too.

I said Scunthorpe would never have been any higher than they are now without spending money they don't have and are back where they are now because they've stopped spending money they don't have!

So Scunthorpe should have carried on spending money they don't have to avoid being where they are now! Instead of the debt they currently have dragging them down, a bigger debt would have saved them!


If only they'd have had you as their financial adviser.

[ravenrover]

I think his little hissy fit when the others said no more money was the starting point for this and the rejection of his attempted hedge fund takeover

[Bentley Bullet]

When we were last in the Championship, we budgeted for a side that would hopefully just keep us up. Fair play, had it not been for a combination of a ridiculous injury list, refereeing decisions and general bad luck we'd have survived. But for how long with such a low budget?

Rovers' response to the relegation was to lower the budget, and more or less stated that the 'big spending' days were over. Next thing, the board are talking of a push for promotion back into the Championship within 5 years, albeit with a new policy of self-sufficiency.

Since then, the gulf in quality between the Championship and league one is far greater now than it was when Rovers were last there. Meanwhile, Rovers have LOWERED the budget.

How on earth can we ever get back into the Championship with the current financial policy?

[pib]

As pissed off as we were with JR's experiment of free agents?

Let's not forget Bramall and Watson were both on the board during "The Experiment". It didn't solely come from Ryan.

[drfchound]

There are lots of reasons why Scunny are where they are now.
Among the reasons are that they were paying less than decent wages (for L2) and so couldn’t attract decent enough players.
The owners son was appointed head of recruitment despite not having any experience of doing anything like that.
Because of the lack of decent players, their results became worse and as a result the attendances dropped.

[wilts rover]

Just to point out that John gave the managers job to Ian Snodin, Steve Wignall and Paul Dickov and put Willie Mackay in charge of picking half the team. Wilst appointing Sean O'Driscoll he also sacked him - and Dave Penney.

John was fantastic for DRFC, and it is not exaggeration to say without him there would not be a DRFC, certainly not in the form we have seen it for the past 20 years. He was fantastic for the club, but he wasn't infallible.

Thanks for the memories John, enjoy your time as a fan and leave the running of the club to the people who run the club.

[Bentley Bullet]

I reckon most of us were excited about the experiment, after all, we were doomed for relegation anyway. Had it worked, TB, DW and JR would have been heroes.

As it turned out, it failed, with just one of them being the villain.