Meet the owners

[Avsuptem]

I have a slightly different view on this. Whereas without doubt we should be thankful that Mr. Bramal is continuing to fund the club in a responsible and considerate way he clearly lacks the passion for DRFC that we saw from JR. Or for that matter from those who are praising him so laudably on this thread. One might sum up his words at the event by saying he has pledged to do just enough to keep the club alive. Lets not forget that much of his vast wealth was gleaned from the public purse, effectively from the people of Doncaster and its environs.  I think it was a master stroke by JR to bring the Keepmoat millionaires into the club and thank the lord that Mr. Bramal is acting honorably when others in the football world have been carpet baggers.  I concur with the words of Idler and Pancho et al on this thread but can't help thinking that if we had true, genuinely RTID owners there could be more investment, ambition and drive to  get us back up the football ladder. If only it were a perfect world.

[Draytonian III]

Owners of football clubs who are passionate supporters of that club are few are far between the only one I can think of at the minute is Steve Gibson at Middlesbrough, there maybe other lower down the leagues

[Colin C No.3]

I have a slightly different view on this. Whereas without doubt we should be thankful that Mr. Bramal is continuing to fund the club in a responsible and considerate way he clearly lacks the passion for DRFC that we saw from JR. Or for that matter from those who are praising him so laudably on this thread. One might sum up his words at the event by saying he has pledged to do just enough to keep the club alive. Lets not forget that much of his vast wealth was gleaned from the public purse, effectively from the people of Doncaster and its environs.  I think it was a master stroke by JR to bring the Keepmoat millionaires into the club and thank the lord that Mr. Bramal is acting honorably when others in the football world have been carpet baggers.  I concur with the words of Idler and Pancho et al on this thread but can't help thinking that if we had true, genuinely RTID owners there could be more investment, ambition and drive to  get us back up the football ladder. If only it were a perfect world.

So, are you happy they brought Grant McCaan back to the club? Are you happy we have a chairman who has stated publicly that he will continue to fund the club & get us as far up the leagues as possible & who would only sell the club to persons who have the town of Doncaster & the football club at the forefront of any takeover? Are you happy that in Gavin Baldwin we have the best CEO's outside of the Premiership/Championship?

Terry Bramall may not be the 'circus ringmaster' that JR was, but he has (& continues to) put his children's inheritance into to club not only on the playing side but as was pointed out at the MTO event, £300,000 a year for the upkeep of the stadium, currently paying £500,000 a season to players on long term injuries via their wages not withstanding paying for their medical treatment.

We've endured as fans 3 s**t seasons of football at the Eco. I believe we have the best backroom team to drive this club forward....starting on Saturday.

And just to set the record straight, there’s no bigger fan of JR & his role in resurrecting our club than me.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I have a slightly different view on this. Whereas without doubt we should be thankful that Mr. Bramal is continuing to fund the club in a responsible and considerate way he clearly lacks the passion for DRFC that we saw from JR. Or for that matter from those who are praising him so laudably on this thread. One might sum up his words at the event by saying he has pledged to do just enough to keep the club alive. Lets not forget that much of his vast wealth was gleaned from the public purse, effectively from the people of Doncaster and its environs.  I think it was a master stroke by JR to bring the Keepmoat millionaires into the club and thank the lord that Mr. Bramal is acting honorably when others in the football world have been carpet baggers.  I concur with the words of Idler and Pancho et al on this thread but can't help thinking that if we had true, genuinely RTID owners there could be more investment, ambition and drive to  get us back up the football ladder. If only it were a perfect world.

I can see your viewpoint. Passion certainly helps but it can only get you so far. Sustain it in the longer term is the harder task and I'm sure JR could tell you all about that. He obviously saw it, as you say, to bring in the KM2 in the first place.

Do you really think, someone would take on this sort of endeavour with just the sole aim of 'just doing enough to keep the  club alive'?

TBs a pragmatist too. I genuinely think he does want us to succeed having listened to him the other night, but he wants everyone to do their bit too. Fans, staff, managers, coaches, players so it's more of a community effort that's earned rather than being bought by putting in disproportionate sums of money and becoming something WE can't sustain.

The signs are, he's allowing McCann to do whatever necessary to sort things out. Yes, we could all ask why not sooner? But we all have our thoughts on that.

[Avsuptem]

I could not agree more about bringing in Grant Mc Cann, similarly I doubt that Mc Cann would have joined us if he did not see any ambition within the club.  It just seems that there was a slightly mixed message from TB at the MTO. It must be extremely difficult for the owners to manage public perception at these events and inevitably they know more than us mere fans do.

[DonnyOsmond]

McCaan

[Colin C No.3]

McCaan

Where?!

[DonnyOsmond]

Just going back to this thread, I'm really starting to lose patience with Bramall and Blunt. Baldwin has done his job well but austerity at our football club has led our team into the position it finds itself in, within touching distance of relegation to non league. People keep saying thank you to Terry and he has put up a load of his own money but the budget was drained to a bottom half League Two budget and they were claiming it was capable of challenging for promotion at this level. They've hoodwinked us as fans time and time again and we need to get to the point where enough is enough. Don't try to tell me it will all change now Blunt has gone, he was the main financier, and will have been taking orders from Terry the whole time.

Trying to run a football club like a business has us heading to the National League.

[NickDRFC]

Just going back to this thread, I'm really starting to lose patience with Bramall and Blunt. Baldwin has done his job well but austerity at our football club has led our team into the position it finds itself in, within touching distance of relegation to non league. People keep saying thank you to Terry and he has put up a load of his own money but the budget was drained to a bottom half League Two budget and they were claiming it was capable of challenging for promotion at this level. They've hoodwinked us as fans time and time again and we need to get to the point where enough is enough. Don't try to tell me it will all change now Blunt has gone, he was the main financier, and will have been taking orders from Terry the whole time.

Trying to run a football club like a business has us heading to the National League.

Blunt was clearly hopeless but I do think he’s been made out as a bit of a fall guy. We’ve had a 3 person board presiding over this mess, with as tight a unit as that and Bramall covering any shortfall he’s clearly had a significant input into how things have been run (as has Baldwin).

The spin has frustrated me as well - we’ve repeatedly heard how competitive our budget has been which has clearly not been true, but most fans seem to be apathetic about being lied to. That’s maybe a symptom of just how shit we are that it’s difficult to muster the enthusiasm to be pissed off about it.

[Pliskin]

I agree.

Blunt was easily painted as the main baddie because he was so nondescript and never said anything. I doubt it's that simple, i.e. remove the baddie and everything magically gets better.

I'm sceptical of the idea that Blunt stepping down as chairman will make any real difference. We still don't appear to have any vision or force of will coming from the top.

Talking about having ambitions to be in the Championship just isn't credible when we struggle to even compete with League 2 clubs on and off the pitch.

[TonySoprano]

Brammall is as much to blame as blunt, at any point he could have stepped in and done something.

The thing that really took the biscuit for me was blunt claiming to have the budget "to bounce back decisively "
Which was a complete lie, as it now turns out it was only the 14th best budget - in league f**king two !!!

At any point Brammall could have stepped in to do something.
They are as bad as each other, completely untrustworthy individuals who had zero accountability, and anyone who dared question them on here was insulted by the usual sycophants/shills.

[vaya]

Brammall is as much to blame as blunt, at any point he could have stepped in and done something.

The thing that really took the biscuit for me was blunt claiming to have the budget "to bounce back decisively "
Which was a complete lie, as it now turns out it was only the 14th best budget - in league f**king two !!!

At any point Brammall could have stepped in to do something.
They are as bad as each other, completely untrustworthy individuals who had zero accountability, and anyone who dared question them on here was insulted by the usual sycophants/shills.

Bit ironic coming from someone who can't be trusted to keep the same username.

[dickos1]

Brammall is as much to blame as blunt, at any point he could have stepped in and done something.

The thing that really took the biscuit for me was blunt claiming to have the budget "to bounce back decisively "
Which was a complete lie, as it now turns out it was only the 14th best budget - in league f**king two !!!

At any point Brammall could have stepped in to do something.
They are as bad as each other, completely untrustworthy individuals who had zero accountability, and anyone who dared question them on here was insulted by the usual sycophants/shills.

Change the record
Boring hell

[oggycompton]

Told you all this last year. Shambles of a club, 10 years of lies and bullshit and you still lap it up.

If they told me it was raining I'd have to go out and check

[pib]

What’s puzzling is why have we been told at every step that our budget is aligned with our publicly stated ambitions? And now some money has actually seemingly been made available we are being told that the previous funding, publicised as sufficient at the time, wasn’t actually adequate?

Which version of events is actually true? I’d love to know.

[Draytonian III]

Told you all this last year. Shambles of a club, 10 years of lies and bullshit and you still lap it up.

If they told me it was raining I'd have to go out and check

Brammall is as much to blame as blunt, at any point he could have stepped in and done something.

The thing that really took the biscuit for me was blunt claiming to have the budget "to bounce back decisively "
Which was a complete lie, as it now turns out it was only the 14th best budget - in league f**king two !!!

At any point Brammall could have stepped in to do something.
They are as bad as each other, completely untrustworthy individuals who had zero accountability, and anyone who dared question them on here was insulted by the usual sycophants/shills.

Tony Sporano / Oggy Compton , if I was a betting man, which I am I’d like to bet two things,
 1. You are one and the same.
 2. You’re a wind up merchant who doesn’t support our team.
I bet I’m correct.

[i_ateallthepies]

Just going back to this thread, I'm really starting to lose patience with Bramall and Blunt. Baldwin has done his job well but austerity at our football club has led our team into the position it finds itself in, within touching distance of relegation to non league. People keep saying thank you to Terry and he has put up a load of his own money but the budget was drained to a bottom half League Two budget and they were claiming it was capable of challenging for promotion at this level. They've hoodwinked us as fans time and time again and we need to get to the point where enough is enough. Don't try to tell me it will all change now Blunt has gone, he was the main financier, and will have been taking orders from Terry the whole time.

Trying to run a football club like a business has us heading to the National League.

Blunt was clearly hopeless but I do think he’s been made out as a bit of a fall guy. We’ve had a 3 person board presiding over this mess, with as tight a unit as that and Bramall covering any shortfall he’s clearly had a significant input into how things have been run (as has Baldwin).

The spin has frustrated me as well - we’ve repeatedly heard how competitive our budget has been which has clearly not been true, but most fans seem to be apathetic about being lied to. That’s maybe a symptom of just how shit we are that it’s difficult to muster the enthusiasm to be pissed off about it.

Nick, I get what you're saying but I suspect that Terry took a very distant back seat on the footballing decision making.  It's clear though that all of the assurances about budgets over recent seasons was laced with a good dose of spin (lies) which now has been debunked by the club itself.  It frustrates the hell out of me and I called it two seasons ago but I think now that we finally have a manager with credentials who can be expected to get things right given the requisite support but there is an awful lot to do before we see the progress that we all want.

[wilts rover]

Just going back to this thread, I'm really starting to lose patience with Bramall and Blunt. Baldwin has done his job well but austerity at our football club has led our team into the position it finds itself in, within touching distance of relegation to non league. People keep saying thank you to Terry and he has put up a load of his own money but the budget was drained to a bottom half League Two budget and they were claiming it was capable of challenging for promotion at this level. They've hoodwinked us as fans time and time again and we need to get to the point where enough is enough. Don't try to tell me it will all change now Blunt has gone, he was the main financier, and will have been taking orders from Terry the whole time.

Trying to run a football club like a business has us heading to the National League.

Trying to run a football club like money is no object and will magicaly appear if you spend more than you are bringing in has had a number of clubs going past the National League.

Barrow and Accrington Stanley, to name but two, don't appear to have a problem running a club like a sensibly run business.

[Bentley Bullet]

It's previous managers who I feel sorry for. We were led to believe they had a top 6 budget and were underperforming despite that. The truth seems to be that they weren't underperforming at all because the claim of a top 6 budget wasn't true.

[DonnyOsmond]

Just going back to this thread, I'm really starting to lose patience with Bramall and Blunt. Baldwin has done his job well but austerity at our football club has led our team into the position it finds itself in, within touching distance of relegation to non league. People keep saying thank you to Terry and he has put up a load of his own money but the budget was drained to a bottom half League Two budget and they were claiming it was capable of challenging for promotion at this level. They've hoodwinked us as fans time and time again and we need to get to the point where enough is enough. Don't try to tell me it will all change now Blunt has gone, he was the main financier, and will have been taking orders from Terry the whole time.

Trying to run a football club like a business has us heading to the National League.

Trying to run a football club like money is no object and will magicaly appear if you spend more than you are bringing in has had a number of clubs going past the National League.

Barrow and Accrington Stanley, to name but two, don't appear to have a problem running a club like a sensibly run business.

Nobody is suggesting we spend like Wrexham. We were told the drop in income between League One and League Two is minimal but since McCann was last here we seem to have had a gastric band fitted on our budget, it's not even been a slow transition and when that happens it means you're left at the end of a season replacing players who have left with a quarter of the budget you previously had so the quality clearly takes a knock. Then this season if the budget has increased slightly then we're trying to improve every single position with a slight increase which has led to very little change in quality of the first team, just more depth for the injury table.

Then you're comparing us with two teams that will have had steady budgets for years now, which you would assume would be smaller than ours but are doing better than us. Why do you think that is?

People thanking the board is like thanking the Tories for their management of the NHS.

[TonySoprano]

Told you all this last year. Shambles of a club, 10 years of lies and bullshit and you still lap it up.

If they told me it was raining I'd have to go out and check

Brammall is as much to blame as blunt, at any point he could have stepped in and done something.

The thing that really took the biscuit for me was blunt claiming to have the budget "to bounce back decisively "
Which was a complete lie, as it now turns out it was only the 14th best budget - in league f**king two !!!

At any point Brammall could have stepped in to do something.
They are as bad as each other, completely untrustworthy individuals who had zero accountability, and anyone who dared question them on here was insulted by the usual sycophants/shills.

Tony Sporano / Oggy Compton , if I was a betting man, which I am I’d like to bet two things,
 1. You are one and the same.
 2. You’re a wind up merchant who doesn’t support our team.
I bet I’m correct.

So your happy that the board lied ? And have taken us to the brink of non league ?

[TonySoprano]

Brammall is as much to blame as blunt, at any point he could have stepped in and done something.

The thing that really took the biscuit for me was blunt claiming to have the budget "to bounce back decisively "
Which was a complete lie, as it now turns out it was only the 14th best budget - in league f**king two !!!

At any point Brammall could have stepped in to do something.
They are as bad as each other, completely untrustworthy individuals who had zero accountability, and anyone who dared question them on here was insulted by the usual sycophants/shills.

Change the record
Boring hell

I suggest you wake up pal, bit Ironic that comment given the record you keep playing.
You'll still be claiming we played well when we're losing at home to ebbsfleet.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Brammall is as much to blame as blunt, at any point he could have stepped in and done something.

The thing that really took the biscuit for me was blunt claiming to have the budget "to bounce back decisively "
Which was a complete lie, as it now turns out it was only the 14th best budget - in league f**king two !!!

At any point Brammall could have stepped in to do something.
They are as bad as each other, completely untrustworthy individuals who had zero accountability, and anyone who dared question them on here was insulted by the usual sycophants/shills.

Change the record
Boring hell

I suggest you wake up pal, bit Ironic that comment given the record you keep playing.
You'll still be claiming we played well when we're losing at home to ebbsfleet.

So, please use your wisdom and tell us what needs to happen to avoid rubbing shoulders once again with National League opposition?

[TonySoprano]

Brammall is as much to blame as blunt, at any point he could have stepped in and done something.

The thing that really took the biscuit for me was blunt claiming to have the budget "to bounce back decisively "
Which was a complete lie, as it now turns out it was only the 14th best budget - in league f**king two !!!

At any point Brammall could have stepped in to do something.
They are as bad as each other, completely untrustworthy individuals who had zero accountability, and anyone who dared question them on here was insulted by the usual sycophants/shills.

Change the record
Boring hell

I suggest you wake up pal, bit Ironic that comment given the record you keep playing.
You'll still be claiming we played well when we're losing at home to ebbsfleet.

So, please use your wisdom and tell us what needs to happen to avoid rubbing shoulders once again with National League opposition?

We need to slow the decline first, and stop signing players short term.
Build a squad with a mixture of experience and good youth with potential.
Unfortunately I think the damage is done, we've got a huge squad of which 90% are rubbish.
That money could be spent on a smaller squad of better players.

I'm aghast at how apathetic people are at how badly the clubs been ran and as a result our teetering on the precipice of non league.
I personally can forgive incompetence with well meaning, however what we've witnessed is worse.
We've had austerity and lies from blunt, which brammall is complicit in.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Brammall is as much to blame as blunt, at any point he could have stepped in and done something.

The thing that really took the biscuit for me was blunt claiming to have the budget "to bounce back decisively "
Which was a complete lie, as it now turns out it was only the 14th best budget - in league f**king two !!!

At any point Brammall could have stepped in to do something.
They are as bad as each other, completely untrustworthy individuals who had zero accountability, and anyone who dared question them on here was insulted by the usual sycophants/shills.

Change the record
Boring hell

I suggest you wake up pal, bit Ironic that comment given the record you keep playing.
You'll still be claiming we played well when we're losing at home to ebbsfleet.

So, please use your wisdom and tell us what needs to happen to avoid rubbing shoulders once again with National League opposition?

We need to slow the decline first, and stop signing players short term.
Build a squad with a mixture of experience and good youth with potential.
Unfortunately I think the damage is done, we've got a huge squad of which 90% are rubbish.
That money could be spent on a smaller squad of better players.

I'm aghast at how apathetic people are at how badly the clubs been ran and as a result our teetering on the precipice of non league.
I personally can forgive incompetence with well meaning, however what we've witnessed is worse.
We've had austerity and lies from blunt, which brammall is complicit in.

The good news is we've already started that process. With the transfer windows as they are, to enable the transition to where we want to be, unfortunately we still have to use some short term signings. In addition not every permanent signing, particularly good youth and potential, sometimes take a little longer to adjust especially those with a stop/start season with injury.

90% of his signings are not rubbish and you know dull well, you just can't ditch contracted footballers immediately.

So, being sensible, how long should it take to achieve what you describe?

[TonySoprano]

It'll probs take 2/3 seasons. Unless tb throws money at it to pay off contracts to get rid of the dead wood.

I didn't day that 90% of his signings were rubbish

[Chris Black come back]

There is only so much you can spend fretting over the past but there have been some seriously bad decisions that have brought us here - Butler being given the job when promotion was in sight, McSheffrey being given the job when relegation was avoidable, Wellens being provided with a squeezed budget, and as was acknowledged last week scrimping on budget and spending that budget terribly which has surely cost us financially significantly due to the appalling last few seasons. These were decisions taken by the hierarchy of the club that were just rank bad decisions.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

It'll probs take 2/3 seasons. Unless tb throws money at it to pay off contracts to get rid of the dead wood.

I didn't day that 90% of his signings were rubbish

I know you didn't, so the signs are his signings are generally better.

Personally, I think we missed the opportunity to really tackle the spine of the team, particularly with the gaping hole in the centre of midfield. However, we have to understand that McCann had to assess how our contracted players Anderson, Olowu, Long, Wood, Rowe, Close, Westbrooke, Miller, Taylor, Moly, Hurst etc, would stand up to the rigours of League Two football. He's obviously got the answer now.

Unfortunately that spine, including the gaping hole, will more likely be tackled in the summer. I'm sure we'd all love it if McCann could go out and sign a marquee midfielder from another club now as that would be a real statement of intent however, being realistic, we need to get rid of some first.

We can't keep going round in circles about the past when, from what we can see, McCann has been given support in making the changes we need. Of course, we haven't really seen the full benefit on the pitch yet.

[Alan Southstand]

Support, yes, but how many marquee signings did we get in the summer? Ironside?

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Support, yes, but how many marquee signings did we get in the summer? Ironside?

Exactly. That's what I said, we didn't really fully tackle the spine of the team.