Grant mccann...

[Pancho Regan]

I’ve just watched Grant’s post-match interview.

What I see is a man who is hurting as much as I am and he does not attempt to hide.
He is honest enough to question himself and brave enough to face up to the disappointment of today’s performance and result.

I have faith in him to turn this around.

[scawsby steve]

For all people criticising McCann now, he was wiping floor with all comers in this league for most of opening 10 games. He has managed to get a very good tune out of this squad, this season. He clearly isn't now but it can be done.

Sorry, CBCB, but he wasn't wiping the floor with any team in this league apart from Bradford. The wins against Exeter, Rotherham, Mansfield, and Port Vale, were scraped with mediocre performances in games that could have gone either way.

This is just not a good League 1 squad he's put together. To suggest otherwise is delusional.

[GazLaz]

All of these players are Grants players therefore he has to take the hit if it’s not working.

Spot on.
I’d make him manage his budget in Jan by trimming his squad & spending it better.

All of these are Grants, I agree with that.

But what if we have second lowest budget.

ANY other business would expect therefore to be second bottom without luck, be that in results or finding a diamond.

IMO opinion we have a really low budget for this league and as I said at game week 1 I'd take 20th.

What would your views be if we had a mid table budget?

[EasyforDennis]

But we don't have a mid table budget so it's a bit like most of our games this season.........pointless!!!!

[GazLaz]

But we don't have a mid table budget so it's a bit like most of our games this season.........pointless!!!!

How do you know that?

[EasyforDennis]

But we don't have a mid table budget so it's a bit like most of our games this season.........pointless!!!!

How do you know that?

Like you. I don't.

[GazLaz]

But we don't have a mid table budget so it's a bit like most of our games this season.........pointless!!!!

How do you know that?

Like you. I don't.

You certainly don’t know what I know!

[EasyforDennis]

But we don't have a mid table budget so it's a bit like most of our games this season.........pointless!!!!

How do you know that?

Like you. I don't.

You certainly don’t know what I know!

I certainly don't. Now stop playing like a schoolboy in the playground or I will set my brother on you cos he's bigger than you.

[GazLaz]

But we don't have a mid table budget so it's a bit like most of our games this season.........pointless!!!!

How do you know that?

Like you. I don't.

You certainly don’t know what I know!

I certainly don't. Now stop playing like a schoolboy in the playground or I will set my brother on you cos he's bigger than you.

I know where the budget is in relation to other teams for f**k sake. Can anyone on this forum ever accept that people can actually know stuff they may not.

[Padge_DRFC]

How much can we actually spend? FFP and all that. Our crowds are crap and our STs are the cheapest in the league. Probably one of the lowest earners on match day income in this league.

[redarmi66]

But we don't have a mid table budget so it's a bit like most of our games this season.........pointless!!!!

How do you know that?

Like you. I don't.

You certainly don’t know what I know!

I certainly don't. Now stop playing like a schoolboy in the playground or I will set my brother on you cos he's bigger than you.

I know where the budget is in relation to other teams for f**k sake. Can anyone on this forum ever accept that people can actually know stuff they may not.

ok then what is our budget in relation to other teams. If you know then please share and we can then discuss the recruitment with more insight.

[GazLaz]

How much can we actually spend? FFP and all that. Our crowds are crap and our STs are the cheapest in the league. Probably one of the lowest earners on match day income in this league.

The Club Doncaster revenue is great and is a big reason we are financially stronger than other similar sized clubs. Ever reliant on Terry to help of course but we are very well run commercially I’d say.

[pigeonhole]

Gavin Baldwin told us in August that we have a mid-table budget. That’s not much of a brag if it’s untrue. In the same interview he went on to say let’s go into League 1 and have some fun. I don’t think Gavin and I have the same definition of fun.

[GazLaz]

Gavin Baldwin told us in August that we have a mid-table budget. That’s not much of a brag if it’s untrue. In the same interview he went on to say let’s go into League 1 and have some fun. I don’t think Gavin and I have the same definition of fun.

This. Go and watch the pre season interviews.

[sedwardsdrfc]

I don’t find it hard to believe we have mid table budget. We’ve mid table crowds and are run commercially very well so I’m not sure where the assumption to relegation funds comes from.

We’ve a large squad that was added too by Grant without making any cuts. We went for the large squad to get out of L2 so we could deal with injuries etc but without trimming it in the summer (offering some very strange extensions) we’re stuck with a large but low quality squad.

Bad management of funds imo. Someone should really have questioned and challenged those extensions to Close, Westbrooke and Hurst (could even add Sharp to that)

[Reg of the Rovers]

Some of the recruitment and retention decisions are baffling. It isn’t suggestive of a small budget that we’re so un-ruthless with our decisions. Not cashing in on McGrath is one example of money not being too tight, and that we retained Close, Sbarra, Westbrook, Hurst and Sharp agrees. Like keeping Richard Wood last year was crazy, we’d had the one good season we could have reasonably expected and then paid him a year to be injured / poor.

Hanlan is turning in to a decent player, and could prove to be good business if he stays fit. But other than that, every other single decision is at best debatable, or generally terrible.

[ncRover]

We will have a bigger budget than Exeter, Northampton and Burton for definite. All above us in the table.

Think some are forgetting the vast squad depth we have which may put our budget above some that have a stronger starting XI on paper.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Some of the recruitment and retention decisions are baffling. It isn’t suggestive of a small budget that we’re so un-ruthless with our decisions. Not cashing in on McGrath is one example of money not being too tight, and that we retained Close, Sbarra, Westbrook, Hurst and Sharp agrees. Like keeping Richard Wood last year was crazy, we’d had the one good season we could have reasonably expected and then paid him a year to be injured / poor.

Hanlan is turning in to a decent player, and could prove to be good business if he stays fit. But other than that, every other single decision is at best debatable, or generally terrible.

This is true if we were been ran on a shoe string McGarth would have been gone at the first sniff. Plymouth must look at it and think thank god we turned them down.

That said they didn’t ask their centre halves to play out just head it and clear it. McGarth might look a lot better if we asked him to focus on the basics not asking him to play Xabi Alonso passes

[Lazar]

My main grumble with the summer isn’t the lack of quality per se, it’s the fact they don’t appear to have been recruited to a system.

Middleton is a decent player, but Grant has favoured inverted wingers in both spells with us yet signs a byline and cross it merchant. We have no penalty box presence but allocated a chunk of budget to someone who would thrive with something to aim at.

He’s not the only profile we’ve signed that leaves you scratching your head.

[Cramby10]

Some of the recruitment and retention decisions are baffling. It isn’t suggestive of a small budget that we’re so un-ruthless with our decisions. Not cashing in on McGrath is one example of money not being too tight, and that we retained Close, Sbarra, Westbrook, Hurst and Sharp agrees. Like keeping Richard Wood last year was crazy, we’d had the one good season we could have reasonably expected and then paid him a year to be injured / poor.

Hanlan is turning in to a decent player, and could prove to be good business if he stays fit. But other than that, every other single decision is at best debatable, or generally terrible.

This is true if we were been ran on a shoe string McGarth would have been gone at the first sniff. Plymouth must look at it and think thank god we turned them down.

That said they didn’t ask their centre halves to play out just head it and clear it. McGarth might look a lot better if we asked him to focus on the basics not asking him to play Xabi Alonso passes

bit ironic really. McGrath was Plymouths best player yesterday!!

[redarmi66]

My main grumble with the summer isn’t the lack of quality per se, it’s the fact they don’t appear to have been recruited to a system.

Middleton is a decent player, but Grant has favoured inverted wingers in both spells with us yet signs a byline and cross it merchant. We have no penalty box presence but allocated a chunk of budget to someone who would thrive with something to aim at.

He’s not the only profile we’ve signed that leaves you scratching your head.

Middleton/Ironside would have worked

[Ryaldinhio]

A few seasons ago, sure it was before GM rejoined, we were told that we had one of the top budgets in L2 and going for promotion, think it was one of the worst seasons, where we brought in Schofield and the lad had no chance. In the aftermath Im sure Copps came out and said we had a mid table budget at best.

So anyone who believes what is said publicly regards the budget is bonkers. I take my view on who we have brought in and my thoughts on money spent. I dont base it on any more or less.

IMO with the business we have done in the transfer window we have a bottom end of L1 budget.......and we are bottom end of L1.

Gaz, if you know our numbers, and every other club in L1s numbers, let us all know.

[Lazar]

My main grumble with the summer isn’t the lack of quality per se, it’s the fact they don’t appear to have been recruited to a system.

Middleton is a decent player, but Grant has favoured inverted wingers in both spells with us yet signs a byline and cross it merchant. We have no penalty box presence but allocated a chunk of budget to someone who would thrive with something to aim at.

He’s not the only profile we’ve signed that leaves you scratching your head.

Middleton/Ironside would have worked

Yet he was marginalised to bring in a bloke who somehow performed worse than his Wikipedia page.

[Chris Black come back]

Lasagne has been absolutely baffling. I can only assume that they only watched him online. He will surely go back next month, having played a total of 121 league minutes with no goals and no league minutes since 25 October.

[Donnyjim]

One win in 14 is very sackable. However, the reality is, that probably we are now that yo-yo side between the 1st and 2nd Div. Very similar to the mid 80’s. Our ground always suggests we are more than that. Sadly our budget never does. Gavin’s understated ‘mid table budget’ indicates this. After all, mid table is a couple of defeats from bottom four. So, I would stick with Grant for now. After his interview yesterday he may actually walk before pushed anyway.

[BillyStubbsTears]

We will have a bigger budget than Exeter, Northampton and Burton for definite. All above us in the table.

Think some are forgetting the vast squad depth we have which may put our budget above some that have a stronger starting XI on paper.

This.

We do probably have the best second XI in the division though, so I fancy our chances in the Tin Pot Cup

[Padge_DRFC]

People mocking midtable budgets. Some clubs get double nearly triple out gates some week Cardiff Bolton Huddersfield Bradford etc. Club Doncaster won't be making up that amount. Then there's half the remaining teams that get more in at higher prices.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

What other teams budget is isn't that relevant. There's plenty of clubs using their budget better than us. We're subsidising Sbarra, Westbrook, Hurst, Olusanya, Faulkner, Nixon, Close, Gotts, Middleton, Ajayi, Tutala and Crew who are offering us nothing this season, there's the problem.

[GazLaz]

What other teams budget is isn't that relevant. There's plenty of clubs using their budget better than us. We're subsidising Sbarra, Westbrook, Hurst, Olusanya, Faulkner, Nixon, Close, Gotts, Middleton, Ajayi, Tutala and Crew who are offering us nothing this season, there's the problem.

Poor decisions compound in football. We’ve made mistakes with contract offers, non contract offers, signings, even staff recruitment.

Is there enough diversity of opinion within the football department? The handling of Copps has been unusual at best. Glover and Cliff are very close to Grant, are there enough voices within the group that are prepared to question decisions.

[i_ateallthepies]

None of us knows with any certainty what the playing budget is but the decisions made regarding players retained, signed, re-signed and the resulting size of the squad says to me we don't have a bottom-four budget.  But for the squad do be so bloated with lots of nearly good enough players and very few good enough it seems to me there must be some other factor at play.

Grant re-signed Close and Westbrook and we were unable to get the signature of Olowu, he signed a heap of players (who by now mostly appear to be below the standard required) and explained it as being to give squad depth.  So, what if the club does indeed have a mid-table budget but implements a salary-cap policy to limit what any individual player can be paid (perhaps) in order to prevent disharmony amongst the squad?  Grant decides his best option to give him a chance of competing is to have squad depth to give him options when injuries strike.

Other than incompetence amongst the recruitment decision-makers I can see no other way to explain where we now find ourselves with this group of players.