Good to bump into you. You may have to change that name to Another Bloody Penalty if we keep going like we are doing

I might be miles away here but wasn't there a chairman called chick hicking so maybe the chicken coop

Wasn't Chick Stainforth-era?

Well Stainy is miles away from tattersfield lol

Now that I have come down from the ceiling having had my honesty and integrity called into question it's time to mention a few things that can't be looked up on Google. I was over the top with my reaction to Moonlight which I regret but this is a forum and it's open to optimists, pessimists,longstanding members and new.
I can't remember the name of the stand I didn't know it had one,but I can remember it had a narrow snack bar at the back of it just about big enough to swing a cat and you got a drink and a bag of crisps if you were lucky.
People used to sneak in from the back of the stand walking along the bank at the back,some even sneaking in through Chic Booth's scrap yard.
I don't remember Gary Hetherington playing for the Dons but when I first started going it was like watching a band of brothers. The Goodchilds,The Goodyears,The Dflasters (not sure about the spelling) and the Asquiths,one of which hardly ever played a full game as he had a habit of being sent off.
The changing rooms were a hut that sat above the stream in between the ground and the Yarborough and in later years moved to the far corner of the ground to a breeze block affair and it was near there that Jamie Bloem put a player(it may have been Widnes) just about over the fence into orbit.
Many other memories including the circus on the car park and Whitehaven getting changed on the bus in the car park for one game.
That should be enough for now,as to the Dons the question has been answered that the team may be strengthened if necessary but let's see what happens on Sunday first.

Tatty Feeld

You are incorrect the stand I'm refering to didnt have a snack bar at the rear,the only snack bar in this period on that side of the ground was a wooden hut sited at the left hand corner of the ground it was run by Norman Pacey who used to drive his car right up to the hut & unload all the snacks they had for sale & display them in the hut.

There was only one Goodchild & only one Asquith Peter & Bernard were there christian names if either of these two had a brother they never played for the Dons, this is the correct spelling of Pflaster,Peter Goodchild was the first Dons player to play for the Yorkshire County team.

The clue for the nickname the fans called the stand just think of a former chairman of the club & what type of stand it was.

Alan Tait in his Leeds days.

Yes it was alan tait then of leeds but started at widnes.
a very good centre, i don't know how jamie didn't kill him.

Is this a whoever can name a stand or who has the longest memory is a certified dons fan? nobody would waste their time on this forum and write the crap we normally do if they wasnt passionate about donny so lets not score petty points, wether your a new fan or a stalwart dons need you. COYD

Sorry but the Dons clearly don't need me or my money as I was refused entry to the bar because I didn't have a season ticket but allowed other people in without one whilst I was stood there

As anybody listened to the after match interview Paul Cook did on Radio Yorkshire today.
Obviously he spoke about todays game & went on to say that he had a 4 hour meeting with the chief executive last Monday & addressed some issues, he also had a meeting with the players on Tuesday & discussed the mind-set of the players & where they want to be & where they are heading do they want to be part of journey of the club moving forward this year, & in the immediate future & next year with what's happening behind the scenes.

You can listen to the full interview on Radio Yorkshires website

His interview with the written press post match was 15 minutes of honesty about a lot of things, and to be fair, he could have gone the way that a lot of coaches have in the past, and refused to go into any detail on things. He laid a lot of things down about how he wants the club to run, and how he wants to do things, and he accepts that the fans have a right to be anxious about things. I've listened to the RY interview, and he only touches on some of the things he discussed.

I personally think the next week is massive for the Club.

If we lose on Wednesday, then Whitehaven away becomes a 'must win' game for me. Otherwise, and I accept that this requires Workington to beat Whitehaven on Good Friday, we could find ourselves 4 points adrift of both Cumbrian Clubs and Hunslet.

It may not sound a lot but we would already probably need 3 results (at least 2 wins and a draw) more than any 2 of these 3 and we will, assuming the worst happens, have lost to all 3 at that point.

When you consider the next 4 fixtures after that are;
Home to Dewsbury (bogey team)
Home to Bradford (ex-Super League)
Away v Halifax (rarely a good place for the Dons)
and Sheffield again.

There is a real danger that we could be halfway through the season without a win.

If there are opportunities to bring in players who will enhance us they need to be taken and quickly.

I think Wanderer is right. Time isn't on our side even though we're only six games into the season. Everything could ebb away from us over the next few games.

If we assume that the two relegation spots are between Hunslet, Whitehaven, Workington and the Dons, we need to get above at least two of them.

Hunslet have 4 points, Workington and Whitehaven have two points.

The good thing is that we've got to play all four at home in what must be classed as "must win" games. We've got Whitehaven away soon and Hunslet at the summer bash. We really need to win those games too. The other realistically winnable home game could be the London match. It's hard to see where else we're likely to pick points up.

Consequently the Whitehaven game away is critical. If we win all the games I've listed, we'll have 14 points from 7 wins. Will 14 points be enough to stay up? If we could scramble something from the Dewsbury game at home, that would help.

From our point our view, it may be better if Hunslet take the points off Whitehaven and Workington in the four matches they play against them (they've not met yet), leaving Hunslet clear of the drop zone, which will help our chances of getting above the two Cumbrian teams.

On checking the future fixtures, Whitehaven are playing Workington at the summer bash which is rather unfortunate as one of them is going to get two points from that game as well ... but it is with irony that we're playing Hunslet at the bash too!

So can I just get this right. Dons supporters complain about not being allowed access to bar and aren't allowed in. Eagles supporters complain and are allowed in.

I went in last night and it was quite full. You're right a lot of them in there were wearing Sheffields colours. Making it up as you go along springs to mind.

[uIf correct [/uthen answers need to be answered by the club on this issue.

Be a good idea to also ask why one week the car park nearest the ticket office is open to supporters and the next week it's permit holders only.

The latest In the Dugout says it all which is we are going nowhere. Now Even Carl Hall is coming out with the same old Cookey crap of we are getting there and even the big boss Gavin Baldwin thinks so too. Funny I thought Carl Hall was the boss. Nothing about strengthening the team to get us up the table,just we will see what happens on Monday cause the boys will get us there.No one can fault the lads on the pitch who are giving everything,Mitch Clark couldn't have given any more,he was immense. But they are just not good enough in a number of positions. What the hell is going on at the club?

So, which is it? Perhaps nothing is going on and its all a figment of certain peoples imaginations? Perhaps we've been invaded by lizard people, and they've started at the Keepmoat? Perhaps we'll never know, as the club don't have to disclose anything....

Are you on something or just plain blind to the current situation. There was a board meeting this week at which Hall was told funds are available to strengthen the team so one might have thought he would mention in this week's "In the Dugout" that he or Cooke are looking at bringing players in. Instead we are told Baldwin was at the Sheffield game and he is a rugby fan. Great news. Baldwin said if Sheffield are the benchmark the Dons are not far off.Well to be honest I don't think Sheffield are the benchmark and I don't think they were at their best on Wednesday.It is just so annoying to keep hearing the same old comment "We are almost there" as if winning the next game is a solution to the problem. We should be looking to win not just the next game but several more thereafter but even if each and every player gives 150% they are just not good enough to do that this season.

The board meeting was last week, and this was made reference to in last weeks In The DugoutIt probably is great news that Baldwin is a rugby fanI think some of the things Sheffield have achieved off the pitch is a good way of looking to model ourselves on. Whether or not the on field product is one to try and mirror, I do not know. They weren't at their best last night.
There are 1 or 2 players that I was surprised we kept on for this season, but at the same time, I feel that once we get 'over the line' for the first win, we will see the confidence of the players improve greatly. I spend a lot of the time on a matchday around the squad, and the atmosphere over this last couple of matches within the dressing room has been completely different to how it was at the start of the season, I feel that the influx of younger players over the winter months into a squad where everyone knew their place has probably stifled it a bit. Whether this can be used as an excuse, I do not know.

If Baldwin is a big rugby fan why is this his first match then.
As for the dugout back to square one, well carry on with these players cos they're trying.
That's not going to keep us up.
As ever one else fed up of hearing the same things each week.
Good luck to the lads for Monday.

There are plenty of Dons players who are good enough and more. Some were approached by other clubs prior to the season starting but they believed in the future plans of this club. I totally agree that at the moment the right combination of players has not been found yet and some players aren't up to standard...yet.

Not sure if DR or new signings is the answer but be assured we have plenty of talented players who could get places with higher placed clubs in the new season, we need to retain them and get more on board so need to start shopping now!

I can understand the frustrations of those who believe the club aren't doing enough to get us out of the mess we're in. I can also see the point of view that we're getting nearer to our best as each game passes.

I made a post on the Dons v Eagles thread: "The situation that we find ourselves in is that if we play to our absolute best, remain squeaky clean in all areas, have a high completion rate, we may possibly win, but we probably need the other team to not perform to their best.

An example of this was in the Batley game. They were slightly off their game in the first half and we got in front. Once they got their act together, they threatened us with their pace and came out on top.

Why is this? The quality of the players in other teams is superior to ours."

We did really well to finish fourth last season but we won some tight games through guts and endeavour. Guts and endeavour won't go as far against the better quality teams we're playing this season and this is finding us out. Even if we do continue to improve further (after getting better in the last two games) who can we realistically beat in this league?

We have some decent players in our side and I don't like to be critical of them because I have great respect for them but we need an injection of class soon.

With the squad we've got, we may be able to beat Workington and Whitehaven, but are we good enough to beat the likes of Hunslet, Dewsbury and London Broncos? The rest of the teams in the league would really have to have an off day for us to beat them, whilst we'd need to play out of our skin.

With the current squad I believe we may finish third from bottom if we can get the better of the Cumbrian clubs in our games against them. But I'd hope our aspirations are to do better than that ... but we need some new faces for that to be a realistic possibility.

I don't want to castigate the club for the policy they took to recruit youngsters because they believed it was the right thing to do at the time. In life, we all make mistakes but when we do make mistakes, we need to learn from them and move forwards.

Option 1) Stay as we are and battle bravely to try to finish third from bottom
Option 2) Bring in some quality players to help us compete with the other teams in the bottom half of the table in the hope we can get above teams such as Hunslet.

If Hunslet are the benchmark for the quality of a fourth from bottom team, the evidence from the two games we've played against them shows they're clearly better than us at the moment.