Have you seen what you have started s-o? this is all your fault lol

That what I am here for ... keeping things lively.
lol

On a serious note there are two sides to a coin ... neither more meritorious than the other ... although Elizabeth II might demur.

Both views are correct.

Good work is being done and good people are putting their effort and money in.

Also results have been mediocre of late.

But the new season is but three days away and the prospect of improvement looms.

COYD

sorry don't have the time for keyboard warriors

Your loyalty is commendable but the fact of the matter is that Club Doncaster puts community focused projects way before what actually happens on the pitch. Bramhall and the late Dick Watson had a net worth of over £200 million at the head of Club Doncaster but look at the precarious current position of the Rovers and last seasons lowest ever finish of the Dons.Mediocrity on the pitch will always be the order of the day whilst this lot are at the helm.You say stop going if you don't like the situation well for your information I have even though I have been a lifetime supporter.I am not the only one either and the desertion will continue to get worse as the Dons gradually lose their identity by turning into the Hull Academy/Reserves.

I'm the furthest from a keyboard warrior you will find so i look forward to you telling me that on sunday

Fair comment, Don't spoil it I would rather not know who you are. on the other hand I more than happy to have a conversation with you but I am sure we wont agree
so would be pretty pointless.

Tatty , Terry and Dick sold Keepmoat for £783 million , so the 200 million figure is way off the mark.
Dick's wealth is about £150 million while Terry's is upwards of £500 million , he recently donated over £2million to his old university to build a music room and has placed over £100 million in a charitable trust.

You cant deny that the two guys who made their money in Doncaster invested in the place where they made their money.......... Doncaster.

These guys where very successful business men and look to run the Keepmoat like a business.

You don't get wealth like that by being foolish ,you work hard and know the value of money and how hard you had to work for it.
They didn't wake up one morning and have the money in the bank, these guys worked hard .

They make up the shortfall from the Rovers budget every year ,which I believe is around 3 to 5 million .
Just because someone is a multi millionaire doesn't mean they should throw money around ,they have backed CH every year and every year CH hasn't delivered.

Richardc i admire your loyalty to Carl but the truth is , he is out his depth and the sooner the Rovers realise that, the better for the club.
We need a real CEO with new ideas to move the club forward and make the 5 year plan a reality instead of pie in the sky.

No-one doubts the guys love for the club , it is simply a business matter and Carl fails on that point alone.
Where else in business would you talk the talk every year but then fail to deliver and still be in your roll.............................I will tell you ....know where.

If someone in your business performed like Carl I'm sure he would be given his cards and sent on his way.

I'm looking forward to the season , I hope RH can produce some exciting rugby and push for promotion but i feel we will be fighting to finish in the top four with the squad we have , and that is no disrespect to the players , i think Hulls injuries will have a big impact on the calibre of player we recieve on DR and with some quality signings at most of our rivals it will be a challange to compete with the likes of Bradford ,York and the Cumbrians.

The whole dual reg/loan system is a farce especially with Litten and Lane supposed to be with us on loan, but are currently unavailable for our season opener as they are with Hull FC in Aus....we've really come out of that deal well.

With regards to CH, I like the bloke he was a good player for us and yes maybe he did help steer the ship in the dark days, but he's not doing it for free being CEO is a job, he's being paid to succeed at it, he isn't succeeding, we've swapped coaches, swapped players all with the same result....Given a choice would CH have given up a portion of what I imagine is a decent salary so that the Dons could have signed Wellington Albert? I suspect not.

I appreciate you guys are entitled to your opinions but asking whether Carl would have given up a portion of his salary so the Dons could have signed Wellington Albert is really taking things a step too far. Carl has put his hand in his own pocket to pay players' wages on many occasions when he was running the club. That's how dedicated he is. The issue with Wellington Albert wasn't a financial one, it was simply the fact that the guy was more attracted to playing Super League rugby than League One rugby.

As far as I'm concerned, the one mistake Carl made was appointing Gary Thornton. Don't forget, without Carl we wouldn't have got Paul Cooke though. As soon as it was obvious that Gary Thornton wasn't the right man for the job, Carl and the club acted quickly to replace him.

The club are making greater efforts to appeal to the wider community in Doncaster and are more than willing to listen to constructive suggestions on how we can all move forwards together. I would urge that we all try to work together to make the club we love a success.

I totally agree 100%...........

DM Your remark regards Carl paying the wages out of his own pocket is laughable, he was the owner of the club , do you think money is solely just given out from the RFL cash machine.

Clubs get a fair chunk from the boys at Red Hall but they have to generate their own income streams to be a viable concern.

Its the same in any business ,some months you make money, some you lose money its economics, and in business you need to balance the books and if that means sticking your hand in your pocket to keep the business afloat then that's what has to be done.

You make it sound as if he is beyond reproach , his business, his profit or loss depending on how he runs the company.
Don't go turning him into the messiah because he cough up a bit of cash to keep his own business going

My comments were primarily made in the context of the request from Steve Roebuck suggesting Carl should have put his hand in his pocket to secure the Wellington Albert deal. The point regarding Carl having to put his hand in his own pocket was indicative of the lack of money we had in those days. I do suspect that had it not been for Carl the club might not be here today but that seems to be lost on most people.

Of course that doesn't mean we can't question what Carl and the club do. I question him on a regular basis. We don't always agree. We can have a grown up conversation about things and we don't fall out. If I make a suggestion and it's not accepted, I don't keep banging on about it. I move on. As far as I'm concerned, we're all in this together, and if we work together we can achieve much more than if we're constantly having a go all the time.

I will counter that with the fact that without Geoff Roebuck there wouldnt have been a club for Carl to "save".

Fair point ob Carl dipping into his own pockets but just think who fills those pockets... Us and the rfl.

What irks me with the Wellington Albert situation is that one week we were in for two international forwards now the squad is fine and doesn't need additions..but it needed two forward but a few months ago

I totally agree DM

I too like Carl but sometimes he engages his mouth before his brain ,which makes him look foolish.
ie Wellington and Stanford Albert and the five year plan nonsense.

I also agree that there may not be a club without him , but pardon the pun "the goal posts have been moved" and I just don't see the club progressing under his leadership.

We have the stadium , we may have a Super League back room but we don't have a Super League side on the field , and that's what counts.

If a town the size of Doncaster cant sell more than a few hundred season tickets ...........,at what is the bargain of the century, then there is something very wrong , I know the club are trying to engage with the community clubs , but this should have been done years ago.

The Doncaster public have always been a fickle bunch , but there needs to be more people coming through the gates to make the five year plan come to light, and if the product served up is good crowds should increase.

Hopefully RH can achieve that this season.

I'm sure Carl does things with good intentions and it can backfire at times. With hindsight it might have been better not to mention the Albert brothers but he wanted to try to keep us informed. He never actually mentioned them publicly by name, it was a conclusion that was drawn through inference. I'd rather have a CEO who is prepared to communicate with us, rather than have someone who hides behind a desk all day and isn't approachable.

The goal posts have been moved - due to the stability that Club Doncaster brings. Club Doncaster needs to be given some credit for that. Of course we would all like the owners to pump more of their money into the club but we have to respect that they have the right to manage the club as they see fit. They're not in the business to fail on the pitch but they're not in the business to see the club go bust either.

I too am concerned that a town the size of Doncaster can't sell more season tickets at a discount price. It sadly leads me to the conclusion that maybe the people of Doncaster don't want a rugby team in their town. Maybe it's a chicken and egg situation and the fans will come when we start winning, although the crowds didn't noticeably increase when we won this league several seasons back. Apart from the odd few who stay away out of principle now, I don't think the current ownership is causing any significant drops in attendance levels. We're starting from a low base and it's not easy to get the numbers up quickly.

I agree we should have been doing more work in the local communities in the past but at least we're moving forwards on that one now. The kids of today are the fans of tomorrow.

I don't think it's a counter argument with regards to the excellent work your dad did for the Dons, Steve. It goes to show how much worse off we all would be if it wasn't for the dedication of the people who either work hard for the club now or who have worked hard for the club in the past. I fully respect what your dad did and I'm very grateful to him too.

The decision not to sign any replacements for the Albert brothers is the decision of Richard Horne, not Carl. The money is still there to be spent if he needs it. I suspect Mr Moimoi isn't eligible to sign for any professional club at the moment but who would Richard be able to spend the money on now? There isn't exactly a queue of good quality players looking for clubs. At least the cash is there if Richard needs to spend it.

I am of the mind that we STILL need those forwards.
Other sides have some gritty forwards ... notably the Cumbrians, Keighley etc.
What apart from a few exceptions do we now have?
Christ we have a weaker pack than last year and we only struggled to 6th THEN!
Most if that under Horne, who I personally do NOT rate.

Hall has chosen badly the last few times. I would blame him for that ... too easily sweet-talked.

Mark my words.

It is the detail that matters.
I couldn't give a toss that someone has an aim or vision for this or that.
My question would be "Just how in detail will you achieve this aim ... down to the nuts and bolts?''

So for Carl it would be .. "Just how in detail will you fulfil the five year plan?"
For Horne it would be .. "Just how in detail will you get us promoted?"

I would like to know how the club is going to respond to the seeming termination of the loan spells of Litten and Lane to essentially play in a friendly the otherside of the world. I don't begrudge the lads the opportunity be we were told the players were on loan the us for the season not some half cocked dual registered affair

Yes they made a big thing of the loan players at the launch night.
They were pivotal to the attraction of a season ticket after their fine performances away to Toronto.
Not more bleeding part-timers.

Maybe a question to be skillfully avoided I'm next weeks In the dugout

I would imagine it was always Richard Horne's intention to play as many of his own squad this weekend in the first game. It must be a good move for the two Hull lads to have got the experience of going to Australia. This is experience that we will be able to benefit from as the season progresses. It doesn't make sense to keep those two lads here just for the sake if it, when we've got a fully fit squad for the Coventry game.

We've got plenty of flexibility in who can come from Hull. We can only have 5 players in the match 17 but it doesn't mean we can't have more players registered to play - if we need them.

Carl's not stupid the '5 year plan' idea bides him more to pick up his hefty ceo wage slip, one of his last statements in the free press report was 'if it all fails I'm big enough to shake hands and go our separate ways' fans outside the gullible circle know that's utter BS as if he had any decency he would of done the right thing at the end of last season, we can keep bringing in 15 players a season and firing coaches twice a year but the problem lays elsewhere.

You play your best side irrespective and they are among those, otherwise why get them?
So for me they start and Australia be damned.
Is it a bleeding charity we are running?

Let's look at this squad shall we?
Hardly different from last season apart from the addition of a few players.. say 5 ... all of which have pulled up NO TREES in pre- season games.
Jesus!

There is no one incomer that has revved me up ... not one.
I thought the Hull lads would when they eventually got to play ... but no! They don't exist.

Jesus .. it's a joke factory!

Thank goodness for Miloudi.

Please spare me a lengthy answer about how we have to accept this and accept that.

Agreed, EXACTLY! SO well said.
The Best 5 points spoken for a long time.