Really positive meeting tonight, Drooling over the prospect of a Player of Paul Cookes calibre joining the club. I will pledge a small amount at the moment but next year slowly increase if this squad builder continues.

If we can raise the funds to sign Paul Cooke then watch out cos the DONS are marching on COYD

I intend to contribute. Lets hope we can raise enough through the squadbuilder to sign Paul Cooke.

Its a risk to sign Cooke, but in my opinion, a risk worth taking

Come on you Dons

For people who don't know me i work as part of the community department at the club, having just returned from the meeting i came away feeling really positive how the meeting went. I think the 'opportunity'to have the chance to bring a player of Paul's ability to the club should be one that we can't afford to miss.
Not only will he had quality to the team, its the 'WHOLE' package that is more appealing to me. Paul would be a great addition to the community department,like Tony said he will raise the profile off the club no doubt and will certainly make our case stronger when we are trying to create links with new schools, colleges and partners etc. His presence alone will be a big lift to all. I for one will be looking at ways in which money can be raised for this opportunity to happen, i am willing to meet up with any supporters who have ideas, one thing i can look at is running a touch rugby competition, which could be branded the 'Paul Cooke Touch Rugby Competiton', this could be run as a weekly comp where teams pay a fee to play each week, one way where we might look at getting local businesses to put teams in aswell as the local community,we could run a bloc of 8 to 10 weeks Feb to April then again June to August,this is jus an idea.I think we need to jump on this while the fire is hot, so any ideas dont hesitate to contact me at the club on 01302 765888 or 07506647573. Thanks

Made a pledge this evening.

It may be a risk on some levels but Tony is keen to get his man and the Club are sticking to their financial policy so if we want a high profile signing this is the way.

We have got to trust Tony Miller, which I do by the way, to know what he is on about.
But we have to trust Paul Cooke to be honest and to get down to some graft, if we are successful in getting him on board and to not let Tony down.

I do think that the question and answer thing was a bit like the computer sketch with David Walliams and Matt Lucas from Little Britain IIRC .........

''Could we not try this idea?''
''Computer says ..............NO!''

''OK, what about trying this idea?''
''Computer says ...................NO!''

Etc, etc







At least a few other people acknowledged we had to a bit more inventive than to just resort to the begging bowl.

Events are needed, events that specifically are targeted at raising money for Paul Cooke and are advertised as such.
Things where people pay to watch something and get some fun out of it.
There's not much fun in filling out a direct debit.
Although we need that money as well.

I'm sure it's easier to raise £20,000 at a quid a time from 20,000 people than it is to raise £20,000 from 500 people at £40 a time. The 500 being the supporters of course.

The 'Give us a quid for a Cookie' appeal. I can see it now.


Give us a quid and we'll give you a Cookie (it would take the biscuit). You heard it here first.



We need a competition for fund raising ideas.

I pledged a lump some of £104 quid so when its gone its gone, they must worry that 1 2 3 4 quid or what ever a week could be taken away, so chose to give a firm commitment to two quid a week, not saying every one should do the same just want this to happen! COYD

how do we pledge money - how dos it work ?

It's obviously been touched on but perhaps not fully explained on here so I'll endeavour to cover the moot points from yesterdays meeting for anyone not in attendance ...

If Paul Cooke comes to the Dons he will be on the same match terms as all the other players. However, to attract him here and to get the best out of his profile in the game, the plan is to create a further development role which would see Paul out and about raising the profile of the Club in Schools and at Events etc.

There is no further funding for this from the RFL and other possible sources of funding have so far been fruitless.

Therefore to get the player there is a need to raise a salary of something like £18k for the 2012 season.

The Club do not wish to gamble in terms of their existing financial structure so the money would need to be raised through other routes.

The Meeting last night was to test the water in terms of 'can the money be made available' via fans and fan-based activities.

The Club received a number of financial pledges last night and will no-doubt receive others in the coming days. Their job then is to evaluate from these and other suggestions if the required money is likely to be raised.

Paul Cooke has been promised a decision by Tony and Carl in the first week in January 2012.

Tony is very keen to get his man and sees it as a chance to get a quality player to work with and a chance to raise the profile of the Club in general.

I think that about covers it (apologies if I've missed anything really important).

Two of us here couldn't make the meeting due to working in Leeds.
I would certainly be interested in joining a squadbuilder fund. How much will it cost and how do we go about joining?

An idea I have had for some time is to sell pixels. A tv or computer screen is made up of lots of little sqaures or pixels.

The idea is that a target number of pixles (sqaures) are set up on a page. Each one is sold for a set amount. For that amount the buyer gets to put their picture or logo on that pixel. If a single webpage is set up, either as part of the main Dons site, or the Supporters Trust, this can be used to support the Squadbuilder Fund.

right again,wellcome on board paul cooke ,i hope

I didn't do a head count but the turnout at the meeting was larger than most of the recent meetings held. My best guess would be around 75 people attended.

There was a show of hands in response to whether the supporters were in favour of signing Paul Cooke. Most hands seems to be raised although I wasn't in the best position to see.

Tony Miller, and the rest of the top table, did a good job in explaining why Paul Cooke is the man for us. The community development job, coupled with the playing side of things, would make Paul a very sound investment.

There was no set amount required to join the squad builder fund. Everyone can choose to pay whatever they feel is appropriate for them.

Hopefully there will be something set up on the Dons' website whereby people who weren't at the meeting can join in.

To afford Paul Cooke the club needs around £1500 per month from fans.

Stewart Piper added that the club is in very good shape at the moment with an excellent backroom structure in place. It is the best he has known in all his years associated with the club. He added that with the League being restructured in 2013 it is essential that we claim one of the four promotion spots available in 2012. It is the most important season ever for the Dons.

If we don't get promoted I suspect the good players we have got will leave and move to Championship clubs for 2013. This will leave us back to square one again in building a team. We can't afford this to happen. A fully fit and able Paul Cooke will be critical in whether we can achieve the promotion goal.

I have the utmost respect for Tony Miller as a coach and feel that now is the time to give the club all the backing we can. We have had a couple of seasons where the club has been stabilised after all the trauma of recent years; now is the time for the people of Doncaster to get behind the club and help to get Doncaster rugby league back on the map.

I appreciate times are tough for all of us but please try to contribute to the fund if you can. Having a potentially top class player involved with the club is what we all wanted. It won't happen unless we help to make it happen.

There was an air of enthusiam at the meeting. There was a buzz that this could be a turning point for the club. Let's not let this opportunity slip through our fingers.

The reports also said that Paul is wanting to give something back to rugby by working in schools helping the kids. He isn't motivated by money on this but would have to give up his present to take the Dons' job. He wasn't interested in returning to Super League as he didn't want the pressures that this would bring.

I've made my pledge and I saw quite a number of forms being filled in last night. Please get behind the club on this one if you can. Even if you can only manage £2 per month, many small contributions soon add up.

I would be lying if I denied I was worried when Paul Cookes name was given out as the player we hoped to sign at the meeting last night---- especially worried for our coach who’s head will probably be on the chopping block should the signing go through and things not work out-----but Tony and the club obviously knows more than me about the the state of mind of Paul Cooke and that’s good enough for me.

A fully fit Cookie with his head in the right place would certainly be an asset to the club and the younger players would certainly gain from the experience-------- so as a long-time fan of the club all I can ask is that if the monies are raised and Cookie joins us he gives us [u100% and wears the Dons shirt with pride[/u. (anything less will not be good enough for the Dons or its fans.)

Let's just do some maths (nay arithmetic) shall we?
Let's say that there were 75 people there last night and that they all contributed to finding the £1500 per month.
That's £20 per month on average from every single person there.

Now it is highly unlikely that every single person there will pledge never mind at the £20 per month level.
But let's be optimistic and say that most will pledge and that a few people who weren't at the meeting will also pledge money.

I think that the average amount pledged will be around the £10 per month mark. Maybe slightly less (we are in Yorkshire

)
That's half of what is needed.

There is some way to go then and the powers that be had better get their thinking heads on smartish as to how to raise the other half.
Where there is a will there is a way.

Get an extra game organised for pities sake at Castle Park The Dons vs The Knights all monies to the fund.
Or a sevens competition where there is little tackling so nobody risks getting hurt.
Just a bit of fun, like a training session where people pay a tenner to watch and the players get expenses only.
Don't tell me........
''Computer says .......................No!''

Get every schoolkid to bring a pound to school in return for some rugby demos/talks by the Dons.
Stuff like that .....

Have a tug of war competition.
Have a sports day where the players compete in a series of events.

Put the management in a set of stocks and let people throw wet sponges at them at a quid a time. That's my favourite.



I don't know, anything will do, just do it, is it rocket science?

Put Stand-Offish in a set of stocks and let the management throw wet sponges at him!




All good ideas, all do-able and all will contribute.

Good thinking S/O: There more good ideas that can be put together to raise the cash, the better.

I am disappointed that the player we are after is Paul Cooke. After digesting what Tony and the board had to say, I thnk the squad builder fund is a good idea.

However, even though Paul has seemingly got his act together I don't think we can really expect much from him as a player having had 2 years out. We have signed numerous 'big name magnets' and none of them have been true to their word. I am afraid Graham Holroyd is another that this is another Graham Holroyd situation. I hope I am proven wrong and if that is the case I will hold my hands up.

As an idea for fund raising, the retro match shirts auction went down really well (I personally spent almost £200 on one). How about all fans vote for an all time, all stars dons team, then the player for that position (if still with us obviously), signs the corresponding shirt which is then auctioned for the squad builder? Who wouldn't want to buy Alex Green's signed shirt?????

What people seem to forget about the "Graham Holroyd" situation is that he was almost certainly our best player for 5 years, single handedly kept us up in his first season and organised the team after that. I'd love another "Graham Holroyd situation"

But that is probably an argument for years gone by

A lot of people have said this year they will not be travelling to as many away games due to the distance and extra expense. Therefore we want to get as much out of the home games as we can, with the best players we can get. So why not set aside some of the money saved from not travelling to the away game and invest in the team for your entertainment at the Keepmoat.

By my reckoning an average away game is knocking on £35 of expense

Obviously lots of people will still want to go to away games, after all that is the reason most of us are here, to watch the team. But there are those that don't

Agreed, Holroyd was class and exactly the kind of player we need now.
He only went elsewhere when the ship was sinking, otherwise he would have stopped with us.
I thought he was great, I wish we could have had him and Mansson at the same time.

The meeting was interesting for two other points.
The man who said ''What if Cooke breaks his leg after say a fortnight, what then?''
He took my crown did that man ... congrats.

Also the bit about ''Why would Paul Cooke want to come to Donny rather than Superleague?''
Reply ''Because he doesn't want the pressure and wants to work in Schools.''
Durrr?
There would be no pressure at Donny then?
And have you ever worked with kids Paul?
They're 'orrible!

I thought the bloke who said stick a quid on the gate had a good idea.

Have a Paul Cooke raffle at every match and have him present the prize.

See if we can get Kingdom to make a Paul Cooke range like Warrington did for Joey.

Aution the new shirts with his autograph on them.

i will be pledging and buying what ever we knock up to bring him here, the only person i feel sorry for is China who is in his testamonial season and has to compete with the "bring Paul Cooke to Donny" fund.

Steve Hossack's report in [url=http://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/miller_help_us_sign_star_cooke_1_4057515[size=120The Star [/size[/url

It would take 400 people at £5 a month to make two grand. I would have thought that would be within the range of everyone to afford. Even with a small fanbase this is achievable.
I will be signing up for this. We need to be in the Championship in 2013 to avoid the intergalactic travel to away games on planet Zog and maybe when we are up there with increased attendances we will be able to keep hold of our better players.
The season tickets were for nothing so i don't think we can complain at being asked to cough up a few extra pounds to help build the team.
I really hope this works out.

You won't get 400 people signing up though, only about 100.
The only people really interested, apart from those that could not make it or didn't know about it were at the meeting.
I don't think the people at the meeting were a significant subset of a bigger group of interested fans. If more fans were interested then why didn't they come?

Besides which, the money raised this way is at risk at source.
If Paul Cooke turns out to be a disappointment and people rag their pledges in, we are still committed to him for a year aren't we?
Not least because he has packed his job in to come and needs an income.
Much better to get some money by other means that is up front, then it doesn't matter. In other words, you already have the money and the risk is covered.

It's all right Carl saying he doesn't want to put the club at risk, but paying for Paul this way could do just that.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket would be my advice.

It shouldn't come to this of course, but you can't just pay the guy on promises.

I would class 400 as a poor attendance. You would think that at least that amount would give a fiver a month. If we were going to Wembley they'd be knocking the doors down. Typical Donny sporting public.
You are right though, we won't get 400.