Cheers.
That's as it should be.
I bet getting stuffed on Sunday helped clarity.

We have a part coach and a part squad ... it just wasn't right.

what im refering to is not JUST the lack of information coming from the meeting last thursday but the lack of news / information for the build up of the season ahead. Its the Job of Carl/club Doncaster to promote their product (the team) to encourage people to invest in the club,, did anyone ask how many season tickets have been sold this year ( I have deliberateley NOT bought one) compared to last year,, I suspect the numbers are well down. The reason why?? I truely hope that the NEWS that will be released albeit miles to late to generate a big rush to buy season tickets or get the fans excited is going to be be something BIG,,, but dont hold your breath..

None of the people attending the meeting asked how many season tickets had been sold. Had any fans asked the question prior to the meeting, I would have made sure it was mentioned. Our main concern (as fans) at the meeting was the thinness of our squad and the lack of recruitment. This was the main focus of the meeting.

I share your concerns about the lack of information coming out of the club during the off-season. I would have preferred weekly updates throughout in an In The Dugout. Without news we all start to fear the worst and think nothing is happening. In the club's defence, there probably wasn't much to tell. They got their fingers burnt revealing transfer targets in 2017 and perhaps decided it was better to keep 'targets' quiet this time around.

What everyone will learn about shortly has taken most of the off-season to sort. I don't know the specific wording that's going to be in the Club Statement but I believe that what the club has done is a smart move. It answers the criticisms that we have been aiming at them for the last few seasons, and gives us the best chance possible of going up this year.

I am critical of the club when I feel they get things wrong, including poor presentations on match days, like last Sunday (as shown in the questions I was submitting). Through the Fans Panel the club give us an opportunity to question them, make our feelings known, and put forward suggestions for change. I doubt that many clubs do this. Long may this link between the club and fans continue.

The fans who attend the Panel Meetings are passionate about the club in just the same way as posters on here are. We want the club to succeed and do the right things too.

I've been in touch with Carl on Saturday morning to see why the minutes of the meeting haven't yet been published.

Carl told me that all day Friday was taken up sorting arrangements for Kes's match on Sunday. Work will begin on the minutes and 'formal announcement' on Monday.

Keep up the good work Mike. It is very much appreciated

And that sentiment also applies to Gary (Wanderer)

Well how about this? ....
Folk are too busy to tell us until Monday at the least ....

So how cack-handed is that, what with Kyle's game tomorrow?
Kyle get's all the money left over after expenses and an announcement could have added a few more to the gate and all that into Kyle's pocket.
Are we running a business or a retirement home for business illiterates?
What is wrong with a club announcement on the website and social media, it is too bloody late for the Free Press, that goes something like this ..

Calling all Dons fans, come along to Kyle Kesik's Testimonial match on Sunday against Leeds because in the few days after it there is going to be an important announcement concerning our future which will have the people of Doncaster buzzing (or words to that effect).

That took me 2 minutes .... and put 50 on the gate at least.

Why didn't they encourage more fans down by saying there was going to
be a BIG announcement during half time of the game on Sunday instead of doing it Monday

I hope fans don't need an incentive to go to Kes's testimonial. We should all want to be there to say 'thank you' to him.

I understand everyone's frustrations about the announcement. Dealing with it on Friday would have been best but the club clearly had important issues to sort out on Kes's behalf. The statement is something that is best put in writing to everyone, not announced over the tannoy.

Agreed. Having listened to Gavin Baldwin and Carl Hall on Thursday evening, this is not something which could be announced over the tannoy mid-match. There are some contractual arrangements involved and I concur that the Club needs to announce them in a formal written statement.

The games given away unless I have misread it ... we are going professional or part-professional.
Can't see what else it would be.
As in full-time professional or part.

My guess too. Similar to Bradford. This would have to entail 3 or 4 full time new signings. Need to follow the Bradford model rather than the Eagles one from a couple of years ago.

Hull FC takeover the running of Doncaster Rugby League Club

I thought they already had.

It won't be that ... the club would be finished.

Stop trolling Geoff. I'd be very surprised if Wanderer and DM were speaking as positively as this if that were the case.

Exactly.
Even the current situation with Hull is threatening our very future.

How do you think the Dons would be able to afford & fund having three or four full time players?

Cadge it from Club Doncaster.

Could it be we’re bringing a few overseas players in, maybe a link up with an overseas club ?

I received my reminder to buy a season ticket last week (bought it in November btw) and included was a fixture list telling me what I had to look forward to.

A staggering 10 home matches!! It’s hardly worth bothering to call it a season!

Ok, there’s the Challenge Cup to add plus anything in the play-offs (got to remain optimistic) but realistically, how is the club, supporters & sponsors supposed to thrive & survive on 10 matches?

Answers on a postcard please to Disillusioned of Doncaster.

As in cooking when you see season you know it means just a little.
And so it is in League 1.
lol

Fans Panel Meeting
Thursday 10th January 2019


Attendees: Carol Green, Mike Lindley, Carol Lindley, Gary Fox, Phil Scorah, Barry Brown, Scot Goddard, Carl Hall, Gavin Baldwin, Shaun Lockwood, Ray Green, Mark Hughesman, Jane Keightley, Chris Scorah

Apologies: Tracy Armstrong, David Stewart, Stewart Thompson, Jackie Green, Phil Buxton, Stewart Piper


Welcome
• CH approved the Minutes of the last meeting, thanked everybody for attending
• ML asked about progress on Dons for Life from a previous meeting; SL to look into and report back at the next meeting

Match Day Themes
• Every home game has a theme which is timed with events happening during the year eg Super Heroes Day is around the time of the next Avengers film.
• Themes include 3 Family Fun Days, Women in the Game, Junior Takeover and Summer BBQ
• The themed games are on the newsletter that all supporters are receiving this week and on the website/social media to give people time to plan in advance

Match Day programme
• It was agreed that the current programme is outdated as all the information is online and it loses large sums of money over the season. The new format was discussed which is an A4 sheet including the squad list of both teams and a summary from Richard Horne and will cost 50p
• The RFL announced at a meeting in December that there is no requirement for clubs to produce traditional programmes from next season and the panel agreed that although it is unfortunate that the programme is not continuing as it was part of the match day experience, times have changed and we need to move on
• The main thing supporters are interested in is who is actually playing so the team will be announced by the PA Co-ordinator and be displayed on the big screen as usual; team sheets will no longer be produced

Mascot
• The lion outfit has been ordered by the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and we plan to launch it at the first home game

Questions from Carol Green on behalf of supporters
• Carol asked for questions from supporters on Facebook and Twitter but no one sent any. Carol will register on the forum and will be the point of contact going forward



Questions from the forum

ML: At the last meeting we were told there were 2 to 3 signings likely and those players had been playing Super League last season. Are we any further forward with those?
• CH advised that we lost them both – one to Leigh and one to Halifax

ML: Are we still intending to sign 2 Hull players on season long loans? If so, can they be named?

• As part of the meeting, Carl Hall confirmed that this season, the club had negotiated and paid for an enhanced agreement with Hull for D/R and loan players
The agreement will guarantee that should any players on loan or D/R get injured or be recalled to Hull’s first team, then Hull will ensure the Dons receive a replacement player of similar ability if required by Richard Horne.
The club confirmed a special “in the dugout” with Carl Hall will go out before the season starts

ML: There are presently 18 players in our squad. Without relying on Hull to plug the gaps, we seem light on numbers. How do Carl and Richard feel about this?
• We have signed more players than at this stage last year and the squad is looking stronger, we are hoping to have about 20/21 of our own squad before the season starts. RH has always stated it’s all about performance for him, if you perform you keep your shirt, he now knows all the players strengths so will keep putting out teams who have the best chance of winning games.

ML: As we're trying to improve the game day experience for fans, this was not helped by three of our four trialists not having shirt numbers listed on the scoreboard last Sunday. Had Ryan Dixon not won Man Of The Match, I wouldn't have known who number 30 was.
• All squad players have allocated numbered shirts but those trialling get allocated their shirts on match day. The PA Co-ordinator announces all the players and will inform supporters of the try scorers immediately afterwards at home league games as we are having someone to operate the scoreboard so Rob can be pitch side making more regular announcements

ML: Quite a lot of Dons fans were turning up at the turnstiles believing they could pay at the gate. It would have been helpful if the communications sent out by the club had made it clear that it was an all ticket game. Can we make sure this is made clear for the Leeds and London games?
• We haven’t had cash turnstiles for over a year and away teams are advised in their correspondence when receiving tickets. We will ensure that it goes out in future Comms that tickets can be purchased from the Box Office up until Kick Off

Stand Offish: My question is 'why is the half time draw not related to the number of tickets sold?’ It is a measly £50 when it used to be £100. Now I can understand why it may have dropped in the hard times, but we had 1170 people on Sunday.
• The amount we give as prize money is directly related to tickets sold and it doesn’t always follow that because the crowd is larger the supporters have bought half time draw tickets as Hull were selling their Fanzine on Sunday which affected draw ticket sales
• SG requested that the winning number be put on Twitter and on the big screen so supporters have more opportunity to see if they have won


Returning Don: What makes the coach and staff believe that relying on DR again this season will work when it didn’t last season. We have 18 players, some who are out injured, no signings in nearly 3 months. Can they understand why fans are concerned and if so what are they going to do to address this?

See response to question two

Keith Lard’s Dog: I know we had players missing on Sunday but we were totally out classed by what is effectively Hulls kids with a few old heads thrown in.

With a paper thin squad of players and with two or three long term injuries already sustained (don't know how true this is but rumour in the bar after the game) RH must be happy that we are going to sign a number of Hull players on loan and have the pick of dual reg when we need them to paper over the cracks.

All the players we had from Hull last season played their part but it’s no good getting players like Litten and Miloudi when you’re playing West Wales and no-one when you’re away at Workington in a promotion decider with three or four of your squad injured.
This is all well and good but we need assurances that we are not going to be hung out to dry like we were last season.

See response to question two


Any Other Business

• MH to circulate a summary of the new RFL rules by e-mail
• CH requested that supporters are aware via social media that tickets for the Newcastle game can be bought from our Box Office



The meeting closed at 7.30pm



Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be on Thursday 11th April at 6.00pm in Alick’s Bar

=#0000FFThe critical aspect of the minutes is:

As part of the meeting, Carl Hall confirmed that this season, the club had negotiated and paid for an enhanced agreement with Hull for D/R and loan players
The agreement will guarantee that should any players on loan or D/R get injured or be recalled to Hull’s first team, then Hull will ensure the Dons receive a replacement player of similar ability if required by Richard Horne

[uMy view is[/u:

The weaknesses of DR/Loans in the past is that we have not been able to rely on it, and Hull have not provided players when we needed them most. This should not happen in the future with the enhanced agreement; an agreement that comes with a price tag.

No names were mentioned as to which players may be coming on DR/Loan but it's important to note that in order for players to be 'qualified' for the play-offs they need to play at least five league games. My preferred choice would be to have as many Hull players qualified for the play-offs as possible to give us the broadest amount of cover possible when we're likely to need it most.

The club is also looking to add to our own squad of players (as mentioned in the minutes) to boost our numbers further.

The quality of players within the Hull squad was shown by their performance in the game against us. As we can have up to five Hull players in our match day squad, the 'quality' that comes from Hull should greatly enhance our chances this season.

Thanks...can I check...is the bold bit about the arrangements with Hull the announcement we've been waiting for today?

Yes, that's right. I don't know if the club are going issue a separate statement on the website as only forum readers will be aware of it at the moment.

Does this agreement mean we will receive a few of the first team squad player when not selected for Hull or the academy lads?

We weren't given specific details as to who may or may not be coming but as the arrangement seems to have come at a significant price, I would hope the price we've paid will be represented in the quality of players who come.