The New Season is Nigh!

Ho hum!

Are you guys, like me, really struggling to summon up enthusiasm this time?  Why is that? Its certainly unlike me. Normally, by this time my football-withdrawal symptoms are in full bloom but this season....ho hum!

I think part of it is the "Follow that!" effect.  We enjoyed some great football (OK, not proper football) during the European championships.  Yes, England were found wanting but at least we didn't have to put up with the pouting sulkiness of our "stars" acting as if they were somehow doing us a favour by pulling on the three lions.  We were committed.  You got some sense that there were players out there who were at least starting realize that wearing an England shirt was an honour.  It's a first step to ending our international woes.   Now we just need to learn to play a bit better.

"Follow that!" also applies to the Olympics, which we continue to enjoy.   Hasn't it been fabulous?   Not only have we demonstrated that there are a large number of sports in which we are quite good, but we have also shown that the little islands in the North West corner of Europe are Great in nature as well as name.  From opening ceremony until (I'm sure) the flame is extinguished on Sunday we have played host to "the greatest show on earth" and have made a bloody good job of it too.  What's this strange feeling I have?  Could it be National Pride?

And now we have the Rovers....ho hum!

Its going to be a period of rebuilding for Donny.  Due to the club's ineptitude in seeing too far beyond the next match, we've been forced into a major and sudden rebuild rather than the evolution teams should continuously make.  The championship years were great at face-value.  But behind the scenes, the major investors were simply being asked for ever more money until the inevitable happened and they said "no".  Could nobody see that happening?    Relegation was a painful inevitability and it has been compounded by the fruitless clutching at straws that was the McKay experiment.

The mass exodus has now happened.  Predictably, it took its time.  Other teams know Rovers had to cut that wage-bill.  Making it easy for them to do so, especially if you happen to be a League 1 rival, makes no sense at all.  Much better to wait putting ever more pressure on our asking prices for players we have to sell and their wage-demands.

But players have now moved on.  Thanks to Jimmy O'Connor, George Friend, Simon Gillett, James Chambers, John Oster, Adam Lockwood, Sam Hird, Muzzy Dumbuya, Giles Barnes, James Hayter and Brian Stock (who looks to be about on his way) for their efforts for the club.  I hope things go well for you.

11 players out is indeed major surgery but what is more concerning is only five players so far, not including graduates from the youth-system,  have come in.  I'm not going to comment on their ability to shine in League 1.  I simply do not know whether they will deliver or not.  So I'll stick to simply welcoming Robbie Blake, David Syers, David Cotterill, Paul Quinn and Rob Jones.  I hope you enjoy yourselves at our club and do well for us!

The same applies to our youth-system graduates who, as things stand at the moment are going to be very important.  Give it a good go lads!

Away from the team, and I have to say its more positive.  Most importantly, we're no longer paying that ridiculous amount of rent for the Keepmoat.  Sure, we'll have to take on some extra costs in running and maintaining the stadium but I can't see that wiping out the £900K savings we are making in rent.  Hopefully we will actually turn some profit from the running of the stadium to add to the coffers.

It's also good to see Dick Watson and Terry Brammall publicly commit to the club once more.  We need them.  I think that reading between the lines, they are insisting that the club be run as a viable business rather than a money-pit but in the long-term, that can only be good too.

Sadly, the club has bade a fond farewell to one of its longest serving servants, Micky Walker.  The man's shear enthusiasm make him an asset that is saying nothing of his knowledge, contacts and love of the club.  We'll miss him.

Finally, we've seen some fruits that I put down to the appointment of Gavin Baldwin as CEO.  So far, I'm very happy.  There are far more initiatives to engage the fans and promote the club. I actually have the feeling that we could become a relative commercial success.  I certainly have the feeling that if we don't, it will not be down to a lack of effort, as it has been in the past.

So to coin a phrase from FC Winterthur (on one of our many promotional T-Shirts hint hint, Gavin)  DONNY KICK AND DONNY ROCK!  HEY HO LET'S GO!

RTID

DONCASTER ROVERS

 - V - 

YORK CITY

the potential rewards available from the cup competitions in the Football League are a world away from what they are in the Blue Square Bet Premier - York City Chairman, Jason McGill

Welcome back Minster-men!  We've missed you!  I hope that your re-introduction to league football goes as well as ours all those years ago although I'll have to wish you an early exit from the League Cup.  I'm sure you'll understand.

Of course there is some kind of karma in the fact that it was Donny who nailed York's football league coffin shut in 2004 when the Minstermen were beaten 3:1 at Belle-Vue.  I wish to point out now that I do not believe in karmic retribution.  It's bunkum and if there are any Minster-men out there who think that York beating Doncaster tomorrow might convince me otherwise, you are sadly mistaken.  So don't try it!

Gary Mills has a few injury worries for tomorrow with Scott Kerr, Matty Blair, Lanre Oyebanjo and Jamie Reed all injured.  I don't think the injuries are going to dampen York fans' spirits however.  That historic first game back in the league is just one week away.  I'm sure a curtain-raiser in South Yorkshire will give them the opportunity to rehearse for that party, particularly as Donny will be having a party of their own to celebrate the new lease on the stadium!

David Syers - One of the New Hopes in Hoops

York may have injury problems although I have to say after the sort of injury crises Rovers have had over the last couple of years, describing 4 players out as a problem is a bit wimpy.

Rovers' problems are more fundamental.  We only have 20 players in the squad, five of whom are those youth-system graduates I mentioned.  It doesn't look good at the moment, although I read now that Dean Saunders has been promised some money to make an assault on the transfer market.  

Its not the best preparation for the new season but in the circumstances, I don't think we could expect much more.  The money-men had lost confidence and we now have to pull the purse-strings tight to prove the club can be run within a budget.  The consequences of not demonstrating this would be truly disastrous and breaking the wage budget, which could happen should transfers fall through, would be no way to start.  

In short - patience friends!  Its going to be nervy as hell over the coming weeks, so here's hoping!