When G Thornton was in charge of York City Knights in 2014, there were really only three teams capable of fighting for promotion from Championship 1 – York City Knights, Oldham and Hunslet Hawks.

In 2015, there are eight strong teams in League 1; Oldham Roughyeds, Keighley Cougars, York City Knights, Swinton Lions, North Wales Crusaders, Rochdale Hornets, Barrow Raiders and Newcastle Thunder.

For 2016, two of the five top teams will be promoted. Donny and one of Hunslet Hawks or Whitehaven or Batley will come down. Also, Toulouse may enter League 1.

Clearly, there will be some movement of players and coaches. The financial status of some clubs may be better than others allowing them to offer more competitive financial deals to get better players. So some teams may strengthen and others may weaken. Given that our financial position is good, let’s hope that the club spends the money wisely.

However, this year we struggled to compete with Hunslet, Whitehaven and Batley. We were soundly beaten by North Wales Crusaders – currently fifth in League 1.

If Donny’s aim is to come straight back up to Championship, then it is clear that Donny needs to build a team that can compete for the top slots in League 1. This year, Donny’s management admitted to making mistakes. The management problems of this year must be resolved fully so that they are not carried forward as a burden into 2016.

It will be good to see the complete player picture when it is released. Given the numerous comments of the importance of the spine of the team, it will be of particular interest to know which players will fill the 1, 6, 7 and 9 positions.

Only by selecting good players who can be moulded by the coaches into a strong competitive team, will we have a chance of succeeding in achieving promotion.

The challenges of League 1 should not be underestimated.

Bang on those two previous post from SO. The club has a lot of ground to make up with the Dons fans who like myself are not going to be easily brought back by words and sound bites that have not put one single point on the scoreboard this year.

I was perhaps wrong about the Club Doncaster tie in with the finances I am struggling to get my head around the fact that a bloke with Gavin Baldwins financial acumen has allowed money to be spent in this way. Really really puzzled.

Type in to Google 07132145 then click on the link to filing history pdf download.

You will be able to view the abbreviated unaudited accounts the club filed at Companies House 31/07/15

Like others who write views on this site, I too have a circular jumble of emotions about our calamitous situation. It ranges from disbelief to sadness to despair to anger and to happiness about former days. I think of what we had and what might have been.

Management do not wish to discuss this issue. They want the matter closed. The past has gone so forget it. They want to focus on the future. The big difference is that management have the inside information to know what happened and this makes it easy for them to bring closure to a dreadful season. The fans do not have this information and so can only speculate. Why do they speculate? Surely it is to understand the situation so that they can bring closure.

So whilst I can appreciate the business need to move on, at the same time the fans should be given some understanding of what went so wrong. Then, we too can bring closure to what we had.

I find it difficult to just walk on blindly towards a future without looking back at the past and asking a simple question, “What happened?”

Very good points made there by Tee Man. The club will not take as many people with them going forwards without offering some further words of explanation. The future may be all that matters but the past cannot be ignored.

See my post on Club Doncaster.