Please see the minutes below. Sorry if i didnt get to ask all questions but it was a long meeting as there was not only me asking questions.

Fans Panel Meeting
Wednesday 9th September 2015


John Scarrow welcomed everyone to the meeting.
He stressed that there have been problems this year but we must now move on and look to next season. The Club has admitted they had made mistakes but we must look forward, we have a new Coach and everyone is committed to Club Doncaster. Everyone is hurting from the players, staff and management, so we must draw a line under this and move on.

Gary Thornton has done a lot of work behind the scenes to bring players to the Club, we will be announcing some tonight but cannot announce all at the moment.

Gary Thornton then stated that as he had said before he is looking for his pivotal players and with the team coming together he is confident that we will have a competitive team.

Firstly he has looked at the current players he knows deserves to stay but some of the new signing cannot be announced yet.

He then went through some of the signings from the current squad

Kyle Kesik – well respected at the Club.
Liam Welham – impressive this year and never misses training
Sam Doherty – strong and wants to learn
Brad Foster – trains well and has great potential
Tom Carr – unfortunate season this year but with a good pre-season will be good

Some of current squad are talking to other Clubs and have not come to agreement yet.

Other new signing are:

Daniel Foggin-Johnson – from Warrington – 19 years old, wing/fullback.
Daniel Hirst – from Warrington – hooker
Matt Nicholson 24 – prop – played for Leeds/Dewsbury/York and Featherstone.
Mark Castle – Dons favourite and delighted to be back
George Milton – 20 years old – loose forward – played for Leeds and England U18’s
Mason Tonks – 2nd row - played for Leeds/NZ Warriors/Bradford/Featherstone

GT: We are very positive about these new signings, they have come from top class teams – they are enthusiastic and have good fitness levels.

GT then showed a video of clips of the players.





Questions:

Are these on loan or permanent signings?
GT: Permanent signings. They have good pace and we want to play open rugby next season not one directional. 6 and 7 are pivitol. They are young players but experienced from Super League.
CH: Luke Gale, Kyle Briggs, Kyle Wood and Wayne Rettie were all young players when we won promotion last time.

Fitness needs to be looked at?
GT: Lack of fitness has frustrated Pete Green and myself and it is something that will be paramount for next season. The players we are bringing in are naturally fit now and they will bring that the Club. We only have 6/7 hours with the players a week so everything is tough to fit in. Improvement has come too late this year.
CH: Gary has prided himself with the fitness of his players at other Clubs.
GT: At York a lot of the games were won in the last 20 minutes – this was due to the fitness of the players.

Sponsorship money, RFL funding and gate receipts will all be lower next year. Will Club Doncaster be investing money into the Dons, or will the rugby club have to be self-sufficient?
GB: Sponsorship money will not be lower than this year. For the kit sponsorship Andrew Whitham has achieved the same amounts as last year, even though the Club is relegated. Club Doncaster are funding the Club because they have confidence in Carl Hall and Gary Thornton.
CH: Despite the £125K reduction of the RFL distribution through relegation, Gary and myself are delighted with the players budget we have asked for and have received from the Owners.

Do players get a signing on fee?
CH: Players are on a salary. It’s not always the money – they have seen the facilities we have here and at the Training Ground and they want to come to Doncaster. Some have been offered better deals at other Clubs but chose Doncaster.

What are the match day attendance targets for next season?
CH: Similar to this year (600)
JS: I have looked at last weeks gates in Championship 1 and they are averaging 600. We will not get the travelling fans as with Leigh and Halifax but we should be able to attract more as we win games.

Are we continuing with Dual Reg at Hull?
CH: GT and I have talked to Hull and Sheffield. This year it didn’t work because of the calibre of players we had. Better players are signing for Hull but we are leaning towards taking players on season long loans. We are still looking at DR partnership as an option for both clubs and if it benefits us we will use it. Both Doncaster and Hull are comfortable with the agreement.


Advertising the games could be better – it seems to be limited?
Can fixture list be put into pubs and Schools?
RM: I agree there is a lot more we can do and we are looking at this longer term for both the Dons and the Rovers. Everything at the moment is mainly electronic. I agree it is something that can be improved.

Can players go in to Schools to encourage attendances at matches?
CH: Players work full time so it is difficult but Jim Lord, Foundation CEO, will be working with the rest of the team to plan this. Currently they are in 14 Primary Schools and 12 Secondary Schools. The Club Nights that were run at the Amateur Clubs were successful.

Dons seem to have no identity at the Stadium?
CH: The new branding of Club Doncaster is all around the Stadium. When our new season starts there will be Dons players also in place.

Car Stickers would be a good idea?
AW: We are looking at a dual badge and a sponsor. We have an on-line shop where you can purchase other items other than shirts. The Stadium shop is run by Just Sport.

A new Mascot that would appeal to kids would be good as with Donny Dog?
AW: Yes, that is something we can look at although the suits are very expensive but we agree with what you are saying, we need to more friendly to young supporters.

Could we communicate better with the use of emails to fans as well as the website?
RM: Again this is something we can look at across Club Doncaster. We need to improve the system that we use. It is part of the longer term plans.

A lot of fans are not happy about getting news from other sources before it is announced from the Club?
CH: Communication has improved significantly but the Club will not react until the facts are 100%. A good example was the announcing of Paul Cooke going to Featherstone.

Some people are still unhappy about 2pm KO, next season away fans are going to be doing a lot more travelling, so would it be better to return to 3pm?
CH: We will listen to what the fans want.
JS: When purchasing your season ticket on Sunday please let Jackie or the Ticket Office know which time you prefer – we will decide that way.

Are Sheffield Eagles playing at the Keepmoat next year?
CH: We won’t know until the end of September

Will we have a 2nd Team in the near future?
CH: On Monday the Dons Academy Foundation starts. This is a milestone and we could be looking at first team players in 5 years. This is another commitment of Club Doncaster.
We would love to have a 2nd team and we have long term plans.


Can we ask some different questions to Carl In the Dugout?
CH: Please email your questions and I will be happy to answer them.

What are the Club’s ambitions for next year?
GT: To be competitive and successful and get into the playoffs and challenge for promotion. League 1 will be tough competition, it will not be a given that we will be straight back up but we will be challenging.
CH: Other Clubs may have a bigger budget but Gary and I are not frightened about that, it’s the way the money is spent and who you bring in. When I owned the Club and won the League we did not have a budget at all but we created a good culture and team spirit, which money can’t buy.
GT: We want to sustain players and grow the Club, we have a model in place and have a long term plan. We want the players to stay and feel valued.

Pre-season Friendlies next year, will we be playing some that we have a chance of competing with?
GT: We have to get the balance right, SL teams that will create interest but not taking a big defeat. Talking to Castleford and Hull at the moment.

Some fans were saying that the Club should not be charging the fans the season ticket price but offering it at a much lower price due to the rubbish served up this year, making them cheaper may bring the stay away fans back?
CH: I don’t agree, it doesn’t work like that. Some of the playing budget is covered by season ticket sales. If you want cheap season tickets we will have a cheap team! We have checked what other Clubs are charging and we are comparable. Some Club’s match day admission prices are more expensive than ours and they have nowhere near the excellent facilities as we have.
JS: We have a business to run and we have aspirations for the Club with the support of Club Doncaster.

Are the majority of our games going to be played at the Keepmoat or is Castle Park or the running pitch going to be used?
CH: Keepmoat is our home and games will be played here on the main pitch. Castle Park will be used when the pitch is having work done on it as in previous years. We need to stop these rumours and I don’t where these people get their information from.
JS: The Stadium and the Training Ground are the some of best facilities in the League.
GT: The use of Training Ground gives us a massive boost and gives a professional environment for the players.

Can the video of the new players be put on the website?
CH: Yes, Jordan Owens is looking at doing this and there will be good news stories/new signings put out regularly when they are confirmed.

Carl Hall finished by saying that Club Doncaster is here for the benefit of the people, to bring the sports in Doncaster together along with the use of sport centres/gyms, it’s not about making money. At the moment it is just scratching the surface and will continue to grow with discounts gained from being a member. Liam Scully has been appointed to bring this all together as COO of Club Doncaster. Carl also said that if we are to do anything or win anything next season we are not a big enough club to be divided, we all have to stick together under the Club Doncaster umbrella and I can promise you this Club will get back to where it needs to be and we are determined to put a smile back on your all faces. BACK THE BADGE.
Get your season tickets Sunday and enjoy the ride.

John Scarrow thanked everyone for their attendance and confirmed there will be another meeting is around 70 days.

Over seven hours on since being posted and the silence is deafening.

While there is some positive news in their and I do support GT and hope he has a good chance to prove himself with us (I rate him as a coach) I am a little concerned that 4 of the players signed are from the same "source" and again I raise concerns that we are being offered players by a former chairman who abandoned the club on the very day of first ever final victory (and second final appearance).

4 of the new recruits are from that stable and recent history has shown me that we will be a just stepping stone to better clubs for this players as can be evidenced by the video highlighting Matt Groats performances for us this year trying to attract interest from other clubs.

I worry that if these players do turn out to be good finds that they will only be with us a year before they are offered up to bigger clubs at we are set back to square one.

If we look at what happened with Gayle, Briggs and Wood we only had them for a short time before they were lured away by bigger and better clubs in the case of Gayle long before the season had ended (tho we seem unwilling to do this to current recruits).

Of course my concerns maybe completely unfounded and I may be proved totally wrong and every is entitled to their own opinion but I've just had the wool pulled over my eyes for to many seasons and witness so many false dawns that I think you can forgive me for being a little bit paranoid and skeptical.

Just gotta wait and see now who we get.

I don't think we are going to sign anyone that will make us go ...WOW!

It doesn't mean we won't have an half decent side though.

But as for revving up the good people of Donny ... forget it!