Quote: donny hkr "I agree, poor recruitment at the start of the season, not many said so at the time , but in hindsight yes. Also dual reg has been poor, but again supporters were split, some like it some don't. Rob terrace, I think, asked a question on facebook, something like would you rather have a team of 17 players who would run through a brick wall and fire, or 17 flair players ( not exact question, but something like), I said s bit of both would be nice, most said 17 who would run through the wall. My point is no matter what the club do, it will be wrong in someone's eyes, they brought in players who they thought could help the current situation, and changed the coach. Carl Hall is asking people to support the club, should he need to ask?.'"
It was quite difficult for us to make judgements at the start of the season as to whether the recruitment policy was right or not, as we didn't really know much about the players who'd been signed. The early season posts probably suggested we were concerned but, as you say, hindsight is a great thing. Last year, the club found the likes of Richard Wilkinson and Steve Snitch was a good signing. We were prepared to give the club the benefit of the doubt partly probably due to the fact we've also had a decent record in the past when signing the likes of Luke Gale and Kyle Briggs. We were hoping that similar would happen this time around, but sadly it didn't.
We could see the writing on the wall from quite early on, probably after the pre-season Hunslet game. It's disappointing that the club didn't see the depth of the problems at that point.
HKRs right in that there's is no policy that gets everyone's agreement. In a perfect world we wouldn't need Dual Reg. We would be self-sufficient. Running through brick walls is okay, and no one likes totally committed players more than I do, but if they're simply not good enough, effort alone doesn't win games.
The risk of bringing in DR players is that they might not be totally committed to the cause, and they may be no better than the players you've already got. The DR players we had last season made more of a difference than the DR players we've had this season. In that way, I feel Hull have let us down too. In our hour of need, I feel there is more they could have done to help. I understand their priority is to look after Hull's needs first but working together means working for the benefit of both parties.
Our underlying problem is that we don't have a reserve team to bring through our own talent. Throwing youngsters into the first team, when they're probably not match fit, is a tough call at the best of times. But then it probably all comes down to money. Should we invest the cash in trying to win now (by signing higher profile players) or try to invest in the future with youth?
There is an element in me that says that if the present isn't reasonably successful, there may be no future, so you must primarily look after the present and build for the future when resources allow. Our current season policy seems to have fallen foul of everything. We didn't invest sufficiently in the present, it's hard to invest in the future if you don't have a second team, and we don't have a proper structure in place to develop the youngsters.
The consequence is that more money needs to be invested to correct the errors made. This is where Club Doncaster will need to stand up and be counted.
Should Carl have to ask for people's support? I'd like to think not but I've pleaded with people on here to stay loyal because it's the only positive thing we can do as a group to help the team.
One of the things that does annoy me is the marketing hype that comes out on the Dons' website through the tweets such as this: THIS IS IT! Bumper crowd expected for the Whitehaven clash!
I consider this to be an insult to people's intelligence. Yes, we need to get behind the team, but this makes it sound like a cup semi-final with glory waiting if we win. It's not. It's the first of the last battles for survival. On what basis is a bumper crowd expected? Do the club really think anyone other than the loyal few will turn up?
But then again, different things annoy us, that's my whinge out of the way!
