An interesting article with plenty of facts which in the writer’s view lead to a favourable conclusion about the current policy.

The author sets out the benefits that have arisen historically from the relatively small number of players that have been at DRFC on loan. Recently there has been a far greater reliance on loanees. The pattern has changed radically.

This latter kind of borrowing Is akin to leasing though. Leasing 40% of your trading stock entails having to re-stock around the remaining 60%, assuming that you hang on to all of what is left. Perhaps rebuilding for the new season might be slightly easier than this, but recovering from the loss of 6 loanees is a far greater risk to continuity than last season when it was only Wilks and Kane.

Comparing the young PL players to the more mature kind of loanee like Stock (unwanted by Burnley) and Sullivan (looking for a new club towards the end of his career) is not really valid; even Mills had no real future with Man C and Rovers became a Championship club anyway. So I do not recognise that parallel. The analogy there would be to Hire Purchase. And of course the numbers were less anyway.

When it comes to the club’s position in the scheme of things, the suggestion that we are only a “mid tier League 1 side” and the implication that this equates with the level of our aspirations is not a fair one. We were rarely below the play-off positions last season and have been comfortably above the half way point throughout this season. Rovers fans and the Board think Championship.

The nearest parallel one might find to discovering whether major close season personnel changes work is to compare Sheffield United with Aston Villa or Wolves with West Ham. Stability pays. Even buying in really expensive new talent doesn’t.

Darren Moore was forced into the major move in the loan market and he handled it well until the end of January. He went a bit wild a few games back, but perhaps he is back on course now.

There is no evidence to show that more than a limited dependence on loanees is sound policy if a club with Championship ambitions is to sustain a regular challenge for promotion.

Thanks, Donaldo. I agree with you most of the time and feel I could almost have written that piece, but without your skill.

Yes thanks and also agree. However I fear this season will be over after this weekend.

I’m flattered; all I can say is that it takes a lot of time to produce this kind of analysis, just as I imagine the original author put a lot of work into his piece which is well written. We can all be rather hasty with criticism and obviously points can be made on the other side.

The climate in which football operates is ever-changing and living through the times, watching the game for 70 years, provides a helpful context to judge history. Perhaps it may make you a bit more more rational too, perhaps not.

I heard of the postponement of all PL & EFL games just before I was going to post my Wimbledon preview.

Strange times. Expect the Government will advise all those over 70 to self isolate! Keep on washing those hands!

All championship results erased.....please.

It brings back memories of the 1962-63 Big Freeze when football and horse racing was postponed or cancelled. At least there were no disease/medical issues except from protecting certain people from the cold.
Over here all major sporting leagues are postponed, and in Oregon all gatherings of more than 250 people which means cancelling major theatre and concerts. Luckily, most cinemas are multi screens with auditoriums of about 100 people and so can keep operating.
Many people have gone crazy stock-piling everything! I made the mistake of going to Costco yesterday. I have a business membership allowing me to use a limited access hour and I'm normally in and out in 15 minutes or under. I did not know they were opening early for all members, and when I arrived the parking lot was almost full and it was a zoo inside the store. I was in a check-out line for 28 minutes before reaching the cashier.
Keep well lads by all means possible.

PS: I'll miss criticising Cole!

Hotel here in Lanza in lockdown.

Something to read if you are isolated!

https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/sport/football/king-alick-and-doncaster-rovers-cup-thrillers-revisiting-catt-chronicles-pt1-2455037

As the heading of the post says.
All alone

Are we all well?

Hello Lanza, and everyone else.
All well so far on the Left Coast. We are only semi-locked down. Allowed out for essentials such as food, wine (we are a wine producing area, one can buy retail, but tasting rooms are closed and some wineries are doing pick-up at the door), and, would you believe, guns! After 43 years, I still do not understand the love of guns over here! Although I had a marksman badge while serving in the RAFVR, I've never owned a gun, or have any wish to do so.
Really missing football. At least the Rovers have put some interesting historic stuff on their website, and so older games on iFollow. I've even dug out some old DVDs I have.
Hope everyone is staying healthy.

Good news PDX

Micky: Lockdown here is similar to your State's. Observance seems good locally, with traffic sparse and walkers and cyclists in numbers that take you back to the fifties.

The accounts of human tragedy, including people who have died young and without underlying health conditions, have probably shocked many of us into a genuine state of fear. As well as Boris, Health Secretary of State Hancock, only in his early 40s and now recovered, has recently described his experience and anxiety with the infection which sounded most unpleasant.

In contrast to the US, you probably know that most European countries have their health services largely government-owned. As a result, organisation and co-ordination is simpler. Here, 10 years of "Austerity" under Conservative governments and right-of-centre coalitions has not had a beneficial effect on public services including the National Health Service, but the current administration had taken steps to reverse this and seem, right now, to be working as hard as they can . Our present relationship with the EU has inevitably led to an independent policy and with some signs of a less-than-coordinated approach by the EU it is too early to judge whether we are better off where we are, outside instead of in. We are told that Hospital beds and the availability of ventilators etc., should not be a problem, but protective gear is not getting where it should be and there is a serious lack of testing capability.

There is a creditable system of keeping everyone informed with daily Government Briefings led by the PM until his self-isolation. These are now led by various Government Ministers, flanked by at least one and often two civil servants, leading health officials, medical or scientific, who answer questions put to them on-line by journalists. It is all very structured and more formal than your President’s Press Conferences; perhaps his style is more suited to the expectations of Americans.

Similar story here in Wales. Though it is an offence to stray within 2 metres of a non family member. Though its been like that for years with Mrs Nookie! Even though she's family.

By the way rumour has it Copps may be thinking of calling it a day. 😥

Nookie, where have you got that rumour from mate.

http://awayonsaturday.blogspot.com/2020/04/doncaster-rovers-video-archive-2013.html?m=1

Video archive of the last 2 seasons

comment by drfchound (U2224)
posted 58 minutes ago
Nookie, where have you got that rumour from mate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From a post by Liam Hodden

Hopefully he's wrong

Was it a post on Twitter (which I don’t do) or somewhere else?

Nookie, thanks for the links - I can now waste more time watching the Rovers! One of our local TV stations are showing "classic" games played by the Timbers and Thorns - such as when they won their Championships and other notable games. Yesterday they showed one of the war games between the Timbers and Seattle Sounders. These teams "hate" each other - probably even worse than Rangers and Celtic. It was two or three seasons ago and the Timbers had to win to qualify for the play-offs and won 4-1. It made one think that if they had played like that earlier in the season they wouldn't be struggling to get into the play-offs. It was a great game to watch, and the score slightly flattered the Timbers as it was 1-1 until the 75th minute.

Nookie, I managed to read the article by Hoden that you mentioned, it was an online Free Press item.
In the same article Copps also says that he would welcome a new contract offer from the club.
He did tell me himself in January that he hoped to be still turning out for the Rovers at the age of 40.