The letter in drafting to the board. Dear Sirs, I write to you today to express my disappointment with the current position of the football club under the management of Paul Dickov. Whilst I am sure that you are in a far better position than I to understand the financial ramifications of our current position and the consequences should we drop down to league 2, I would be remiss if I did not write to you to express my dissatisfaction as a season ticket holder, and I wanted very much to personally explain how this affecting all our supporters, both casual and ticket holders alike. When I moved back to Doncaster 6 years ago the club was in a very different position and our average attendance certainly showed this, I was dismayed recently to see that we achieved only 2500 or so for the cup game against Notts County, and whilst it is historically true that for some reason Doncaster folk don’t turn out for cup games, this, even for us, is a new low. Over the last 18 months I’ve seen our home attendances drop significantly from the average of 7-9k per home game to as low as 4-5k, dipping lower on Tuesday nights still, there is a simple answer to this, and it started when Paul Dickov came into the club. Our home form is simply not acceptable, as a season ticket holder I pay out quite a sum to reserve my seat, and yet, for the second season running I find I’m left watching a below par performance in every game. I see our home fans booing our players off the pitch week in and week out, I see a manager who much like Sean O’Driscoll, tried to play passing football, but has run out of ideas now, and cannot seem to motivate a set of players who are so low on confidence they seem stuck in a spiral of self defeat. I believe the players we have ARE good enough, I’ve seen them perform under different managers and coaching staff, and perform consistently to a higher standard than what we are seeing, whilst it is correct to portion some of the blame on the players, there is a manager who is not managing his players to the level we expect as a club. Whilst no-one can doubt we had a difficult summer again this season, we simply cannot keep using this as a prop to defend a manager, for whom, his statistics speak for themselves. We now find ourselves near the bottom of league one, just like Oldham Athletic did when they parted company, his record now almost parallels theirs, it is almost a carbon copy of failure transposed to our club, a season dogged by inconsistencies and poor performances. What role does Paul take in training? Are the tactics and formations his? Or does the blame lie firmly with his coaching staff, in the way we setup the players before games? Either way, it’s not working, and we are quickly running out of time to rectify the situation. I do subscribe to the mantra that we need to build from youth to a certain degree, but in order to do this we need to achieve a certain level of stability in the league to support this ethos, a level we don’t have. We have seen very little youth playing this season despite this being the objective going forwards, and no doubt this is because every game is now vital to our league survival and you simply cannot risk young unproven players in such vital games, its catch 22 isn’t it? You want to do the right thing, but financially cannot take the risk, and loan in experienced players to plug the gaps, counteracting the youth system, these players are then pushed to the fringes once again. There are three scenarios we face in January: we either spend money on new players and hope they inject life into the squad, however traditionally this does not work. we part company with Paul and find a suitable replacement and hope that he can bring about the change that is needed. Or we stick, and hope for the best. I would sincerely hope the option is not the latter one, because it will be relegation that follows this choice. I would suggest that as a fan/customer at the club, it makes financial sense to remove Paul Dickov as manager before January and install someone who not only reforms the players, but also wins back our missing disenfranchised fans, call it fickle, but we all like to support a team that plays well, whether they win or lose. Right now, we do not play well, and that does have an impact on performances and attendances alike, I am sure you review the figures weekly. As a season ticket holder, a fan, a supporter, a customer, I urge you to do the right thing, and sack Paul Dickov at the earliest convenience, certainly next season should things not change, it would be a more difficult decision to renew a season ticket where I have witnessed only one win this season at home. Yours sincerely. Lee Buckle.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 18:52:56 +0000
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