Rovers looking forward to giving Dunk some stick Saturday....

[beardy gull]

As I started this thread having viewed the comments on the Vikings Forum perhaps I should reply to the Doncaster fan.

First let me say I wasn't trolling or looking for trouble. I always check out what opposition fans are saying as part of my personal build-up to a match. I was actually quite surprised by the views Donny fans expressed but as I said in my opening post I was also highly amused rather than being in any way upset or offended - the statements made were clearly those either of kids or so called "ultras" (is there a difference?) or possibly people of, shall we say, limited intellectual capacity. As the Donny fan comments - we all have some of those but even so the nature of the arguments they were rehearsing (to blame a Lewis Dunk tackle in the first game of the season for them still holding up the table after 30 plus games) was risible as were the suggestions of vengence being taken by fans and players. I started this thread purely out of amusement and certainly nothing else.

Distancing yourself from the most embarrasing elements of your own fans is fine. I find that I often need to do that. However, to do so and then put forward the same arguments in a marginally different guise, doesn't really wash.

To paraphrase some of the responses from our end:-

Dunk's tackle was rightly a yellow card and no more than that - crude, mistimed, inappropriate - but not viscious or trying intentionally to hurt the player.
Norris' tackle on Barnes was easily as bad (out of generosity I will hesitate to say worse).
The "treatment" of LuaLua from the outset was cynical and pre-planned to take-out a player viewed as a threat.
Your second injured player hurt himself when he kicked Calderon's head trying an overhead kick - no-one's fault.
Your management and your fans were (shall we say) a little circumspect where truth is concerned as to the nature of the injury - very very strangely indeed some still seem adamant that Sharp broke his leg in three places!

All that aside, there is currently I hope a great deal of goodwill between fans of our two sides but I do rather fear that a few people will carry their extreme grievance, that one tackle in one game has totally destroyed your club's prospects, to the levels of a footballing crusade.

I have a vision that as Donny tumble back down the leagues after this season's inevitable relegation, those people will be watching matches in the Northern League in years to come (having gone bust in the meanwhile naturally or it wouldn't merit tragedic staus) recalling how one tackle from "that thug" killed their club.
No memory that this is the second consecutive season of struggle; no mention of sacking a good manager and replacing him with someone unproven; no matter consistently financially sailing way too close to the wind and entering into the most bizarre manipulation of the transfer regulations; no mention of employing mercenaries with no interest ahead of committed young talent; no mention of selling your best players (indeed selling Sharp, presumably, as soon as he recovered miraculously from his career ending injury). Still, thank God it IS all someone else's fault...........................

Exactly this for me too. Seems we were doing this at exactly the same time.

 

[Turkey]

This , the Bedwetters were mouthy bastards after it and f***ing BLIND not to see there own ACTUAL fouls


f*** them and their shitty little excuse for a club.

Pipe down Braders a gobby few don't make them all like that.

 

[Braders]

Pipe down Braders a gobby few don't make them all like that.

I know you're right , but still majorly pissed off about it all ...

 

[Turkey]

I know you're right , but still majorly pissed off about it all ...

If you regularly look at opponents forums, you often find them picking up on things said on here that make you cringe. There's always idiots or people who are controversial for effect for every club, and the opposition pick up on it and will start saying how we're all twats etc.

 

[sparkie]

To be honest I don't think their chairman has exactly helped in all this - with threats to sue Dunk over the tackle earlier in the season. Clearly a case of trying to deflect any blame away from himself for the poor season they've had.

It was a poor tackle, certainly not the worst even in the match, let alone season, or all time. The tone of the match was set by the deliberate hacking down of LuaLua from the start.

There is understandable annoyance here from Brighton fans about the absurd vilification of Lewis Dunk - this whole thing should have had a line drawn under it months ago.

I'll be surprised if he's even in the squad for Saturday anyway, as I'm sure Calderon will get the spare defender place on the bench.

 

[SK1NT]

Doncaster are a league 2 side or a relegation threatened league one side... Simples

They were a 1 man team.... who jumped a sinking ship

They are just venting their anger at the tackle without the clearness of mind to realise that sort of challenge happens well a lot... they want to blame others for their situation...

Bitter... but it is just a few...

 

[pubteam]

See, this is what frustrates me. I try to come on here and be reasonable, and yet we still get silly, derisory comments from a select few people.

I didn't say at any point that Dunk's challenge is the cause of where we are now. I said that it had a big impact on the first month and a half of our season. That is a fair statement I would say... or so I thought. Some people do say that it is the reason, but it is a very small minority, thus our whole fan base shouldn't be branded "delusional" or "small time" or any of the other daft insults I've read on here on the basis of that. Whoever accused me of, to paraphrase, "representing the same views as our most embarrasing fans under a different guise" must have mistaken me for somebody else, or misunderstood what I was trying to say. In my original post, I clearly pointed out that Dunk's tackle on Sharp WASN'T the reason for our position, but did set the tone for a frustrating season in which nothing seems to have gone to plan, possibly bringing out the anger it has in a small minority of our support. Not that I want to find excuses for those who hold a frankly silly standpoint, but you can see why people would get angry and frustrated at the incident that injured Sharp in the context of a season that has brought nothing but setback after setback.

People who see the sacking of Sean O'Driscoll as the reason why we are where we are now may even have a slight case for saying that Sharp's injury had a bigger impact than just affecting the first few games. SOD might have achieved better results, in some people's eyes, if he had his main goalscorer at his disposal for more than one of the opening 7 games, and therefore he might have still been in place to guide us out of trouble. As it is, I don't particularly subscribe to that view, because I believe we needed a change of manager regardless, but you can see where people might make the link.

We're a small club by Championship standards, and we're going through a bit of a retrenchment in terms of cutting back on what we spend. That means that when our main goalscorer got injured, we don't have the sort of financial power that most clubs in this division have, so we can't just go out and chuck another million quid at finding a replacement. That's why I find comments like "one man team" a bit derisory and a bit irritating. Yes, we were reliant on our main striker and record signing for goals - but what is wrong with that? He was our player, we paid good money for his services because we expected him to score goals, and he delivered. I don't see how having a prolific striker somehow undermines your position as a club.

The same as I don't really like the "Doncaster are a League Two/One club" comment. Football isn't (directly) decided by what goes on in the stands, it's decided by achievement on the pitch, so the argument that we "belong" in a division two down from where we currently are doesn't really hold that much water IMO. If we deserved to be playing in League Two, that's where we'd be, wouldn't it? We're not an *anything* club if it's not reflected by where we are at this moment in time. Even so, I don't really see League One or Two as a great insult, given that we've been much lower. Not too long ago, we'd have been delighted to have been a League Two club, so I don't think that'd cause the sort of devastation with our fans as some people might expect.

As for the "broken leg in three places" stuff. That all went away when the results of Billy's scan came back and the injury was diagnosed as ligament damage. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen anybody say that Billy broke his leg in three places since then. And even if they have, why listen to them? He was out for about 6 or 7 weeks, so that clearly wasn't the case. Also, nobody said that Dunk injured Hayter, nor has anyone said that Hayter was intended intentionally by Calderon. That was put to bed months ago as an accidental clash in which Hayter unfortunately came off worse. Anybody who has said otherwise since is either in the small minority that have problems dealing with the truth, or forgetful people who don't remember or didn't see the incident.

I came on here to post something that might help calm the tensions. To show that some of the comments that people pick out don't really represent the views of all Rovers fans, and that most of us are willing to draw a line under it. I'll admit, my post has got a rather more negative reaction than I had hoped, but maybe that is just the nature of the people on this forum who have chosen to reply. I didn't really write my original post with the intention of debating whether it was a yellow/red card or whatever, or whether Naylor's tackle was worse. As far as I'm concerned, those debates are for the history books, and shouldn't even still be making an appearance, just as most other debates between football fans don't contain incidents that happened 6 or 7 months ago. So I'm not really going to get into the whole "was the punishment fair" debate, because it's not really what I'm getting at, and isn't really something I regard as worthy to the discussion given that I moved on from it a long time ago.

Anyway, all the best people. I have attempted to mend a few things. Some people don't really want to listen to what I'm saying, and would rather pick out the odd sentence and try to put me right, but for those of you that do want to take notice of what I am saying, I hope I have helped to maybe calm things down a little bit. We shouldn't be quarreling over this rubbish like I said when I posted before. Unfortunately, the minority view seems to be causing a bigger barrier to that than I had anticipated.

RTID.

 

[WhingForPresident]

 

[SK1NT]

See, this is what frustrates me. I try to come on here and be reasonable, and yet we still get silly, derisory comments from a select few people.

I didn't say at any point that Dunk's challenge is the cause of where we are now. I said that it had a big impact on the first month and a half of our season. That is a fair statement I would say... or so I thought. Some people do say that it is the reason, but it is a very small minority, thus our whole fan base shouldn't be branded "delusional" or "small time" or any of the other daft insults I've read on here on the basis of that.

People who see the sacking of Sean O'Driscoll as the reason why we are where we are now may even have a slight case for saying that Sharp's injury had a bigger impact than just affecting the first few games. SOD might have achieved better results, in some people's eyes, if he had his main goalscorer at his disposal for more than one of the opening 7 games, and therefore he might have still been in place to guide us out of trouble. As it is, I don't particularly subscribe to that view, because I believe we needed a change of manager regardless, but you can see where people might make the link.

We're a small club by Championship standards, and we're going through a bit of a retrenchment in terms of cutting back on what we spend. That means that when our main goalscorer got injured, we don't have the sort of financial power that most clubs in this division have, so we can't just go out and chuck another million quid at finding a replacement. That's why I find comments like "one man team" a bit derisory and a bit irritating. Yes, we were reliant on our main striker and record signing for goals - but what is wrong with that? He was our player, we paid good money for his services because we expected him to score goals, and he delivered. I don't see how having a prolific striker somehow undermines your position as a club.

The same as I don't really like the "Doncaster are a League Two/One club" comment. Football isn't (directly) decided by what goes on in the stands, it's decided by achievement on the pitch, so the argument that we "belong" in a division two down from where we currently are doesn't really hold that much water IMO. If we deserved to be playing in League Two, that's where we'd be, wouldn't it? We're not an *anything* club if it's not reflected by where we are at this moment in time. Even so, I don't really see League One or Two as a great insult, given that we've been much lower. Not too long ago, we'd have been delighted to have been a League Two club, so I don't think that'd cause the sort of devastation with our fans as some people might expect.

As for the "broken leg in three places" stuff. That all went away when the results of Billy's scan came back and the injury was diagnosed as ligament damage. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen anybody say that Billy broke his leg in three places since then. And even if they have, why listen to them? He was out for about 6 or 7 weeks, so that clearly wasn't the case. Also, nobody said that Dunk injured Hayter, nor has anyone said that Hayter was intended intentionally by Calderon. That was put to bed months ago as an accidental clash in which Hayter unfortunately came off worse. Anybody who has said otherwise since is either in the small minority that have problems dealing with the truth, or forgetful people who don't remember or didn't see the incident.

I came on here to post something that might help calm the tensions. To show that some of the comments that people pick out don't really represent the views of all Rovers fans, and that most of us are willing to draw a line under it. I'll admit, my post has got a rather more negative reaction than I had hoped, but maybe that is just the nature of the people on this forum who have chosen to reply. I didn't really write my original post with the intention of debating whether it was a yellow/red card or whatever, or whether Naylor's tackle was worse. As far as I'm concerned, those debates are for the history books, and shouldn't even still be making an appearance, just as most other debates between football fans don't contain incidents that happened 6 or 7 months ago. So I'm not really going to get into the whole "was the punishment fair" debate, because it's not really what I'm getting at, and isn't really something I regard as worthy to the discussion given that I moved on from it a long time ago.

Anyway, all the best people. I have attempted to mend a few things. Some people don't really want to listen to what I'm saying, and would rather pick out the odd sentence and try to put me right, but for those of you that do want to take notice of what I am saying, I hope I have helped to maybe calm things down a little bit. We shouldn't be quarreling over this rubbish like I said when I posted before. Unfortunately, the minority view seems to be causing a bigger barrier to that than I had anticipated.

RTID.

Fair play.. some good comments... Credit it to you for coming on and posting

 

[SK1NT]

However.. as well as Doncaster have done... i can only see a club like that slipping a division or two... It's not the clubs fault... it's just to small a town and small fanbase (in my opinion) id rather the likes of sheff wednesday/united charlton etc in the league.... no offence

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Also, nobody said that Dunk injured Hayter, .

Yes, yes they have.

 

[Paris]

Pubteam, put down that whisky and step away from the keyboard. You're starting to sound like a certain chairman along the south coast.

 

[Turkey]

Yes, yes they have.

Mate, surely you can see how pathetic this is, from some of us as much as them.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Mate, surely you can see how pathetic this is, from some of us as much as them.

Oh, I agree entirely. Just pointing out to this chap, just HOW ridiculous some of the anti-Dunk nonsense became, to help him understand why some of our fans were a little defensive about it.

 

[pubteam]

Thanks, very welcoming. Would you rather I came on and said that Lewis Dunk should be locked up for assault so you'd have something to get your teeth into? Tool.

However.. as well as Doncaster have done... i can only see a club like that slipping a division or two... It's not the clubs fault... it's just to small a town and small fanbase (in my opinion) id rather the likes of sheff wednesday/united charlton etc in the league.... no offence

Donny is one of the biggest towns (without being a city) in the country. Trouble is, the Donny public won't back the club. We missed a generation of fans when we slipped into non-league, so unfortunately a lot of young fans have got the habit of supporting Man Utd/Leeds/Sheff Wednesday off their dad or whatever. Plus, the club doesn't do itself many favours in its poor marketing of games, and its ticket pricing strategy, but that's a whole different debate.

Yes, yes they have.

Well done on picking out seven seven words of my post. Maybe if you'd read on a bit, you would've seen this...
"That was put to bed months ago as an accidental clash in which Hayter unfortunately came off worse. Anybody who has said otherwise since is either in the small minority that have problems dealing with the truth, or forgetful people who don't remember or didn't see the incident."

Pubteam, put down that whisky and step away from the keyboard. You're starting to sound like a certain chairman along the south coast.

Would you like to point out what I've said to upset you? I don't see how that post could've done, to be honest. Yes, it may be a tad lengthy, but it is attempting to address some of the issues brought up in a 7 page long thread.

 

[albionite]

However.. as well as Doncaster have done... i can only see a club like that slipping a division or two... It's not the clubs fault... it's just to small a town and small fanbase (in my opinion) id rather the likes of sheff wednesday/united charlton etc in the league.... no offence

Why do Sheffield Wednesday/Charlton deserve a place in the championship more than Doncaster? Sorry i don't get your point

 

[pubteam]

Why do Sheffield Wednesday/Charlton deserve a place in the championship more than Doncaster? Sorry i don't get your point

I didn't really take that part of his post seriously. It's not long since people used to say similar things about Brighton (when you had the Withdean and no money etc), so I don't really think Brighton fans have got much of a leg to stand on.

 

[SK1NT]

Why do Sheffield Wednesday/Charlton deserve a place in the championship more than Doncaster? Sorry i don't get your point

Well that's fine if you dont get it... but as mentioned by previous people... those teams are: bigger cities (well a city) bigger fanbase, better players, history, shall i carry on... Dont tell me you dont see the difference between the clubs?

Doncaster have done well and it is MY OPINION (if thats allowed) that they will get relegated and maybe in the next few seasons relegated again...

 

[Originunknown]

Donny were filth when they came down to the amex. Right from the whistle, throughout the entire first half the aggression and physicality was far stronger from Donny. I think we stepped this up after half time and went in a bit harder, which IMO was the right response.

I'm not however, saying that there should ever be an aim to injure a player in the tackle, or that deliberate bad tackles should be condoned but you have to get a bit more physical if the other side comes out throwing their weight around.

 

[pubteam]

Donny were filth when they came down to the amex. Right from the whistle, throughout the entire first half the aggression and physicality was far stronger from Donny. I think we stepped this up after half time and went in a bit harder, which IMO was the right response.

I'm not however, saying that there should ever be an aim to injure a player in the tackle, or that deliberate bad tackles should be condoned but you have to get a bit more physical if the other side comes out throwing their weight around.

To be fair, Richard Naylor was a clogger. So it was probably just him being a shit, slow, below-par centre half rather than our team actually being TOLD to go out and be aggressive.