Superb gesture by Sheffield.



Could you imagine 2 SL clubs doing that! I certainly couldn't see Hull & Rovers doing it

it would seem not to be the case.





Hats off the Sheffield all the same.

I think they'll just have to learn that they're a third tier club naturally and that they can't afford to play second tier, as every time they do they get in financial trouble. They never had these problems when they were near the bottom of the league. Once they get relegated this year (which the points deduction will ensure) then they should cut their wages a lot to what they can afford and focus on consolidating for a few years

Fantastic bit of tactical marketing by the Eagles, 50% of incremental gate receipts is better than 100% of bugger all.

www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/fre ... 5335327.jp

www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/fre ... 5335327.jp

Cheesetastic pic of the Chief Exec there.

No £3m bailout from the RFL, London-style?

House!

Of course! Everyone's a winner!

I understand all about administration both in ' normal ' business and also with reference to a proffesional sports business as well



It causes immense damage to local business and also completely destroys the clubs credibility both in the local business community and with it's fan base



It should be avoided at all cost , especially so soon after the last one



It is quite plain now that Doncaster cannot support a semi pro RL team playing out of the keepmoat stadium



It is now time to take perhaps 2 steps back and find a venue of 2/3/4,000 capacity that can accomodate them in a more friendly community based way were the fans can become more involved with the running of the club and look to build slowly to become a viable Championship club



I predict that other bigger clubs will suffer a similar fate in the next few years and will also need to reasses how and were they operate from

Yes , and the relevance of that is ?



The next step for the club is survival , then a search for a more suitable venue for them to play from and then the fans to look to take a bigger stake in the club in the future

Laura Harrison from the Supporters Direct people have been intouch with the club offering help and support. ST's are the future







We the fans need to mobilise to protect our teams and be ready to step up to the plate and walk the walk. it's all good posting on message boards, but theres a time for action. and in the Dons case it's now.

FFS have you being banned by the Samaritans yet?



if not you bleeding well should be.

can be avoided if the RFL stops the pathetic positive spin it puts on everything and gets to work to help develop the clubs , their fanbases and the methods of income they do actually have available to them in a way that will actually work



Instead they seem to have only one idea , which is to get all clubs ' sugar daddy ' investors that want to tip money into clubs with no future as some sort of hobby



The only other way is for the clubs to get together and start to sort themselves out outside of RFL controls

Sugar Daddies are not the way forward. Despite the RFL's insistance that they are. The appointment of the new Supporters Direct development officer will redress this balance.

So you are saying the RFL are supposed to run all the semi-pro clubs? Come on man.

When your main reliance is on investors and not your actual income, then it's no longer a business as far as I'm concerned, and little more than a charity.

but ultimatley the stadium didn't work for him in the end



In fact the move to the Keepmoat stadium has perhaps shown that moving to rented non controlled stadia just doesn't work outside the top tier



Also that Donny will most likely never be anything more than a competant 2/3 tier club and what is need is for the fans to take more control of the club and for the sights to be set lower than they have been recently

no he's saying that the RFL believe the only way to find clubs in the championship is to have a sugar Daddy.



but when saiid sugar daddy gets bored and walks away the clubs stuff.



the RFL should and needs to help the clubs develop themselves into sustainable entities, standing on their own two feet, paying within their means and supporting the community that supports it.

, the point I am making is the waste of money that is Toulouses inclusion in the Championship , no clubs are benifiting from that inclusion except Toulouse themselves , meanwhile clubs in England will be going bust due to a total lack of understanding by the RFL of what these clubs need to survive and prosper

I've never seen any evidence that the RFL support sugar daddies rather than proper development and I highly doubt that is the case, but if we are assuming that it is then I would agree with your sentiment. However, what obligation do the RFL have to essentially do development work for Championship clubs that they should be doing anyway? At the end of the day, if clubs cannot manage themselves then they should not be playing at any kind of level. What you're saying is basically akin to a struggling Super League club asking the RFL to provide coaches and players because the ones they have are not very good. If the clubs employed competent staff, then there would be no problem in the first place.

The RFL development officer i spoke to about moving bramley up to the pro game said to me that we would need a sugar daddy to fund hte club and they didn't believe in the concept of supporters run clubs.







I'm not saying that. I said



i don't want the RFL to do the work, i'm saying the RFL should help the clubs to do the work themselves. to give a helping hand, to encourage and show them the path.



It's easy running a club at any level.







Nah i'm not saying that.







But to employ competent staff you need money to pay them otherwise they will go elsewhere to someone else who will pay the money.



there is money out there, there are shed load of grants which can be used to help the community. but you need a guiding hand to work through the mine field that's in your way.



The RFL should, imo, have the experience in house to allow you to go to them and get assistance to get the grants, once or twice and then you can go it alone.

I guess that is pretty realistic to be honest. I can't see a club gathering the finances needed to go pro without having someone pumping money in. That's just the way it is. I'm sure the RFL do not prefer this method, but there don't seem to be any alternatives for a new club coming up into the league structure. I would hope it would be different for existing clubs, although to be fair there aren't really too many available income streams for many of the heartland clubs especially, with low crowds and few sponsorship opportunities.



If you have a business plan that can provide a sustainable step up without a financier, then I would be very impressed and I would suggest that you send a blueprint to the RFL for use with future clubs.



That seems pretty reasonable, but other than having some kind of adviser for the semi-pro clubs I'm not sure what else the RFL could do. And to be honest, that would need nothing more than a few phone calls and some paperwork. In fact I'm sure they could probably do it anyway, but then they would be accused of showing favouritism. At the end of the day, imagine if the RFL helped Hull FC or someone to get a government grant and they signed all the best players as a result. If clubs want to improve their finances, then they should do it themselves. And if they do not know how to do that, then they should step aside and get some people running the club who do.

Believe me yes they do , they are actively telling clubs to go out and find individual investors and are willing to finance that search



Which is total madness as it is virtually impossible for any heartland club to get anybody to tip money into a club that has no guarantees that they can move up to SL



They are effectively saying " Go out and find somebody to bankroll your club to stay in the championship " , here is a few quid to help you



Correct the Championships and the clubs in it are actually getting nothing out of the TV deal , the inclusion of a French side and the pea brained idea's coming from the RFL