Doncaster Rovers Official Supporters club main branch held their annual AGM and Forum last night (Thursday 18th) at the Belle Vue Bar, Keepmoat Stadium.
Chief Executive Gavin Baldwin, Marketing Manager Shaun Lockwood and Foundation (Community) Chief Executive Liam Scully formed the panel for the fans forum after the formal part of the proceedings.
A vast range of subjects from player news to match day enquiries were aimed at various people on the panel, who answered as far as they could honestly and direct to the point.
The main thrust of the questions was aimed at the playing side including what was happening with players who are still to re-sign contracts to which Gavin Baldwin explained the process that after players agree it then is the agents who negotiate the terms. Often there are lots of little points to clear up before a player signs a contract, which takes time. He also explained he was confident that the players would sign but as a club we could not say anything until pen was put to paper. The question of whether we would have a reserve side was answered by explaining that we will have a development side that will play in the Central League and maybe play home games at various local grounds. This would give the young players chance to get match action and would be coached by Brian Flynn.
On the stadium front, questions were raised about pay on the gate, stadium catering and traffic were prime concerns. One of the first questions raised though was the PA System problems that had happen at the Motherwell game. Shaun explained that there were problems with the transmitter that had been checked that morning but suddenly failed as all channels stopped working and then the mike had battery problems. Shaun explained that we had brought in through the stadium maintenance people Richburn, a sound engineer who had identified a transmitter problem. This would be fixed by the first league game to avoid further problems.
Traffic management at games was another topic that was raised and Shaun Lockwood answered that there was on-going discussion with local partners about this and that First buses would carry on with a bus service this season.
It was asked if the club would be doing any promotions around the Yeovil game that is on Sky to boost the crowd. Shaun explained that it would be season ticket holder driven if a promotion was done. He explained that the club had listened to the season ticket holders and would not devalue their tickets by having offers all season but would give them a chance to be involved in any promotions.
The next question related to commercial activity at the club and how was it helping Paul Dickov? Gavin explained that the commercial team had much higher targets this season and were close to hitting these as we get nearer to the start of the campaign. He explained that it was an important part of the club by bringing in essential revenue as dictated by the owners in budgets set for the season.
The night finished by the Supporters club giving Liam Scully a £500 cheque towards helping parts of the community who are in need of assistance. Following this Gavin Baldwin was presented with a cheque for £2500 towards the training ground.
Gavin Baldwin “I would like to thank the Supporters Club for inviting us to this event and for the great questions, that we were asked which I hope we answered as honest and open as we could. I would also like to thank you all for the generous donation for the training ground. We will be speaking to Paul when he gets back to see what he wants to use the money for at Cantley Park”
#DRFC Education have BTEC 1, 2 & 3 courses for September. All courses are held @ The Keepmoat. Chance to join our academy too. Call 01302 765890.