DIOUF 10

Has got the Number 10 Shrt strange that what about people who have his name on there backs already.


http://www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk/page/News/0,,10329~2598122,00.html

I'm not bothered which shirt personally, he could wear owt for me as long as he can help give us a fighting chance.
Well done JR .

And Willie Mckay to thank on this on as well which Diouf alludes to on his interview on Rovers Player

In which case thanks to both of them.

Maybe we should thank Billy for leaving too as its obvious Diouf wouldn't have been signed if he hadn't?

Serious questions are will he score enough to keep us up and will he score as many as Billy?

Also my money's on "liability" Beye signing in next couple of days and getting the #5 shirt

VixDRFC wrote:Maybe we should thank Billy for leaving too as its obvious Diouf wouldn't have been signed if he hadn't?

Serious questions are will he score enough to keep us up and will he score as many as Billy?

Also my money's on "liability" Beye signing in next couple of days and getting the #5 shirt

I think you're right about Beye , however we will have to wait and see how both of them perform. All I know is that since Billy left I've felt gutted , it feels like the heart has been ripped out of both my team, my fellow supporters and me.
Jeez I hope that feeling inside me comes back, that feeling of excitement at going to a game.

I'll be perfectly honest and if it offends then sorry. I'm not surprised Billy went, we've been trying to flog him for months despite the declarations we were trying to keep him and whilst I'm gutted, if the club had been totally honest I'd have had some sympathy But with Saunders (not the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer) comments about Billy's wages (and transfer fee) helping towards the Diouf deal I not only believe that it will cost almost as much for Diouf as it would have to keep Billy (I'm not convinced he was that desperate to leave this season) but this was planned for a long time. And we're being presented as if Diouf is the saviour and we've gained from this. Sorry as classy a player as Diouf is, he doesn't have the potential to score the goals that Billy does and its the goals we need! And to give him his number. Thats adding insult to injury - I'd have preferred them to sign a League 2 striker and give him the shirt.

We're supposed to be trying to grow the fanbase - well I work with a number of kids who support premier league clubs but because they can't go to games often go to Rovers, they have these books of 5 tickets and they're not interested in Diouf, they wanted a Rovers hero, it was all 'Who have we signed to replace Billy?' Its OK doing all that work in schools but if they haven't anyone to look up is it all in vain?

VixDRFC wrote:I'll be perfectly honest and if it offends then sorry. I'm not surprised Billy went, we've been trying to flog him for months despite the declarations we were trying to keep him and whilst I'm gutted, if the club had been totally honest I'd have had some sympathy But with Saunders (not the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer) comments about Billy's wages (and transfer fee) helping towards the Diouf deal I not only believe that it will cost almost as much for Diouf as it would have to keep Billy (I'm not convinced he was that desperate to leave this season) but this was planned for a long time. And we're being presented as if Diouf is the saviour and we've gained from this. Sorry as classy a player as Diouf is, he doesn't have the potential to score the goals that Billy does and its the goals we need! And to give him his number. Thats adding insult to injury - I'd have preferred them to sign a League 2 striker and give him the shirt.

We're supposed to be trying to grow the fanbase - well I work with a number of kids who support premier league clubs but because they can't go to games often go to Rovers, they have these books of 5 tickets and they're not interested in Diouf, they wanted a Rovers hero, it was all 'Who have we signed to replace Billy?' Its OK doing all that work in schools but if they haven't anyone to look up is it all in vain?

Bravo my feelings exactly and your view certainly doesn't offend me...........we're in the same camp with more or less the same view of the situation.
I believe your words were 'trying to prostitute him like some pimp' or to that effect, these actions and those of the Directors in general will probably haunt this club of ours for years. Billy Sharp's very presence in our team put 1500 or so on the gate, 23 times a year and at c.£25 on average.............it doesn't take any working out let alone the potential loss of a future generation of youngsters who idolised this player just what a loss this really is.

hoolahoop wrote:

Bravo my feelings exactly and your view certainly doesn't offend me...........we're in the same camp with more or less the same view of the situation.
I believe your words were 'trying to prostitute him like some pimp' or to that effect, these actions and those of the Directors in general will probably haunt this club of ours for years. Billy Sharp's very presence in our team put 1500 or so on the gate, 23 times a year and at c.£25 on average.............it doesn't take any working out let alone the potential loss of a future generation of youngsters who idolised this player just what a loss this really is.

I know I don't offend you, often we're opposite sides of the same coin . I just saw the tweet from Paul Goodwin quoting Billy

Sharp: "I got on well with the fans at Doncaster and had an amazing time there and I'm gutted that I had to leave."

Had to leave? Doesn't sound like someone who jumped ship for a better option. This is my guess and I honestly have had no information, its a gut thing. Billy not only had a release clause but a relegation clause (like how we signed Woods and Chambers) We couldn't risk him going for nothing in July so he had to go now if only to repay the directors - with a £1.85M release clause and a sell on fee to the Blades we made precious little from Billy. I would expect we're paying Diouf almost as much as we paid Billy otherwise why didn't he sign when he said he would. Call me cynical but if was obvious when Diouf "agreed" the deal in December and then didn't sign it would be an "either/or" situation

I'm not criticising anyone for any reason other than the fans weren't given an indication of the truth

True the more you look at it the more it appears that someone took the decision of an either/or on Billy over Diouf and that tweet if meant that way entirely reflects that situation was meant to come about.
I would love to see the minutes of that and probably the last couple of Board meetings to see exactly who was the driving force and just why 4 Directors felt it necessary to resign.
The truth is we put a player 'on track' and he contributed massively to our club and then was virtually allowed/forced to leave for a pittance.......it's a crying shame for a club that didn't with any foresight have to create some sort of firesale to accomodate an agent's stable of ageing nags or untrued fillies.

Diretors who had fortunes of nigh on £750 million let a rising star go for a paltry sum need their heads examining...........IT WAS NOT GOOD BUSINESS!!

The number 10 is no big deal to me, who cares? Lockwood is number 11, we should feel cheated that he's not a flying winger.

I'm just glad that we've kept him. It would have been easy for the club in these circumstances to pocket the Sharp money and start planning for L1, at least they've used the money to secure a player who provides us with a chance going forward.

Playing Devils Advocate here – so don’t shoot me down:


Nobody actually knows the truth about the circumstances involving Billy’s transfer, do they?

Do we really know that he was being touted about, or, alternatively, that we were trying to keep Billy?

Do we definitively know that Billy wanted to stay? He may have chosen to leave – is that possible?

Do we know that the price was £1.85M – could it have been more? Do we know that the Blades had a sell-on clause and do we know what percentage it was?

We don’t know the terms of Diouf deal – we can speculate, but we don’t know.

Diouf may not be our saviour; however, we are better with him than without him – or does anyone disagree?

Did these people with ‘books of 5 tickets’ buy them just to watch Billy, or the team aswell?. If the former, I would suggest that it was slightly naive – if he had got injured, would they have not attended?

Hero’s are created and whilst Billy has gone (let’s be honest, he was always going to eventually) there is room for others to step up to the fore – no?

1500 on the gate when Billy played - really - how do you equate that? For instance, whenever I plan to attend a game, I never know the definite team selection before entering the stadium…… do they go home if he is not on the team sheet?

Although Billy said he is ‘gutted that he had to leave’ that doesn’t necessarily mean that he was shown the door does it? He may have been gutted because he knew a move was the best option, but that by leaving he would disappoint many fans – no?

‘We couldn't risk him going for nothing in July so he had to go now if only to repay the directors’ – Well his contract was to July 2013 (I believe), so he would have still attained a fee in July.

It was obvious when Diouf "agreed" the deal in December and then didn't sign it would be an "either/or" situation – again, we don’t know this do we?


I do understand that there is much supposition and gut reaction, but surely there is still a large grey area is there not? It is easy to deduce and hypothesize, but do we actually know anything?

I do agree that the fans haven't been afforded the full details - but can you name one club that tell their fans all of their dealings?

Maybe it will all come out in the wash…………

I could have sworn the fee for Billy was undisclosed. I think people are reading between the lines a little, I mean what’s to say a deal wasn’t agreed with Southampton in the summer when they offered 3mill, I remember Billy saying the time wasn’t right then, understandable given the circumstances.
Billy has always stated his dream is to play in the premier league, so an ideal opportunity comes up, does he stay at Doncaster fighting relegation or go to Southampton, I know which I’d choose. Billy loved it here and I’m sure if we’d been at the other end of the table he would have stayed.

Diouf isn’t a replacement for Billy, he was brought in to help us avoid relegation and attract other high calibre players and the way the fans chant his name I’d say he is a big hit. My son is 15 and him & his mates would rather have ex premiership players than those of league 2.

Didn't noticed this earlier - however, the article in this link suggests that Mr Diouf's wages are 'modest' in comparrison to others on the books.......

Diouf wages

Told you 2-3 months ago Billy would be going in January as directors at the Boro match said we couldn't afford to keep him, so was Dick Watsons contract offer was just a token gesture before he stepped down from the boardroom? who knows.
What i do know is we were left with no option other then to accept any decent offer for Billy after the 4 board resignations and even though Billy wasn't 'forced' to leave he 'allegedly' knew the situation at the club in terms of how damaging it could be financially if he didn't.

Upwind wrote:Playing Devils Advocate here – so don’t shoot me down:


Nobody actually knows the truth about the circumstances involving Billy’s transfer, do they?

Do we really know that he was being touted about, or, alternatively, that we were trying to keep Billy?

Do we definitively know that Billy wanted to stay? He may have chosen to leave – is that possible?

Do we know that the price was £1.85M – could it have been more? Do we know that the Blades had a sell-on clause and do we know what percentage it was?

We don’t know the terms of Diouf deal – we can speculate, but we don’t know.

Diouf may not be our saviour; however, we are better with him than without him – or does anyone disagree?

Did these people with ‘books of 5 tickets’ buy them just to watch Billy, or the team aswell?. If the former, I would suggest that it was slightly naive – if he had got injured, would they have not attended?

Hero’s are created and whilst Billy has gone (let’s be honest, he was always going to eventually) there is room for others to step up to the fore – no?

1500 on the gate when Billy played - really - how do you equate that? For instance, whenever I plan to attend a game, I never know the definite team selection before entering the stadium…… do they go home if he is not on the team sheet?

Although Billy said he is ‘gutted that he had to leave’ that doesn’t necessarily mean that he was shown the door does it? He may have been gutted because he knew a move was the best option, but that by leaving he would disappoint many fans – no?

‘We couldn't risk him going for nothing in July so he had to go now if only to repay the directors’ – Well his contract was to July 2013 (I believe), so he would have still attained a fee in July.

It was obvious when Diouf "agreed" the deal in December and then didn't sign it would be an "either/or" situation – again, we don’t know this do we?


I do understand that there is much supposition and gut reaction, but surely there is still a large grey area is there not? It is easy to deduce and hypothesize, but do we actually know anything?

I do agree that the fans haven't been afforded the full details - but can you name one club that tell their fans all of their dealings?

Maybe it will all come out in the wash…………

Well all I can say about the first point I've highlighted (release clause) is after JR was directly quoted in the media as saying Billy's release clause on 1/1/2012 would be £3M Gartom went on VSC a few days later (after RS claimed it was £1.85M) and said it had dropped given tie left on contract etc

If there was a relegation clause in Billy'x contract then he would have gone for nothing in July (just as we signed Chambers and Woods in the past) and I agree we couldn't afford that. I'm not saying what we did was wrong, I'm saying the way we did it was wrong. If Diouf verballly agreed the deal in December why did it take until February (and Billy leaving) to sign and seal it?

About the 5 game tickets, I'm talking about teenagers, future fans - I work with 1300 of the little darlings and the ones who go to Rovers games don't talk about Diouf, they talk about Billy. These are kids the club should be courting - one buys a 5 match ticket, his mate follows suit and then the 3rd friend attends on a match by match basis. Existing fans might not agree with that scenario but it happens and they're kids who support Man Utd, support Arsenal, support Owls from a distance but put their (or their parents) money in Rovers - at the moment

DonnyRTID wrote:I could have sworn the fee for Billy was undisclosed. I think people are reading between the lines a little, I mean what’s to say a deal wasn’t agreed with Southampton in the summer when they offered 3mill, I remember Billy saying the time wasn’t right then, understandable given the circumstances.
Billy has always stated his dream is to play in the premier league, so an ideal opportunity comes up, does he stay at Doncaster fighting relegation or go to Southampton, I know which I’d choose. Billy loved it here and I’m sure if we’d been at the other end of the table he would have stayed.

Diouf isn’t a replacement for Billy, he was brought in to help us avoid relegation and attract other high calibre players and the way the fans chant his name I’d say he is a big hit. My son is 15 and him & his mates would rather have ex premiership players than those of league 2.

If the fee was agreed with Saints in the summer then why did we accept the Leicester bid? Why did it go to the last but one day of the transfer window?

Upwind wrote:Playing Devils Advocate here – so don’t shoot me down:


Nobody actually knows the truth about the circumstances involving Billy’s transfer, do they?

Do we really know that he was being touted about, or, alternatively, that we were trying to keep Billy?

Do we definitively know that Billy wanted to stay? He may have chosen to leave – is that possible?

Do we know that the price was £1.85M – could it have been more? Do we know that the Blades had a sell-on clause and do we know what percentage it was?

We don’t know the terms of Diouf deal – we can speculate, but we don’t know.

Diouf may not be our saviour; however, we are better with him than without him – or does anyone disagree?

Did these people with ‘books of 5 tickets’ buy them just to watch Billy, or the team aswell?. If the former, I would suggest that it was slightly naive – if he had got injured, would they have not attended?

Hero’s are created and whilst Billy has gone (let’s be honest, he was always going to eventually) there is room for others to step up to the fore – no?

1500 on the gate when Billy played - really - how do you equate that? For instance, whenever I plan to attend a game, I never know the definite team selection before entering the stadium…… do they go home if he is not on the team sheet?

Although Billy said he is ‘gutted that he had to leave’ that doesn’t necessarily mean that he was shown the door does it? He may have been gutted because he knew a move was the best option, but that by leaving he would disappoint many fans – no?

‘We couldn't risk him going for nothing in July so he had to go now if only to repay the directors’ – Well his contract was to July 2013 (I believe), so he would have still attained a fee in July.

It was obvious when Diouf "agreed" the deal in December and then didn't sign it would be an "either/or" situation – again, we don’t know this do we?


I do understand that there is much supposition and gut reaction, but surely there is still a large grey area is there not? It is easy to deduce and hypothesize, but do we actually know anything?

I do agree that the fans haven't been afforded the full details - but can you name one club that tell their fans all of their dealings?

Maybe it will all come out in the wash…………

I'm with you Upwind. For whatever reasons, we are where we are. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's game.