This week we say a big thank you to Donny fan Daniel Pearson who is the first to attempt our new questions, good luck for the rest of the season.
1 – We are about a quarter of the way through the season, so how is it looking for your team so far?
I am writing this before our fixtures against Plymouth and Ipswich, both away from home, and we currently sit rock bottom of the table. I am hoping for 4 points from those 2 games but think that could be a tall order, especially with the form of Plymouth and Ipswich seemingly clicking into gear after a stuttering start.
That is similar to us in a way, I think the position in the table is false, we have had a large injury list and upheaval over the summer and the squad is starting to look better and better as the weeks pass. I am hoping the results start to come over the next few games which will see us climb away from the bottom four.
2 – We are noticing that some clubs are struggling with attendances, are you back anywhere near to your pre-Covid attendances?
It’s difficult to say, I think we were around the usual attendance figure that we saw pre-covid initially but results and league position has seen a bit of a knock to the attendances for sure.
3- We note that many clubs are going across to digital tickets and cashless stadiums and this has caused major problems for fans, is this something that has affected you as a fan, home or away?
We are one of the clubs that have moved across from the old Season Ticket book with rip off tickets for each game to a new credit card like Season Ticket and I love it personally. The system has worked well as far as I am aware for people entering the stadium and it means I’m not searching for my book each home game.
I very rarely carry cash anymore so the changeover to most places only accepting card payments hasn’t really impacted me. I do understand how it can frustrate people that may get a certain amount of cash out to budget themselves on a weekend though.
4 – Every club has played about half the teams in League 1, who do you think is the best and the worst team you have played so far?
Of the 7 games we’ve played in the league so far I have managed to see 5 of them. I don’t like passing too much judgement on games I haven’t watched in person so for that reason I have to leave Accrington and Wigan out of my decision making, we will have also played Plymouth and Ipswich by the time we face MK Dons.
For me though the best team has been Rotherham (that’s very hard to write as a Donny fan), but their energy, fitness and aggression will win them more games than not this season. With Smith up front too they are a team to keep an eye on.
The worst I’ve seen has to go to Morecambe, having said this though they were not a bad team and I think they will do ok in the league this season. The game at the Keepmoat they just seemed to be lacking any creativity or drive to get back into the game.
5 – In our forthcoming game what sort of style can we expect to see from your team?
I fully expect Richie to continue to stick to his philosophy of getting the ball down, trying to play through the thirds and working in a 4-3-3. He has changed up now and again to try and counter what the opposition set up like but I am expecting a good entertaining fixture with decent free flowing football from both sides.
6 – Is there any current MK Dons player that you would like to see playing for your team?
If I were to have the pick of the MK Dons squad I would have to go with one of the following two, Mohamed Eisa or Troy Parrot. We have been lacking in the forward areas at the start of this campaign and I think with one of those guys in the squad we wouldn’t be in the position we are now.
7 – Every lower league club fear that the big boys are monitoring their players, is there anybody in your team that is attracting unwanted attention, and might be lured away in January?
I don’t think there are any permanent players within our squad that could be leaving in January in all honesty, possibly Tom Anderson if I were to put my neck out. He could do a job in the Championship in my opinion and would be a huge loss to our back line and squad dynamic. The player I am looking forward to seeing where their career goes though is Ethan Galbraith, currently on loan from Manchester United. He is a joy to watch.
8 – Is there anyone in your team that we should really fear as a potential game changer?
I mentioned him in the last question, Ethan Galbraith has the ability to be a game changer for me. He controls the pace of a game in the midfield and can find passes from tight spots and get us moving forward. Joe Dodoo is our main man up front at the minute and will hopefully start finding the net consistently, he scored his first 2 goals for the club against Manchester City U21’s in the Papa John’s Trophy, hopefully that gives him the confidence to push on and were going in to this fixture with him scoring a few more against Plymouth and Ipswich.
9 – Can you predict where you think your club will finish at the end of the season, and where the MK Dons will finish?
I am hoping that the early form is just the transition and the lack of squad depth. If things start to click like I think the squad is capable of I predict a comfortable mid table finish for Donny, anywhere between 9th and 14th. MK Dons have started very well and at the time of writing are in touching distance of top spot (3rd on 15 points) I think you guys will be in and around the top 6 all season, I had you down as just missing out on playoffs in 7th on my prediction video, I think I’ve done you an injustice based on the start you’ve made so I’ll change that early prediction and bump you up a few places to 4th.
10 – Many thanks for taking part, all we need now is your prediction for the game?
I’m hoping for a decent, entertaining advert for League One football where two footballing teams go at each other. It purely depends on how our next 2 games go, if we get the 4 points from 2 tough away games we could go into this one high in confidence and I’d say a 2-1 win to the Rovers.
If were coming into this game off the back of 2 away defeats I think it could be a third defeat on the bounce 0-2.
