DONS: No return from riches to rags
Craig Robinson lifts the Championship trophy. Picture: Rob Terrace
THE Dons completed their revival from near oblivion three years ago by sealing the league and Grand Final double in Warrington on Sunday.
And there will not be a return to the days of big spending as the promoted club look to cement their place in the Championship.
A 16-13 win over Barrow Raiders handed Tony Miller’s men their second piece of silverware of the season and boosted their prize money to a cool £70,000.
While the club accounts have been bolstered, there will be no outrageous spending, with the dark days of financial desperation still fresh in the memory.
Co-owner Carl Hall said: “If the club had got a £70,000 payout in the dark times it’d probably have all been blown on players rather than being used to keep it afloat.
“We just refuse to do that now and it’s nice to have options on and off the pitch.
“The players will have taken about half the money in bonuses but we’ll be putting the rest to good use in getting the club ready off the field for the next level.
“As an advisory board, we’ll sit down and decide what’s best for the club but there are definitely areas where we can use it.”
Head coach Miller has described this season as the ‘pinnacle’ of his career and admits he never imagined such success.
He said: “We’ve won everything on and off the field in terms of awards so it just doesn’t get any better than that.
“I thought the top four was a realistic goal, I knew we had got a good squad together and it got better as the season went on.
“It was going really well but we thought we’d blown it at Whitehaven and we got another opportunity that we took.
“It’s been a topsy-turvy season, especially the last couple of months.
“You can’t ask for anything more.”
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Weather for Thorne
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North west
