How do you truly see the last 3 years?

[Mostyn6]

I've read many posters describe the last 3 years as failure, and that is a truly subjective opinion that I do not agree with.

It'd be interesting to see where the majority lie on this.

So, considering where we were prior to the strategical changes, and where we have finished since, and being mindful that the season doesn't finish at the end of September (a lot of points to play for THIS season), how do you judge it?

[Mr Tibbs]

Top one for me. 

I just want to see my team win more than they lose, if they play some pretty good stuff on the way to that then great. The last three years have ticked both boxes and whilst they have all been frustrating in their own ways, I'd still take any of the previous three seasons over the previous decades worth of seasons before we made those changes! 

Premier League would be nice but there's no hurry, if we could have another three years of there or there about then I'd be happy, providing the football improves that is. 

Winning a cup and or playing in Europe is the dream, I'll wait our turn for now, we are what we are. 

[DerbyRevolution]

top 3, in the order written.

if i was only allowed 1, it would be number 1. but i also feel options 2 and 3

don't agree with '3 years of failure'. if the sole aim is promotion every season then yeah we failed but i don't buy that

edit

'We have gone backwards and are now a worse club since trying to rectify option 2'

[cosmic]

Difficult to judge the last 3 years with such a linear outlook.  There have been so many peaks and troughs inbetween then and now. But if you want to ignore the inbetween and purely look at the shape of the squad and club before and after those 3 years, at this moment in time, it would be hard to argue we are in a better position. Despite all the good stuff inbetween.

[Seth's left foot]

First option.

its been emotional! 

We've had some great performances, I've left many a game buzzing but also I've been disappointed at how many times we've come up short in the bigger games.

After watching a load of turgid performances under NC especially away from home I still believe sacking him was the correct decision. 

IF NP is given the time and money to overhaul the squad then we'll make that final step up IMO, too many lightweight's in the squad hiding behind the manager.

[Rammed79]

It got better when Mac first took over but since the whole Newcastle thing it gone from bad to worse even more so than when Clough left us and we have a massive wage bill as well hoping in January for a big clear out whoever is in charge. Maybe we can promote more under 23s and put some money together for a top striker.

[RadioactiveWaste]

Pretty good, a bit frustrating at being so close, but overall, good. 

13/14 was joyous

14/15 was good until the collective miscarriage

15/16 was in two parts, great until the new year, drama, rally, went out in the play offs, the nigel clough core got its last Harrah. 

I just get fed up with some of the overblown negetivity. Im someone whoes situation (live away from derby, personal relationships, sometimes work too) so I get to the matches I can get to, like tonight, and always try to enjoy it as best I can. 

[TelTheRam]

I actually voted we've gone backwards but I don't really like any of the above options and I want to be different - so.....

We've done well at times and maybe could have done better, but at least we've had something to enjoy along the way.

Considering what we've spent we haven't really improved at all, and now we are going backwards and are at our worst since that change.

I think that sums it up for me.

[G STAR RAM]

Mixture of 1 and 3, enjoyed a lot of the last 3 years but ultimately now we are worse off then when Clough was sacked.

[Mostyn6]

6 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Mixture of 1 and 3, enjoyed a lot of the last 3 years but ultimately now we are worse off then when Clough was sacked.

are you being literal? as in, we are 22nd in the table, at this moment in time we are worse!, or overall, the squad is worse, the club is worse etc

[G STAR RAM]

3 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

are you being literal? as in, we are 22nd in the table, at this moment in time we are worse!, or overall, the squad is worse, the club is worse etc

On paper we have better players but as a team/squad I think we are worse. The club has much the same feel as it did back then except I would say more people still had a bit of optimism!

[europia]

Last 3 seasons, in a nutshell = missed opportunity.

 

[Van der MoodHoover]

We are not a worse club imo.  Some good long term investment has been made over the last 3 years.

I agree though that the first team is worse than 3 years ago.

In between we have massively improved and then massively deteriorated. 

[toddy]

Over achieved in Mac's first season [using mainly Clough's players] and that season has been the pinnacle of the last 3 seasons, fantastic footie on the pitch under Mac.

2nd season, STILL PLAYING FANTASTIC FOOTIE but everybody's expectations had gone up from an average championship side [under Clough] to a side now under Mac firmly believing promotion was on the cards that season, unfortunately injuries and the Toon and possibly the players not reaching to the dizzy height of the previous season and we finished a flop [8th].

Out goes Mac incomes Clement  [with all the hype he's been here, he's been there], well we had disastrous pre season and a poor start to the campaign, then started to drill out results and managed to top the table at Christmas, looking back at some of the performances god's know how we managed it. We never looked comfortable in pole position and then the luck ran out and by February a run of poor results/form we dropped out to 5th 5 points off top spot, Clement sacked. And so Wassall came in [deffo thrown in the deep end] a temporary role till the end of season, things still weren't right with the performances some great, others poor and so MM brings in HR to hold Wassall's hand. We make 5th 15pts off top spot and managed to get a play off place, forgettable 1st leg and a better 2nd leg - but consistency has been our failings all season.

So overall, if promotion was our goal after Mac came in then we have failed, if being an average championship side was our goal then we over achieved. 

[King Kevin]

The single biggest mistake we made in terms of the playing staff was to reward failure by giving enhanced contracts when we failed to go .

[cannable]

Philosophy

Club philosophy then: http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/21615556

Club philosophy now: Mel Morris talked almost exactly the same game but the evidence this season speaks volumes. 

Clough started everything off and we appear to have gone off the rails in the last year or so.

Infrastructure

Nothing really needs to be said about this. Mel Morris is hellbent on transforming the training center to levels of which only the biggest clubs in the world can compare. Exciting isn't it?

Playing Staff

Back when Clough was sacked we had a tight-knit group with the majority of them identified and signed as technical, honest and hard-working all best at playing a possession game. 

Now… the squad's a mess. It's all mix and match. We have some players remaining who favour a possession game, we have some players who favour a counter-attacking system, we have some who favour a more pragmatic approach.

Recruitment 

A lot of this has just been covered - but under Clough we knew what we wanted and recruited to fit. We were even willing to let our best centre-half go to bring in another who was more suited to playing out from the back even if he was a poorer defender. Sammon is obviously the stick used to beat Clough with but our 'big' signings were usually bang on; Brayford, Barker, Shackell and Keogh. Ultimately that recruitment team built 95% of that team for just £4.6m and with a net spend of next to nothing. 

Now we just seem to spunk shed-loads on big names and shoehorn them in. Most didn't even have a natural place in the team at the time of signing. 

Management Staff

Who knows? They're both typically builders. They both recruit to fit. They're both tactically naive. They favour differing styles of football which is neither here nor there. They're both stubborn. Both arsey with the media. Clough's key weakness is his loyalty to his coaching staff whereas Pearson's strength was having two of the best assistant managers in the country but Pearson is without those now. 

Off The Pitch…

…we're ******* rich(ish)! Fan owner willing to pump millions into to the club as opposed pure-business men. Ideally we'd have the best traits from both of them. Hopefully Mel will learn. The Americans were always unlikely to invest heavily.

Conclusion

I'd say in terms of where we're at with the first team right now we've regressed by about eight years. We needed moderate surgery last summer but instead we wiped out what was left of the spine of the team.

But for those three years though we'd have never had Mel… and in turn we wouldn't have had all of the academy investment and The 'Own The Region' project. If Mel becomes more of a business and less of a fan then ultimately we will be better off. 

All in all, I witnessed the best team my generation rip teams apart playing some of the best football in the country. For a season and two thirds under McClaren and for a period under Wassall we felt invincible. It's gutting that that era's seemingly over. It was amazing whilst it lasted. 

[cannable]

15 minutes ago, King Kevin said:

The single biggest mistake we made in terms of the playing staff was to reward failure by giving enhanced contracts when we failed to go .

That wasn't a reward though, that was us ensuring that we kept that squad together on McClaren's request.

[King Kevin]

1 minute ago, cannable said:

That wasn't a reward though, that was us ensuring that we kept that squad together on McClaren's request.

Yes a mistake IMO, the same squad that went on to fail again two years on the trot .

[Tombo]

Not failure, because it's been enjoyable. Do think we're back at square one now, left wondering if we've missed our window so to speak. Time will tell.

[King Kevin]

1 minute ago, Tombo said:

Not failure, because it's been enjoyable. Do think we're back at square one now, left wondering if we've missed our window so to speak. Time will tell.

I said this in another thread a bit back ,unfortunately I think Wembley was our time and it's gone we missed the boat.