gfs1ram

In over 50 years of watching the Rams, I've been lucky enough to see many 'legends' play for us and many a discussion is to be had on who is the greatest of all.
However, there is only one undisputed legend amongst us all on dcfcfans.uk and that's B4.
Although I never met B4, I couldn't help but admire his undying faith in our club, especially over the recent difficult years.
My thoughts are with those who knew and loved him. RIP Daniel.

Just come on to catch up on the afternoon's "Great day at the office", and was immediately hit with this thunderbolt!
Utterly gutted!  😢
Yes, he's wound me up in the past, on occasion.  Sometimes I've had a nibble at him.  Sometimes I've bit my tongue and said nowt.
But oh so much more than that, his total and utter positivity was never disregarded, and his loyalty to, and passion for, DCFC was never... ever... doubted.
I'm not ashamed to say, He's been... and will remain for eternity... more of a Ram than I'll ever be.  🐏
 
Such devastating news does indeed put everything into perspective. 
Today's game comes a distant second behind this... even to the point that I'm really not in the mood any more, for a catch up on the matchday thread... but do you know what... today was precisely the sort of performance and result that would have delighted him... and just what he would normally have predicted with his blind, unwavering faith.  Despite my mood, I'm gonna read the lot... and read every single word in his memory... with a raised glass in hand! 🍻
I hope you were watching from above, B4, (Of course you were... silly me!) and I hope it put a massive grin on your face... and a spring in your step, now you are finally free at last, from your physical pains.
Feel free to bellow through the clouds "I told you so"!   😁
I'm sure many of us will mark your gut-wrenching passing in any number of ways in the coming matches... be that privately and/or publicly, and it is no less than you deserve.
I won't hesitate to twirl my scraver in your honour at future games, and my DCFC flange will forever be at half mast.  
Sleep well, dear Buddy.  Up The Rams.  See you at the promotion party.
xxx
😢🍻🐏

The lad was so positive and so Derby County to the point it made people laugh at times, but that was just him. Unwavering in his love and belief in Derby.
Stark reminder for everyone, none more so than myself, to be a little bit more B4. 
Best wishes to his family. 

First and foremost, my thoughts are with Daniel's friends and family, I cannot imagine what they are going through right now.
I heard the news last night and it came as a huge shock, B4 as we knew him so fondly by will be a huge loss to the forum.
He was Mr Positivity, Derby County's biggest cheerleader, even during the bad times his positivity would shine through.
I know his Dad was at the game today with a scarf on his seat, whilst we haven't closed the gap on Portsmouth in Daniel's final rallying call on this forum, I'm sure he will be over the moon with the 3 goals and 3 points today.
DCFC Fans will be honouring Daniel in time to ensure he remains in our memories, we will also be contacting the club in due course to see what can be done during a game.
Suggestions are welcomed as we all come to terms with the loss.
Rest in peace Daniel. ❤️🐏

I have some very sad news this evening.  Daniel (B4) died earlier this week. He was just 38.
As you know, he has been battling numerous health conditions for a long time, but always remained cheerful  and was the most loyal supporter of his beloved Rams, home and away.
He was at the match at Crewe and gave his full support as always. 
Daniel leaves behind a grieving dad, mum and sister. Our thoughts go out to them and we only hope they get a little comfort from knowing how well loved Daniel is by all who know him. 
Here are a couple of photos that his dad agreed could be shared. I'm sure many of you have others, as Daniel loved a selfie at the game.
David is hoping to arrange a more fitting tribute in time, but for now please raise a glass in his memory and a good Derby win today. I am sure that's what Daniel would have been doing tonight.
 

Or even chesting it in !! 😂

January 1971.  Derby 2 Wolves 1
Super atmosphere, the mud, that pitch and a last minute winner. Can still see John O'Hare cheesing the ball in !!
 

1Wildsmith                          7     Despite our dominance he made several good saves.
24Nyambe                          5     Disappointing. 
17Sibley                              6     Assist despite little time on pitch
35Nelson                            6     Not his best performance
5Bradley                             5     Disappointing. Expected him to dominate but at fault for second goal.
6Cashin                              6     Better than Bradley
3Forsyth                             5     Another defender who disappointed and not up to his usual standard.
2Wilson                               7.5  Good impact from subs bench. Should have been bought on earlier.
4Hourihane                         7    Good goal. Came to life when subs came on.
12Smith                               5.5  Obviously told to get forward but to little effect.    
7Barkhuizen                        6   Looked our most likely forward to score first half but missed several good chances.
20Ward                               6   Looked lively when came on. Put in several good crosses.
8Bird                                   5.5 As with Smith. Little effect on  midfield.
11Méndez-Laing                 8  Match winner.
14Washington                     5.5 No proper service. Therefore had little effect.
9Collins                               6  Unlucky with offside goal which he took well but otherwise had little effect.
 

Mentioned this game before, but where it all began for me. My first ever Derby game was a cup tie v Preston
January 1959. 2 - 2 on the snowy BBG.
The picture below is Jack Parry scoring and hangs in a corridor at Pride Park.

Mentioned this game before, but where it all began for me. My first ever Derby game was a cup tie v Preston
January 1959. 2 - 2 on the snowy BBG.
The picture below is Jack Parry scoring and hangs in a corridor at Pride Park.

Mentioned this game before, but where it all began for me. My first ever Derby game was a cup tie v Preston
January 1959. 2 - 2 on the snowy BBG.
The picture below is Jack Parry scoring and hangs in a corridor at Pride Park.

Mentioned this game before, but where it all began for me. My first ever Derby game was a cup tie v Preston
January 1959. 2 - 2 on the snowy BBG.
The picture below is Jack Parry scoring and hangs in a corridor at Pride Park.

I find all this abuse of Warne at the match heard on the TV coverage and on social media really embarrassing and detrimental to us as a club. I've never know so much ire directed at a Derby manager before in my life. Can we all stop moaning and just support our team? We've been through the mill as a club and some fans need to realise we aren't just going to 'piss the league'. This constant tirade against our manager is really tiring.

Having sat and watched the League One leaders lose at Chesterfield, fielding their strongest team, but Chesterfield deservedly winning, I did wonder what Derby’s match at Crewe had in store.
Warne, I think rightly, did not change a winning team, many on here seem to urge that. Derby battered the Crewe penalty area constantly for most of the first half. Crewe often had 8/9 men in their penalty area at times, which was very congested. We did try a variety of methods to score, playing passes to try and break through the lines, to no avail. We then resorted to mainly cross the ball, usually failing to hit a Derby player. If there was a diffence from Tuesday night it was a lack of movement from the front players, to try and create space. Unfortunately, Fonzie had an off day with his passing, sometimes because of lack of movement in front of him, and the falling asleep for their first goal.
in the second half, we were still dominant in possession but particularly Hourihane slowed the game too much, in my opinion, maybe trying to look confident that we would get back in game. The 2nd game was again poor defending from both Bradley and Nelson. That led to Crewe packing their Area with even more men, had some luck but also were let off by some poor score scoring efforts.
The subs did have an effect, freshening things up and eventually Derby scored the goals which gave them what they deserved. Well done for continuing to believe. Contrary to what some think, there is good spirit and they are playing for the Head Coach. As someone else said, Hourihane up his game tempo and was very important in the revival. Derby tried to play along the ground as much as possible, but trying to play through the centre of the defence was virtually impossible. Our standard of crossing improved a bit with Ward and to a lesser extent Wilson. Think Ward will be very important when he becomes match fit.
some of the comments on here during the match were embarrassingl and laughable. Special mention too to Crewe, who made it extremely difficult with their determination and hard work. Having watched the match against Northampton, their Manager wasn’t going to give Derby the amount of space they enjoyed on Tuesday.
Apart from a couple of pieces of defending and our finishing, it was a reasonable performance and no where near as bad as the Warne Out people are portraying. It was Crewe’s Cup Final - Chesterfield won theirs quite convincingly against Portsmouth!

Was at the game, think,the telly put on a different game to the one I was watching judging by the hysteria again on here , a good cup tie , defensive errors , lower league club on verge of upset, fight back at the end, dominant display from the Rams , Crewe defended like lions and made it difficult for us but the lads stuck at it and deserved a replay

It really wasn't same old same old, you must be watching a different game to me,,,what was same old was our wasteful woeful finishing especially Barks who I still think gives us something. playing like we did today all we need is a good striker also Washington is a good foil for a good striker 

Haven’t read through the thread so probably an unpopular opinion, but I thought in the main we played well. Certainly better, even at 2-0 down, than in some recent league games.
The game showed up very well where we are strong and where we need to strengthen. Our approach play was excellent. Warne cannot legislate for Foz falling asleep or Bradley being unable to hold off his man. Or some of the poor quality pull backs from promising attacks. We all know we need a decent striker in the window. If cashin goes we will need a first choice centre half as well. We should have had the game with by half time but we didn’t, and as soon as we gifted them the second they just parked the bus.
To be able to play through 11 human beings camped in their area it requires the technical skill of a good Premiership team - as I type this watch how Liverpool are struggling to get through Luton - as we are a reasonable to good league one team.
Rather than just moan and think we should be smashing a team who are good as at least a quarter of league one teams, I’d praise the fact that they stuck at it and managed to get a result which looked highly unlikely at 88 mins. 

Don't think the manager got much wrong today on the other hand the players decision making with the final ball wasn't the best 

I thought it was a poor player performance, to the point that if we lost I’d say we came across as arrogant and lazy. It’s the problem, I think, with the idea that you tell the player to ‘keep doing the right things’ as Warne says. First 20 we are in control, next 10, we do the same things over and over but get complacent. Players aren’t in the right position, when the cross comes in, crosses become more ‘floaty’ and with less intent and we lost control of the game. Bradley then loses his head, maybe not for a wrong reason but it was a catalyst for a dreadful end to the half and start to the second.
Credit to Warne in that he got his subs right to put the pressure on them. Even bringing Sibley on later meant he didn’t fall into the pack. To be honest though i thought the game changed because Hourihane stepped up his game, gave out a few home truths to those around him and did enough to get us over the line. We can all be critical of him, but I thought he was the one who really changed it for us today. Wish we saw that side of Hourihane a bit more than we do.
Thought Nelson and Smith played well, everyone else was a big vat of meh until the subs came on. Some of that shooting was shameful and is starting to be a big concern. But for now I’m happy enough to get through to a replay and go from there.

I thought the way they set up with defenders sitting high across the front of their box stopped us playing those little through balls and channelled us exactly where they wanted us - out wide. The crosses we then put in were high and suited their defenders rather than our attackers.
This was particularly noticeable first half.
Second half we mixed it up by going inside sometimes, and played less high crosses but more cut-backs when we were wide.
I am happy for you to disagree with me, but that's what I thought I saw. 
 

Did we play crap?
Completely dominated but couldn't score until late on....our problem,as ever,is out forward line against teams that sit in the box.
We need a new centre forward in January (no s*** Sherlock)

Well he did spill it and it did end 2-2 so every other stat is irrelevant, as it has been in football since the game began.

Exactly.
We had 32 shots but according to some on here all we did was put crosses in that didn't find a target. Only 8 on goal but there were a fair number of good blocks from their defenders. 
I thought particularly in the second half we tried really hard to play with variety through the middle into the box. The ref was also very lenient with some of Crewe's "marking" and they did seem to have the rub of the green with loose balls, ricochets etc.
Pompey, as you say are out to a non-league club. 
We kept going. Luckily the players panicked less than some on here and we have a replay against a team doing well in League Two, and with much younger players than us. 
But for some very poor defending for their first goal, I thought we did okay. 

Northampton set up completely different to Crewe. A few people pointed out the gaps and space Northampton left at the back, and said not every team will allow us to play like that.
Crewe had 5 on 6 yard line for 90 mins. They set up much better than Northampton, and it exposed our weaknesses. Credit where it's due, they did well.

I beg to differ
Derby...shots 33...8 on target...13 corners...635 passes and 71.2 possession, I think the players need to look at the stats 😊