Hustler

Living fairly near to Motspur Park, I went along to the game tonight.  While it's certainly disappointing that we were on the way to three points after 93 minutes and were going home with none after 97 (part of the first team ethos the academy certainly seems to have taken on board), I don't think we should get too downhearted.  Overall Fulham probably deserved their win, dominating possession for the last third of the match, and we were a bit reliant on their poor final balls and inept finishing at times.  That said, we matched them for long periods and I don't think anyone would have seen us as being two divisions below them, as we are of course at first team level. 
Of the individual performances, four stood out for me for different reasons.  In the first half at least Fulham had no answer at all to Dejaune Brown, who simply bullied their rather large centre half as if it was the easiest thing in the world.  DB saw less of the ball in the second half, but he took his goal nicely.   Hopefully he will not be another Calum Ball type who struggles when up against more experienced and tougher opponents.  His overall game - touch, awareness, positioning etc - all seemed good to me.  This last point holds true for Lennon Wheeldon who really seems to be growing into the no 10 role.  Ryan Bartley had an excellent game at  centre back, a calm, reassuring presence who read the game well.  And then there was Darren Robinson, who I was particularly keen to watch, in part for some of the reasons discussed higher up in this thread.   I thought he was really good, passing the ball quickly and accurately with the minimum of fuss.  He was unlucky not to score when after a great run, he hit the post with the keeper stranded. He certainly likes a tackle.  One particular pole axing of a Fulham player was spectacular, with many in the crowd seemingly sharing my surprise that no free kick was given.   
If it was up to me, I'd see DRob as a better bet for the first team than Tyrese Fornah, particularly as a CDM.  But it is of course not up to me at all, and DRob may have some mysterious Elsnikesque shortcoming which means he never makes it.    However, he seems to be ahead of Fornah in areas such as positioning and knowing when to release the ball.  This is not to slag off Fornah, who certainly has some talent but to me he plays more like an 18 year old than someone who is 23.  In parenthesis, as we used to say in the Ossie End, I do wonder whether this might be to do with where we got him from.    I recently saw a little documentary on Oliver Burke, who the Red Dogs managed to stiff RB Leipzig for about £13m back in the day.  The documentary made the point that Burke had a certain degree of raw talent, but the Leipzig coaches were surprised at how poorly he had been coached meaning that he was deficient in all sorts of basics.  Still, if you can get £13m for somebody that poor, you must literally be laughing all the way to the bank.
 

DBrown, assisted by Weston. 1-0 up vs 3rd in the table!

No, nothing yet. It really is very early days and I think they are just trying to understand their loss.
I will keep in touch and let everyone know what they decide to do. 

Such sad news. We could all learn from Daniel's positivity and resolute support of the Rams. A forum legend. My thoughts are with his family at this difficult time. 

I am not one to post on here but watching our youngsters this week has given me fresh optimism. Let's just hope that these lads are given  opportunities to grow and progress at the club and do not feel they have to move to get that chance.
 

I am not one to post on here but watching our youngsters this week has given me fresh optimism. Let's just hope that these lads are given  opportunities to grow and progress at the club and do not feel they have to move to get that chance.
 

I am not one to post on here but watching our youngsters this week has given me fresh optimism. Let's just hope that these lads are given  opportunities to grow and progress at the club and do not feel they have to move to get that chance.
 

I am not one to post on here but watching our youngsters this week has given me fresh optimism. Let's just hope that these lads are given  opportunities to grow and progress at the club and do not feel they have to move to get that chance.
 

I am not one to post on here but watching our youngsters this week has given me fresh optimism. Let's just hope that these lads are given  opportunities to grow and progress at the club and do not feel they have to move to get that chance.
 

I am not one to post on here but watching our youngsters this week has given me fresh optimism. Let's just hope that these lads are given  opportunities to grow and progress at the club and do not feel they have to move to get that chance.
 

I am not one to post on here but watching our youngsters this week has given me fresh optimism. Let's just hope that these lads are given  opportunities to grow and progress at the club and do not feel they have to move to get that chance.
 

I am not one to post on here but watching our youngsters this week has given me fresh optimism. Let's just hope that these lads are given  opportunities to grow and progress at the club and do not feel they have to move to get that chance.
 

I am not one to post on here but watching our youngsters this week has given me fresh optimism. Let's just hope that these lads are given  opportunities to grow and progress at the club and do not feel they have to move to get that chance.
 

James Collins is always near a loose ball in the box, the same way that my dog is always near a squirrel that just ran up the tree in the park

Could see Clowes getting quite angry with Warne for his non existent youth policy. What's the point in Clowes spending millions a year on a Category A academy if Warne is going to give them 2 minutes in the Papa Johns Trophy? Frustrates me to no end.

Decent win, could and probably should have been more comfortable with more wasteful finishing on show (I know I say that every week right). Good enough overall, shame the young uns didn’t get more opportunity, wonder if they would have without the penalty incident blotting the copy book. Nice of Bradley to let Didzy out of his pocket at fulltime for a catch up with his former team mates 😉 

Special mention to Josh Vickers doing the club and his late wife proud tonight 👏 

Just wanted to say, what a good free transfer Nelson is proving to be, a man mountain of a player, wins nearly all his headers reads the game well, and is forming a great partnership with Cashin. 

I no longer feel so far away from making my Derby debut.
 

All pants?

Jason Shackell

Good Afternoon Rams,
I hope no one minds me posting in here but I am a Cheltenham Town fan that comes in peace.
I am a member of the Mayor of Cheltenham's charity committee and in our game against the Rams on Saturday 14th January 2023, the Mayor of Cheltenham Charities will be bucket collecting to raise funds for Feed Cheltenham (https://feedcheltenham.weebly.com) and Cheltenham Housing Aid Centre (CHAC) (www.chac.org.uk)
Both of these charities do great work and more information can be found on their websites, links above.
We appreciate during these difficult times, finding extra money to support charity is difficult for all of us, but if all fans donated just 20p the potential is there to raise over £1000 for these incredible charities.
We will be able to take cash and card and look forward to welcoming you all to the Completely Suzuki Stadium on the day.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and good luck for the season.

It’s cause no one told them life was gonna be this way. 

Social media is awash with people gloating at the minute. So, thank you for taking the time to come on here and post the above comments. It’s very much appreciated.

All the very best for the coming season and beyond.I hope Rooney sticks by you with a decent owner on board he has a good a chance as anybody to get you back up.Your fans have been superb through this crap period.Things can change very quick in football and sometimes for the better, look at us in the so called best league in the world the Premier league for another season.Although my opinion of  the PL ( I’ve missed 2 games this season )is it’s the fatal attraction of clubs who risk everything to get to the tv cash when for us fans it’s a bland predictable bore fest unless you are a top 4 club the rest just make up the numbers.I won’t shed a tear when we eventually get back to the championship a far better and more competitive league to play in.Hope to be playing you at Pride Park again soon.

Probably - and I’m completely guessing - because what Q have actually received is two (let's accept that the statements made about a uk and US group are true) indicative offers for the club plus an ‘expression of interest' from Mike Ashley's team.  
An indicative offer says two things - 1) this is broadly what we will pay for X, over this timescale and 2) we are interested in buying the club.
‘An expession of interest' is just that - we are interested in buying the club. But it contains no firm financial offer.
From what we know of MA that’s how he works - he takes everything down to the wire to get the best possible deal. He also knows how to manipulate the media and the public/fan view to his best advantage. He knows he’s in a good position. He will be playing us and Q. 
The other two groups - presuming the UK one is not MA - are taking a similar line, I’m guessing. They have each made an indicative offer which will be subject to conditions which will not meet what Q would ideally like but which get them in the game. But because they are indicative offers they need a lot of discussion and negotiation about what they may mean in practice. Those discussions may, or may not, lead to a formal offer.
Nowhere in any of the statements have we heard of a formal offer for the club.  My bet is that we haven’t had one as such. Yet. Therefore it is impossible for Q to identify and announce a PB. The NDAs will absolutely prevent them from being any more open about who, why and what than they have been - and clearly they haven’t handled the PR well. They’ve raised expectations and then had hopes dashed; they’ve set timescales and procedures and the 'buyers' have done their own thing.
It will, probably, go down to the wire. The problem for we fans (and probably Q as well) is when is the wire? Is it when the money runs out? When’s that? Is it after the Cardiff match or the end of May when the season ends or the end of June when contracts finish? Perhaps it’s when the fixtures are due to be announced; maybe it’s when we actually know what division we will be in next year or when the EFL judge when we have or do not have enough money to fulfill next season’s fixtures. There will be a point when something has to give and that’s the moment it will get exciting. It could come before if one of the groups jumps the gun and makes an offer; it could be the moment of liquidation. Timing in acquisitions is all, and can be worth millions of pounds. 

If I were Q I would be getting irritated by the groups interested. I would be (belatedly) upping my PR game; I would be (very carefully) leaking stories to the press; I would be taking a risk and putting Wayne in front of them directly to emphasise the footballing issues; I would, now, define the end date, the point of liquidation and I would engage the EFL in that strategy. In short I would be increasing the pressure on them to make formal offers and move the process forward, quicker.