eezzeetiger

Can i start the discussion....?
Football team by a mile.
With the cricket, its a different story, nice friendly small club, trying to do things right, horrendous run of bad luck recently and injuries to key players, Wayne Maddeson in may opinion should be Trent 100 captain 

if its off can we send it to the Riverside instead

So sending the muck spreader to the efl headquarters is off then☹️

Then those other clubs would also be listed here:
https://www.efl.com/-more/governance/embargoes

I was thinking of a way to address the misleading narrative around us and the EFL that is making so many other fans dislike our club when actually they should be worried about when the EFL might come for them. So I wrote this article, if you like it and can be arsed we could put it on a few other fans sites.  I bet Mr Pop in Bristol would love it.
The Wrong Coloured Shorts (wixsite.com)
 

I might be reading it wrong, but looking at the regulations related to the transfer embargo, it seems we're only allowed to make signings to get the squad up to 23 players of "professional standing". What concerns me is the description of "professional standing":
"any Player who has made one first team appearance (including as a sub) for any Club in any first team competition (EFL Trophy appearances do not count)."
Doesn't this mean that, by the regulations of the league, every academy player that played for Derby in the Chorley game and is still at the club counts towards that 23? If so, I would imagine this is one of the first things that Derby must be trying to work out with the league. It would be an absurd situation if we were forced to count academy players, many of whom are still only U18s, as first team players because they were forced to fulfil one fixture that the first team could not postpone.
https://www.efl.com/-more/governance/embargoes/embargoes-faqs/

So he wasn't to blame then! ?

I don't believe the cause was completely down to fans not being in the ground and you're simply misdiagnosing the cause of the poor home form. A big point drop from one season to the other doesn't necessarily mean it's because there were no fans in the ground, teams suffer big drops in form from season to season when fans are still very much present after-all. There appears to be mixed results in research on this topic but a very big study as cited here does undermine your claim.   https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/31/football-teams-retain-home-advantage-no-crowd-study This is another study that highlights the opposite just to give the opposite opinion. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2020.593499/full 

I haven't done the research on championship home form to note how other teams did in comparison to a pre covid times. If you wanted to be more accurate you should highlight post/pre covid home form in the 19/20 season too rather than mixing in the numbers potentially giving a distorted picture. But even if the drop in home form is represented  to a degree because of the loss of crowds (and you happen to be correct) then the same logic applies for other teams too which would explain the away form staying somewhat the same. 

If you think that having crowds back in will suddenly propel this team to midtable from relegation fodder that's your view but I think it's unrealistic to think such a thing. Crowds do likely have some impact especially in the giving of cards to the opposition but I don't think they determine results to the extent you're suggesting. 

On the fans in the ground, I think I remember seeing a stat on MOTD that showed home win percentage had taken a bit of a nose dive. Yes, we'll have a bit more of a home advantage but so will other teams and I'd guess it would somewhat even out over the course of time. If people are thinking 'the fans are back' and suddenly we'll pick up a lot more points I think that's fundamentally mistaken and misdiagnoses how bad the rot is at the club. The passion of fans doesn't bear a direct relation to points on the board- if it had done Leeds, Newcastle, Sunderland, Sheffield wednesday etc. wouldn't have been in the doldrums for years on end. 
Are we doomed? No, not yet we're not. There is still a month until a ball is kicked and we have the January window after that to beef the squad up and the loan market if we need to use it. Is the situation extremely concerning? Yes, we picked up less than a point per game last season and endured some of the worst football produced by the club this century. If that form is replicated this season we can pack our bags for league 1 at christmas time tbh. 
The squad needs significant additions in strength and depth  not trimming around the edges with a few additions. The big issue is we have little to no money and with the soft embargo little ability to bring in good quality players. Even in areas where we do have numbers (such as cm) I'd still suggest additions just based on how ineffective they were last season. An overreliance on academy players (not to do this to death) is repeating the same error made last season- throwing too many in too quickly leads to them all drowning. 

But there are a lot of free agents around and the finances of football due to the pandemic will be suppressing wages at this level a little. That does mean if we're smart we can likely go bargain shopping and pick up good senior pros who will fit the style of play we want to adopt (whatever that may be).  That gives me hope and we can't condemn the team before a ball has been kicked. If nothing really changes and we just make a couple of additions my gut feeling is that we'll have a long hard season and this will likely be the season we fall through the trap door. The combination of an inexperienced manager and a large intake of youth players seems to me like an obvious recipe for disaster. 

Don't think we'll go down, but I don't think we'll be top half.

Not too bad then. 

Obviously gave him a rest as they knew he wouldn’t be needed.

Can i start the discussion....?
Football team by a mile.
With the cricket, its a different story, nice friendly small club, trying to do things right, horrendous run of bad luck recently and injuries to key players, Wayne Maddeson in may opinion should be Trent 100 captain 

Oh god, for a minute I thought that was Matt Hancock. 

Was Alonso there or…

not for the first time......

We’re going down, aren’t we? ??

Why not? I can't be any worse then anybody else that played up front last year. (Narrator: He was worse in every possible way.)

I shall never never ever ever ever cancel like also buy mine.

I honestly don’t care if it is a bunch of kids .. They are, or will be the Rams .. they get my support and I’ll be buying my season ticket even if we are down to 11 players and a number 12 plus a reserve goalie and in league 2. ….BUT … I will only buy my ticket when I can go to a stadium that is as close to functioning normally as is reasonably possible. I don’t want lotteries for games where only 5k can go and it’s masks and stewards and you can’t do this or you can’t do that as far as the eye can see. .. The thing about football and watching it live .. it’s about letting your hair down, forgetting all the every day stuff for a couple of hours, getting away from it, downloading with something simple and straight forward .. us V them, give it your all. And afterwards, either basking in the moment or deciding to pick yourself up and have another go next week. … So I am not waiting for a new owner or the EFL and Machiavelli to do their stuff.. que sera sera … but I am waiting for Covid to be kicked in to the long grass.

An interesting debate.  There are times in the past when I’ve thought about not renewing but I have, not necessarily because of the football but, as others have said, the day itself.  Meeting your mates, few beers and a bit of a laugh.  I’ve renewed for this year and will get excited once August comes round.
That said, the last year has made me take stock a bit.  I guess I’m becoming a bit disillusioned with professional football at the top levels - champ and prem.  It can be difficult to get to some games, particularly midweek and Sky mess about with so many moving games to Friday night and Saturday lunchtime, which is also a bit tricky.  And when you see the money in the Premier League and the struggles lower down it a bit disheartening.  We all know the situation we’re in and chasing the dream and spending big back in 2015/16 hasn’t helped that.  And situations like Macclesfield, Wigan, Bury and there are probably many more too show that it’s quickly becoming unsustainable, if it isn’t already.  And the gap is widening.  There’s been lots of debate about the relegated clubs and the level of parachute payments making it easy for them to go straight back up and it’s a valid point.  Before too long it’ll be a virtual closed shop - the three coming down will keep going back up.
I am seriously thinking I might enjoy watching my local non-league team instead.  The quality and atmosphere won’t be as good but it won’t be about the money, it’ll be closer to a level playing field, 3:00 kick off on a Saturday afternoon and I might feel like I’m helping out where it counts. Will that mean I’ll care any less about The Rams? Absolutely not!!  Will it mean I won’t go to some games I want to and know I’ll be able to attend?  Of course it won’t.  It’ll just be a personal choice based on my frustrations with how the game is run.  Sorry for the long post!!

Football is a Saturday afternoon with your brother or mates.
Football is about arguing about the team, the tactics, the players, the manager and the oppostion.
Football is the banter, the sounds, the smells(!!), the andrenaline of walking to the ground - it's an emotion of highs and lows within just 90 minutes, and the next week, whatever the previous result may be, you go again.
Once you have committed to a club, it's yours for life, whatever division the team plays in.
I'm 69 years of age, and next Easter Monday 2022, will be the 60th anniversary of the first time I watched Derby County, when my dear father and uncle took me and my brother to the Baseball Ground.
I've stood on terraces, in all weathers, sat on hard seats, been treated to the hospitality suite, and even played on Pride Park in a charity game and football have given me despair at time, but also much enjoyment over the years.
I even bought a season ticket when I was working overseas and only saw 4 home games a season for 3 years, but I still supported Derby County from afar.
Whatever division The Rams find themselves in next season, I will shout at them, criticise them, moan until I'm blue in the face, but I'll support them because they are my club from my home town.
 

Tbh if I was going to base my season tickets purchases on the quality of our squad - out of the 17 I’ve had Id probably only ever have gotten one ?.

It’s a nice thought, but as put quite succinctly by @Tyler Durden I think you are wide of the mark. Even the EFL probably know it was a poor TV deal, particularly Rick Parry. Only that total arsepiece Shaun Harvey and Sky thought it was a good deal at the time.
We are where we are for 3 reasons:
1) The Rams came up with an amortisation policy that was apparently without proper system or record. The evidence given by the club throughout suggests that it’s approach to valuing players was a bit ‘wet finger in the wind’ giving the impression that they might be gaming the figures for P&S advantage. We are yet to know whether that is or was the case, but I could have told you two years into their contracts that Butterfield, Blackman, Anya and Johnson were worth close to duck all.
2) Steve Gibson thought he could nail us on the stadium valuation, and his threat to sue the EFL because Boro failed to get into the 2018/19 playoffs, led the EFL to throwing as much poo as they could at the Rams to make sure something stuck. As it happens only a small bit did, and that was for a charge they tacked on late at the start of the hearing process.
3) The EFL administration are incompetent, and I don’t think they foresaw that the Rams would be as successful as they have been to date at keeping this matter to as low as a possible £100,000 fine. But by their subsequent actions and comments they have found themselves in a face saving position where they are desperately trying to hold on to their last strands of integrity, whilst also being bullied by a number of member club vested interests which means this process has effectively spun out of their control. I tell you, they must want this to end as much as we do.
Its a shambolic mess for all concerned unless you are 1) the Sky Finance Director or 2) the Sky Sports ‘rolling news’ Editor.