ilkleyram

Without becoming all Kevin Keegan I have loved these last two seasons, really loved them - home and away.  I like our manager, his approach and his team and culture building, his improvement of players, his interviews and his ability to, on the outside at least, keep calm when all around him isn't; I have liked being a big fish, our away following, 3 o'clock kick offs, travelling knowing we can win every game (whether we will or not is another matter), different styles of play within games, a rock solid defence, record away wins, good goals and good football - the best GD in the league has counted for a lot and provided great entertainment and excitement, so too that automatic promotion went down to the last game.  I like our owner.

There was a time not so long ago that the second division was relatively equal competition wise (the best league in Europe) - parachute payments and the refusal of the EFL and PL to recognise and sort the problem out,  have ruined that, so too have Sky and the EFL ruined kick off times and therefore a significant part of the overall experience.  We are going to have to get used to losing more often, being outplayed more often, settling, initially at least, for mid table averageness, signing players that might find buying into the club culture that bit harder and, most of all, ignoring the 'noises off' - social media will, if this season is anything of an example, have the potential to become a toxic slurry at times.  Refereeing and officiating standards will continue to be low.

Despite all that I'm looking forward to it, just as I've looked forward to the start of every one of the last 61 seasons that I have been watching my team play live.  I know it's nearer the end of watching live than the beginning for me and I envy those of you that have longer to go; I wish that some of you had more patience and realised that teams of human beings take time to develop and isn't a precise science and that there will come a time when you too will be contemplating your last few seasons.  Make the most of it while you can. It's meant to be fun!

1 hour ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

I don't hate Paul Warne, he is a very likeable person and I enjoy watching his interviews.

My problems have always been with his recruitment and tactics.

Quite comical I know given we are 2nd and a point away from promotion, but this really is a very poor division and we have made things more difficult than they needed to be, just my opinion.

In terms of recruitment, to be fair to Paul, who knows how he will be free of restrictions, he may well have had 10 top players lined up this season and the club weren't able to do the business.

And tactics, we have had so many injuries (partly down to poor recruitment), but Paul has had to adjust given the situations he was finding himself in.

I've been his top critic, but if he wins promotion Saturday he has earnt his chance and more...I'd be happy to see how we recruit in the summer and see where we are come October type.

 

Tbf I’m not sure you have been his top critic 

3 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Why would he be given a full season in the Championship?

Every team in the bottom half of the Championship, Sunderland to Rotherham, have changed managers this season. Every one of those clubs sacked a manager.

If Derby are bottom three in the first half of the season and managers like Mowbray are floating about unemployed, there will be huge pressure to get rid.

Sentiment goes out the window. If managers like Nigel Adkins can be sacked after taking Southampton from League One to the PL in favor of a better, more progressive manager, then Derby would be foolish not to follow suite.

Derby have struggled before under Clough and Burley at Championship level. But in both spells there was hope due to how we played.

If results go against Warne and we’re playing unattractive defensive football, I think Clowes’ hand will be forced.

I think we have to take into account a couple of other factors. 1) how much PW is liked by DC and 2) how much DC is looking to reset the whole club and the destabilising consequences any new management team coming in will be. 
DC has shown this season that he will trust his own judgement before that of (some) vocal fans and he clearly has a strong relationship with Warne - the noise then probably served to strengthen Warne’s position rather than weaken it. The club and management team bunkered down. Nobody is unsackable and PW will eventually go, but some are less sackable than others - see Lionel and Jim as an example. Promotion helped Jim’s position just as it will (hopefully) strengthen Warne’s. 

5 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

Bread roll for you maybe.

Some of use a baguette!  🤓

 

 

 

 

EDIT:
No, not baguette... the other french one... petit pain, is it?  😕

Croissant 

2 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

Those old tear out tickets generally ran in numerical order, but every now and then they'd throw in a curve ball and change the sequence.
I always assumed it was to ensure you'd got the whole book with you, and not just purchased/borrowed/stolen the single voucher, thus more likely to be the genuine STH.  (How many of us would hand over a full book, even to someone we knew!).

 

... I once bought a single ticket (from a ST book) at Maine Rd.  He ("The spiv") tore out the right numbered voucher, and graciously hovered about until I was in, but I was very nervous that I'd been ripped off!   

... As an aside... I was sat front and centre behind the goal.  I kept looking behind wondering where all the noise was coming from.  It was mid-second half before I spotted the speakers, and the noise was being piped in from the Kippax Terrace to the side.  Surround-Sound football chants!  Cool!  😁

* Didn't help them though... we won 1-2!  🐏

I recall - but this may be an older brain fade - that we tried enhancing the crowd noise through speakers at the BBG one year. It didn’t last long because the authorities said it was against the rules. 
I think you’re only allowed to broadcast after goals are scored, when subs are made (ie information) and in emergency. 

2 minutes ago, Donnyram said:

Last match of the season must’ve been a bumper day for fraudsters

It wasn’t because there were always numbers left over 

7 hours ago, Wolfie said:

 

When Mrs Wolfie had been living with me for a few months, we decided to have a couple of friends round and I did a big swiss cheese fondue. We had a lot of cheese late into the evening.

That night, I was woken at about 2am by her fully dressed and in the middle of packing her bags. She was semi-awake and convinced that she had to move out there & then. She couldn't give me any reason, just that she hed to do it. It took me about half an hour to talk her down and convince her to get back into bed.

That was 13 years ago and it remains the only time anything like this happened - and the only time we've ever had a fondue.

You’ve only persuaded Mrs W once in 13 years to get into bed?  In all honesty that’s a Connor Salmon strike rate

40 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

Going undercover with my Cambridge mates Guy, Don, Ant, John and Kim.

Someone tell @angieram that her cover’s blown

10 hours ago, i-Ram said:

Difficult for me to say C86. I have not watched many of our performances of late, other than highlights, but notwithstanding I wouldn’t hold Paul Warne to account for any specific game in isolation, whether it Wycombe (A), Northampton (A), or Charlton (H). All 3 of them poor performances recently, with vital points lost, when a win could have created real pressure on teams around us.

I think he had really limited options on Wednesday, but part of that I feel is because he ‘breaks’ players. How many players have we had on the treatment table this season with niggling injuries to soft tissue, hamstrings, calf pulls, etc.  He works players too hard in my opinion, prioritising stamina and athleticism over ball retention and passing finesse. Fortunately we have a good, deep squad funded by Clowes, because we need it to cover for the number of injuries that are being sustained. Didn’t I read that he was saying on Tuesday how the players didn’t look right, and how some were jaded on Wednesday evening. I wonder whether he ever thinks it’s because he wears them out with his demands.

I am not a fan of his ‘tactics’ either - conceding midfield and hitting the ball quickly to the wings to get crosses in is ok, if we had a really decent (old fashioned) centre forward to get his head on most of the crosses, and if it wasn’t our only actual tactic (other than loading up at free kicks and corners). Seems to me that when the tactic isn’t working that we just try to do more of the same, but more quickly, with our players treating the football like it’s a hot potato.

In answer to @G STAR RAMand @YorkshireRam being second, per se, is not the problem, and he may well get us up. If he does it would be churlish for me not to say well done, you did your job. The players too. However, he disappoints me as I think we have the best squad overall in the league, and that the league is at its lowest quality for years. When I say in spite of Warne, I mean that I think a decent coach could have got this squad promoted by now, keeping the players fit through better rotation and the use of a few younger lads near the end of games, and playing a better brand of football suiting better the skill set of a number of our players. Rather than having a nail biting finish, we could and should be well clear of the third place team in my opinion.

And that is all it is, my opinion. Not concerned a jot if someone, or everyone, doesn’t agree with it, or doesn’t understand it. Equally I don’t feel the need to strongly debate it either. As you say I have been pretty consistent with my opinion on him since he joined, and I haven’t seen much over the last 18 months that that changes my viewpoint. 

 

 

On the ‘Warne breaks players’ topic Sportscene on Radio Derby was interesting last night listing many clubs across the leagues (including Orient) with high numbers of injuries this season. Perhaps it’s nothing to do with our training methods 

If you look at the way he dealt with TJJ for example - a very careful reintroduction that unfortunately went wrong - or Rooney’s freak injury or Ward’s or Collo’s - then maybe there’s other factors at play. 

5 hours ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

I'd turn around flashing the goods and say I bring me own

Chipolata?

That if you stepped on the cracks in the pavement (especially where the pavements were flags) bears would get you. To this day I still find myself subconsciously walking in the centre of pavement flags.

3 hours ago, Malty said:

Is it me or does it always seem to be a defender. This season why not NML. For me he was the surprise package and he’s been so effective with assists and a few goals. Plus a crowd favourite and a regular. 

My vote is for Mendez.

McGoldrick is the current holder…….though your general point is right that you then have to go back to Vydra and then Rob Hulse and Steve Howard. We have given the award to a lot of defenders over the years, liberally sprinkled with midfielders. Perhaps we just like good defenders in our club - Roy Mac was the first recipient and Dave and Toddy came soon after - but John O’Hare got it the second time so I’m not sure what that tells you 🤣

45 minutes ago, CapeTownRams said:

Funny how we talk of ‘investors’ … when nearly all, if not all, are effectively giving the Club money and receive no financial return on it at all- in fact it’s lost.

I wonder how many fans - assuming they were multi millionaires would ‘invest’ in the Club in this manner…

We can slag MM off as much as we do but the fact is he gave the Club millions …yes, it turned out a disaster but he still lost a bundle of cash…

Not necessarily wholly true - except the MM bit - if the investor(s)/owners sell the club to someone else for more than they put in then they do get a financial return.  I would imagine, for example, that Mike Ashley made money on the Newcastle deal, that the Glazers have benefitted from Man U. So it is possible.

 Would also imagine that DC might find it hard to get his money back from buying us given what he had to cover, never mind the running costs. 

Around this time - 10am - as nervous as sin thinking we might struggle and that they’d do us over. 
Ah well. 

28 minutes ago, Ewe Ram said:

It’s all nonsense. All too little too late. The deduction of points retrospectively doesn’t hurt any of them 

Why would any punishment of Leicester have to be retrospective? They could be deducted points the next time they’re in the PL. There’s no chance any punishment will be this season anyway. There’s only six weeks to go. It’ll take that long to appoint a barrister never mind brief them.

3 hours ago, ariotofmyown said:

Could someone confirm if calling a rival fan attending a match with children a "padeo" is good old fashioned atmosphere or being a nob?

Is a padeo someone who plays that paddle tennis game like Dwight?

10 minutes ago, Ram-Alf said:

I woke up to the news on the radio this Morning that Kate the future Queen has had a photo withdrawn from publication, Ah I thought those nasty Russians have doctored a picture and superimposed her head on a nude model.

Nope, It's to do with a chin, A sleeve, A jumper, A hand, A zip and a skirt, WTF is that all about 

https://news.sky.com/story/princess-of-wales-what-led-to-palace-admission-over-manipulated-photo-of-kate-13092481

It's probably the principle that if those things have been photoshopped then maybe the whole photo has been photoshopped, which then ties in with the conspiracy theories no doubt circulating widely on twittergram that she's actually dead/an alien/never going to walk again following her operation/been abducted by Meegan and Hal (fill in your own favourite theory here)

The fact that no photo used by any of the media at any time hasn't been manipulated in some way, whether that's simply cropped to size or more sinister, seems to have passed everyone by. Whether it's actually of any importance probably depends on whether you think the Royal Family and their health issues are important.  Some do, some don't.

It does say two things of interest - that whoever did the photoshopping isn't very good at it and needs some training and, secondly, that our media are now so paranoid (perhaps with good reason) about being manipulated that they check and are worried about even the most innocent of photos, even allowing for the fact that most of them, including the BBC, published it before they checked it. 

54 minutes ago, McArthur Park said:

Cracking day out today! Thought the second half especially was some of the best football we've played. I found it difficult to pick out a man of the match today because it was a great team performance, including the subs. Who did they pick on Rams tv? Oh and the toilets were marginally better than last year!

Shaun picked Barkhuizen for motm.

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

The Memsahib said that yesterday was International Women's Day and I fell for it, asking her when International Men's Day was.

"All the others" was the reply.

November 19th is our turn apparently. 

3 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

Pretty standard wording for a company that is technically insolvency and you would find the same pledges in the accounts that MM signed off on (not that I am comparing DC to MM)

 

But we should do - compare DC and MM that is - because they are both in exactly the same position financially, albeit that the actual amounts are different.

When push comes to shove our outgoings exceed our incomings. We therefore need DC to find ways of filling in the monetary gap, for all his talk of sustainability. Exactly the same with MM. The difference, at the moment, is that DC is (unlike MM latterly) showing every sign of trying to control our outgoings and is prepared to fill the financial gap. It was MM refusing to continue to fill the financial gap that led to administration.  There’s nothing, other than our current confidence in a new owner, that says that that situation cannot repeat itself.

That same concern applies, or should do, to the vast majority of football clubs in this country, Premier league or Efl,  which is one of the reasons that the epl and efl are belatedly challenging the financial performances of a number of clubs.

DC saved my, our, football club. He’s clearly a fan; he’s clearly brought about a degree of financial control that was lacking; he’s clearly prepared to, for the time being at least, fill in the financial gaps.  But for all we might not want to believe it now, that could change.  It’s a situation that absolutely demands a large degree of patience from us when we cannot afford a young, dynamic striker/defender/midfielder that’s effectively a short term financial gamble however much we fans might want him.

3 hours ago, angieram said:

Interesting article, not just about the turmoil caused by transfer deadline days, but also regarding the culture at the club and his relationship with Warne.

Perhaps he hoped he'd be going west across A50 to M6 north instead! 

What I found most interesting  - and worrying in a way - was his apparent powerlessness about the possible transfer: ‘you realise you have no control over it (the transfer)’; ‘it’s all above my head’

I probably changed jobs about 12 times in my career. On 3 occasions I was headhunted. Every time I moved it was because I decided it was right for me and my family, and when I had a family they were always involved in the decision.  Cash always seems to me to be someone with his head screwed on and I would hate to think that the decision wasn’t his to make, that he didn’t have control over his future and his career, just as when he decided to extend his contract. 

Perhaps football is just different; perhaps players still don’t have quite as much power as we think despite Bosman and agents. I don’t want him to leave but I do hope that if and when he does it is his choice and no one elses even if clubs and agents are part of the process.

2 minutes ago, angieram said:

My husband missed it, too. We were on holiday.

I didn't have a season ticket in those days as I was working weekends.

5 of us now 😀😀

On 04/03/2024 at 10:15, MadAmster said:

Take a gander at Dajaune's 96th minute equaliser for Gateshead at Boreham Wood. Pace and power. Our #9 next season?

https://www.google.com/search?q=dajaune+brown+gateshead+goal&rlz=1C1CHBD_enNL973NL973&oq=dajaune+brown+gateshead+goal&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigAdIBCDY3OTJqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:4b46d78a,vid:TFxua0JH1E4,st:0

I do like how, at the end of the game, all the Gateshead squad shook hands with and thanked every one of their supporters for coming to the match.  I know there were only a 100 or so but even so that was a good gesture.

And I thought I was the only one to have only missed the Newcastle home game that season. 

Thank you @Mick Harford and @Alty_Ram.  Join the club.

3 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

Having spent the first half getting a good view of all of Ward's input in that NE corner, I'd already earmarked him as MOTM... A first for me, due to a lousy attention span and lack of footy knowledge!  I just don't normally even consider a MOTM!
My smugness knew no bounds, as it was announced on the PA later.  "Wow!  I actually do know stuff", I thought to myself.  I literally skipped home!  😁
Then I come on here.  No other player gets a mention on that topic.  It's as if it was a no-brainer.  A one horse race.  Clear for all to see.  Even for the dumbest of fans. 🙄
Needless to say, my smugness has diminished somewhat, and I'm back to conceding I know f all... but it felt great for that hour or so!

Still, at least my blind faith 3-0 prediction held good.  I'm on a roll!  💪
Next week, I may even get involved in pre-match line-ups and tactics!  😲

 👀🤣

 

Well just so long as you didn’t skip home along the cycle path outside Costco. That would have been very annoying to the hundreds of bell ringers that use it.