ilkleyram

On 18/07/2021 at 20:47, SuperDerbySuperRams said:

I have a friend who used to be neighbours with Morrison. Let’s just say he wasn’t the best neighbour… 

Did Ravel complain about him to their local council?

Random thought, non-Covid related.  One of the things I like about pre-season friendlies is the refereeing.  They don't get fooled so often by the 'he touched me so I'm flinging myself to the ground' routines or get the yellow card out at the drop of a hat.  I rather like the derisory waving of the hands from the refs telling the nancies to get up and carry on.

I suppose it's wishful thinking to hope that will carry on into the season proper, at all levels. 

2 hours ago, rammieib said:

The other thing is this is suggesting the 8000 ST’s want to go and as someone said, what if these ST holders don’t want to go because of Covid. My dad doesn’t want to go tomorrow because of Covid.

The bit that’s puzzling me - as of Monday, we don’t have any restrictions, and everyone (including me) is treating it like there will still be restrictions. There isn’t any on Monday...

But individual organisations can still make their own restrictions - LNER are asking people to wear masks whilst allowing strangers to sit next to each other, ditto London Transport and shops near me. DCFC are waiting for some guidance from the EFL I would guess and that may be to restrict attendances after Monday; they might restrict away fans to reduce travelling.  It is not going to be back to where we were on Monday and some will support it, some will complain about too much freedom and some will complain about too little freedom. Twas ever thus.

12 minutes ago, B4ev6is said:

All I can suggest mate is to email Derby county and explain what has happened so if season ticket holder from last season be able to help you.

Thanks B4

We've got 3 and a half weeks until the season kicks off, just over 7 weeks until the transfer window closes until January - so plenty of time yet - and we're currently in a position where we can't readily sign players unless they are free and willing to come for what in football terms is a relatively low wage, whatever our owner might be prepared or want to do financially.  

And we are in the part of the season - every season - where every single club has players on trial so that the coaching staff can look at them to see if they are 'better than what we have', add something to the squad and team and improve our chances for the season.  Our greatest ever manager had a funny habit of finding players that other clubs didn't want and who didn't fit and turning them into teams that ruled the football world, because he looked at what they could do rather than at what they couldn't.  He also didn't hesitate to get rid if they didn't fit in.

Ravel Morrison is a good age, footballing wise, apparently hasn't been in any trouble since his late teens (join a long queue for that one) and has persuaded several good managers over the years that he's worth a shot at a high level.  Maybe he'll sign for us, maybe he won't - that's the whole point of pre-season - but he's sure worth looking at. 

I took young Ilkley for the first time when he was about that age - he still goes over 20 years later - but I think it depends on the child.

Some things to think about -

Noise - people shouting (or even lots of people in masks) might be scary.  I've seen kids with noise cancelling headphones. Young Ilkley cried when we scored and all the fans shouted (might not be a problem on Sunday!)

Weather - a warm day is better than rain/cold

Distractions - sweets/entertainment/games on a phone etc should the entertainment on offer get too boring (though be prepared to leave early). Unless I've read it wrong there is going to be some kind of controlled exit arrangement.  Not sure how it will work and whether early leaving is OK.  I presume the loos etc will have to be open but access to them might be controlled.

Travel - I picked an away match close to our (then) home so that it wasn't too long a day and I knew the walk to the ground wasn't a long one.

Be prepared for endless questions - do we play in white shirts etc

Enjoy it - there's nothing to beat taking a youngster to his first football match, son or grandson (or daughter/granddaughter, because I took his sisters when they were a bit older too).  Best feeling in the world and the cause of many great memories that I wouldn't have otherwise have had.  Take at least one photo of you both together - you think you'll always remember it and the match and the score, but you won't.

Took me all of 2 minutes and one of those was spent with me trying to buy one ticket of a pair of seats before I realised I was being an covidiot.

The really worrying thing was that I have now moved from adult to senior so not only is my ticket cheaper but I'm now a year closer to not being able to go at all; or I'm no longer deemed to be an adult.  Not sure what to make of that.

1 hour ago, Coconut said:

About as cryptic as

4 down: "A popular household pet, man's best friend"

3 letters, middle letter o.

God?

25 minutes ago, Spanish said:

Have you not read the live EFL website that @RoyMac5quoted?

Well I’ve gone back a few pages and can’t see where @Roymac mentions a live EFL page but if it’s the same one that @Ghost of Clough has just quoted above I think it reinforces the point I was making which is that we have been, and are, under embargoes for various reasons but that we don’t have enough information to know how serious that is (other than being under embargo at all is limiting our potential transfer activity and is,therefore, serious).

The detail available - how much we owe HMRC, for example, for how long and whether the debt is increasing or decreasing or staying the same, whether it’s covid related or not, is not being published.  Ditto the other reasons for embargo.  We know that one of the reasons for embargo is the non-publication of accounts but we don't know all the reasons why we have not done so - was it covid related, was it inefficiency on our part, was it because the disciplinary case made producing the accounts impossible (because we didn’t know which amortisation system to use and didn’t want to exacerbate the situation or duplicate the work if we had to resubmit the accounts)? 
 

The only thing we know with certainty is that we are in embargo for a number of different reasons. What we don’t know is how serious (or not) those reasons may be.

52 minutes ago, Spanish said:

These are EFL comments and I’m not sure why they would quote them today if they had been paid.  I don’t think these are past indiscretions that we are to be punished for even though they no longer exist.  Many clubs apparently filed their accounts late but they are not under embargo.

Para 89, page 44 of the latest DC report - quoting the EFL's reasons for (some of) our embargoes.  But neither the EFL nor the DC give any context to the indiscretions that led to the embargoes - no dates, no quantum, no information. So it’s impossible to know for sure whether it is still a problem, whether it is (or was) a relatively large (or small) problem and therefore anyone’s guess as to whether it’s something to worry about. Or not.

6 hours ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

Having seen the reasons for our ongoing embargo I am more worried about the fact we owe HMRC money and that we have defaulted on transfer instalments than the EFL nonsense.

Except that the DC's comments don’t say what they mean other than we owed or owe HMRC money and have not paid transfer instalments. It doesn’t say whether that’s all transfer instalments or just one minor one.

Say, for example, that we didn't pay the PAYE bill on the month's wages we didn’t pay when we thought the Sheikh was going to pay but that since then we have paid the HMRC? Say that transfer instalments were due in January and we thought the Sheikh was going to pay them but didn’t, but since then we have paid them. In both those situations we shouldn’t be so worried.

The trouble with the DCs comments is that there is no context and no detail so you can read into them whatever you like.  It may actually not be a problem any more; it may be a problem that will be solved with new owners and that everyone involved is cool and dandy with the whole thing; it may be a matter of considerable concern.

Take your pick because your guess is as good as anybody’s. But it is a guess.

Gloria Gaynor - I will survive. And on the B side (for later on), Queen and We are the Champions

1 hour ago, RoyMac5 said:

The EFL deserve circumcising! ?

 

The devil will be in the detail of this, if it’s true. For example does it mean that the value of a ground could never go up (to have a profit you have to have an initial valuation and a higher sales price). That would be daft. It’s saying that PP and every other football ground can only be worth what they were worth on July 1st 2021, even in 100 years time. What happens if you want to build a new ground?

If it’s actually meaning that the income from sales of football grounds can’t be included in p and s calculations that’s very different.

11 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Had to have a look. He's quite upset.  He also seems to think Derby have missed HMRC payments.  Not sure how he would know that, actually he wouldn't.  Reckons he's coming to Pride Park next season with his mates.  Could you imagine 3 hours in a car with him and his home made banner about amortisation.  Leave him to it.  Blokes the very height of sadness.

In fairness to the plonker that is contained in the DC's words re HMRC - no date, reason or amount attached though.

My bet, fwiw, is that we didn’t pay HMRC paye when we missed the wages that month we thought the sheikh was stumping up. Might be wrong though.

16 minutes ago, Shuff264 said:

Why does it feel like it still isn't over

Because we haven’t said that we’re not appealing yet

I won’t 

18 minutes ago, HuddersRam said:

Afternoon chaps and chapettes. Apologies for raking up old ground like a mildly more forum-busting, acceptable version of the EFL, but for the next project I've got a chat with Igor Stimac this evening. Not sure how I've managed to convince him, but I'm not complaining.

If anyone has got any questions they want me to put forward to him (apart from does he have his boots and does he fancy buying a football club) just let me know either below or over DM!

Did he know anything of Derby before signing - 2nd Division club in the East Midlands? Might he have gone elsewhere if we hadn't signed him before his success with Croatia?  Did he have other offers?

Did he think after the Tranmere thrashing on his debut that we might go on to have the season we had?

What were his views of the bald eagle? Who managed who?

What's he doing now?

Which matches did he enjoy the most?

1 hour ago, Woodley Ram said:

Sounds reasonable to me, 

Having read the relevant accounting rules I cannot understand how they come up with the opinion that we were in breach of them. I understand that it is not the done practice of a football club to immortalise that way but that's a different question.

We shot ourselves in the foot by not producing our own expert witness (was there a bit of Hubris there?)

The EFL are in a pickle but as you say they relied on honesty. If the EFL ask for accounts so that they can audit them, they should do so, in not finding this sooner they have not performed their duties properly, but we equally should have been more transparent about what we were doing.

I just want tis over and done with so we can move on, I also wish the other clubs supporters and indeed the clubs themselves would understand the facts and not jump to conclusions. 

At least we'll be around forever.  It's more than some believe will happen

On 25/06/2021 at 22:03, EtoileSportiveDeDerby said:

The most difficult job in the world and there is no training. You just learn on the job, you'd hope to get more right than wrong but there are so many factors in play and adverts for instance are out of your control. Good move.

It might be the hardest job in the world - it's the job I have enjoyed more than any other, and still do - but it's not correct to say that there is no training or that you learn on the job.  My parents effectively trained me for all the years they were alive by setting examples, most of which I followed, some I deliberately did differently.  And I hope that I also trained my 3 how to be parents over the 30 years they have been alive - no doubt they'll do some of the things I taught them and ignore others.

The challenge, for society and Governments the world over, is how to train/teach the minority who aren't trained by their parents to be (largely) constructive members of the systems under which we live. I doubt that anyone has solved that conundrum completely. 

5 hours ago, i-Ram said:

A vulnerable person (Morris) is approached by an unscrupulous person (an agent or EFL club representative) offering goods that are clearly not fit for purpose, and at a greatly exaggerated price compared to market value. Said vulnerable person not only pays the exaggerated price, but also gets taken in by a third party’s sob story (a player) who suggests that moving to Derby without significant financial security would be a huge issue for his wife and family, who are happily homed and schooled in an idyllic part of England (say, Bradford). Said vulnerable person promises to compensate third party hugely be it by salary or length of contract, or indeed offering family members a job in the scouting department. At vulnerable persons request third party agrees to stand gooning in a picture with vulnerable person, both draped in black and white scarf.

It’s a modern day scandal I tell thee.

Well I know something about you @i-Ram. You’ve never been to Bradford. 

2 hours ago, Pearl Ram said:

Whoever gave you your first warning has trouble distinguishing between except and accept. ?

Unless @rynnywas making sure that @86 Hair Islands knew that insults were not an exception to the rules

21 minutes ago, DCFC1388 said:

I completely agree that the way they went about it is totally wrong and the whole thing from their end stinks. Who knows if they put pressure on the IDC but either way they should have agreed a joint statement with the club before anything was said. I dont understand why the IDC would announce their decision at such a late time either.

My point was though that the so called interchangable fixtures were decided before the IDC decision so would have been announced on fixture day anyway, but because of the poor timing of the IDCs decision it led to a poor timing of their own statement which was poor.

The chances are the interchangeable fixtures arent necessary but they will be if the EFL had got what they wanted or if they do get it on appeal. What the process behind it actually involved I dont know as like someone mentioned previously there is no reason us & Wycombe couldnt have just changed fixtures anyway, dont know if there would be too much conflict of local games for policing etc.

Unless I've read it wrong - and that wouldn't be the first time - the interchangeable fixture list is nothing complicated: if Wycombe stay in the Championship then they take over our fixture list and we take over theirs; ditto the pizza cup fixtures.

If that is correct then there is absolutely no need to make any comment before the release of the fixtures, and definitely no need to make it late at night and without any discussion with the most interested party (it would be interesting to know if they forewarned Wycombe who have been silent on that so far as I can see). To have done so in so cackhanded a way is incompetent at best and they have ignored the impact on more than one club in doing so.

As such I don't believe that the IDC decision in itself was poorly timed by the IDC.  I suspect it was rushed under pressure from the EFL which may well be one reason why we haven't yet had the reasons for the decision.  The IDC would not have been bothered about the fixture list announcement (nothing to do with them or what they were doing) and they certainly wouldn't have been informing the EFL of their decision at midnight.  It was the EFL's decision only to release their incomplete statement at a late hour and by doing so have set all kinds of hares running that they had no need to do.

They're incompetent wasters

5 hours ago, DCFC1388 said:

I dont think the EFL have actually done anything wrong with regards the interchangeable fixtures. These would have been decided a while ago, before the IDC decision was announced so this is actually forward thinking from the EFL for once, even if its never been done before. There were 4 scenarios from the IDC result -

1. Both us & the EFL are happy = no appeal

2. EFL happy, we're not = we appeal

3. We're happy, EFL arent = EFL appeal

4. Neither are happy = both appeal

So the interchangeable fixtures were created due to a 75% chance an appeal could be made and the divisional swap may or may not happen. If they hadnt done this then lets say 2 days before the season started it turned out we changed division, imagine the nightmare of having to sort the fixtures out. It could have been we were relegated to League 1 by the IDC, appealed and reinstated to the Championship, either way this needed to be done. I think the timing of the IDC result made it look worse but I reckon if we hadnt got the result when we did the interchangeable fixtures would still have been announced but with a comment saying we are just waiting on the IDC decision.

I do - think the EFL have handled it appallingly, not just the whole affair but the announcement of the DC result. 

In over 50 years of watching football I can't recall a similar situation where it has been made so explicit that Team A and Team B's fixtures and Divisions might be swapped around, and with 6 weeks to go.  I don't have too much sympathy for Wycombe and their gobby chairman but they are in the same situation as us.  They have no idea which division they will be in to plan accordingly.  They've already sold at least one player who might have stayed if they had been in the Championship.  It matters not a jot what is likely to happen about an appeal, in one statement they have effectively put the preseason planning of two clubs, maybe other clubs wanting to trade players and the livelihoods of unknown numbers of players at risk and uncertainty.

Releasing any statement of that magnitude just before midnight without going through a process of agreeing it with the parties involved (never mind being deliberately imprecise in several pretty important areas) is incompetent at best.  It was driven by the sudden realisation that the fixtures came out the next day - fixtures that they knew were coming out on that date for months.  Somebody in the EFL panicked and for what?  It didn't have to be made.  No doubt they were also putting huge pressure on the DC behind the scenes to come to a conclusion, possibly before the DC were properly ready to do so.  That may have worked in our favour slightly.

The EFL have shown themselves to have a rulebook that is not fit for purpose, a disciplinary process that is not fit for purpose and an organisation devoid of leadership in thrall to the EPL, TV companies and the players' union. It has shown itself as being incapable of leading its members safely through a completely exceptional time when incomes have been decimated. Where we now tread so others will follow too (and already have) and unless they change significantly other clubs and fans will have to suffer their gross mismanagement of the game.

33 minutes ago, David said:

There’s a great saying when it comes to football kits.

Once you go black, you don’t go back!

Hey @David - word to the wise fella.  I think your missus has hacked into you DCFCfans account again

2 hours ago, Tamworthram said:

24th June.

192 hours