LeedsCityRam

54 minutes ago, HorsforthRam said:

I think the Plymouth game at home really dented Liam’s prospects. 

I think it was Lincoln away that did for him & we were poor that night. Unfortunately for Liam, we hadnt converted dominance into goals in the previous 3 away league games (Charlton, Shrewsbury & Fleetwood) and so the narrative of us being impotent away from home was born. Richie Barker even made reference to it in an interview pre-Bolton...brass neck of him to come out with that & then deliver that garbage yesterday.

Rosenior leaving felt at the time & still does as a massive missed opportunity. I don't necessarily think we would've gone up last season but I think the foundations would be much stronger than they are now. Possession based football takes longer to implement (certainly more than the 8 games he got) but has a much higher chance of long term success. He also had connections higher up the pyramid (which he leveraged to bring in quality players) & an obvious affinity with the youth ranks. He was the man to help rebuild the club on the pitch.

Instead we brought in Captain Pinball, with all the fanfare about his 'promotion record' only to spend the last 12 months being finger-wagged that we shouldnt expect promotion & how he always needs another 6 months from the point at which he is questioned. We've gone backwards since Sep 2022 & that is a damning indictment on his appointment. 

42 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Who would you want to replace him? I am one of the give him till Xmas brigade, but I am wavering. Still think we should have kept Liam.

bUt wE pAsSeD tHe bAlL aRoUnD sIdEwAyS tOo mUcH

Rosenior's Hull side won away at Leicester today & now sit in the top 6. This club's relentless ability to self sabotage never fails to disappoint.

I suspect his replacement will be hanging around for most of this season whilst we wind down his contract, hoping we can bludgeon our way out of this division. If Sonny Bradley is his way of utilising the budget wisely though, I don't want him trusted with anymore club money. Give Mark Thomas full control of incomings & tell Warne to either work with the players or leave. 

Normid 1 Derby 1

FRGS Waggy

Days like this make supporting this rabble a pleasure 👌

I think the new signings must have had an effect on the first XI as the level of intensity was superb from minute 1. Unlucky to go behind, Rooney chose the wrong man to track & left their left wing to pick out Clarke Harris from 10 inches. Thereafter, went at them with Washington & Waggy running at them with the ball & pressing hard when not. 

Suffice ro say the first 45 minutes were a thing of absolute beauty. My head hurt from the celebrating, loved every moment 🖤

A lot of fantastic performances & obviously Waggy takes it. I said to lad next to me before the game he's on for 25 this year, he's SO suited to this team & style of play. Three great goals & worked his backside off throughout. Big mention for Liam Thompson though...good grief, what a little player he's becoming. A tiger in front of his back 4 & a bone fide threat running into the final 3rd...the prospect of him & Fornah together is very exciting.

Back in Leeds now, few beers deep & 86 quid train ticket lighter cos of the strikes but with a silly grin on my face. Love you Derby 🖤

Someone half decent 2 Derby 0

Rinse & repeat.

Derby 1 Fleetwood 1

FRGS Mendez-Laing

David Clowes is & will always be a hero at this club. He was also a reluctant hero & it'll be the threat of threads like this that'll be the reason why.

Decisions can obviously be questioned - its the personalisation & need to find a blame figure that I'm struggling with, particularly aimed at someone who has gone far above & beyond any Derby fan to help the club. For example, I strongly disagreed with the decision not to offer Rosenior the full time manager position last September & the decision to hire Warne but I would never 'blame' Clowes for how its turned out. He acted in what he thought were the best interests of the club at the time & that's all you can ask. As a total novice to owning a football club, its unreasonable to expect everything to go perfectly.

3 hours ago, Kokosnuss said:

He wowed people with his work at Rotherham, getting them promoted 3 times was like some sort of magic trick

That is the most misleading statement I constantly see about Warne since he landed at Derby - as you rightly say, it's almost like a magic trick at this stage. Below are Rotherham's last 9 seasons - 6 of them at Championship level & 3 of them at League One. Warne presided over 3 of those 6 Championship seasons & in every one, he relegated them. By contrast, Neil Redfearn, Neil Warnock & Matt Taylor (last season) kept them up in the respective seasons they were in charge.

Warne's promotions were all with a recent Championship squad - he did not build it from scratch, he had an inbuilt advantage with their recent division & returned them to where they had generally been. Stating 'promoted three times' sounds like successive promotions when in reality it was correcting his own poor performance from the season previously;

As to the general point about Warne's future, the atmosphere both in the ground & on social media suggest he is very much living on borrowed time. His failure to reach the playoffs in May was met with a very muted reaction as people seemed to believe the summer would allow him to put his imprint on the squad both from a personnel & a tactical standpoint. Having shown such patience after throwing away a playoff spot in Feb/March, there now appears to be delayed anger at the very poor start & I can't say I'm surprised.

Obviously the recruitment situation hasn't totally played out until the window closes but I have been thoroughly confused as to the direction of travel. We needed pace throughout the team, we needed midfield aggression & we have not addressed either. Warne's teams like to press high but we buy slow defenders who struggle against the counter attack. We lose a pivotal forward who gave us goals & creativity & replace him belatedly with two burly workhorses up top. Clowes says he has the budget to compete & I would trust that - Warne by contrast is now speaking in riddles on the radio about private reasons why all isn't as it seems. Not the kind of comments to help your future employment prospects when your team is playing so badly.

Derby 1 Oxford 1, FRGS Collins

Gresley's big rivals 2 Derby 0

Derby 1 Latics 0, FRGS Hourihane

35 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

Great overall post, which I nearly missed as you didn’t tag @i-Ram on it. I agree that I would undoubtedly be brilliant as an elected member, and have today bought 2 new 3-seater sofas so the rest of the board can sit comfortably next to me.

Recliners built in? We'll have a flood of applicants. Whilst I obviously agree with your candidature, I didnt want to embarrass anyone by tagging them..I know you're a humble sort by nature 😉

What a difference a year makes eh? Up until the end of June, we were not only faced with the potential collapse of Derby County but worse still, there was nothing that we as fans could do about it. We were totally dependant on a benevolent millionaire deciding to overpay for us & miraculously after months of desperation & with time running out, we found one - sat in our very own North Stand.

I think its fair to say we could never hope to be that lucky again & David Clowes is quite right when he says measures have to put in place to stop Derby going to the wire like that again. Today was a massive step in that direction & it again shows the calibre of the man that he is putting the long-term future of the club before any personal self-interest.

Obviously there is a fair amount of detail in the proposals & the structure may raise eyebrows but the main headlines really are a) a fan veto over the sale of Pride Park & b) access to regular financial information. Those two elements alone would have stopped the previous regime going as far down the road as they did & allied with the imminent introduction of an independent regulator, gives this Shadow Board real teeth in the future. Remember, this isn't about holding David Clowes to account - its about his successors as club owners, the future Mel Morris & the future three Amigos. We never know how owners can turn out - safe to say no-one in 2015 would have predicted 2021/22.

I totally echo @angieram comments - there are a number of posters on here who would be brilliant as elected members to the Shadow Board. Leave aside any personal distaste for other groups on the Shadow Board, this is your opportunity to help with the future stewardship of this great football club - something that would have been unthinkable 15 months ago.

I urge anyone remoted interested in the future strategic direction of the club to send constructive feedback to DCFC before the deadline 👍🐏

The bar isnt set very high for me. Started following Derby summer of 1987 upon our return to the top flight & that 36 year investment has seen the grand total of no trophies or major finals, 11 top flight seasons, 4 relegations, 2 financial implosions & 2 promotions, one leading to the worst ever season in top flight history.

Yes, the top flight days under Cox & Smith were great but all too brief.  We had one stellar season under Cox in 88-89 (great for playground rep in a Northern school but without a UEFA Cup place to show for it)  but our 4 year Division One stay was mostly spent at the wrong end of the table. Smith's side played some great football but never got the European place they deserved, dropping out of top 5 around April time in both 97/98 & 98/99.

Whilst it seems silly to talk about European football from where we sit today, there's no reason why it couldn't happen at some point in the next 10 years if we remain stable & well-run. Football can change very quickly...just ask Brighton, Luton or Coventry fans. Since I supported Derby, the following 'giants' of English football have won a major trophy; Sheff Weds, Leicester, Wigan, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Swansea, Portsmouth, Wimbledon, Notts Forest. We're well overdue some silverware too.

Derby to win the Europa League one day? You can never take the hope away.

1 hour ago, simmoram1995 said:

For context before Mcgolderick’s 22 last season , he only had 5 seasons of double figures out of about 15-16 seasons 134 goals .

Washington has 161 goals in less seasons. I fully expect him to outweigh his expectations.

Of those 161 goals, 74 were for St Ives Town - his professional record is 87 goals in 391 games. You are of course correct about McGoldrick's modest goal tally before last season.

I believe Washington's value will be in the hard work he does to win the ball back, holding the ball up in the final 3rd & stretching the play with his pace. Suspect his arrival will get the best out of Collins, who was isolated at times last season & will also present opportunities for Mendez-Laing & Barkhuizen to feed off. Blend in a team is more important than the relative ability of individual players & I believe like one or two other maligned past players, he will prove a fair few wrong with his overall impact.

2 hours ago, jimtastic56 said:

Would free agent Lyle Taylor be too much of a personality for Warne ?

I suspect most managers would be wary given his behaviour towards the back end of his time with Charlton.

It is a shame as I do rate him as a mobile CF & his nasty streak marks him out as a player you'd want during a tough away game/clash against a top 6 opponent.

8 hours ago, TomTom92 said:

Swansea sniffing around Duff, if he goes then the stars have definitely aligned for us this season.

Yes, helpful from a Derby POV. Really rate him as a manager & will undoubtedly disrupt their summer.

Barnsley a real threat for one of the top 2 spots if they were able to replicate their form from February onwards. Interesting to see who they replace him with & how quickly.

8 hours ago, caymanram said:

Well..except that this ‘logic’ ignores the three teams coming down from the Champ 😎

Suspect that was entirely deliberate given Wigan have been deducted points & Reading are set to suffer the same fate. Only Blackpool of the relegated clubs are stable & given they are a well run, sustainable club, will likely aim for a gradual rebuild following relegation rather than throwing money at an immediate return. Therefore I would agree with Warne that Derby, Barnsley, Bolton & Peterborough would be the main contenders with a couple from Charlton, Portsmouth, Wycombe & Blackpool challenging also.  Get our recruitment right & we should be expecting a top 2 push.

To the topic of the thread - watched the interview which I think was well timed given there may have been some apprehension with McGoldrick leaving, Roberts signing elsewhere & no new signings announced as yet. Warne looked relaxed & I don't see why not - still extremely early in the summer and as others have mentioned, we'll probably be announcing signings when players return from holidays or their contracts expire 30th June. He's got a lot of support with a well-regarded Head of Recruitment in post, a supportive owner & likely a decent budget for this level - probably the best situation for a Derby manager since Lampard in June 2018.

Have no problem with his stated size of squad either - around 22 sounds fine assuming the quality of a second XI is comparable with first XI but we will need some signings into the Academy (likely Prem academy departures) to bolster those numbers if unlike last season, we suffer significant injuries or suspensions. Particularly important in attacking areas & given those players won't be known to opposition scouts, no reason why another Ebiowei or Plange couldn't emerge & chip with important goal/assists.

1 hour ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

Italian football must be a dismal experience

Its actually far more expansive than the days of catenaccio & well drilled early 90s Milan teams. New champions Napoli play some wonderful stuff, as do Maurizio Sarri's Lazio & Milan (sporting Fikayo Tomori at CB).

Inter were faced with a formidable opponent tonight & did exactly what they should have done - didn't over-commit, aggressive intensity throughout & tried to make the game as niggly as possible. Only poor finishing denied them a 4th European crown, which surely confirms how sensible their gameplan was.

23 hours ago, Warren Blufitt said:

I’m not sure why you’re even having this conversation, of course Derby are a big club and even massive at this level. As has been said, there are lots of reasons players sign for certain clubs but I’d say ambition is one of them and playing at the highest level possible is too. Players can achieve both with Derby but if players are short sighted enough to only consider money the main criteria, unless it’s so much it would be crazy to turn down, you’d join a Derby before you’d join anyone else in this league and half the one above and that’s from a Bolton fan!! 😉

As the other stand out big club at this level, what's the mood amongst Bolton fans at present? I'm guessing like ourselves you'll be aiming for a top 2 push...do you believe your squad needs a lot of new recruits or just tweaking in a couple of key areas?

Also, am I right in thinking there's been no confirmed signings at the Unibol yet?

2 hours ago, tomsdubs said:

Looks like all our supposed targets gone elsewhere, lets hope all the rumours are wrong cause it looks pretty bleak so far. Early days though.

You won't be alone in wanting signings in asap - we all do but it is very early in the window (as you do say in fairness) & hence is too early to make an assessment on whether the situation is bleak or not. About a month early I reckon.

Had to check dates but roughly this time last year we were chasing Chris Kirchner around a golf course (see below tweet) & yet by July 2nd, we had an impressive batch of names announced to play for us. 

In contrast to last year's chaos, we now have stable ownership, a Head of Recruitment, the EFL restrictions have loosened & a fairly compelling project to sell to new players - a probable tilt at automatic promotion from League One. Keep the faith ✊

22 hours ago, TuffLuff said:

Had a think about this question over a few days and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that while I expect us to be challenging near the top, I’m not too bothered about promotion. I mean if it happens then great, I’d be ecstatic but a few things bother me.

1) I want us to be a sustainable club, I don’t want us to have a chairman who’s having to throw thousands, if not millions, into the club just to keep us afloat or chasing a near impossible dream. We are a community club and I don’t want us to have an idea that the finances of the club are an ownership problem rather than an overall problem we need to keep an eye on.

2) I want us to have an achievable plan in place to build something. We might have this already in place internally but I want us to have a plan to build something over x amount of seasons rather than just getting to the championship and then going from there. 

3) I have great concerns for the football pyramid as a whole, I can’t see the point in being a championship team with more overheads, trying to get to the prem where the gap between the have and have nots gets ever bigger.

Yes I’d love promotions and getting back to being a big club again, but I also like local ownership and I want us to be steady and stable. We need to be careful what we wish for and think about what’s next and how it’s going to be achieved as much as just having expectations.

 

I share your wish for the club to be sustainable but don't believe that is inconsistent with expecting success or wanting to leave this division asap.

The revenue generated by this club would put us top 10 of the Championship with only the clubs with parachute payments & Sunderland (with their crowd numbers) significantly ahead of us. Obviously there will be a small handful of clubs spending well beyond their means (Bristol, Stoke. Parmo Parasites) but I think it should be perfectly achievable for Derbý to be both a sustainable & relatively successful club in the division above. The examples of Luton & Coventry further illustrate that approach is possible on much smaller revenue.

Not relying on spending means thinking shrewdly about recruitment & planning. I suspect in time Clowes' careful stewardship will get us a lot closer to the top division than Mel Morris ever managed.

6 hours ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Depressing and for my money, the worst call of Mad Mel's tenure, though I concede that I was pretty excited when we signed him as pre-injury, the lad looked an absolute beast. When we signed Bradders and that midfielder who was so f****** bland that I've forgotten his name for around £11 million combined, I thought we'd taken leave of our senses, but £8M plus add-ons (none of which will be paid, thankfully) for Bielik trumps it by some way.

By my count, Bielik has played @48 league games for Derby. He's only 13 games short of that figure for Birmingham. Grim AF and my guess is that his likely fee should he stay at Brum would be little more than a miserly £1 million, leaving the club with somewhere between £1M and £3M still to pay, with the latter figure most likely IMO.

Had he honoured his contract, there's little doubt in my mind we'd already be back in the Championship, but I'm heartened by the fact that he got to fulfil his ambition to play in a World Cup, because that's what really matters 🤐

And to add insult to injury, Bielik was bought after Morris decided to put the club up for sale. A club record spend on a player he knew someone else would be likely to pay.

I'm not actually that annoyed at Bielik, he's a young lad with clear ability to play higher & his injuries will have probably accelerated his desire to grab as much as he can whilst his body can stand it i.e. play at a World Cup & as high a level as possible. I can tolerate that whilst we're not paying his wages & I've a feeling he won't be playing for many more years given his injury record.  Obviously there's the contractual obligation & we as fans will demand loyalty but that should work both ways; some fans are very quick to want rid of a player on a contract if they don't perceive their value to the club.

I'm not convinced he'd have been an asset last season because of his stated lack of motivation to play in League One & we'd have been saddled with his wages, which will have impacted our ability under the business plan to bring in the quality we did recruit (McGoldrick, Hourihane et al). We just need a club to take him off our hands pronto & depressingly, the 1m you suggest is probably the ceiling we can expect.

11 minutes ago, Andicis said:

Except he is nowhere close to the level of Hughes. Even Hughes his first full season of breaking into the team was better than Bird, and I don't dislike Bird but it's not a great comparison. Hughes in his first season was better than Bird at everything he does a couple of years into his Derby career. 

Where did I say Bird was at the level of Hughes? I don't think anyone could credibly argue that. I was clearly comparing the type of player, that was the point being made.

11 hours ago, jimtastic56 said:

The only way you can compare Bird to Hughes is in the lack of goals. Other than that Hughes could run a game from start to finish in a top 3 Championship team. Hughes could play killer balls in the box and get a team up the field. Bird has just had a poor season in Tier 3. I think his days are numbered with Warne .

You do realise Will Hughes also had relatively few assists whilst playing for Derby? The killer balls you refer to were less of a feature of his game than the way he threaded play together.

I also can not agree Bird has had a poor season. The team struggled as soon as he got injured in Jan, which should speak volumes for his contribution. 

Bit saddened by the dismissal of Bird's impact on here...its clear some folk just don't realise what a good player he is. Like Will Hughes, he's a tempo player & controls the pace of the game but his defensive nous is also very good & clearly under-rated. No, he isn't particularly strong in the tackle but its 2023, not 1985...players are not rewarded for smashing into opponents these days but are rewarded for staying on their feet, tracking oppo midfield runs & intercepting dangerous passes/counter attacks. Max does all these very well & to the OP question, is the one player I absolutely would not want to leave.

As a contrasting midfielder, I could live with Jason Knight going especially as he's coming up to end of his contract & has international ambitions to protect. To be blunt, I haven't been impressed with his output in midfield this year & don't believe he has the quality to play centrall midfield long term. I do think he would make a good right wing-back (his best football this year was right side) & suspect that's where he will be played by whoever buys him. An offer of 2m plus would be a must sell.

Bielik is unlikely to return also given his international ambitions & at a reputed 20k a week (1m plus a year), just needs a quick move away. 

Sibley is a difficult one. Like Knight, I wasnt that impressed with his output this season but feel there is a player in there given time. With a more incisive front line in 23/24, he could make hay playing off the main striker(s). Hence I would only sell for silly money.