LeedsCityRam

Definitely don't see that many black & white scarves - very much a feature of certain teams (Leeds are particularly keen on theirs as are Newcastle - in black & white). When the weather is better, we see plenty of replica shirts at PP but assume you're referring to a lack of colour in winter months One thing that does irk me is how difficult it is to put flags up in PP - my Leeds Rams flag kept falling down from back of East Stand no matter what I tried! Seen others struggling with theirs too. Filling PP with flag artwork could be a great way to add a bit more colour to matchdays

Mainly remember him as manager of the superb 1990 West German WC winning side but his legacy as a player is hard to beat. Was a recent book written about him by the ever excellent Uli-Hesse Lichtenburger that I need to get https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-three-lives-of-the-kaiser/uli-hesse/9781471189104 Beckenbauer, Pele & Bobby Charlton all gone within 12 months - the true Golden Generation.

Did exactly that after panicking I couldn't get 2 tickets at 10am, 30 mins of refreshing and then seeing your post - ticket office managed to get me a couple 👍

Winning is a good habit to have & obviously a Wembley final would boost the club coffers. However it must not be to the detriment of the league campaign & in resting key players, we should be giving opportunities to promising Academy players as well as fringe players. My criticism of this EFL Trophy campaign is that our starting line ups have been far too strong - in the last round against Fleetwood (5th December), Hourihane, Bird & Cashin all started and Mendez-Laing was brought off the bench for 45 mins. In the run up to a busy Christmas schedule playing a style that requires high energy and intensity (as well as having unchanged teams over the festive period), I thought that was extremely unwise - this in a game with less than 2000 present at PP. Totally OTT. For the game against Bradford, I don't want any of those 4 starting (ideally with Mendez-Laing given the night off) & would like to see more of Darren Robinson, Fapetu, Weston & Brown as well as full games for Sibley, Elder, Thompson, Ward, Fornah & Bradley.

Blackpool North 1 Derby 2 FRGS Collins

'That dead footballer' happens to be our record goalscorer. And I don't think it was just that remark that has aroused suspicion - you seem to hate everything about the Derby fan experience whilst making up some irrelevant nonsense about a club down the road. When they were rotting in League One, they certainly weren't booming out anything - in fact, a lot of them abandoned the club & the place was like a morgue. Their support is an embarrassment & so are your comments.

Good points about compromise & flexibility needed for success - any edge to make teams unpredictable & harder to play against is likely to yield positive results. Even though I was a massive fan of his, I was irritated last year by the constant need of Rosenior's teams to restart play with the keeper instead of mixing it up occasionally - it just invited the obvious press from opposition forwards. Obviously all managers have biases but some form of evolution is necessary - one of the most impressive examples of that in recent times was from Neil Warnock at QPR where he found a way to accommodate Taraabt & Alejandro Faurlin (two players you would not normally associate with his sides) & harnessed their talent to get promotion to the Prem. With regard to Warne, a key 'bellweather' of increasing flexibility might be how he handles Liam Thompson going forward. Fair to say that other than his energy, Thompson wouldn't be regarded as a stereotypical Warne player but now he has made his 'great leap forward', will Warne utilise him as an regular first team starter at number 10? Re Championship - I think if Warne takes us up, Clowes would give him a fair crack at the job in the division above. Despite noticeable fan unrest a couple of months ago, Clowes was quick to dampen down any prospect of Warne leaving & despite my wishes to the contrary, I did actually really admire that stance. Clearly we don't ever want to return to the 3rd tier so there would be enormous pressure on Warne to deliver a very different outcome to the Rotherham job in the division above but presumably that's why he dropped down to manage us in the first place.

Thanks for clarification from both yourself & @Archied - so its more that you believe his ceiling to be higher than yo-yo Championship/League One as he gets to grip with a more demanding role, rather than managerial inexperience per se. I think we've all seen some evidence of flexibility from Warne in the past couple of months which is encouraging - I still instinctively feel that when Bird & Hourihane leave he will start to revert to type (we saw this to a certain extent when McGoldrick left & the passes seemed to go longer into the final 3rd rather than to feet) but obviously all we can do is speculate at this point. It would be churlish not to recognise that the style has been better recently though. Regarding the window, yes obviously he can't control Cashin & Bird's situation although we do have the option of an extra year on Cashin so making our negotiating position with Brighton & others a bit stronger. My sense is that we will be a much more attractive destination for incoming players given where we are this season v last (when we were on the fringes of the playoff race with much stronger rivals ahead of us) - if I were Jonson Clarke-Harris for example, I would see a clear role firing the club to an imminent promotion with the obvious potential to establish in the division above & be a 'signature move' for him at this stage of his career. Of course, money is the great unknown but Clowes is a sensible type & will have budgeted for this Jan opportunity I'm sure - I'd be surprised if funds were only available if players were sold first. Again, speculation I accept.

I see there's a couple of you posting the 'he's a young, inexperienced manager' line. This is Warne's 8th season in football management & he had more games in charge than many of the outstanding coaches in this division & above (Schumacher, Duff, Manning. McKenna, Rosenior, Mousinho, Maresca, Evatt). Its a distortion of the truth so can we lay this myth this rest please? p.s he has 3 relegations with Rotherham from the Championship, not 2. Its a difficult window for everyone - there is nothing particularly onerous about Warne's position compared any of our top 6 rivals unless you're privy to information we're all not aware of? He probably needs some more firepower up top - who doesn't but fundamentally he has a very strong squad at this level.

Super Derby 1 Tinpot backwater 1 FRGS Collins

Nah, just a earlier joke that @Jimbo Ram has now made public 👍

Been a day of surprises. Firstly, turns out RoyMac5 is actually a lady, then Derby give a promotion rival a two goal gift lead in 15 mins & storm back to win 2-3. These things inevitably come in threes so I'm expecting a statement confirming the Moon landings were fake shortly before midnight. Massive kudos to the players for that turnaround but frankly, it would have been obscene if we hadn't have won - we were so much better than them throughout. Even between their first & second goal, we camped in their box for 5 mins with about 5 corners - they were there for the taking but easier said than done after the defensive brainfarts for their penalty & free kick. Forsyth's goal was absolutely crucial, particularly the timing of it & Oxford's manner at the start of the second half was very much of a team that knew they were outclassed & needed to stem the flow by any means necessary. We went at them from the off and showed admirable patience, constantly recycling the ball but often just missing that final incisive ball - Kane Wilson had the best opportunity & really should have scored from 6 yards out. Thereafter, I thought we'd blown it but then on comes super Liam Thompson - my goodness, we've missed him. All of a sudden, the passes are crisp and the midfield energy returns - two beautiful crosses into the box later, we're 2-3 up and two LS12 Rams are going absolutely mental at the tellybox. We're coming for you Pompy - Come on you mighty Rams 🖤🖤🖤🐏🐏🐏💪💪💪

Cashin for me - oozes quality on the ball (that lad can whip a bloody good ball from left side too) & we've been so reliant on his ability to dominate aerially and put his body on the line. Best CB in the division with performances to match. Honourable mentions for Curtis Nelson & Mendez-Laing. Was a bit apprehensive about Nelson after speaking to some Blackpool fans in the summer but he's been excellent - my only issue with him is his tendency to surrender possession easily with aimless passes/punts. I do think he compliments Cashin really well though, just hope we keep Cashin until the summer & that they are both fortunate with injuries/suspensions. If they manage that, that's the foundation for us to go up.

Our 80's feeder club 1 Derby 1 FRGS Sibley

I won't totally dismiss xG as think it offers interesting context but am struggling to take seriously any League One table that says Barnsley are the joint 7th worst side in the division. Similarly, there is no way Wigan are that bad compared to the likes of Carlisle, Orient & Exeter. Just to clarify, I also never called Wigan 'poor'...I said they were clearly a decent/good side that we made look ordinary. P.s. no need to watch Port Vale highlights, I saw the whole game at the time thanks....they should have scored with that first half breakaway chance & with honourable exception of JJ finish, a pretty flat performance from us, esp first half.

Disagree. Northampton & Exeter gave us the freedom of PP and we promptly took it - they were both poor on the day. Burton & Orient we had spells of the game where we were second best despite both being low quality opposition - the 0-3 away results probably flattered us on both occasions. Vale was a dull & even game which we pinched late on. Peterborough & Blackpool we were clinical in both games in short bursts but they had a lot of the game overall. Yesterday, 0-1 definitely flattered Wigan and the quality of our one touch play & control against a decent opponent was better than I'd seen from us this season. My only criticism would be some heavy touches in their final 3rd/poor finishing that prevented us deservedly beating them by 3 or 4. Combined with the intensity of the press/amount of forced turnovers & calmness when defending late on, it made for a more complete performance than any you've cited above. Where did you get your stats that say Wigan are bottom 4 for xG?

Good away win at a good opponent who were made to look very ordinary indeed. I would agree with those who say it was overall the best display of the season..only Barnsley at home would be comparable but we played better stuff today. Some good one touch moves opened them up & we pressed the life out of them without the ball. Really should have been further ahead but Barkhuizen missed a sitter early in second half that would have been a fairer scoreline at that stage. Nelson, Nyambe & Cashin were all absolute class but everyone worked hard Bit nervy late on & was surprised by how late subs were but they never really looked like breaking through. Massive couple of games coming up & we should believe we're capable of winning both. COYR 💪🐏

You better watch out, you better not cry, cos Derby County will never die...Santa Clowes is coming to town 🐏 Merry Christmas all, hope everyone has a great festive period & here's to smashing this division in 2024 💪

Pie chuckers 2 Derby 0

I think this is what it boils down to. It feels functional at the minute, very like the Gary Rowett playoff season where we'd win plenty but you often wondered if we really deserved to win & whole passages of the game would be played with nothing happening at all. Can't argue with the results at present but it clearly isn't engaging a section of the fanbase enough to get passionate, hence the lack of noise. I've also noticed it away from home - most notably away at Carlisle where despite winning, there was a lot of discontent & boredom vocalised at how we were playing from the younger, noisier element at the top of the stand. Another factor is probably the calibre of teams we're playing though - after the novelty of playing lower tier clubs last season, the realisation of our level being the likes of Wycombe at home with their 400 fans singing all manner of tinpot garbage to provoke a reaction is starting to hit home. It's just not very exciting playing these teams & think we're all craving a return to our natural level asap. In terms of trying to improve atmosphere against clubs with small away followings, I don't know how feasible it is to start opening up some of the unsold away sections to home fans on a match by match basis. Feels a waste of revenue having 500 fans taking a 3000 allocated area & South Stand/East Stand can feel quite far from away fans when they bring so few. Some new faces in that area might liven things up a bit too.

Derby 1 Imps 1 FRGS Collins

Derby 2 Opportunistic parasites 0 FRGS Collins

That's a reasonable viewpoint to have but the original point was about whether those not backing Warne felt sheepish given our recent run of form. Some fans (myself included) don't feel a short term run of results is going to prove whether Warne is successful or not and that a longer term appraisal of his performance is necessary. I think you're basing your belief on faith rather than the evidence. I don't disagree that managers can improve with experience but the fact Warne was relegated 3 times with Rotherham doesn't suggest he particularly learnt lessons from the first 2 occasions. I will certainly enjoy the better results and genuinely hope we do go up automatically. Just because I don't especially rate Warne doesn't mean I won't be backing the team or relishing success. Just FYI, Ferguson never relegated Man Utd or was even close to doing so. His record at a previous club (Aberdeen) was also far superior to Warne's achievements.

Warne's record at Championship level (including a decent start to last season) is Played 129 Won 26 Drew 34 Lost 69 - that works out at a mere 0.87 points per game, which stacks out given he relegated Rotherham 3 times from that division. You may counter with 'well, its Rotherham....small club, small budget etc' to which I would add that either side of Warne's reign, Steve Evans, Neil Warnock & Matt Taylor all kept Rotherham up in the 3 seasons they were in charge. Its abundantly clear why people have good reason to have long term doubts about Paul Warne. What makes you think that if we go up Warne would be able to stabilise us in the Championship?