TuffLuff

I can’t see too many players leaving or even signing contracts to be honest for the first 2-3 weeks of the window, I think if nothing is sorted by then there will be a mad dash on transfers. This is partly because money is tight all the way through the division and partly because the set of circumstances the players find themselves in. When your Jan signings need a bit of impact on your season then maybe the player you don’t need is someone who’s spent the first half of the season in our scenario. The only potentials I see is Knight to a prem side plus Roos and Marshall going (think Dawes hinted at this before the Stoke game). 
 

It’s the contracts of those we’ve currently got being tied up that im more concerned about but again you have to hope players are holding on to see what happens, also I can see Rooney, Rosenior and te senior players are telling the rest that any thoughts about contests such be the furthest thing from their minds right now  

3 minutes ago, nottingram said:

Marriott was already gone at that point wasn’t he? Rooney just didn’t take the opportunity to recall him or sent him back to Sheff Wednesday once he’d finished his treatment.

The permanent leavers were Holmes, Evans and Whittaker but he said he’d liked to have kept Evans but he left as he couldn’t be guaranteed games.

So I am guessing Holmes and Whittaker. May explain why Whittaker has now had to drop to the bottom of League 1 for games despite being talented.

Actually the wording would hint more towards Whittaker and Holmes

Holmes and Evans?

3 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

That thug Carroll should have got a red.

#COYR

It’s amazing sometimes how pundits see things sometimes. According to Hendrie. Carroll’s elbow was accidental but Davies’ handball was a shout for a penalty. Like accidents happen and you have to move on with the game or you have to punish every single one, you can’t say one accident warrants action and the other doesn’t?
 

Ravel is ok to shoot on sight

Signed,

Liam whatshisnamer (Defo not Ravel)

I thought our luck was just starting to run out and we looked very very leggy, but credit where it’s due.

Reading we’re fortunate to be 2 ahead and didn’t really know what to do once they got themselves in that position. 

Thought we could have gone more direct earlier because they were never comfortable at the back and passing through the middle was a futile practice. But there were always goals in the game and they got their in the end.

In hindsight it could have been a game for Morrison to start, but you can see the longer effects of a covid outbreak if he can’t do a full game and with no Shinnie.

48 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

I wonder whether it's more to do with being seen as a 'soft touch'? When we sold Seth Johnson to L**ds how we laughed! But that is such a rarity. Tell me as I don't know who are these successful young R*d Dogs. How much of it is them being better at the actual business of selling?

Dawson and Jenas were the two successful ones that they could really build a reputation on. It’s been a long time since then and the rest since haven’t had ‘great’ careers but they’ve sold a few to mid/bottom prem clubs at top value who might fancy a knock off version of a player (if you can’t sign Trippier how about Matty Cash?)

Not sure I’d go with soft touch, just bad/unfortunate with business over a similar time period. Could we have sold Hughes at a time he was worth more? Did we get Barnes’ value? Huddlestone came through at such a dodgy time we should him for more than half his actual value. Forest got very good deals for Dawson and Jenas at a similar time and it gave them a chance to live on that reputation.

Itll be interesting with the likes of Thompson, Ebosele, Plange if we start getting better valuations (if admin doesn’t completely ruin that), they are going to be the first ones who will have a value associated with a cat 1 academy (possibly Knight but depends if he’s with us still at the end of Jan)

7 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

They just be rubbish, they’re below Forest. 

Speaking of, how do forest keep selling their kids for megabucks?!

So I’ve got a mate who had a bit of knowledge about the youth system as he was an academy player at forest and had a couple of other links there which I won’t get into but they aren’t anything exciting. Anyway we got talking about this last year in why Derby players went for a lower amount than Forest’s so I have some insight. I will add he’s not actually a forest fan, but he has some affiliation so I’m gonna try and give a rounded overview rather than copying and pasting the WhatsApp conversation, which would be somewhat easier.

From what he said, Forest are very very good at developing ‘fully rounded’ players (leave your Andy Reid jokes here). By fully rounded, I mean players who are good/very good at just about everything rather than excelling at a few things and being poor in other areas. Essentially cutting your weaknesses to a minimum. He went into some detail about the drills and the training sessions he had with the 1st team to help develop this. Here I think he was right, in that the players we wanted to go for big money have been excellent in one area of the game but weak in others. I know we can look into who’s having a better career, but there’s a reason why Hendrick was the only one who went for a lot more money than Hughes. And we’ve probably created more Hughes’ than Hendrick’s before the category 1 status came in. 

There’s also that Forest have a good reputation to bring academy players through. This has taken a long time to develop that. The young players coming through Derby right now are the ones who have had a very long time in Derby’s academy whilst it’s been cat 1 and it’s shows. They look better all round players, more comfortable with the idea of first team football and read the game so much better than those previous generations. So these might be the first crop that we see go for a more decent wedge. It still might take time but I do think there are more positive signs that we are heading that way.

To add to that, I also think Forest’s academy is very ruthless and coy. They have a large academy and make significant cuts to it, I think when you look at an academy team at one age group, only one of those players really becomes a first team player. I think by doing that, they are saying ‘here’s the next one off the line, give us £x amount’ and clubs will be interested because that system has produced international standard players, it’s just a lot of others who are probably good enough don’t get a look in. It’s ruthless, and with some of those fees they’ve been lucky, but it’s worked for them for 20 years now and they are consistent with it.

There’s other stuff I could go into but I think that’s enough for the night. Basically it takes years, a few slices of luck and a very very consistent programme.

1 minute ago, DavesaRam said:

And a brilliant substitution by Rooney when he took Tom Lawrence off. The equaliser had got to his head so he wasn’t going to do anything more. Great move, Wayne!

Using Morrison and Kazim as subs has been a master stroke during this period, he’s getting the best out of them!

Can we sue them for signing Chris Martin by lampooning our offer of one year even though they blatantly couldn’t afford it?

In all seriousness never want to see any club be in their situation, like I don’t think any proper football fan would want to see a club in ours.

Much like us, you cannot go around spending big bucks or offering very good wages to players without balancing up the books somewhere. Either by getting Hugh earners out of the club, getting big money for youngsters or by selling the stadium to yourself and acting the big man afterwards. It also doesn’t help when you are spending that cash on average championship dross for the most part (not CM19 ofcourse).

Edit: just looked at the incomings and departures and it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting so I’ll stand corrected a bit on that. But my point on wages still stands, CM is probably a decent example of that.

Leicester are a great team when they go to match sides to toe to toe, it’s when they sit back that they drop points.

Dont particularly like Leicester and I’m no fan of Rodgers at all, but they’ve got a very good squad 

Was saying a few games back that he reminds me of Dawkins because his football head still works as an academy player in that he plays safe and keeps the ball above all else. I think in professional football you have to be willing to gamble more, whether it’s on a pass to open up the opposition defence or when to press and close down. It’s also about learning when you can do it and when not to too. Both players struggle/d with consistency because they are having to learn it quite late into their career and so neither reached the potential of their ability (It’s arguable that Lawrence is similar but he has somewhat got a decent number of games under his belt at Derby). That’s not a knock on either player and their football ability (before any of the Dawkins brigade come storming in), but they are two very very good footballers who just didn’t quite finish the course.

BUT…

…how Morrison put pressure on the defender and goalkeeper yesterday is exactly what’s been missing from his game. Getting on the front foot, working off the ball to put pressure on and the team got the reward from it. He did this throughout his cameo to be honest and it was good to see. So I think he deserves the credit for that.

Football is just as much about what you are doing off the ball as what you are doing on it

https://m.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/120396/englands-test-batting-at-rock-bottom-with-deep-rooted-issues
 

Thought this was a good article that I think explains the problems that are much more deep-rooted (ahem) than the current captain.

Weve focused on the short form versions of the game, even at county level, and become so entertaining with it but we’ve sacrificed a lot when it comes to test matches which has probably shown in the last year. 
 

But fair do’s to Australia too, they have a very good and deep bowling attack (like we did a few years back, but you have to manage it so you have players to replace those who probably need to look towards retiring, bowlers like Wood are continuing to play second fiddle) but also they have a couple of players who step up to get big scores with the bat around some experienced heads who can go and play their game. They aren’t an ‘all time’ great side but they are very efficient and well rounded.

It’ll be some achievement if he just gets us off the bottom of the table and that is starting to be achievable.

Sometimes football just gets to you, don’t think I’ve felt that much pride in this club like I had in the last 10 minutes for a very long time. 

Whether Kazim goes or not he deserved his moment in front of a home crowd.

Brilliant 

Deer Hunter, wedding scene. All I’m saying 

2 hours ago, Boycie said:

He’s coming home, he’s coming home, he’s coming! The Wardrobes coming home.

On a free transfer obviously, he’ll have to wave his last 6 months wages though and accept a pittance in return,

But, he’s coming!

Wages dependent it wouldn’t be the worst signig for league 1…

BUT…

I think part of the reason he left Derby was for a fresh start and he seems pretty settled in the Bristol area so I can’t see it to be honest, unless there’s real cash flow problems at Bristol I’d imagine his contract will be renewed or he will get another year in the championship 

Just now, SamUltraRam said:

Whilst the administrators don't have a duty to update us at every point, it would be reassuring to hear from them just to clarify that the CK bid didn't meet their requirements or something like that

1 minute ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Since we all "knew" are we to expect legal action from him for being complicit?

Jesus mary and joseph, and the wee donkey too........

I remember saying to Mel in person many times, ‘Oi Mellard! You better not be over spending now because I wouldn’t want to considered complicit when an owner of a   club who got relegated the season before, decides to sue us because we couldn’t submit our accounts with the EFL that season’

Then we’d laugh a little bit and Mel would dryly respond ‘It’s more likely you’d see Derby County be nearly liquidated than THAT scenario’

Good times 

25 minutes ago, Ruud Aralliss said:

It’s a good point, but it’s hard to read how an initial offer of £60M over the next 2 years wouldn’t be enough to finalise a deal for a club teetering on the edge of liquidation.  If his statement is true, of course.

I think £60 million sounds a lot but we could probably eat all that up in two years and be in the same position we are now. A strategic long term plan needs to be in place to pay off creditors and give the club a good footing so it can build again. So you could offer less within that two years but have a better long term strategy to pay off the creditors.

6 minutes ago, td_evans said:

 

People will automatically take Kirchner’s side here, but this seems (with a little help from another one of them supporter group guys ?) that something isn’t quite right with his bid or that something isn’t plausible within it. Let’s face it, it’s a bit ‘it’s not me, it’s them’ to try and pull a bit of favour

It would make sense if the admins are giving time for Appleby/Gadsby to get their bid sorted as they would be the more ideal front runner with a more long term plan of getting the club better run financially. 

15 minutes ago, Andicis said:

I don't understand why the administrators keep setting themselves deadlines if they aren't going to meet them. Surely if you're not sure, don't commit yourself to a time frame? 

‘Cause it sounds good in a meeting?

I don’t mind the actual deadline being missed, things happen and I can fully imagine that if one thing doesn’t happen on the day it should it then holds up the whole process, it’s the never ending performance of it all. A supporters group where we learn nothing because the groups are just happy to be there, everyone then puts far too much importance on the tiny bit of detail and then it all goes like this now.

No more meetings, the administrators need more dialogue with radio Derby/Steve nicholson about what’s going on and proper questions need asking at the appropriate time. 

Hey supporter groups, rather than cosying up to make sure you keep in touch with the next cheese and wine meeting, why don’t you make the point that after many years of being strung along by the Mel Morris ownership the fans are a bit fed up of it and we need a realistic expectation of how this is going. Constantly missing and extending deadline breeds into the constant disappointment if fans.

16 minutes ago, therealhantsram said:

Where have all the mask skeptics gone?

Doing the Tesco shop yesterday I saw 100% mask usage.

Just goes to show, give people the right motivation (being able to meet family on Christmas Day) and then everyone thinks masks are a good idea after all.

Human psychology huh? 

On a related note, walking through Sheffield centre on Sunday night to have an outdoor drink it was remarkably quiet for saying it’s the Christmas build up. Even the ‘back from uni’ crowd weren’t out. Many will point to an overreaction, but I do think it’s that people genuinely want to see their families this time after missing out last year and when push comes to shove they’ve opted out and cancelled plans. Absolutely sucks for hospitality but it was probably inevitable with a rise of cases even without the last minute omicron scare!

Loads of pubs not open (this was around 7pm) which makes me think they are expecting a bit more of a casual time. Even the bar that the owners have a knees up on a sunday wasn’t open.