TuffLuff

I’m the first guy who loves the rumour mill, mainly because it keeps the most quiet weeks of the year ticking over, but it is worth remembering that we’ve had no concrete link to any of these players. This is agents talking to journalists who have seemingly linked Derby with every ‘wanted’ player in League 1 and 2 for reasons that are pretty obvious. Also it’s maybe worth pointing out that we’ve seen very little of all these players.
Warne has said he keeps his cards close to his chest on these matters and January proved we are going to linked with every player possible so I think we have to take it all the drama with a pinch of salt.
My guess is our starting 11 in August will have a good smattering of players we haven’t been linked with yet or wont be until they are announced officially.

I’m the first guy who loves the rumour mill, mainly because it keeps the most quiet weeks of the year ticking over, but it is worth remembering that we’ve had no concrete link to any of these players. This is agents talking to journalists who have seemingly linked Derby with every ‘wanted’ player in League 1 and 2 for reasons that are pretty obvious. Also it’s maybe worth pointing out that we’ve seen very little of all these players.
Warne has said he keeps his cards close to his chest on these matters and January proved we are going to linked with every player possible so I think we have to take it all the drama with a pinch of salt.
My guess is our starting 11 in August will have a good smattering of players we haven’t been linked with yet or wont be until they are announced officially.

It’s worth pointing out we are very lucky for a third tier to have the standard of coverage we get.
RamsTV is excellent and a valuable source for many of us, Owen and Shaun also work together very well.
It’s worth pointing out that Radio Derby has been excellent this year. Firstly Dominic Dietrich is maybe more subdued as a personality but he’s steered the ship excellently. Ed without the administration saga round his neck is much improved and provides excellent analysis in how he sees the game. The various pundits they use all offer something different with Darren Robinson being the pick of the bunch, really enjoy his insights.
Leigh Curtis has also done a great job in his first season at the DET and provides well thought out insights.
Added to this is Ryan Conway starting to give his opinions via Twitter and hopefully a book coming out about the last few years.
Like I say, we are very fortunate to have the quality of derhhce we get for a third tier club

Hallelujah, a sensible post in this thread at last. 😉

Glad we’ve got all that pesky football out of the way and we can start looking forward to the real reason we love this sport…
 
The Summer Transfer Window opens Thursday! The summer sagas, the twists and turns, the crushing blows when a free agent goes elsewhere, the highs when we see a Twitter announcement from the club, the disappointment when tweet literally anything else that’s not a signing, Imminent!, 48 hours!, what will be the journalistic buzzword this year?, what Twitter account can we trust, will Nixon show any form or consistency?, when will Barry the Ram turn up?
Best time of year!
😉

It won’t quite be for everyone, but really loved Gallows Pole on BBC2 last night. Directed by Shane Meadows and I think has a lot of his tropes but set in a period drama rather 
All three episodes are on iplayer. If you are familiar with the book I think it serves as a prequel rather than a direct dramatisation of the book 

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.
 

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.
 

Glad we’ve got all that pesky football out of the way and we can start looking forward to the real reason we love this sport…
 
The Summer Transfer Window opens Thursday! The summer sagas, the twists and turns, the crushing blows when a free agent goes elsewhere, the highs when we see a Twitter announcement from the club, the disappointment when tweet literally anything else that’s not a signing, Imminent!, 48 hours!, what will be the journalistic buzzword this year?, what Twitter account can we trust, will Nixon show any form or consistency?, when will Barry the Ram turn up?
Best time of year!
😉

Glad we’ve got all that pesky football out of the way and we can start looking forward to the real reason we love this sport…
 
The Summer Transfer Window opens Thursday! The summer sagas, the twists and turns, the crushing blows when a free agent goes elsewhere, the highs when we see a Twitter announcement from the club, the disappointment when tweet literally anything else that’s not a signing, Imminent!, 48 hours!, what will be the journalistic buzzword this year?, what Twitter account can we trust, will Nixon show any form or consistency?, when will Barry the Ram turn up?
Best time of year!
😉

Glad we’ve got all that pesky football out of the way and we can start looking forward to the real reason we love this sport…
 
The Summer Transfer Window opens Thursday! The summer sagas, the twists and turns, the crushing blows when a free agent goes elsewhere, the highs when we see a Twitter announcement from the club, the disappointment when tweet literally anything else that’s not a signing, Imminent!, 48 hours!, what will be the journalistic buzzword this year?, what Twitter account can we trust, will Nixon show any form or consistency?, when will Barry the Ram turn up?
Best time of year!
😉

Glad we’ve got all that pesky football out of the way and we can start looking forward to the real reason we love this sport…
 
The Summer Transfer Window opens Thursday! The summer sagas, the twists and turns, the crushing blows when a free agent goes elsewhere, the highs when we see a Twitter announcement from the club, the disappointment when tweet literally anything else that’s not a signing, Imminent!, 48 hours!, what will be the journalistic buzzword this year?, what Twitter account can we trust, will Nixon show any form or consistency?, when will Barry the Ram turn up?
Best time of year!
😉

Glad we’ve got all that pesky football out of the way and we can start looking forward to the real reason we love this sport…
 
The Summer Transfer Window opens Thursday! The summer sagas, the twists and turns, the crushing blows when a free agent goes elsewhere, the highs when we see a Twitter announcement from the club, the disappointment when tweet literally anything else that’s not a signing, Imminent!, 48 hours!, what will be the journalistic buzzword this year?, what Twitter account can we trust, will Nixon show any form or consistency?, when will Barry the Ram turn up?
Best time of year!
😉

Glad we’ve got all that pesky football out of the way and we can start looking forward to the real reason we love this sport…
 
The Summer Transfer Window opens Thursday! The summer sagas, the twists and turns, the crushing blows when a free agent goes elsewhere, the highs when we see a Twitter announcement from the club, the disappointment when tweet literally anything else that’s not a signing, Imminent!, 48 hours!, what will be the journalistic buzzword this year?, what Twitter account can we trust, will Nixon show any form or consistency?, when will Barry the Ram turn up?
Best time of year!
😉

Glad we’ve got all that pesky football out of the way and we can start looking forward to the real reason we love this sport…
 
The Summer Transfer Window opens Thursday! The summer sagas, the twists and turns, the crushing blows when a free agent goes elsewhere, the highs when we see a Twitter announcement from the club, the disappointment when tweet literally anything else that’s not a signing, Imminent!, 48 hours!, what will be the journalistic buzzword this year?, what Twitter account can we trust, will Nixon show any form or consistency?, when will Barry the Ram turn up?
Best time of year!
😉

To be honest I’m not sure whether Hughes, or Bryson to that fact, we’re ever quite the same layer after those big injuries in Clement’s season.
Loads of reasons as to why it could have been, poor management in signing too many players in one position, poor recovery due to being rushed back or it’s just what can happen with long term injuries
Hughes has become a dependable prem midfielder, which is excellent all things considered, but he always could have been so much more.

Highlight was Bannan telling someone he wanted the captain armband on before going up the stairs, get up the stairs ya bloody arse!

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/exclusive-qpr-derby-county-and-cardiff-city-interested-in-ex-charlton-athletic-man/
Getting in there 3 days ahead of Old Ben... 😁
According to this shaky source we're one of the clubs interested in Sean Clare, 26 year old right back/wing back/centre back/midfielder..  looks a decent squad option on paper if nothing else, 40 games for Charlton last season.

Ask b4

What about Skegvegas? Probably still less risky!

To back up B4 a little, and considering quite a few of our players are there/have been there this year or in the past…does Dubai look a bit rubbish? Everyone always puts up the same photos of the dune buggy experience, photo in an overly cramped pool on top of a hotel or just in front of big buildings and it never seems anyone is actually there more than 5 days. Call me cynical but I dare say the advantage to Dubai is that it’s relatively easy to book a hotel and flights with a weeks notice because you didn’t make play offs?
 
All I’m saying is, try booking somewhere decent in Cornwall with a weeks notice eh!

I don’t disagree but was having this debate this morning, and because it’s a slow week (prem no longer interesting, waiting for play offs, transfer window shut) I’ll offer it here too. 
If a lower level Championship team came in with £250-£400k for Hourihane would you take it?  His wage is small and it could be similar to what we perceive about McGoldrick and there could be better offer financially on the table for him. You get to use the money on a replacement that is arguably better suited to our ends.
That’s not me saying I’d get rid, I just think it’s a potentially interesting dilemma.

I was saying this at the end of last season!!
In fairness, we were smarting during the summer that they needed to spend money on that squad and they did just that. I mean they could have spent a third, or mainly just forked out for MGW and a few others and still probably be in the same position they are now. What worries me is that type of spending sets a precedent and the gulf between the prem and everyone else widens indefinitely, but it was probably their only option.  
I think you have to throw some credit their way, they’ve been lucky yes but you need luck in that first season. For all we like to think football os constantly evolving, the reality is that our first season in 96/97 we picked up big results home and away and it wasn’t all down to that sides quality.
Their next move is now interesting, MGW will now be marked out of every game next season. Those top sides won’t want to come to The City Ground and make the same mistakes. I sense it’ll need to be a crazy summer again with a lot of outgoings.

If you enjoy a tasting menu, I would recommend Stones in Matlock.
It’s always been fantastic, and offers a specific vegetarian/vegan menu, which Arthur’s doesn’t, unfortunately.
http://www.stones-restaurant.co.uk/#food
 
I have been to Sat Bains in Nottingham too - that is amazing, but is quite pricey for a meal out!  Have to say, it was an experience though.

Sorry @Boycie but have to tell you Arthur’s the other night was excellent. Food, staff, how the catered to my partners gluten intolerance, everything about it was top draw. It won’t be to everyone’s taste but for a ‘treat’ dining experience for us both it was exactly what we needed.
And sorry to @sage too, we had eyed up Arkwrights for a drink after but we had to get back to sort the little one out in the end. We will be heading back at some point so hopefully we can take in a few more pubs and bars then.
On a similar note, was really impressed with The Black Swan at Ashover. Only popped in for a pint with the family because I’d driven past it and noted it was a freehouse with its beer list outside. Lovely little pub, good beer and great chips.