Ram@Lincoln

Hopefully the boy does well then. Sad he couldn't have come back to Derby if he showed promise. Another one to get away it seems.

Was he actually any good/stand out for us, or did Brighton essentially just take a gamble on a cheap pick up due to our admin status? Then from there, like you say, it just hasn't worked out due to the skill level of the player.

Just seen that Coventry have signed one of the boys that Brighton nicked off us during admin. Could've been nice to reunite with hum. https://www.ccfc.co.uk/news/2024/march/transfer-kain-ryan-signs-for-coventry-city/

Hopefully we had a built in optional future fee. Didn't we have the same with Martin, Forsyth and Jamie Ward back in the day under Clough? If not, he'll surely know where his bread is buttered. He didn't get a sniff at Cardiff, had no relationship with their fans, whereas here he's a nailed on starter and loved by the fans. Make it happen Warne and co!

I did a job at the Chorley ground a couple of years ago, I got discussing the game with some of their volunteers/staff. To give them credit, they generally don't acknowledge the game purely because it was men vs boys. Overall they were very disappointed that they couldn't play our first team as a reward for their efforts. But being non league, did admit the prize money was too hard to turn down.

You might have forgotten, but recently we had a little financial strain. This came following a number of years chucking good money after bad. I'm sure DC hasn't forgotten this and will be eager not to return to those days. Sure, the EFL restrictions/business plan will be a thing of the past in the summer but that doesn't mean a blank chequebook. We've had the sunk cost fallacy of MM and now the sustainable and responsible management by DC. Taking untested Scottish based players on £4/5k per week and skyrocketing them to £20k just won't be a thing that we'll do. I'm sure that Bryson and Russell when they moved down didn't 4-5x their salaries overnight. Things like that are exactly why we find ourselves in League One and not the Championship or higher. The annual 1st team wage cost last season we now know was £7.3m, we know it's about a third higher this year (45% turnover) so lets call it a nice £10m for rounded sake. Assuming 25 players per first team squad, last year we ran an average of circa £5.5k, whereas this year we're around £7.5k. Obviously average, so some will be more, some will be less. Even if we say a 25% rise for promotion, that's going to £9.375k as a average. Taking any player and putting them on £20k, let alone a number of untested Scottish based ones, simply won't happen.

I wonder what the excuse is on that one... Almost like the ginger witch on EMT! 😆

From overhearing my lad, there's some new version of football manager out, so I guess that has these all listed as top players?!

They don't have many fans do they!

They also want the stadium announcer sacked! https://barnsleyfc.org.uk/threads/the-stadium-announcer.328816/

It's not just Warne that's a divisive character, there's now a thread on the Barnsley forum wanting their manager sacked. Yesterday was shocking for them, but it's only their 4th defeat since September. https://barnsleyfc.org.uk/threads/get-him-out-now.328815/

He's the fitness coach that takes charge of the half time warmup/kick about. Obviously a popular guy amongst the players.

Sponsorship income for the Three Amigos, Gadsby and GSE years prior to Mel Morris' spending frenzy; 2004: £1.3m - 2005: £1.2m - 2006: £1.2m - 2007: £1.0m - 2008: £1.7m 2009: £2.4m - 2010: £2.2m - 2011: £2.1m - 2012: £2.0m - 2013: £1.8m 2014: £2.6m 2015: £2.9m 2016: £3.0m 2017: £5.0m 2018: £5.0m 2019: N/A 2020: N/A 2021: N/A 2022: N/A 2023: £1.4m For the GSE years, prior to the Mel Morris silly seasons (2008-2013) we averaged £2.0m on sponsorship. Including the Gadsby and Three Amigos years brings it down to £1.7m. Therefore, to sit at £1.4m for the past financial year having gifted arguably the largest sponsorship product is excellent reading. After reading various news articles of Championship clubs regarding front of shirt sponsorship costs, it appears £200-600k per season appears the normal range. Obviously relegation to League One will reduce the potential fee we could charge, however the size of the club and high profile would still demand a premium. With all this in mind, £1.4m is £300-600k off the average range of £1.7-2.0m without a front of shirt sponsorship. If we dip expectations and assume £1.7m is a reasonable figure for a club of our size in League One, that would suggest a sponsorship cost of around £300k. For League One comparisons, Ipswich had a sponsorship turnover of £2.0m in 2021 and £3.4m in 2022 - the later year being when Ed Sheeran became front of shirt sponsor for his boyhood club. Sunderland while in League One had sponsorship revenues of £1.3 (2022) and £1.1m (2021). Sheffield Wednesday and Bolton don't give a sponsorship specific line in their accounts. Taking the average of the two, £1.3m and £2.0m at £1.65m that would align with the £1.7m previously mentioned. Therefore, I'd assume £250-300k would be about the level for the front of shirt sponsor for Derby in League One. For a slightly different comparison, the iPro stadium sponsorship was reported at £7m for 10 years, so £700k a season.

So you're saying the text commentary doesn't make for a exciting and gripping experience? Goal! Barnsley 0, Derby County 1. Sonny Bradley (Derby County) header from the centre of the box to the top right corner. Assisted by Conor Hourihane with a cross following a corner. It's almost like being there....

My teenager qualified last year, it's incredibly straight forward to do it. It's about £150 and a weekly evening session for about 2 months. They did everything possible to make you pass, there's no exams, you basically just have to attend the evening sessions then they "watch" the first 5 games. Usually for youngsters refereeing junior football, it'll be the league organiser just walking around the many pitches they have going on at once. A quick glance over at your pitch to see if all is fine and that's it really.

I'll renew my own but I won't be bothering with my lads one. He's barely interested anymore, only coming now and again, with the price increase it isn't worth it. One less battle to make on a Saturday morning.

He played for Southport on loan from Blackburn when we somewhat struggled against them at home in the cup.

So brilliant to hear Ed's voice again on the airways, he's presenting Sportscene at six tonight.

What's the age profile of the rest of the U21 squad looking like? I'd assume rather young following admin with a few like these dotted in to make up the numbers? Hopefully the next succession line is in place for folk to step up to the next age group.

We didn't expect much from McGoldrick when he signed and he became a vital piece of the puzzle. Hopefully another elder statesman in Gayle can bring his previous Premiership class to League One. As already has been said look at Rhodes and Martin tear it up this season, McGoldrick last season. I'm very hopeful indeed for this signing.

Is Bradley Johnson still playing these days or is he taking more of a off pitch coaching role now?

Last regular game of the season is weekend of 27th April. He's finished for the season. Hopefully this doesn't derail the automatic push.

Right at the start, "All we can do is keep winning. The gaffer's given us a target of 10 wins and that's another one ticked off." Which suggests that Exeter wasn't the first win of the 10 targetted by Warne.

What a pick up he would be for sure - though I saw him linked with Luton and Palace on SSN in the January window so assume he's out of reach. Crazy how Blackburn managed to grab him on a free and that Preston released him. Similar to us nearly releasing Cashin!

Hopefully Cardiff don't hold us to ransom like West Brom did with George Thorne. Sure, we got our man, but we all know how that ended up.