Leicester Ram

https://www.fanchants.com/football-songs/england-chants/easy-easy-1/
 

Didn’t go to the first game for other reasons but I’ve definitely distanced myself from the club over the summer.

The euros were a nice distraction but I was waiting for some sort of new era to get back in to Derby but the Rooney/Mel saga continues to drag itself out.

I don’t know if anyone else had this but I was waiting for the club to get sorted out and then suddenly realised we were playing on Saturday. Stearman and Curtis at the back.

Reality has sunk in now that this is what we’re watching this season and I’m happy to go again. I know what the deal is.

The people I have the most time for right now are the players. We’re in a dire situation and these are the lads we have to keep us up, I’m going to back them to the death.

There’s no point moaning about Roos/Fozzy/Jozwiak, there’s no one coming to replace them now or in January. Zero point selling them either. Every player I’ve seen criticised on social media is a player I’m grateful we have at the club right now.

This season, as far as the players are concerned, I’m only going to be positive. Byrne can score three own goals and I’ll clap him off. They need that attitude from the supporters to stand a chance.

Rooney is at least sticking by the fans and players but I wish he’d ducked off instead. It’s daft but I’d take McClaren over Rooney at this point, football is crap, results are crap, constant media attention is crap. Not usually bothered about the media but the clubs image is only getting worse with him at the helm. McClaren may be the only one who would take the job at this point. 

Mel can duck off, which I wasn’t saying at the end of last season. Backed a fair few of his decisions but we know about 10/20% of what is going on at the club. To have all the facts at your disposal and still put us in the situation he’s put us in, I can’t believe it. He’s either a rat or he’s stupid.

I’ll always be grateful for the academy but the sooner he’s gone, the better. Never have him near the club again.
Yes, the EFL are out of order but he was too clever for his own good. Glad he was outspoken against them, wish he had the brains to back his words up.

The fans. Pride Park can be anxious and toxic at its worst. We’ll go down if it is. I know I sound like B4 but get behind the lads no matter what.

Gary Rowett still getting battered by Fulham in front of the sky cameras

Would be nice to be on a timed draft one evening but can’t always get everyone free. 
 

How many internationals have we actually got in league because I’ve always wanted to boot Saint Ram out anyway?

Life is just misery and pain

Looking forward to going into a season with no expectations but that’s the only thing I’m looking forward to about this season.

Only a matter of time before one of his free-kicks decapitates a fan, so I can see why they haven’t taken him.

But if the Welsh FA are so worried about people from the national team hitting people, you’d have thought they’d have sacked the manager by now.

Quick reminder that Rotherham have a game every three days for about 2 weeks now. Their next game is on Thursday night.

It’s not a deep squad, they’ll pick up injuries and get fatigued. Not saying they’re guaranteed to go down but they’re still in a really tough position. Next two games are it for them, Cov and Birmingham, two six pointers that we’re not involved in.

We’ve noticeably improved since the break but not found the net enough. Norwich and Reading both played well, I think our form will translate into points over the next few games and will see us to the 50 point mark. I don’t think the lads are playing like they’re busy looking over their shoulder either, Rooney has them focused and performances reflect that.

As I said before with the Sheikh, following a football club is much more than the owner's far right politics.

We'll all be here long after he's pissed off, I can't stop following the club that is a huge enough a part of my life for me to post regularly on here for the past decade even though I can't stand Alonso's politics.

Derby isn't the owner, it's the fans, players, pubs, mascots, ex-players, managers, coaches, academy lads who make one appearance then never play again, blokes pissing in the Derwent on the way to the stadium, old women in the west stand and little kids in the south stand.

7 hours ago, BucksRam said:

Anyone else like the irony of No Limits Sports being a Limited company?

This has been all I've been thinking about all day.

3 hours ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Why's he a 'ducking clown' bud? Pretty much nailed it first time around didn't he or have I missed something? 

My mistake, I'm mixing him up with the guy who represented the EFL who erm did not nail it.

10 hours ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

Nick De Marco QC to pick up his second player of the season award? 

When the city needed him most he was there. A silent guardian, a watchful protector...a ducking clown.

I’ve been consistently frustrated with how little Sibley has played under Rooney but I’m hesitant to criticise his comments.

Different players are motivated in different ways, they’re unique people with varied personalities. Rooney may well know that Sibley will respond well to this. We don’t have that knowledge of what’s appropriate for this team

But I do think it’s high time to mix up the attacking plan. Getting Sibley playing off Kazim seems like the natural next step, for me. Or Watson and Knight playing in front of Shinnie in midfield? We do need a change to start creating more chances. More appearances for Gregory and Waghorn doesn’t seem to be it.

So I finally got round to finishing Pride this week despite getting it months ago.

I first became aware of Pride last year when my girlfriend dropped into conversation that she’d dated a Derby fan before and that he was writing a book about the club. Now it’s come out to deservedly rave reviews and @HuddersRam is a bit of a star, I do wonder if I’d swap the girlfriend for the publishing deal. To be fair, she’s probably thinking that she’d definitely swap “Leicester Ram” for a ducking bestselling author.

I’ve always found it difficult consuming media/content about Derby because it’s something that I’m so passionate and opinionated about, I barely listen to any of the numerous DCFC Podcasts because they just end up pissing me off. I think it’s an incredibly hard job to be a Derby fan writing about the club because you are bound to ruffle feathers because we’re all so in love with Derby, which is why Pride is such a triumph. 

After initially flying through the first half of the book I flung it across the room halfway through the Zamora chapter and didn’t read it again for at least a month. It’s not something I’m usually bothered about and have been known to yell ZAMORA when hitting a volley but reliving that day in detail really re-emphasised how traumatic of an injustice it was.

When I started reading again the same thing happened with Mac II, that undeserved sacking still doesn’t sit right with me and that season was such a headache from start to finish that it makes for particularly grim reading. Mel having Pearson explain himself to him in his office was particularly cringe inducing and the book flew across the room once more.

Despite all that, it’s a masterpiece. I’m 24 so I’m most familiar with 2009 onwards and I learned so much about DCFC that I never knew before. I went in expecting to trudge through the 90’s and 00’s to get to the chaos of 2013-2020 but every chapter was simply a banger regardless of his familiar I was with whichever season it was covering. I think as a fanbase we’re incredibly lucky to have a book on the clubs history written at such a high standard. It’s packed with the inside scoops and details (that lesser writers would perhaps get bogged down with) but maintains a slick pace, all while artfully handling the multiple legal landmines surrounding the club. It’s somehow both a comprehensive history of DCFC and a page turning tragedy that you could easily finish in a day.

Ryan’s articles are also excellent, the interview he did with Lewin Nyatanga is well worthy of The Athletic/Independent etc. It shows how much brilliant stuff must have not even made it into Pride. I can’t recommend it enough: https://thederbybook.wordpress.com/2020/07/12/sitting-down-with-lewin-nyatanga/

I’ll forgive what I think is an egregiously generous treatment of Gary Rowett (his off brand trainers were poo long before he went to Stoke) and say that if you haven’t read it yet, order Pride on Amazon immediately. Reading it is an incredibly cathartic experience and it’s exciting to see there’s another book coming too.

Huge thanks to Ryan who I can confirm is a top bloke and really kindly hooked me up with a Bryson signed copy of the book for my uncle.

One Punch Man, series one is on Netflix

I’ve tried a couple of anime series and not really got on with any of them until this one. If you’re open to trying something like that I would really recommend it, it’s so funny and not too heavy on story.

Their fans will have their excuses lined up if we win on Friday night. Our lads have had a full 45 minutes more rest due to Forest being on Sky last night.

Doesn’t always help to be the famous team.

It will be stomach churning looking at the table for the rest of the season. I don’t see us pulling away from this pack but I think we will comfortably reach the 50 point mark. 

It’s frustrating that we’ve had such good results since Rooney’s come in but are still table watching.

Said on here last summer he was arguably our most talented player. Didn’t have as good of a season under Cocu as he did under Lampard but there were times when we had Mount, Wilson and Tomori playing and Bogle looked the most talented player on the pitch.

Lucky for us Nathan Byrne is excellent but I do wish we’d been in a position to hold onto Bogle. He’s a brilliant player and he’s still got room to improve. I hope he gets himself a move back to the PL when Sheff United go down.

Ah, I see now that we were never interested in Mendez-Laing, this was all just a ploy to get Roberts! Derby conjuring up transfer magic as per.

Rooney and Mel playing 4D chess while Steve Gibson chokes on that little race car you use in monopoly ?

We’ll have arguably lost three CB’s in MTW, Davies and Evans if he goes. May well play more three at the back now Bielik has gone down.

Wasn't expecting two CB’s but it makes sense now we’re doing it.

11 hours ago, Rampage said:

Gets them into Europa then it is worth it.

He’s crap

Can’t fault someone for betting on themselves. As good as I think we are for academy graduates, he could well spend the rest of his life thinking ‘what if I took that move to Liverpool’.

Not something you want to happen, it really is a profession where sometimes that one chance is all it takes. So many of these players have the talent but don’t get that opportunity to prove themselves. Could get one sub appearance at Liverpool where he makes an impression etc etc

We’ll take the money for someone who hasn’t done anything yet. Maybe it will haunt us all forever, maybe we’ll never think about the lad again. Best of luck to him.

I think he’ll play plenty between now and the end of the season. If we go back to a 4-3-3, he can fit with Jozwiak and Kazim up top, even if he’s not really a winger.

It would be nice to have him more central and in midfield but right now Shinnie, Knight and Bielik are undroppable. They’re getting results for us when we desperately need them so it’s a waiting game for him. It’s nothing to move club over though, my gut says that Shinnie is playing well now but we’ll eventually outgrow the need for such a defensive step up.

I stare at our starting lineups and think if we replaced Shinnie with Sibley it’s a tasty team but Shinnie proves me wrong twice a ducking week. Hopefully a Knight, Sibley and Bielik midfield will happen eventually, it looks so balanced and talented on paper.

4 hours ago, ketteringram said:

We're currently re watching The West Wing. Last weekend we got to the end of the second series. 

Personally I think that the final two episodes in series two , must be some of the finest TV ever made. 

Shhhhhh I’m barely past the halfway point of season one!

Only just got round to watching The Queen's Gambit last week. Was absolutely brilliant, ended up binging it.

Was looking for something to fill the hole once I finished it and took a chance on another Netflix limited series called Godless starring our boy Jack O'Connell. Was completely unaware it was made by the same bloke who made Queen's Gambit, it is equally brilliant and a well made Western. Thoroughly recommend both, even though many have probably seen them.

Also just started watching the West Wing following the events in Capitol last week. Not sure what made me watch it but I do think it's excellent. Seems laughably optimistic and naive following the past 5 years though.