roboto

46 minutes ago, Ramrob said:

Heard it becomes active on 25th December. 

I heard he usually goes missing after Christmas anyway.

Harry Winks was a makeweight in the Maddison deal and is on around 60k pw

Haji Wright probably earns about half that, but Coventry sold Gyokaeres for a decent sum (mentioned above)

Ampadu is overrated (in my personal opinion) and Leeds have prem parachute money still

Southampton also have a decent wedge from their Prem days.

Omur, Fassnacht, Osmajic, Chakvetadze etc... WHO? Not really been paying much attention to the Champ this season, but don't recall any of them tearing up the league and the countries they represent aren't generally considered leading world powers in International football.

We could well sign international calibre players from some countries, and I'd suggest that there is good value to be had within many of the top flight leagues around Europe, but the suggestions of players who are currently on EPL wages is somewhat unlikely. Which is the point I've been trying to make to you.

Players who are currently in the Eredivisie, Belgian Jupiler League, Ligue 1 or even lower end Bundesliga could all be attainable if the recruitment team and coaching staff identify ones that they'd like to sign. The wages in those leagues often don't break the bank and the Championship is probably a better standard of competition too.

12 minutes ago, Big Trav said:

Let me celebrate promotion first!

1 hour ago, Macintosh said:

Conor Hourihane was on £42k a week at Villa and yet Liam Rosenior attracted him here, and that was as a Third Division club. Those two are probably on their last contracts, it is possible a two-year contract with us is attractive, that we are a bigger draw than many clubs you are suggesting, our facilities, history and ambitions? Probably not, but if you don't ask. Gary Micklewhite and John Gregory bought similar dreams last time. Igor Stimac did, although he was shocked when he was told it was us he had signed for. 

We had a salary cap in place when Hourihane signed, so we didn't break the bank with him. I don't think Wood or Welbeck will take the financial hit to move here. McBurnie might be slightly closer to our top end budget, but again, he is 27 years old and probably feels he can get a contract with another Prem team (possibly the likes of Ipswich or Luton, if they stay up).

Micklewhite, Gregory and Stimac are from eras that are long gone. It is very rare to find players like that who will join second tier sides in the prime of their careers now.

1 hour ago, Macintosh said:

Really? Out of contract and 132 international caps between those three and 50 goals. I'd consider each of those to be credible targets now we are back in the Championship and worth a text.

Less than a week since promotion and the delusions of grandeur have returned. I will be pleasantly surprised if we are in and around the top half of the league next season, but in no way do I demand we start throwing money around like we used to to get us there.

Yes, they are technically free transfers, but what do you think their wage demands will be? Chris Wood and Danny Welbeck will be on over £50k pw currently and McBurnie can't be far off that. Also, do you think that we're such a big pull that we'll be able to convince them over other established Championship clubs?

Silly season has begun!

6 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Could it have been Morten Spencer? 20 year old Norwegian from Leeds academy?

 

A young Norwegian player, born in Yorkshire? Will probably be as rubbish as that other one playing in Manchester... 🙂 

I like Richard Jolly's writing style 🙂 

1 hour ago, Srg said:

Horror of a result for Burton that.

We need to see how he does during pre-season and make the call whether a loan or being around the first team is the best next step for his development. We still don't have the luxury of large transfer or player budgets, so having him around might be necessary with the amount of turnover expected this summer.

Players develop at different rates and the path for one player won't necessarily suit another player. Yes, he's only 18, but he is showing how he can handle the physical aspects of the lower league men's game and seems a class above already. Physically he seems ready now, and mentally being with his parent club at a higher level could really help him flourish next season.

1 hour ago, Eoghan1884 said:

A player who I didn’t know is out of contract is Keanu Baccus. A great defensive midfielder playing for St. Mirren in Scotland. An Aussie with 18 international caps. He’s out of contract in the summer and seen him linked to a few championship teams before. He’s 25 so coming into his prime years, could be a great pick up on a free. 
 

Has good defensive numbers also, I compared him to our own Ebou for comparison easier to understand for rams fans.

Are you Dryhorce?
Are you Dryhorce?
Arrrrreeee you Dryhooooorce in disguise?
Arrrre you Dryhorce in disguise?

28 minutes ago, Ram-Alf said:

Just going to pop this link in here     https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68797925

Rodri @ Man City says he's to tired to play, Pep says then he wont play as too many games.

We have had our fare share of injuries...do we in todays game play to many games for a club to suffer so many injuries...circa 50+

Way back in my day 60s n 70s players smoked, Drank ate a full English played on potato fields and didn't get the injuries we see today, Todays players are fitter, Leaner, Healthier, Play on pitches that you could play bowls on and are getting injuries that we never knew were in our legs 🤷‍♂️ 

It’s more to do with the level these athletes are playing at these days and the toll it takes on the body. To get to the peak of physical fitness can often put you at a breaking point where you push your body beyond its comfort zone too often, leading to more muscle strain/tear injuries.

Plus with modern physios and doctors checking in on players regularly, these problems are identified much more regularly than they used to be.

Im not saying players from back in the day weren’t skilful, but the game was different physically and training wasn’t as intense as it is these days. This meant there were more rest and recovery periods for players compared to todays daily schedule for professional squads.

The press release yesterday mentioned home shirt launching in June, so at least we don’t need to spend all summer speculating on what the home kit will look like.

JLingz

9 minutes ago, FKANorwichExile said:

I hope this means they'll do a run of the 1996/7 maroon away shirt again, seeing as they were the sponsor too. My first, and favourite, Rams shirt.

The colours used in the image could be a clue to the away colours for next season.

Think someone earlier in the thread mentioned a kit with our founding colours and one with the Maroon.

9 minutes ago, angieram said:

I think whether a Club gets a generic kit or a bespoke one is more to do with the size of their fanbase than where they are in the Leagues. 

We will be able to demonstrate fairly impressive sales figures to any potential new supplier, enough to incorporate our own  ideas.

Puma have usually been quite good with doing bespoke kits for clubs even at our current level. Plymouth had some decent kits, Leicester (before the Adidas days) had some good Puma stuff too and recently they've done some bespoke for Stockport, Blackpool and even Boreham Wood.

11 minutes ago, Animal is a Ram said:

Too many coincidences here. PUMA spelt out in newspaper headlines? A day after the announcement of the Umbro deal finishing?

If this means we're getting something inspired by this kit, I'm gonna explode.

They've even used the old Puma font to highlight this. Announcement on the way I'd expect.

As someone who works within marketing/design in the sports industry I can say that Puma are doing good things in the football world right now and are putting a lot of their budget into this part of their business.

On the flipside I read someone asking for Castore... you should probably ask fans of Villa, Newcastle, Wolves and Rangers how they rate the quality of those kits (and maybe the opinions of some of the players too). They've come from nowhere, managed to get some big investment early on, but don't really have the know how to back anything up. They don't do anything innovative, just try and copy other companies on a smaller budget. They also recently bought Umbro, which would mean with our Umbro deal ending, it's even more unlikely we'll go with Castore.

Adidas, Nike etc. obviously make good stuff, but concentrate on their bigger teams. They wouldn't do anything special for us in our current position.

31 minutes ago, UTFR said:

1) What year did Portsmouth become a member of football league? 2010

2) What were the team's original colours? Red +  White Stripes

4) What was their original nickname? The Brothers of Destruction

5) Arthur Conan Doyle was a Pompey goalie. True or false? Maybe

6) Why are Portsmouth known as Pompey? Mispronunciation of Pompeii, as parts of the place looks like it has been decimated by a volcanic eruption.

7) How many times have Pompey played at Wembley? 69

😎 What is 'skate bait'? Middle aged men wearing Nu Metal Tee's to pull young chicks.

9) How many brothels are in Portsmouth? Anything's a brothel if you've got enough cash.

10)  Who are known as 'scummers'? Martin, Pete and Pete's cousin as well. Think his name was Duncan, cant remember.

 

10/10

How did you get 10/10 when there's only 9 questions? 😉 

What is the mysterious question 3?

I love that he’s owning that Mbappe celebration. Love to see the confidence growing in the lad and can’t wait for him to be celebrating like that in front of the Derby fans 20/30 times a season 🤩

14 hours ago, Oldben said:

I'm recommending Beni Baningime

That memorable the first time he was here...

Tomori has been injured recently, but we all know Gareth won't pick him to partner Stones ahead of the world-class talents of Maguire, Dunk, Guehi, Konsa or Gomez. The defence (or rather the players chosen to be our defence) are the weak point of our team.

When you look at a potential attack and midlfield line up of Kane, Foden, Saka, Bellingham, Mainoo and Rice (with Bowen, Toney, Maddison etc. to back them up) we should be confident of doing well. However, that back 4 and keeper last night were a real issue.

1 hour ago, Ghost of Clough said:

I always said he just needed a run of games to adjust to men's football by gaining that sense of "belonging" in men's football. The minimum he should be playing next season is L1, and depending on his pre-season, could even be with our first team in the Championship. Is it 9 goals and 2 assists in 14 games now (half of the games were 10 mins off the bench)? He would be exactly the type of signing we should be looking at signing if we fail to go up, so has to be in with a serious shout next season.

I think he needs to be in our first team squad next season, regardless of which league we’re in. His movement off the ball is great and if we were to sign up Gayle on another short term deal then he’d be a perfect mentor for him.

8 hours ago, angieram said:

Two days early! 

You don't need to crucify him for getting it wrong

Dean Holdsworth. Coming out of retirement when we ran out of forward options... what a time to be a Derby fan 😂

11 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

Overall he’s been an expensive luxury for us this season imo 

Part of the squad that is currently sitting second in the league. Seems to be worth it to me, especially if we go up this season.