May Contain Nuts

34 minutes ago, SKRam said:

Whittaker has actually done very little this evening. Cue winner please 

He set up their two best chances and put in the ball that lead to their equaliser. No service to him as Leeds have been pretty dominant most of the game.

Fornah was a poorly researched purchase, who we only wanted on loan initially, and was signed without any clear evidence of an understanding of what his abilites are or how to fit him into the team.  As I said on the Adams thread, I'm glad we've rectified the mistake (to a degree, because we still have Fornah taking up a wage) but it shouldn't have been made in the first place.

If we wanted him to offer the same attributes and impact as we got from Adams it might have helped if we actually played him in the same system a bit? Rather than shoving him in as the more advanced mifielder in a two in front of Korey Smith.

He made his debut on 26th August but it wasn't until 8 games later he featured in the same midfield as Hourihane & Bird, and he's only had 272 minutes (182 in the league) across 5 games on the pitch at the same time as them since.

4 wins 1 draw
Notts County 2-1 Derby 90 mins
Derby 2-1 Bristol R 12 mins
Port Vale  0-1 Derby 89 mins
Derby 1-1 Wycombe 15 mins
Derby 3-1 Lincoln 66 mins

The way it's being twisted toward being Fornah's fault is a bit odd IMO

If we're shopping in the bargain basement then most of our competitors must be shopping at the landfill.

A physical print-out of all the Warne Out threads.

13 minutes ago, oodledoodle said:

Cos they're sh*te. Hope this clears it up for people.

tbf, we've just nabbed their most dangerous player off them for a measly fee and then not even bothered to play him against them, and they've just signed a load of players seemingly at random who'll need (apparently) a few months to settle, signings not even chosen by the manager who's had about a day to come in and analyse the whole mess, all while on a 13 game winless run, so they've got a fair few excuses for being a bit s***.

It does always amaze me how much people big up other teams squads while making out ours is average.

4 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Just going on Warne saying yesterday he had pretty much the full squad to use, guess something could have happened in training after he did press. 
Probably is injured of course, just wondering if there was a “gentleman’s agreement” or a decision to keep him out the firing line of their fans 

Confirmed that he was never going to play today, so your tinfoil hat was correctly worn!

1 minute ago, Inverurie Ram said:

……….not “all” of us have been arguing.

Up The Rams 🐏

Not "all" of us are off our tits on LSD every time we post, tbf.

Would have saved us all a lot of arguing if he hadn't taken 16 months to remember how a successful midfield functions, but it's certainly a relief and a good sign for the future.

6 minutes ago, Kernow said:

Peterborough, the best side in the league for many people, are 3-0 down at home to Wigan.

It just shows how much things can change yet this season, and how long there is still to go.

They've never been anything special,  some people just convinced themselves  otherwise off the back of two 20 minute spells where we got it wrong and let them have the freedom of the park and then sat back and let them pile the pressure on.

(We nullified and exposed their defence in between those 2 spells)

3 minutes ago, TINMANTED said:

be a miricle if we come out of this injury free,how on earth are we the only side with a card(efl aside)

errrrrm...

No issue with the lineup myself, and I'd rather Warne was brave enough to start with the 3 tbh, than only switching to it because we've been crap or when we feel we can get away with it.

Can see it now though tbh, we win match against a team winless in 13 and it's all down the the formation, regardless of whether it made any real difference or not.

2 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Just going on Warne saying yesterday he had pretty much the full squad to use, guess something could have happened in training after he did press. 
Probably is injured of course, just wondering if there was a “gentleman’s agreement” or a decision to keep him out the firing line of their fans 

Perhaps but he's always talked about getting the right characters in and then needing to be able to handle pressure situations.

Skipping out this game because their fans may have an issue wouldn't really speak.volumes for that side of his character.

19 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

IF CBT is injured (conspiracy tin foil makes me think not) it

We've paid around £300k to make sure he'd be allowed to play, so I don't really think it's a conspiracy when you consider our injury record this season anyway...

On 01/02/2024 at 16:11, Anon said:

A Paul Jewell special of a signing. He paid 750k and then immediately sent him out on loan to "gain more experience". If he didn't have the experience required to play in the Championship, why did we pay 3 quarters of a million for him? Also, the loan was to Jewell's mate Stan Ternent at Huddersfield.

Clough took one look at Dickinson and (correctly) identified that he was not and never would be a Championship level player. I also suspect he was ignored by Clough due to the cost cutting remit. I wouldn't be surprised if Jewell had given Dickinson a relatively high wage.

It wasn't all about his footballing ability (or lack thereof) though. He was a partyboy with a terrible attitude toward all the things you need in order to make it as a pro footballer.

2 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

in a squad of many and a side of 11 players on the pitch there’s normally a reason that player has been given the responsibility for penalties

Exactly this 

The fact that he's trusted to be the penalty taker surely counts in his favour, and somewhat diminishes the stat-pad argument. 

There are or have been plenty of teams where their main striker isn't the designated penalty taker, and I have in the past seen people use this as something to criticise the striker for, ie 'he's a good striker but only with instinctive finishes, useless when he has to use his brain or the situation requires composure' so some credit for taking them is warranted.

WTF is Padel?

Oh god, another argument on semantics incoming.

4 hours ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

We clearly didn’t have the money to compete with other rival clubs for transfers, that or we refused to pay over the odds for Smith or Gregory. Selling Bird wasn’t in the plan unless we got a good offer which we did and we’ve got him for the season, I would hope we can use that money in the summer.

How in any way is this down to Warne?. People will say Ward Bradley Fornah (although most were supportive of those transfers at the time), I will raise you Hourihane Smith Collins Mendez Laing Barkhuizen who I would bet any money will be in the top 5-10 earners at the club, none signed by Warne and of them people only want Mendez (although I also like Collo).

They will say that because it's correct though?

I'm not sure it's particularly relevant what fans think of certain players, if they're contributing, they're contributing. If they're not, they're not.

They may be on good wages but Hourihane, Collins, NML, Barkhuizen & Smith have all (to varying degrees) earned their keep despite having to adapt to how a new manager wanted them to play, and at times have covered the manager's blushes when he's made tactical errors, or when his own signings have failed to step up to the mark - it always seems a bit rich pointing toward them as a problem.

Fornah, Ward, Bradley, Washington are yet to truly do so after 3-6 months of paying their wages. That may not be their fault, but it's a fact.

Also on the matter of reactions to a player signing, while you get the odd new signing that the fanbase are broadly against on the whole the chances of a signing being met with support are stacked high.  I think it's OK for fans to use hindsight when judging signings; we're just onlookers, not the ones who've scouted and researched these players to determine whether they're a good fit, discussed with them how we plan to use them etc.

It is up to the management to do due duilligence on signings, not the fans. If a signing fails, it is a reflection on the whole buying process not just the manager, but he plays his part.

It's just alarming that we've got better value out of signings we made fresh out of administration and under the tightest of restrictions than when we've had a little more leeway.

10 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

The sooner the summer is here, the better.

Ah, so you're looking forward to an extended honeymoon just as much as we are.

Glad we're finally on the same page.

Yes yes, I'm sure that we're paying someone who was offered a new contract by a team who finished one goal above us last season less than they could offer him, and with no signing on fee, and that team are now able to outprice us by paying their players more than we could.

1 minute ago, Jourdan said:

In a time-sensitive situation, absolutely. In ordinary circumstances, absolutely not.

So in the sort term, not in the long term.

I'm glad that put short terminism under Warne is showing us so much benefit.

Just now, Jourdan said:

Why is it an excuse?

Transfer plans sometimes come together and sometimes fall apart. There are failed transfers in every single window. Why get so worked up about this particular one?

If we have a business plan that we have to follow rigidly and stick to, then it’s an obvious factor in why other clubs can complete deals more smoothly and why it is more problematic for us.

The power is with the EFL and the conditions they have put in place and the clubs who will try to take advantage of such a situation.

Thanks for that Chat GPJourdan.

9 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Are Burton and Carlisle working under EFL business plans

Are you seriously suggesting our business plan makes us less able to bring in players than Carlisle and Burton?

7 minutes ago, nottingram said:

Get used to it. It’s another 6 months of excuses.

And more excuses in the summer.

Have you seen how many players are out of contract? Total rebuild needed. How can anyone expect us look good until 7 months in?

The ever cheerful false and forced  positivity is a bit too much tonight, tbh. Read the f****** room.