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Speaking to a Wendy pal at weekend, apparently Smith got a ridiculous wage increase when they went up & that's the issue. Sounds like we would be unable to get close to paying all of his wages (definition of significant contribution could be very broad & not in reality be the majority of wages) which is why they've asked for a loan fee to sweeten the deal.
Wendies sound in a mess financially what with Chansiri refusing to put any more money in & even asking the fans to pay HMRC debts in October. I suspect they can not afford to have Smith on the books at the end of January & hence we're in a stronger bargaining position the longer the month goes. I can't see there'd be that much competition from other League One clubs now given Oxford & Charlton's recent business and would be surprised if anyone in the Championship wanted him. Sit tight I think.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/2024/01/21/afcon-2023-born-in-namibia-raised-in-manchester-ryan-nyambe-is-hungry-for-more-success/
 
Shame Namibia lost to SA from his perspective…. But selfishly i hope they also lose their last match in the group stage so that we can get him back- makes a big difference to us I reckon 👍

"Owing to a breach in the maximum permitted number of hyphens in a first-team squad......."

We sold him in the January before admin. Rooney didn't want him so got rid. The fee was got for him was the difference between going in to admin when we did, or at the start of September.
 
His record at youth level showed exactly why he needed time to adjust at first team level. Even when stepping up to the U18s and then the U23s he needed time to adjust to the increased physicality.

The fast lad up front, Taylor, has an interesting back story. Up until October 2021 he was playing in the deep depths of non league, level 10 from a possible 11, for Wroxham on loan from King's Lynn. He scored a load of goals, Peterborough sign him for £5k in January 2022.
He's then a reserve/bench player for them, scores once in about 20 sub appearances but still young and high potential, so gets a big money move to Luton a year later.
Goes out on loan this season to League Two Colchester scores 12 goals through to January. Recalled and moved up to League One and Lincoln. As already said, he absolutely rinsed Cashin for pace on multiple occasion. Lucky for us he didn't have his shooting boots on.
Another example off the highly successful Peterborough production line of trading up non league talent. 

a Derby fan posted this on Twitter. No idea if it’s any way reliable.

Nice words from Kane about the away support. Top man. Class.
He clearly really enjoys being at the Club- and i enjoy him being here. Good player.

Was it really as bad as you’re making out?
If the players did not turn up as you suggested then we’d have lost, we drew away from home, it’s not the end of the world.
We had more possession (66% versus their 34%), passed more and with greater accuracy (520 at 78% versus their 278 at 64%), more shots (19 shots versus their 10)….and maybe this is where they get some credit as they had 4 on target when we only had 3, they had and missed 2 big chances when we allegedly had none (I’d argue Nelson’s header at their keeper was a big chance)….but then we also had 7 blocked shots.
From watching the game and reviewing those stats I’m very much of the opinion we did turn up, but a combination of not reaching our better levels, them defending resolutely, and a little bit of luck in how was wasteful they were means accepting an underwhelming 0-0 draw and we move on. 

It’s also worth remembering that we still have Nyambe, Forsyth, Wildsmith, CBT and potentially 1-2 more new signings to come into the fold.
Better days are coming.

I think today showed we're lacking depth - not surprising when we have a whole bench worth of players unavailable: Rooney, Nyambe, Forsyth, Fornah, Smith, Waghorn, and Washington. Blackett-Taylor and a centre forward to add to the mix too.
With a full squad available, we would have freshened up our front line today, which would have carried us over the line. The important thing is we keep picking up points and stay within touching distance of the top 2. We'll then regain consistency when more players are back.

Here they are. They’re back. Set your watch lads. 

DET saying Charlton backtracked and accepted Derby's 2nd offer - £250k. That's good business if so. In any case, he looks one to get bums off seats and I'm looking forward to seeing him play.
On a general note, with the players we've managed to secure on longer contracts, I reckon this has been a quietly progressive window for the club. We seem to have adopted a 'we won't sell for beans and we won't overpay either' kinda stance and I like it a lot. Whatever else happens, we'll start next year in probably our most robust financial health in years, hopefully coinciding with our first game back in the Championship.
And on that note, how about that midfield fix, Mr Clowes? I reckon that might just about do it, don't you? Oh, and the big lad in on loan if there's still coins down the back of the sofa. We don't ask for much, you know! 😋
 
 

CBT is a seriously impressive signing for you lot, and as if the rest of L1 needed any reminder, just shows how ridiculous it is that you're in this division.
Operating within a business plan and still able to drop a chunky fee way beyond the majority of clubs*.
Personally see the top 2 being 2 of yourselves, Bolton and Posh now. You're absolutely motoring, full of confidence and more importantly there seems to be some genuine belief in the fan base once again - that Burton moment could be talked about for years to come.
Posh by far and away the best side we've played and Bolton just seem to keep adding to a decent squad already with games in hand. Not convinced by Pompey and I think fan pressure may play a big part down there.
If you could either go up in the top 2, or collapse entirely, it would be greatly appreciated. Living in Derby, I get married the week after the play-off final to a Derby supporter from an entire family and extended family of Derby supporters. So a 2legged play-off semi, or even worse, the final against you, would not be the emotional situation required in the approach to the wedding 🤣

*We've gone out today and spent an extremely chunky fee given our history, one that has caught a lot of fans by surprise with the initial interest and reports. We'll have to see how that goes.

Ive just been told we’ve had a bid accepted for CBT 

Keep an eye out for later👀

So some more information I’ve heard.
CBT - almost done 
- Langstaff is the top striker target as is Devante Cole 
- wide players - two youngsters from Brentford  , dobra and one from Mansfield - 
CM targets are Moxon , Dobson at charlton and loan deal for a guy at Sheffield United 

Delighted that Ryan gets a new deal, though whilst I enjoyed Namibia turning over a higher ranked Tunisian team, I'm hoping he's back soon! My selfish concerns aside, national selection and a new deal are nothing less than he's earned and with one eye on the future, this is another important box ticked. Well played Mr Clowes and Warney too of course.
On a general note, I'm loving the way the club is locking in our best current players. Obviously there's a deal of work to be done and we'd all like to see a couple in if they can improve our starting 11 but for me, the most critical part of this window was not losing key players and thus far, we're doing OK on that score! Should we manage to escape this league this season and personally, I think we will, it clearly makes a deal of sense to secure the services of a core group of players who are young, or of good age and who can likely prosper at a higher level. And before anyone says it, yeah, Nate rather bucks that trend, but that lad's a specimen and will probably still be playing at 37 or 38. The others are hopefully part of Derby's brighter future and that dream does seem more real with each passing day of this season.
On that note, does this not rather put an end to theories about players not liking Warne or enjoying his methods, too? Seems to me that those who have actually played for Warne are more than happy to stick with him, indeed bar those still finding full fitness after injuries, all the players all look fit as fleas, unified and all are playing with smiles on their faces. More to be pleased about than not I reckon.
COYR
 

The facts are we signed an aging striker on a free from a struggling Championship club. Unless a miracle happened, ala McGoldrick, which you can never rely on, he was always going to be a squad filler as we look to sign a young high potential player.
So far this season, he's had 14 league appearances of which 6 starts, averaging 35 minutes per appearance. He's got 3 goals and 2 assists. We have 20 games left, let's say he's fit enough for half of them, scores another couple of goals, maybe another couple assists. He could achieve 9-10 goal contributions in 25ish games. For a squad filler, on a free transfer, that's decent enough business for me.
Is it the future? No. Does it do a adequate enough job for us now as a squad/bench player? Yes for me.

I’ve heard is the following today:
we’ve had scouts at Notts County games recently 
Owen Moxon is a name we’re after plus we’ve scouted in SPL, Notthern Ireland and one scout has been to a French league match.
Wildsmith not playing has something to do with a contract dispute 
 
 

I have literally signed back into my account for the first time in 5 years or so to tell you this is wrong, thus emphasizing how ridiculous the rest of this post is. 

St Ives town are based in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, which you might have realised had you not been so desperate to slag him off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Ives_Town_F.C.

His last season in League 1 was 2021/22 season, so a couple of seasons ago where he scored 11 in 35 which is respectable enough (Collins scored 11 in 42 last season) for someone we signed on a free.

If he was a goal machine he would either be playing at a higher level or command a fee that we are currently unable to afford. Besides goals, he has a good work rate and has contributed to the teams success (when fit) in other ways that Opta and x.G don't/can't quantify. 

A decent chunk of our fan base (and I guess football fans in general) have such a reductive view on attacking players' attributes which rarely extends past their ability to score or create goals. This is rightly the best metric when comparing the best players in the world, which I will concede Washington is not, but he brings other qualities to the team which are of value and contribute to our success - along with chipping in with the odd goal here and there. 
So far this season he has registered 3 goals and 2 assists in 13 league games (497 mins) which equates roughly to a goal contribution every 100 minutes, which I will gladly accept for someone we signed for nothing. 

Never understand how quickly and easily fans are to rubbish their own players. I can accept that certain players aren't rated but to call one of our own a 'nothing player' when someone has played over 350 league matches is ludicrous!

Some thoughts from watching the highlights. For their first goal it's a clear foul on NML and the shot is deflected off Nelson who should have been a yard nearer.
Their second was a hell of a pass from Seddon, like a bullet and took a poorly positioned Elder out of the game, slip or not.
I was irritated by RD last night lavishing praise on Burton saying we were lucky. We've had 5 or 6 chances better than anything they created beyond the goals. Even in the second half, we've still created the better chances.
John-Jules was ok for 40-50 minutes which is all he has in him. Created the early NML chance then won the ball for our first goal.
He needs to build strength and fitness and I think Warne left him on too long last night 
 

The state of people on here when we are not winning/having a tough spell during a game. Thank god you don't go to games to support our team.
The posters who have to keep trying to prove they were correct Warne is no good, even the one who openly admitted to hating him, all ready to pile on when things go slightly wrong.
Fair play to them for keep trying though. They've been doing it for the last 12 league games now, of which we failed to win twice.
Warne's subs are hopeless. Our midfield is always been overrun. All Warnes transfers are rubbish. Warne's in game management is no good. Yet somehow, incredibly, we have 31 points from 36 available, our best run since? 95-96 perhaps?
Can't you just enjoy the results and accept you were wrong? Enjoy us scoring goals for fun maybe? Ask how Warne has turned us into this lethal attacking unit maybe?

Get in.
To be frank, I couldn't actually care less that we didn't win by 2 goals to go into 2nd. There's 20 games left, the only thing separating us and Peterborough are the fact that they've scored 2 goals more than us. Whether we won 3-2 or 4-2, nothing is decided tonight. We haven't ended a matchday in 2nd place since February 2018 under Rowett, and we still ended up finishing 6th that year.
The most important thing is that we won, I don't care how. That game had a hell of a lot of "you can just see it going wrong" things on the list, I think @Srg listed a fair few before kick-off. Local game, new manager, ex-players, bringing on a striker making his league debut (and scoring 3 minutes in), contentious referee decisions, or lack of them, coming back to bite us. There was the potential for things to go very wrong. And if you watched on Sky, they did their typical thing of putting up stats that completely jinx the game, such as how few goals Burton have scored.
These are the kind of games where we've messed up in the past and it's cost us in the past. From the minute it went to 2-1, we were poor, there's no excuses being made for that, it was a tough watch. But I'd much rather show that we still need a bit of work in January when that work is possible, and still winning at the same time means there's very little damage.
Take the points and carry on, we're a point off top with a game in hand, no matter how we performed tonight that's an excellent place to be. Three games in a week coming up, two of which are away and in the away table we are 1st, so there's a lot to be positive about.
Hopefully CBT can join the ranks before Lincoln, and maybe one or two more before the end of the window and then we'll be well on our way to getting out of this league.
Onwards and upwards, and thank God for Conor Hourihane's left foot.

we were 4-1 up against Real Madrid 😭