maydrakin

Just seen the terrible news. 
B4 really was the epitome of a fan of Derby County, and I think his positivity touched all of the forum and made it brighter.

In his eyes, the Rams were untouchable and if we all backed them like he did, Pride Park would be electric from kick off to final whistle.

Sincere condolences to his friends and family at this time.

Thought I would introduce a thread to capture bits of play that are generally entertaining/eventful.

Here’s a starter from Poland…

https://x.com/james_dart/status/1721133619358355797?s=46&t=ZCIf8z2Y2zUFnORKyVyViQ

I agree with the idea of giving the manager the option to raise challenges in the game with a specific charge (with the fourth official, during the next break in play).

If your challenge is not upheld, you forfeit a player, which might be higher stakes and remove spurious claims to kill another team’s momentum, but would only give the clear and obvious calls.

3 minutes ago, S8TY said:Some young men never got the chance to play football and today is about respecting them !! Don't bring palestine into it as today is all about those who bravely lost their lives!!! 

I agree with your view that it is a national day of mourning, and we show our respects for those who have lost their lives in war.  We do that through 2 minutes of silence.

Are you saying we shouldn’t mourn dead innocents from Palestine, who are also victims of war?

(And I don’t mean Hamas - their actions should be rightly condemned and may all who commit atrocities be brought to justice)

Firstly, why should Derby accommodate this?

I’m not sure that something like this is necessary. It’s nothing to do with football, so why are people trying to introduce it en masse?

In the same manner that if someone wanted to do an equivalent for, say, Palestine, I imagine these same people would be suggesting that wasn’t acceptable.

If you want to show your support, wear a poppy.

If you don’t wish to then you don’t have to.

And most importantly, be respectful of each other’s personal views - just because people have a different outlook to you, it doesn’t mean you have to attack them - everything is so polarised nowadays, it’s exhausting.

I think the fact that the Panthers players have come out in support for Petgrave and criticised the abuse that he has received suggests that those in the sport appreciate the risks at play.

I certainly know that if I didn’t think it was an accident, if it was my teammate, I would be silent on the subject at best, rather than supporting the supposed perpetrator.

4 hours ago, Banksy said:

They've already played against Wolves U21 this season in PL2 and they didn't get burned in that 😂

For meaningless games such as against Wolves’ u21s, I entirely agree, and have never suggested otherwise.

The issue is if he doesn’t start well and the crowd becomes toxic (regardless of whether it is directly towards Brown or the team in general), it could have a detrimental effect on his confidence and, ergo, his confidence.

I’m all for having Brown, Robinson and Radcliffe on the bench, but we have to then let them take their chance rather than just throwing them into the fire…

Sport does cost a fortune.

As well as Derby, I sometimes watch the Nottingham Panthers (and had tickets for the Sunday game which was obviously cancelled, due to the tragedy that occurred the day before).

They were £25, which for four of us isn’t cheap.

However, my tickets to see the abysmal performance of the Atlanta Falcons at Wembley cost £81 each, so in comparison…

Saw Mark Watson last night - as entertaining, in his neurotic self-effacing way, as usual.

Playing Derby Theatre in January.

I have a load of tickets booked:

Jordan Gray

Tom Allen

Jimmy Carr

 Rhod Gilbert 

Guz Khan

Miles Jupp

Daniel Sloss

Jonathan Pie

Sam Campbell

James Acaster

Paul Foot

Ed Gamble

It seems comedy is becoming the new rock ‘n’ roll for me.  Must be my age!

The most disappointing thing is none of them are in Derby, as the standard of venues for moderate sized comedy/music is so poor…

Is it a simulation or are we sitting in a school kid’s Petrie dish and just a science experiment that will at some point just be washed down the sink of oblivion?

Or are we just tiny bacteria living our whole galaxy in a bubble that has just been blown at a garden party and whole lives and civilisations are living and dying in that microcosm before the whole things eventually implodes?

Off to London in a bit to see the Falcons!

21 hours ago, NottsRam said:

Some Heanor Rams made the trip for the Cosenza game, flew with the players.  Had a fantastic time apparently, out on the beer with Martin Kuhl who travelled but didn't play.

I was on that trip for Cosenza, and I remember chatting in a bar to a lad from Heanor about Tom Curtis, who was a youth player for Derby that he went to school with and wasn’t fond of as a person.  His conflict was that he now played for Derby.

”I love him… but I hate him!”

Great trip, and I played a blinder in the fans game against the Cosenza fans!

There has been some bad luck, yes.  However, I would suggest that the majority of woes that we had during that timescale were down to “user error”.

5 minutes ago, BaaLocks said:

We have all the infrastructure and support to be a mid-table Prem team. All we need is the backroom staff and support to execute against that. Brighton, Brentford, Southampton, Wolves and (sad but true) Forest have shown that if you can do that you will have your time up there. None of these clubs have anything that Derby either don't or couldn't possess in terms of set up (save the jokes about six fingers and unibrows down the A52 - we know that bit).

What does amaze me is how gloriously expert we have been at throwing away the opportunities presented to us. I genuinely believe we are one of the greatest under performing club against potential in all of England. Sunderland might run us close but even they have had the odd trip to Wembley etc. For Derby, for pretty much the time since TBE's side got relegated, we have under performed.

The challenge is that the gap has widened significantly.

The three teams that were promoted have garnered 1 point from 11 games between them so far.

Forest had to spend more than David Clowes’ net worth just to scrape in for the following season.

1 hour ago, Curtains said:

Yes that’s it .

Doesn’t matter if we get promoted or not does it 

No need to bother if we win or lose 

It’s only a game .

I mean what’s the point of matches 

The point of matches is to win.  And I go to see Derby, hopefully, win.

Resultantly when the dice are so loaded against us, I would far rather be playing Bolton and know we’re going to be competitive than rocking up to Liverpool with it being a foregone conclusion, and scratching around the bottom like Everton do every year.

Of course, I would love to see Derby doing well in the top flight and in Europe, however I am pragmatic enough to appreciate that is pretty much a closed shop.

I miss the days where every team at the start of the season generally could feel that it could be their year.

The money in the game has turned things more into one of those situations in WWE, where one of the stars pummels some no name wrestler.  If we get to the 1st division, we’ll be that no-name wrestler in the eyes of the global audience…

He has been announced.

see above (animal is a ram beat me to it!)

I think the dynamic is whether she would command the respect of the dressing room.

Having the whole skill set to motivate those who are pulling in the right direction is one thing, but managing a bunch of blokey man-child prima donnas who have the power to get you sacked is a completely different kettle of fish…

Looks like it’s only checked on the front, and just dark blue on the back…

that’s a bit disappointing.

I know that ticket touting is illegal and wholeheartedly believe it’s a scourge on humanity.

However, a quick search on stubhub sees tickets for Man Utd vs Wolves with tickets available from £302.

How it’s allowed on there utterly mystifies me and should be clamped down on.

17 hours ago, Keepyuppy said:

All Rhodes lead to Jordan apparently 🤫

This Jordan?

Too Pricey.

15 hours ago, Raich Carter said:Darryl Powell was a fantastic athlete and when he just did the basics, he was very good. The problem was, after one good season he thought he could play so started to try things that just didn't work (I.E. pass more than 5 yards) - hence "Darry Powell Football Genius" - laden with irony.

I will not say a bad word against Darryl Powell.  He gave everything he had and I think the problem was that he was trying to do the jobs of the midfielders who should have been doing the skilful work but were too busy hiding when the going was tough.  Mr Burley and Mr Kinkladze, you know who you are.

For me, the players that have angered me are the ones that really didn’t seem to put any effort in.

Yes, you John Harkes, Kenny Miller and Mikkel Beck.

Never liked Mark Pembridge, mainly for the fact he just didn’t seem to care.

Really enjoyed this… what a brilliant advert.