Carl Sagan

On 31/08/2024 at 10:23, Comrade 86 said:

Interesting doco here:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32258850/

Ta for the reminder - know a few of the people in this, but still haven't got around to seeing it. 

Meanwhile, I published Robert Zubrin's new book last month, on Mars settlement, and there's a good in-depth review of it here, explaining why it's so important for Humanity. 

https://quillette.com/2024/09/03/life-on-mars-space-elon-musk-starship/ 

Still no news on the next Starship flight test. My suspicion is that SpaceX are getting 2 imminent crewed flights out of the way first (Polaris Dawn and Crew9) before turning their attention to the Starship. Plus they've been working round the clock at Starbase, Texas, on strengthening the launch tower to catch the booster when it returns. 

Missed the Oasis bunfight. The joys of being without WiFi or phone signal on Saturday - that's the reality of a trip to the wilds of north Notts! 

But it's Marseille and then The Last Dinner Party coming up in London Town. Mrs Sagan is appalled at my decision to buy TLDP and presumed I was joking when I told her, so I've had to invite someone else. Which always makes things a little less enjoyable when you're used to a regular gigging partner.

The money is simply too extraordinary to turn down. Toney would be crazy not to take it. Obviously the sums we're talking about are what most on here can only dream of, but for the rich there's a big difference between being worth £300m or £30m.

2 hours ago, roboto said:

Maybe Luthra won't be picked for the squad and if one of our first team GKs gets injured then one of the young'uns gets a bench spot. I'm pretty sure he's been signed to round out numbers for training but also to fill in in the u21s if we have some injury issues.

Good point and an interesting idea. I'm not sure, in that if Zetterström got sent off, Vickers has always seemed very injury prone. But then I guess it comes down to if Luthra is currently better than all the academy keepers. Warne is quite conservative, so if that's the case I would expect Luthra to be named. 

Is there a date by which the 25 are announced? I thought it was a day after the window closed, but I've not seen anything official. My quick count suggests Washington misses out. 

2 hours ago, Elwood P Dowd said:

Although Bristol played some nice football I think they would struggle in Division one, the side of their game that is missing is the determination and grit that we had to show to get out Division one, its a lesson that we need  to ensure that we don't forget. 

If you can play nice football and still retain the determination and grit then, you have a good side which will be difficult to beat. 

I think that's a good point about League 1. Partly because I felt it was such a weak division last season, it taught our players a lot about being on it week in, week out. You simply could not afford an off day. Especially because we had our awful start to the season, so were playing catchup through to the very end. Relentless. "Determination and grit" everywhere. If we can carry that through into this campaign, it will stand us in very good stead. 

On 30/08/2024 at 01:36, Carl Sagan said:

My expectation is actually for a fairly comfortable win. Two or three nil. It often happens when a team plays poorly in the cup, but pulls itself together at the weekend. Plus it will be tough for Knight and Bird coming back.

Maybe I should try the prediction league one of these days? Had £6 in free bets about to expire, so lumped them on this. 

Great win. Come on you beautiful Rams! 

2 minutes ago, Hoppo said:

NML going off Barks on.

That's such a weird substitution 

15 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

Surely it'll be Lapido. I feel he'd be a decent option. Though @Dayas backup is also worth considering, even if we might baulk at those wage demands.

Hope the lack of a striker signing to date sees Brown given a chance ahead of Collins in the pecking order. 

Or even Ladapo! Too late for the edit button... 

Surely it'll be Lapido. I feel he'd be a decent option. Though @Dayas backup is also worth considering, even if we might baulk at those wage demands.

Hope the lack of a striker signing to date sees Brown given a chance ahead of Collins in the pecking order. 

My expectation is actually for a fairly comfortable win. Two or three nil. It often happens when a team plays poorly in the cup, but pulls itself together at the weekend. Plus it will be tough for Knight and Bird coming back.

With the injuries we have, but Cash returning, I would play:

Zetterström

Nyambe Nelson Cashin Forsyth

Adams Ozoh

Jackson NML

Yates Brown

Subs: Vickerd Ward Bradley Elder Thompson Chirewa Barkhuizen Collins CBT 

I'm presuming Wilson, Osborn and Goudmijn are injured and won't be risked. Obviously this is not the team Warne will play. 

27 minutes ago, Foreveram said:

That only applies to EFL clubs though.

He could go to a national league club and be recalled after 28 days.

If Warne tries to send Brown back to the National League then he should be sacked. 

1 minute ago, plymouthram said:

I would'nt be surprised during the mad last day tomorrow; we shift a few out on loan and bring in maybe 2 or 3 new faces. My money is on Washington and Barks to go out on loan. Maybe Brown, if we get a striker in, but he might have a call back clause. Linked with Liam Cooper who was nearly a Hull player today, but the deal fell threw. He would be a good signing and it's his birthday tomorrow (33).

There's no such thing as a "call back clause" except in the next transfer window in January. If Brown goes, it's not possible for him to return until then. 

24 minutes ago, TomG said:

Paul Warne has said that Derby are 'not Championship ready'.  Well, does anyone think that we will be Championship ready come 11pm tomorrow night?  Personally, I have my doubts!

It's Warne's job for us to be Championship-ready. The buck stops with him. If he believes he's failed in his job, I'm happy for him to walk. 

However, so far I'd say we've been competitive in every league game, albeit sometimes looking to be hanging on. But having Cashin back will make a big difference to our defence, and Yates available for selection should enhance the forward line. But our manager is extremely conservative in his picks, so we're not likely to change/improve much with him at the helm. And I don't think anything much will have changed by 11pm tomorrow night. 

What we've seen already is what we'll get most of the time. Whoever (if anyone) comes in, we will defend deep and surrender possession, hoping for a chance on the break or from a set-piece. 

It feels like a long season ahead. 

2 hours ago, Eoghan1884 said:

I refuse to believe none of our ITK’s know nothing with 28 and a half hours left of the window. 
 

@SECornerRAM @Round the Houses @Big Trav @MACKWORTHRAM

These are really delicate times at the end of the window where a key transfer could be destabilized by leaks. All this lot are fans and if they do know stuff are probably rightly thinking it's best not to share it. Only 28 hours to go - I say have a little patience and see how things play out.

Edit: when I've sometimes had ITK info in the past (very rarely but we all have contacts) I've had to weigh up sharing it for this reason. The good of the club has to come first. 

2 minutes ago, RamInSweden said:

Don’t think many centre backs will. It’s not a position that many players are blessed with pace.

But the recruitment team was specifically tasked with identifying targets with pace. There are definitely some. It's incredibly poor not to have brought one in. 

Cooper would likely be better than Bradley at CB, but a 33 year old centre half isn't the long-term way to build the club. But is better than nothing. 

1 hour ago, twelveincher said:

Chesterfield fans on their forum saying Brown is in with them for talks today… might mean we’ve got something sorted?

Even from Brown's limited minutes so far I'd definitely have him above Collins in the pecking order. Give him more opportunity and he'll quickly improve, as he has at every level he's played. Warne is simply too blinkered by having a lower calibre academy at Rotherham and too starstruck by the (equivalent to ours) Premier League academy graduates sent our way. 

4 hours ago, Barney1991 said:

Skubala at Lincoln 

Ditto. I'd have strongly considered going for him in the summer. Was hoping Lincoln didn't quite make the playoffs so we had a better chance of luring him over into the Championship. 

And congrats to Darren Robinson, called up a few days ago to the Northern Ireland U21 squad. 

Viking keeper Jacob Zetterström called up to the Swedish squad. Great to see. 

2 hours ago, RAM1947 said:

Hi , did anyone take a black rucksack in error last night from the Skills coach returning from Barrow , could you please reply if this has happened.

Thanks in advance

Hope you get it back. Replying to bump it back up the page. 

PS "we have a skills coach?" joke hilarious! 

6 hours ago, DavesaRam said:

John Lennon, a possible Derby county fan if he'd still been alive.

Tell us more! 

According to Nixon, Edouard will go on loan from Palace to Ipswich provided the French striker signs a new contract first. If that happens, perhaps Al Hamedi is back on? 

We're talking ifs and buts and there are only 2 days to go.

We did look at Jake Young in January but the fee was massively inflated, Bradford trying to capitalize on the back of his Swindon goal flurry. Hope it's not high now, for someone who's had a few decent games in League Two, but hasn't been able to step up to League One so far. 

49 minutes ago, Srg said:

Can I interest you in some magic beans?

When our need for a striker is manifest, it would be bonkers to spend a lot of money on a keeper and then not have much left in the kitty for a forward. Are you suggesting we're that badly run? 

2 hours ago, Big Trav said:

Jake Young, not done but close 

Cheers, Trav. 

My take was Young only scored all those Swindon goals because Dan Kemp was on fire, continually setting him up (and scoring for fun himself). I'd far rather have bought Kemp (who's gone to Stevenage this summer), or the pair together but maybe Young will do it?

My take is if we gave Brown half a dozen starts and he began to find the net, he'd be better than any of the players we're talking about. Very composed when he finally came on last night.