Carl Sagan

I don't think I've ever seen such an impotent team in all my years of watching professional football. Reading are letting us have the ball in all manner of dangerous areas, trying to draw us on, because they know it will be a miracle if we score a goal. You have to score when you dominate, but we just don't know how.

Buchanan should have played instead of Fozzy. Shinnie is the worst culprit so far in terms of having broken Reading's lines and with the pitch open in front of him, turning back and playing difficult backwards or sideways balls to put us into trouble. I thought Sibbo would be dropped for this game but my word in this game we are desperate for him to play. Otherwise it has 0-1 written all over it when we'll claim we dominated and were very unlucky, but in truth we could play for a week and not threaten.

According to Steve Nicholson David Marshall will be on the bench.

According to Ed Dawes a couple of days ago, not many tickets have been sold: 

In the replies, those people trying to buy extra tickets are struggling because they need to create a new Fan ID for each one and a separate email address for each one. Not everyone has the wherewithal to do that.

I wouldn't often but of course I've bought the official stream. Hope it's a great watch. Come on you Rams!

1 hour ago, TuffLuff said:

I don’t know what this means, but there you go

In the replies he explains something he said last night was ambiguous. Since he resigned from the Board of Directors @angieramhas said he is still at the U23 games, so it sounds as though the resignation was possibly to do with trying to shield him from any board responsibilities/liabilities when going into administration.

Twenty redundancies of non-playing staff yesterday. The harsh personal reality of administration for those involved. 

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/Derby-county-administration-job-losses-5986762

31 minutes ago, LeedsCityRam said:

Go onto LinkedIn & check yourself 

I was sent it from a mate but just gone on & found it myself. It is genuine.

Absolutely - I just went and found it on LinkedIn.

I'll try posting the link again, just in case, but might edit it out if it simply reverts to login.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/quantuma_administration-derbycountyfc-activity-6848592917012074496-uNF8

I'm surprised we haven't appealed the Roos sending off, but maybe we couldn't afford it? In which case I suggest we're looking at:

Allsop

Byrne     Jagielka     Davies     Buchanan

Bird        Shinnie

Knight     Morrison     Jozwiak

Lawrence

Subs:  Stearman  Forsyth   Ebosele    Sibley   Watson   Baldock   Stretton   

I don't think we'll have Foulkes on the bench as we can't afford to create a new "player of professional standing". The EFL should be ashamed. What a farce this is, deliberately preventing young footballers coming through. In an emergency Jags will go in goal. I'm not certain Sibbo has done enough to keep his place, love him though I do, though it could be Rooney sacrifices Joz instead if we go with this type of team. And I hate seeing Knight out wide, but I figure there'll be a lot of rotation in that front four which might end up being quite a lot of 4-3-3 with Knight in the midfield 3. I think we're better off without Baldock starting - if we are going with a traditional centre forward I'd prefer to see Stretton.

5 hours ago, angieram said:

Isn't this brilliant? Worth watching again and again. 

 

Watching this at the time it was the continuation of the Rooney fairytale, after moments such as his Everton debut and extraordinary goal to  defeat the undefeated Arsenal invincibles. This was the night I decided it was inconceivable England wouldn't win the next World Cup with Rooney the star, but sadly he broke his metatarsal in the run up to the 2006 tournament and was never the same again. This match might have been when he peaked as a footballer. 

10 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

*Surely

Hope you're right. 

Begging for buyers on Twitter:

34 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2021/09/Derby-countyquantuma-interested-parties

So, who's sending the forum group email to see if we can have a look at the teaser document? and, can we have a poll on what name the forum ownership bid should be under? I think it should be "Spoofspiration Financial Megavestment"

I was going to post the email address but I guess it's better to avoid that for spamming. My heart sinks when I hear talk of a "teaser document", but I'd definitely like to see it!

19 hours ago, VulcanRam said:

However, I'm vehemently anti-drugs and simply do not accept that class A drugs such as coke or heroin should be legalised or even that somehow they're less dangerous than smoking or drinking. The amount of tobacco/alcohol you need to consume for it to become a major health risk - is anyone really saying that taking the proportionally same amount of coke or heroin would also not pose significant danger? Police I know have to spend most of their time dealing with drug-related crime, not alcohol or tobacco-related crime.

You must realize you're making the argument for legalization here with your comment about police time? 

And as for your earlier point, the drug toxicity charts that place alcohol and heroin pretty much jointly at the top are based on the amounts you need to consume for it to be a health risk. Pure cocaine is significantly less harmful, except because the state decides this should be illegal, no one knows what they're actually taking so the illegality forces people to take their life in their hands when every time they do. What utter madness in societal terms. It's like prohibiting alcohol, so people might end up drinking antifreeze as they don't know what's in it.

Max had vowed that although he'd signed for the Gumps, he would never score a goal for them. That would be gong way too far. Then this happens. No wonder he didn't celebrate...

Potentially it looks as if Steve Cooper is a lucky manager. 

The media is desperate for stories/clicks/ratings. Every journo I know would sell their own grandma for a story. They know it's wrong but they can't help themselves. They're the people who've caused this and should be ashamed of themselves because it's a lot more serious than not having enough bogroll to go round. Lives could be lost. How do you stop it? How to install a more mature reporting mentality? 

In a way this reminds me of the Double Edged Sword thread in the main DCFC forum. People do stupid things, which we hate and cause problems, but people are social animals rather than rational beings. 

When Duncan arrived my concern was it might block Stretton's path to the first team, and I thought Stretton deserved his chance. But it was also an exciting prospect to have this star England youth striker arrive because we definitely need a goalscorer. 

What Stretton shows players like Duncan is that there is a path to the first team from the U23s, albeit hampered at the moment by the EFL and their rules about players of professional standing. But things like that can change quickly in football and Bobby needs to put himself in a position to take advantage of that if they do. I still hope we can unearth the player in him.

17 hours ago, 24Charlie said:

Sorry I have an open mind on most things but not drugs.

My question would be is that on "drugs" or do you mean "legal drugs" or do you mean "illegal drugs"? Caffeine is a huge stimulant. Should that be banned? Alcohol is much the most toxic drug people can use and abuse, with the possible exception of heroin depending on how you measure toxicity. Cannabis is only super-strength "skunk" nowadays because of prohibition. When America had prohibition for alcohol, were there exquisite gins and lovely craft beers or were people forced to drink super-strength moonshine? Laced with other toxins as there was no regulation?

People should be allowed the choice if whether they drink coffee, smoke a cigarette, do a line of coke, have a double vodka and tonic or eat a hash cake. It's bonkers and irrational that two of those things are illegal when you compare them with the others. Personal choice, personal responsibility.

Of course I get that people have individual bad stories surrounding illegal drugs, but I would argue this is a lot to do with the organized criminality that surrounds them and the way this destroys lives. It would be a million times better for people to partake in a safe environment, knowing exactly what they are taking.

42 minutes ago, Bob The Badger said:

The saddest thing is that it's a KNOWN fact that if you launch campaigns like that and the 'just say no' one that Barbara Bush started in the 80s' you effectively tell younger people that more people are doing it than they probably realise and create social proof in reverse.

You have to make it socially unacceptable like drink driving and smoking.
 

I think it's been an impressive and significant societal move to make drink driving socially unacceptable and is remarkable and good that smoking has become so less prevalent in the West.

I don't see why eating hash cakes or taking coke or LSD should be socially unacceptable. What is unacceptable is the organized crime and exploitation element that surrounds them, but alcohol is far more damaging and toxic as a drug. So legalize, tax and cut the criminal element out.

People are social animals and often deeply flawed. And everyone's been caged up for 18 months without an outlet. I think we may be heading back to the times similar to when the debate was whether football hooliganism was a football problem or a societal problem.

I absolutely hate hearing distasteful songs on the terraces, but when you have young animals (not at all used disparagingly, just a scientific statement) in packs together then this sort of behaviour will happen, not helped because there's also the thing where football fans are continually being preached at by the media, players and middle classes (who have a strong puritanical dislike of the great unwashed) and there's the natural rebellion against authority.

I think it's crazy that some drugs are legal when others aren't, with zero rational justification, and would personally legalize and tax all drugs whether alcohol or cocaine and treat any additions as a public health issue. The "war on drugs" is the wrong approach and has failed as prohibition always will.

Football's problem is that it is the most popular "religion" in the world and everyone gravitates to it so it becomes the magnifying glass through which a lot of society's ills are exposed. 

7 hours ago, oomarkwright said:

Good. Good back up striker and penalty taker 

He won a lot of penalties but I thought his execution of spot kicks was terrible! Interesting he's back at the club. Perhaps he's paying to train and it's a way of us getting extra money in? Moor Farm gym memberships anyone?

Seems pretty clear there's the contractual clause preventing Marshall playing. People have queried the strange number of actual appearances, but sometimes these clauses also apply to unused substitute appearances.

It will either be Harrison-Foulkes or no sub on the bench. As a club we cannot afford additional payments to Wigan.

9 minutes ago, Grumpy Git said:

Just seen the lowlights on Quest. WTF was Curtis doing?

It is a strange one by Curtis. Very strange.

As they pointed out on the show, it was never a corner from which the penalty was conceded. Osborn just booted the ball out with no one near him but the ref, caught up in the heat of the moment and desperate to confer another advantage, awards the corner. Why does this keep happening? We all know the rules that if you're not sure you always have to give the benefit of the doubt to the defence, so what possible grounds could there be for deciding this isn't a goalkick?

A heads-up that (I presume the first of) Isaac Asimov's epic Foundation books have been made into a TV series on something called Apple TV, whatever that is. It must have a lot of money behind it as the production values are very strong, with some beautiful spacecraft and a very well done space elevator. The "jump ships" have a hollow centre containing a gyroscope that creates a mini black hole and wormhole - very clever.

I watched the first two (or ten) episodes. It's quite slow, but that augers well for an epic that should span a thousand years of galactic history.

I'll definitely keep watching. It's a book series that's influenced my own thinking and writing and inspired many other people. Some call them the greatest scifi novels of all time. So far I'm surprised not to like any of the characters at all, which could make it tough going,  but hopefully that will change as things progress. Extended trailer:

2 hours ago, Unlucky Alf said:

Highlights here

Red Card for me, Wow Curtis, Lawrence shot at the end takes a slight deflection onto the post.

https://www.skysports.com/football/sheffield-united-vs-Derby-county/report/447442

Wow so unlucky hitting the post at the end. Definite pen. Was the sun in his eyes and he's trying to shade them?

But never a red card for me. That has to be appealed. Sharp played the ball out to the left wing and then Kelle fouled him. Defenders back and Kelle also with plenty of time to get back. Not a goal scoring opportunity. Sharp conned and intimidated the ref.

17 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

He's a dick. He hates us because of one horrible comment he received when he played for Forest regarding the death of his child after he posted something himself .  Not sure why you would behave as he does to the rest of the supporters, particularly as the clubs fans raised a shitload of money for the charity he set up.  Two brain cells.

No point saying we deserved a point or more today I'm afraid, We volunteer for defeat  too often at our own hands. You just can't do that poo in the position were in. 

Yet at the time of his son's death it was Derby out of all the clubs in the football league who acknowledged it and paid tribute: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2057030/Billy-Sharp-thanks-Derby-black-armbands-gesture-death-baby-son.html

Apparently a strange handball from Curtis. I'm really surprised. Was he pushed for that to happen? Not the sort of player to have a rush of blood to the head.

3 minutes ago, Yani P said:

This is getting a bit Alamo ish