Carl Sagan

There's a lot right with this post. Also, when I think about it weren't we already under a transfer embargo when we played Chorley? If so, the only two options available to the club were to obtain guarantees in advance that these would not count as senior appearances, or to forfeit the game. It seems we did neither.

Surely by that logic then, this situation also calls for an experienced manager?
The entire situation is just an illustration of our poor decision making on multiple fronts rapidly catching up with us.
Of course, in an ideal world, we would want a nice mix of youth and experience, quality and steel and indeed too a manager with nous and experience.
But with the season beginning in less than 3 weeks, we are reaching the stage where acceptance that it will be anything but might be the best remedy.
I mean look at the players we have targeted, do you think they will be a big miss? As with most things at the club, it doesn’t seem like much thought has gone into the process, beyond sheer availability.
Playing the kids will almost definitely reduce our competitive edge, but let’s be honest, expectations will be at rock bottom anyway.
It will probably galvanise fans more than seeing players long in the tooth mailing it in.  The only exception being Davies and Wisdom as at least they have some attachment to the club and an idea of what it means to wear our particular black and white shirt.

If the embargo related to just the accounts, you could understand the club’s frustration. The EFL case being a determining factor in the non-submission or delayed submission.
However we’ve also seemingly defaulted on payments both to clubs and HMRC. And as we know the players’ wages have been unpaid in the past, hence the suspended points deduction.
So really do we have a leg to stand on? You can’t financially mismanage a club to the extent ours has been and expect rules to be relaxed for your benefit.
I think we just have to suck it up. It’s a grim situation, obviously compounded by the complete inexperience amongst the coaching staff too.
But I think we simply have to hope the young players can beat the odds. You never know, some of them might actually flourish with this unexpected opportunity.
Personally I can’t say I’ll be too upset at not being able to sign Baldock, Stearman and company.

Oops. Yeah, we have more depth at CM than anywhere else, so he'd have to miss out
I'd sell Marshall, which allows us to have Davies, Jagielka and Wisdom. We'd be able to sign an emergency keeper if Roos picked up an injury.

I had a chat with someone I know who works in the ticket office the other day, and they said the only reason they weren't selling STs was the risk of another lockdown - they have only just cleared the refunds for this season and as your accountant friend said, it has created an administrative nightmare. If I'm honest, I'm not sure how or why it's so hard administratively but there you go.
Anyway, he said the club really didn't want to go down that road again. They might well be considering half STs should all go well up until Christmas. Match by match allows them greater flexibility - the risk of course is that if crowds drop off should the team not be performing, they could lose considerable revenue.
 

Quick question... can we loan players OUT?
...If we set up our young players of 'professional standing' that clearly aren't at Championship standing with loans to non-League clubs at an appropriate level, do they not count as part of our quota?

Two of my friends are accountants and I asked them about this yesterday.  Neither believe the season ticket situation is a sign of the end of the club or administration however you want to spin it.
One said for starters that if the club was in danger of going into administration it would be doing the opposite to ensure it can bring in as much cash as possible to help avoid admin. So by not putting season tickets up for sale because we are heading for administration in his opinion, would make literally zero sense.
 
The other one said that he believes that if the club was to sell say 20,000 season tickets and then we hit another lockdown and the club can't fulfill those sales - it puts us in a sticky situation and creates a ton of admin - he thinks by essentially ensuring the club only sells tickets where it’s highly likely to guarantee bums on seats, helps the club to gain a much clearer financial picture of the revenue and impact of income from tickets. Of course this is their opinions on what they believe the reasoning is - other accountants and business people may say different things. Personally I think both of what they have said makes sense to me, but I don’t understand the ins and outs of administration etc. 
 

I saw a suggestion on Twitter that it might be to do with not wanting to take on long term credit card payments? Because of the possibility of their being chargebacks/Section 75s. TBH I can't remember exactly what but it was something to do with 'credit worthiness'. Perhaps we don't have any?!

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

As this seems a bit of a finance thread at the moment, I'll ask the question that's been gnawing away at me.
Does our not selling season tickets suggest on any level that people are not confident we can continue to trade for the full duration of the season? That was my immediate thought when I heard about it. We're a club in a desperate financial mess so surely, if we could, we would do everything in our power to bring more money in?
Would this be a call by our auditors if this were the case?
Or are the reasons given by the club for not selling tickets bona fide? 

The issue is that if all money is electronic, the Government or the banks can end your access to it or dictate how you're allowed to spend it. That's why cash has its uses and one reason why cryptocurrencies were invented.
No surprise this is happening at Pride Park as the year we've had has accelerated the change, but it makes me think about the notion mentioned elsewhere of specific cryptocurrencies for clubs and if this could be a way of investing in DCFC and the local area.

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

Sibbo very lucky not to get booked in a pre-season friendly. He needs to curb it because it seemed last season Rooney didn't trust him. The ref had his card out (rightly) but then for some reason put it away and put his arm around the lad. 
I think some of last season's bookings weren't justified but in this case the player was past him and he just took him down.
Sharpen up, young Louie!

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

Sibbo very lucky not to get booked in a pre-season friendly. He needs to curb it because it seemed last season Rooney didn't trust him. The ref had his card out (rightly) but then for some reason put it away and put his arm around the lad. 
I think some of last season's bookings weren't justified but in this case the player was past him and he just took him down.
Sharpen up, young Louie!

Well what I have seen Derby played some lovely football in first half cut through there midfield like butter and trailist one from reading played well Morrison I would offer contract too. And in the 2nd changes were made but Derby kepted try and got there reward when Richard's score a really really good goals.
I dont think we desevse to lose 2-1 I the 2nd half I think if Derby can improve I dont think we got anything to worry about or to fear this season.

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.

My pet hate resurfaces. Sibbo (currently playing on the right) nicks the ball and wins a freekick 10 yards inside the opposition half. It's a decent attacking opportunity with 5 minutes to go. Instead of attacking, the freekick is passed backwards 30 yards and we end up losing the ball. It makes you want to bang your head against a wall.