YorkshireRam

The ''big money'' you mention here comes from parachute payments, and in Coventry's case- the Gyokeres money. We have neither, therefore these kind of suggestions are probably a bit of a stretch for us right now.

That final sentence was a poorly-phrased indirect address: ''they kind of invalidate themselves'' works just as well but somehow felt linguistically clumsier. Really wasn't aimed at you in any way, quite the opposite. Sorry for the confusion regardless.

It's the perfect lexical choice for what I meant? I politely disagree with the notion that all opinions are valid or equal, also. Plenty of critics this season resorted to calling Warne a ''clown'' or a ''PE teacher'' etc; these individual's opinions mean far, far less than those who actually know what they're talking about and can discuss without turning to throwaway insults. You kind of invalidate yourself when you stoop to that level...

My take is that there wasn't much of a change, aside from our ability to execute the gameplan and style of play better. All still with a mishmash assembled squad of freebies. That context is what a lot of us were taking into account when posting. It did seem at times, this nuance wasn't being thought about by some of the naysayers. That for me was what caused the frustration, not the difference in opinion, because it felt like some were being deliberately stubborn and refusing to acknowledge that context because they just didn't like his bobblehat or jokes or something...

My main issue was the folk that couldn't tell where the line was between constructive debate and personal insults. I saw an embarrassing amount of vitriol online towards a manager that ultimately got us promotion in the end. I was arguing against it at the time because it was all so premature. Hopefully now those who went OTT feel a bit silly and will reign it in next time.

Me on 31/01:

I thought this myself when watching, however, to obtain that tally, we would have likely had to get results against those 3 teams meaning their points total would differ, and the entire hypothetical crumbles once you consider the reality v raw numbers. Tenuous, but does provide a bit of a reprieve for Paul 😂

There are plenty of people who committed those crimes currently walking free due to fundamental failures in the judicial process. This often means justice is in no way delivered, in fact the current legal process often prevents justice from prevailing for the crimes you explicitly mention. If you honestly base moral judgement on legal verdict, then you're wildly naïve. Simple as that.

Summer window: Curtis Nelson - 9 - Imperious at the back and remarkably consistent Callum Elder - 6 - Provided good cover in the squad, but injuries stopped him making a big impact Joe Ward - 7 - Unfortunate injuries but best crosser in the squad, and the goals v Portsmouth may prove to be vital Sonny Bradley - 7 - Slow start but majority of games he's played he's done well. Josh Vickers - 7 - Great cover and looked decent when called upon. Kane Wilson - 8 - Great to watch and done well despite rarely playing his favoured RWB role. Martyn Waghorn - 7 - Important goals early on and a good character to have in the dressing room. Conor Washington - 6 - His goal v Exeter (H) is one of my favourites this season but injury stopped him making a real impact Tyrese Fornah - 6 - Not sure what happened to him,. showed glimpses and then disappared from first team picture. Great assist for the winner v Bristol Rovers (H) though! Elliot Embleton - N/A - Looked decent then never saw him again. Ryan Nyambe - 8 - Made a real difference to defensive stability when he came in. Glad we've got him on a longer contract. Tyreece John-Jules - 7 - The 3 points he secured v Port Vale (A) could be huge. Real shame about the injuries. Winter: Ebou Adams - 10 - Solid individually and improved the collective. Can't ask for much more from a January signing. Dwight Gayle - 8 - Scored vital goals when we had nothing else upfront. Helped steady the ship at a critical time. Corey Blackett-Taylor - 6 - Best yet to come hopefully. Loved the assist v Portsmouth however. Max Bird* - 9 - Arguably played his best football in a Derby shirt after coming back on loan (technically). Extensions: Nathaniel Mendez-Laing - 10 - His most prolific season ever. Our talisman really this season, even without being top scorer. Eiran Cashin - 10 - A rock defensively, but also brilliant on the ball. His 2nd half performance v Oxford was colossal. Jake Rooney - 7 - Looked incredibly bright early on prior to injury, hopefully can rediscover this form next season.

And now we watch and wait for the outrage to pour in

Very reminiscent of us with the 'got the league on strings' stuff with MM- seems they learned nothing from us. Very rarely does antagonising powerful governing bodies with no independent regulation end well for the antagoniser (we know better than anyone!)

I agree, and I'm very glad he ended up finding Ebou in January, as to repeat the cliché, he was ''the final piece of the puzzle''. Prior to him joining, there was a distinct lack of pace in midfield. When we were getting caught in possession, it was leading to dangerous attacks as none of the deep-lying players had the pace to get back goal-side when this happened. I half wonder if the 'get it out wide quickly' was as much a defensive measure to cut out these errors, more than it was wholly tactical? Essentially, how much of this season's tactics were purely pragmatic? Did we have to resort to certain less than ideal measures to do the best with what we have? If our recruitment is strong over the summer, I think a lot of the 'negative tactics' people are attributing to Warne may start to wane as we'd have players that better suit his ideal system.

Tell you what's amazing- how Bird and Hourihane have got 5G/7A and 5G/8A, respectively, when Warne's tactic is ''not to use them''... Outstanding goal contribution stats for central midfielders; almost like you're just generalising since Bird particularly has also played some of his best football in a Derby shirt this season. Funny that. 🤔

Potentially, but those 'better' signings all come with drawbacks (usually age). Ultimately, all free agents are in that position for a reason. It's easy to look at past credentials and say ''these players are better because of their CVs so we should walk the league'' but the reality is that, to be really harsh, these are other clubs' castoffs... Given Warne has repeatedly emphasised the importance of athleticism and pace within his system, the pool of players we could sign does not really fit the 23-28 year old demographic that we ideally want, as players in this age range are usually under contract. I just think these constraints hardly get mentioned, but getting promoted without being able to buy a single player justifies turning to efficient football. It just seems fairly entitled to sit here in 2nd place, with a fantastic chance to go up, and be moaning about style of play; especially when there are mitigating factors as to why we may have had to turn to pragmatism. ''Trying to play better football'' with the players we have at our disposal may have cost us a chance at promotion, would that have been worth it?

...which we haven't been able to do due to transfer restrictions, which aren't lifted until this summer? Warne is literally working with a squad of freebies...

Pics or it didn't happen 😂

The end of that quote may well inadvertently work in @RoyMac5's favour however 😂

Can confirm, he told us it's basically done!

Crazy how I checked out after less than 2 sentences 😏😂

Yeah that says a lot about him. Fair play 👏

And yet many don't seem to have an issue with it. It does seem the generally vocally negative are the ones that seem irked by it... I don't think that's a coincidence? I saw loads of comments after the Northampton game about how he shouldn't play for us again etc. Sections of our fanbase seem utterly oblivious at times that some of that criticism filters back to the players themselves. They're human and will react to it... then when they do, many of those same fans pull the surprised pikachu face that they dare have an emotional response...

I enjoyed it. Maybe that's because I've backed him all along so don't feel 'triggered' by it like you clearly are... guilty conscience talking perhaps? I suspect it was in reference to a lot more than just the sending off. I've seen 'fans' write absolute nonsense about him all season, slagging him off whenever the opportunity presents itself. I have zero issue with a player giving it back under those circumstances. We saw the same with Lawrence previously. Instead of fans getting indignant when it happens, maybe turn the mirror round and have a look at whether some of our own behaviour is causing it to happen eh?

I thought Kone was decent as well, just read his wikipedia though and came across this very strange section... Can't work out what this means 🤔