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We should have stuck with Cocu for the long term, and never gone anywhere near Rooney.

Steve McClaren is the most overrated manager in Derby's modern history. 
George Burley is the most underrated manager in Derby's modern history.
Nigel Clough would have got us promoted by 2016 & the manner of his sacking (night of Forest v Derby) still angers me
Sam Rush was a terrible chief exec for Derby
Philip Cocu was on the verge of cracking it at Derby before Rooney starting undermining him. He would have taken us up within 2 years.
I am extremely apprehensive about Paul Warne managing us in the Championship & dont see him lasting beyond Christmas

Mel Morris threw in the towel far too early and in a string of monumental bad business decisions - that was by far his worse.
He would’ve won the appeal against the amortisation charges, as there was nothing within the rules about the straight line concept and what he adopted was a tried and tested accounting method albeit not done in football (to that point). We wouldn’t have had the 21 point deduction and would’ve stayed up that season. 
The academy infrastructure he put in place would’ve eventually paid him back more than he ever got and then some. We ended up losing an incredible amount of talent for pennies in the pound because of his decision to throw the towel. He just needed to bring someone in who could control the football operation - Cocu was ideal for bringing on players technically and the developmental angle should’ve been persisted with but like his decision to call in the administrators. I think that was also a very bad, early decision. 
He then fell in love with the Hollywood aspect of bringing big names into the club and the circus that would follow. Lampard was a good hire for the club, but ultimately it changed the mindset and from that point he was on a path to ruin. While he was fundamentally bringing things along nicely in the background, he was his own worse enemy. If he had just focused more so on what was working in the academy and replicated it into the first team then he would’ve realised his vision of having a first team heavily subsidised by the academy and in doing so would’ve been able to bring more talent to the academy to continue the flow of progression as opportunity attracts talent. 

Hey everyone,

I wanted to let you know that, fresh from the success of our first batch of DCFC beer mats, we've now released a unique set of DCFC Promotion Beer Mats, available in the SBW Etsy store.

LINK HERE:
https://stevebloomerswashing.etsy.com



The collection comes as a set of 12, doubled-sided, full colour, absorbent, 9.4cm pulp board circular beer mats, and includes:
- Mendez-Laing: Guatemalan Gold 
- Collo: Premium beer, ice cold finish
- Cashin: Irish stout
- Curtis Nelson: Unbeatable quality
- Ebou Adams: Est 2024
- Hourihane's stout: Extra quality
- Kane Wilson: Buffalo beer
- Paul Warne: Championship beer
- The Rams Promotion Juice
- Wildsmith's Golden Glove
- Forsyth's Lager: Try Fozzy's Best Brew
- Sibley: Versatile Blond

Cheers!
Chris

At the risk of opening up another debate on XG..........
I actually like XG as a stat and over a season is a pretty good indicator of the chances created.
We had the lowest XG against in the division.
I think JW is a very decent keeper and I'd keep him - but the team in front of him shielded him more than any other team shielded their keeper.

Having spent £5m...
...as opposed to having spent £250,000,000 (two hundred and fifty million pounds) and finish 17th with a record lowest points to avoid relegation.

Wrote this on his whiteboard when he was injured, some mentality 👏 

If he knows the Spanish for: "bring your in-soles" he could be a real asset to the recruitment team.

Most of them seem oblivious to the contempt with which a significant section of their fanbase is regarded by fans of many other clubs. They think our p taking over their relegation is purely because of 'that' chant, ignoring the fact that they also bombarded our fans with missiles, ripped out seats and damaged the toilet areas, all on a day on which we held a protest march to which their fans were invited to attend to show their solidarity (and some of them did). I can only imagine those Birmingham fans who did march with us that day were thoroughly ashamed of their brain-dead co-supporters.

Over-rated tinpot club in an over-rated tinpot city.

Living in Uttoxeter i know a few Birmigham fans and on saturday i was lucky enough to be in the same pub as some of them as they got relegated.
I'd done a 15 mile charity walk from 0800 to 1230 and we went to my local, the Three Tuns in Utch for a buffet and drinks. The walk was in memory of a fellow Rams fan who passed last year with proceeds to Macmillan.
As we gathered in the pub some local brummies were there who i knew and their match was on telly. 
I'd done the walk in a Rams shirt so was wearing it in the pub. As the game progressed and we saw that they were going down one of them came over and gave me a bit of stick cos of me Derby shirt. 
I reminded him that my son had given him a good hiding 20 years previously and it would be embarassing for him to receive one from someone his dad's age!
His dad came over and dragged him back with profuse apologies.
 
I have zero reason to be sorry that Birmingham have gone down!

They're not in Administration and they've got hugely wealthy owners. They'll survive. When they took the piss out of us, we were on the brink of oblivion and their taunts must have made some of our more vulnerable fans even lousier, so I think we're allowed a bit of schadenfreude at their expense.

I would normally be with you on this.  I usually feel some compassion -as we have all been in their shoes.  But having been on the train between Derby and Birmingham after the 2022 match with the repugnant BCFC fans, they deserve all they get.  
 

Great effort let’s get more of this around the city and remember even cloughie said , “Derby has always been a footballing town, Nottingham never has…”
so let’s show it…

My grandson is doing it, so proud.

It has - but only because it’s given an insight into how great the group of players are. Celebrating with the fans from the final whistle all the way through pubs in town. Genuinely nice blokes happy for themselves, the club and the city. 
 
Compare with other stuff I saw this week with Leicester players celebrating going up by gathering in the safety of one of their mansions and having a few drinks around the kitchen island. Soulless and removed from the fans. 
 
Really shows what Warne has built and hopefully he can keep the spirit even through squad changes over summer. 

Derby county 3 - 3 Sheffield Wednesday 8th May 2021.
It cannot be underestimated how important this result was. Kept us in the champ with the points deducted the following season. Can't imagine having -21 starting in league 1.

B4 is ours, and we will always hold him close to our hearts.
But when you see the sheer numbers of names on the Rams remembered tribute at Pride Park twice a season, you see the scope of Derby County fans who die each season.
They are each and every one of them someone else's B4. 

BBC article: 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-68928755

I didn't want to start a new thread but we lost another special fan last night. For those who know of Colin Attenborough, or remember a few months ago a message Paul Warne did for him (link below), he passed away peacefully in his sleep last night. I knew Colin by playing Poker with him - a great guy - passionate about the team - and I'm happy he was able to be with us until the promotion was secured. 
RIP Colin.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hf96pq

Derby 2 Birmingham 2 was a great game, just as we were on the brink of going under. 
 
I remember the atmosphere at Pride Park being immense. Was my son's first Derby game too.

We all know the legendary Derby games that will never be forgotten. Real Madrid, Deforestation, Leeds in the Play Offs, etc. 
But what are some of your favourite games that don't get talked about or remembered enough?
For me, beating United at Old Trafford in the cup under Lampard was unbelievable and doesn't get spoken about enough.

A contract extension right now would come out of pure sentimental reaction to what happened at the weekend. There's no other reason for it.
I don't think DC is the type to do that. Quite rightly IMO.

I agree. If my assumptions about our resources are likely to be accurate - and we’re sensible with the money we have- then I reckon mid-table would be a very good achievement. Higher than that - an excellent achievement.  We may well struggle a bit, especially at first.
If we do struggle, then I hope people manage their own expectations a bit and we don’t start getting at the manager, players and owner.  Sure there will be some who want instant gratification and pushing for playoffs straight away, but hopefully most will be sensible and be patient (especially when the parachute payment boys come to town!).