Mick Harford

Jack Thompson u15 playing for England u16 Vs Scotland today

For those who've not seen the lineup in full:
 

I just want to apologise for the delay, my absence, my handling of the situation and try to explain what has happened.
The meeting on Wednesday was scheduled to end at 8.45pm, my last train home was 9.33pm, I slipped out just after 9pm as I didn’t have clothes, medication, toiletries with me as I wasn’t planning on staying overnight.
When the meeting had finished, an agreement was made where one statement would be written and signed off by all groups, this is the first time anything like this had been agreed, I was under the impression we would be allowed to report back as normal.
Being completely unaware of this, whilst waiting for my train I saw a conversation take place on my Twitter timeline discussing the meeting minutes, when would they be out.
I replied, that the meeting minutes were not taken and we would be sharing the information ourselves, which as I say I was under the impression would be allowed, why else attend? I thought I was being helpful.
Now I can see on reflection I was clearly naive in not appreciating the number of fans waiting online for what was said at the meeting, would see the tweet whilst was part of a conversation, which was also public and could be seen and shared by others. The tweet blew up online having been retweeted, I’m not exaggerating when I say maybe hundred or more replies, some abusive to the point where I had to turn notifications off as my phone was freezing with as I came back into an area with phone signal.
On the forum I did pre warn members not to expect anything Wednesday evening, the minutes can sometimes take a few days to a couple of weeks before being released. I was going with the intention of asking the club if the minutes could be released within 24 hours or that we could release the information immediately. Obviously once we was told the minutes would not be taken all that went out the window and believed we was free to report back immediately, and that was the plan.
Again, I was clearly naive to the fact fans on Twitter would not be aware of this, so when I wasn’t replying to all the tweets with thumbs up or down if it’s good news, or are we going to have a club next week the levels of abuse increased, despite my plea for being understanding I wasn’t in the position to do so.
With my write up, I had no intention of adding any personal opinion, it would be just what was said and allow you all to read and take it as you will.
As you will be well aware, all fans see things differently and I didn’t want to raise any expectations or disappoint fans, then receive more abuse as it wasn’t what they were expecting.
I put myself in this situation through naivety, but I don’t accept that the abuse was warranted at all, I have removed the twitter account from my devices and will no longer be active on that account, opting now for a private account as I have no interest in twitter fame.
I would seriously urge anyone that did send me abusive tweets to have a think how they talk to people online and their demands, if this is this what celebrities have to deal with on a daily basis, I’m glad I’m just a nobody!
Punjabi Rams, who I honestly can’t thank enough stepped in and put some tweets out from their account to give some information in my defence. You guys are awesome, didn’t need to do that but again, I honestly can’t thank you enough. Quick plug www.punjabirams.co.uk, @PunjabiRams on Twitter, go give them a follow if you are on there.
On the train home I started to do the write up on my notes app, realising I need to get this out asap, first thing to defuse the situation I felt I had created.
Thursday morning, as I was consulting my notes and finishing off the write up, there was a few things I wanted to fact check with the club were totally accurate, there has been times where things have been misheard in the past (Boycie ahem) and needed correcting, I didn’t want this to happen. We’re human, mistakes can happen, I believed I had time to ensure there were none.
I decided, and this was not requested by the club but to send my write up to them, asking if they could read it over and everything I had written was totally accurate, leaving ??? <—— fact checks where I was a little cautious over.
They agreed and I again naively yet again assumed that this would be back with me in a few hours……despite the previous night listening to just how busy they have been.
Now whilst I understand and totally agree that this meeting is important, the club staff are as I’m sure you can imagine really busy, now I need to really stress here that this is in no way the fault of the club, this is on me 100%.
No tweet, no forum post, none of this situation exists.
Meanwhile The Supporters Charter Group are scratching their heads as to why I’ve gone it alone, I can only apologise to them also, as I say I was under the impression that we would all be reporting back ourselves which I have explained privately with them.
A single statement isn’t something I would have been personally happy with but that is what was agreed in my absence.
I haven’t felt comfortable coming back on the forum if I'm honest, ignoring the fact I insinuated what was said at the meeting would be out Thursday on the forum, I feel like I have let you all down and for that I’m sorry.
Just to add, this apology wasn’t asked for, it's something I feel is owed to you all.
Should someone have gone that could have stayed all evening? Ideally yes, although Paul (Boycie) was unavailable to attend. Since the formation of 2017 it has only been either myself or Paul that has attended, I didn’t feel it would be right to send someone new which in hindsight was the correct call, they may have also not been able to attend until the end of what I’m led to believe turned out to be almost a 4 hour long meeting, putting themselves unwittingly into a similar situation I have.
I know you are all frustrated, the accusations of attention seeking, sitting on information, teasing, trying to get more views, followers etc. and even censorship on the forum are simply not true, they come from people that do not know me or how the forum is run at all, which is disappointing hearing it said by members that have been on the forum for a number of years now.
Finally, I do want to say thank you to those who have sent supportive texts, PM’s, DM’s, tweets you name it over the last few days, despite asking to be given time, it’s you who I put the hours in for, I will learn from this and work on handling things better in the future.
I would also like to thank the moderators who have been trying their best to keep on top of the situation, without them this forum would have crashed and burned over the last few days so please be respectful to them, even if at times you do not agree with decisions they have made. 
David
 

tbf I have 100% solidarity with them, great historical club, my most visited away ground, buggered by financial rules. I genuinely hope they come straight back up.
 
(might also be biased as a lot of my mid 90's nights out were in Sheffield)

tbf I have 100% solidarity with them, great historical club, my most visited away ground, buggered by financial rules. I genuinely hope they come straight back up.
 
(might also be biased as a lot of my mid 90's nights out were in Sheffield)

Shilton obviously still wore his uhl sport shirt and Martin Taylor and Steve Sutton wore the green Umbro with the black pattern, I think the yellow shirt was the second keeper shirt or that may have been the following season ?
 

tbf I have 100% solidarity with them, great historical club, my most visited away ground, buggered by financial rules. I genuinely hope they come straight back up.
 
(might also be biased as a lot of my mid 90's nights out were in Sheffield)

Blimey. So many fans have stories pre-Hillsborough, my Wolves mates tell be horror stories. I only started going in 85 so missed out on the 'glory' years.
 

That's fair enough mate, everyone is entitled to their opinion ?
I quite like Hillsborough, when I was doing a charity bike ride I was allowed to sleep in the groundsman's hut and the club were ace to me.

tbf I have 100% solidarity with them, great historical club, my most visited away ground, buggered by financial rules. I genuinely hope they come straight back up.
 
(might also be biased as a lot of my mid 90's nights out were in Sheffield)

Only been to Hillsborough the once, really disappointed with the ground, needs a big refurb. Prefer Bramhall Lane. Like Sheffield as a city ?

tbf I have 100% solidarity with them, great historical club, my most visited away ground, buggered by financial rules. I genuinely hope they come straight back up.
 
(might also be biased as a lot of my mid 90's nights out were in Sheffield)

Changed my mind..im off to watch the mighty Rams this afternoon...with captain  Tom and Manager wayne...coyr... its in me DNA...I think that means I'm not allowed to report back after the match lol

Maybe this is some sort of fight or flight thing, but I’m well up for this today. Just wish I could be there!

I don’t know if I’m going mad, but I fancy a win today ???

No issues with the players no matter what the score for me,they only do as they are told for better or worse,let's get behind them??

My expectations are on the floor, it's hard to criticise when you expect nothing. Anything we get is a bonus.

I've been critical of Rooney and the players over the last season, as I felt at various times that they didn't really care and were just happy to stick around and get paid. I've developed a new found respect for Rooney for the fact that he decided to stick it out. He easily could have walked away and I wouldn't have blamed him. Special credit to Curtis Davies as well for being a true professional.
This season I won't be hypercritical of the players, they need all the support we can provide them. Hopefully we can build a siege mentality. Today is a pretty good opportunity to get some points on the board vs a depleted Huddersfield. 

Thank you for all the messages on the “Chris Cole” thread regarding the incoming birth of our 2nd son. We are still at the hospital but have given my match ticket to my father in law today. 
 
Should be in labour for the time Derby kick-off so I'll miss that but COME ON DEEERRRBYYYYY

Seriously, this is a magnificent book if you are a) A Derby fan and/or b) a Kit saddo it brought back so many memories looking at the different shirts and remembering incidents I remember in them, plus the additional information about why and how for shirts is amazing.
Fiver in the post to me now @loweman2?

This is it exactly. Need to be the 12th man more than ever before this season. Take care David and hope you enjoy those chilled beers

Let me try this again, I was forwarded your post and just online replying to say thanks, and I appreciate the concern. Posted and the topic was merged and my post lost as I submitted it. Cheers mods.
I have an apology and what exactly has happened post which will follow the report from the meeting, I don't not can't want to go into detail now. 
What I would say is, this is not the clubs fault, anyone using it as a stick to beat the club with are doing so without the full facts, which is unfair and not helping myself personally as I try to fix the situation and get the information out to you.
I, David, has handled the situation poorly, been naive and been busy working my hardest to get back to you all with what you want.I would like to think that over the years we have built up some mutual respect, if you don't want to believe me that's fine, but please just stop until you have read what I put out.
You must also all understand that the club staff are ridiculously busy right now working long hours on other important issues, whilst I feel somewhat in limbo, I'm more happy that we have an extra 2 defenders in the squad than missing out as they need to read through my emails.
As for tomorrow, I am excited more than you will ever know, football is back, Derby are back, fans in the stadium, perfect.
I'm just gutted I can't be there, but I'm doing the next best thing, taking a flight out of here so I can watch on RamsTV with a. few beers that are chilling in the fridge.
Those that are going, regardless of your thoughts on the ownership, club, put all that to one side and get behind the team, we have a young team that doesn't deserve to play under a negative atmosphere. 
Drop any protests, Mel chants, anti EFL or anti and sarcastic Rooney chants, focus on positive support for the team, this is when they need us the most, the atmosphere is all on us nobody else, if we crush those lads with booing and all that baalocks, we will have to shoulder some of the responsibility.
I'm sorry for the lack of communication, I just didn't have anything to add and felt it would be best to stay offline. But please, regardless of what you think of me, the club, just read the above and take it from a fan that loves this club and wouldn't be saying any of this if I didn't mean it.
?
 

This season is a great opportunity for us to establish the Rams as a club that not only has a great fans but gel the fans and the players as a group that is in it together. Basically we can go to every game as a FA-cup game and try to some giant killing. We are huge underdogs and with the fans attending we should get the players fired up for minute of every game.

I think we will be down to the hard core of Rams fans tomorrow.
Thats not taking anything away from people who choose not to be there for ANY reason.
Looking forward to a day out with my son who can now buy me a beer and into town after.

This weekend the eyes of the football world will be on the Rams. Absolutely no point in turning up to protest - that would just be a huge shot in the foot. The situation is what it is. Let's turn up, cheer and support WR and the players. 3 points from a win will give the players a huge boost; siege mentality, fans behind them, nothing to lose. We're in this together. If you can keep your head when all about are losing theirs and blaming it on you...