TheresOnlyWanChope

Agree about Roos, although I think Marshall is an excellent keeper despite a couple of clangers in recent months. Carson is the closest we have had to Poom for me. Absolutely quality keeper. People are obsessed with Roos either because of Wembley or because they think keepers should always catch the ball from crosses. People don’t take into account what keepers are coached these days, flight of the ball and weather conditions. Also, Derby fans NEED a scapegoat and if Keogh isn’t around, Roos is a good substitute. 

Said this for ages, Roos is a good championship keeper and gets way too much abuse. Marshall has also on the flip side been very average, yet he's being made to be "the next Poom" by a lot of our fans. Roos gets enormous amounts of criticism yet doesn't deserve to. People go on about Roos not being commanding enough, can people honestly tell me Marshall is commanding? 
Take a look at this thread and tell me Marshall is better than average? You can't. I know stats aren't the be all and end all but this certainly backs up the eye test for me. The guy put Roos into the same first graph, but for Roos' all time championship stats, as he hasn't played enough games this season so his stats get massively swayed. 

Would say we are still very much on relegation watch although think we will stay up. 

We will be relegated next season unless the squad gets some proper investment.
Rooney has very little to work with and forfeiting the Cardiff game in favour of a result today has backfired. I don’t blame him, more experienced Derby managers have fallen into that trap.
We have a difficult road ahead and are we really looking to Lawrence to inject a bit of quality in forward areas? 
 
For me the Welshman’s return can’t come soon enough.

I think it would be naive to think relegation is done and dusted for two teams at least. Wycombe I think will struggle to get out of it but Sheffield Wednesday with a new manager could easily get a run together. If Derby play every match like the last one, I am convinced we will be relegated before the last match of the season...I am expecting better showings though so think we will be ok! Huddersfield, Coventry and Derby do not have enough points on the board. Even teams up to Blackburn who are on a terrible run. Rotherham have a couple of matches in hand on some teams too. 

I don't know. I've changed my mind again now depending on which one of my personalties is running the show for the day.

Would say we are still very much on relegation watch although think we will stay up. 

Would say we are still very much on relegation watch although think we will stay up. 

So after 133 years of playing football, we've averaged a very "meh" 1.4 points per game. Mid-table.
Just about sums us up, really.
I blame Keogh

This type of behaviour should not be associated alongside any club really. Some clubs may have more idiots among them but this is a societal and social media issue. Racists and trolls will use any excuse whether it’s football, politics or whatever. Doesn’t matter if it’s a Forest fan, this is unfortunately prevalent in our society. 

If I caught him in bed with my wife I’d tuck him in, stick kettle on and make him a brew 

I'm quite confident we can get a decent amount of points. I am thinking about 25. Which would put us on 62. 

Would have been unlikely, very unlikely in fact. 

Disagree. Fine margins in this league.
No doubt the squad needs work, but this gradual progression rubbish winds me up. It’s hard to build gradually in this league, failure to go up in a year or two means your best players bugger off. Add 3-4 right players, confidence high, big work ethic, togetherness, unity, strength, power,  anything can happen. 

Bristol City will be fine. Birmingham, Huddersfield and Wycombe to go down. 

Nah forest to go down

That's a really interesting point Pes and a good question that I've not really thought about. It's difficult to know because of the lockdown and the fact none of us have been able to actually be physically there in a year, but I absolutely agree with that McDonalds analogy.
It's not to do with the football or the players or anything, it's just the almost constant lack of comfort around the club which, when I stitched it all together, was almost fictional over such a long period of time. It just doesn't seem real in an odd way at the moment I think. On the last page I make the point that we just need normality, and to be honest, I'd gladly take that over a promotion, turmoil, millions spent and relegation.
Hopefully it's not just the book which has made you feel that way! I am working on something at the minute which is going to be a lot more upbeat, which should hopefully help that void!
Might set up a hotline for the book in the same way they do after serious topics on TV. If you've been affected by Derby County...

Some one posting a playoff thread doesn’t mean everyone suddenly thinks playoffs are on. I think we will stay up. 

We are in a battle to stay up. No playoffs this year. With some signings, I think we can achieve a solid mid table place though. If we reach the playoffs, we would have to have the sort of form we had during 13/14 season.  On the other hand, if Leicester can win the league, anything is possible in football. 

We look more positive with him in the team. He’s doing well, seems like a handful for defenders and a good focal point for us. Good signing so far. 

We look more positive with him in the team. He’s doing well, seems like a handful for defenders and a good focal point for us. Good signing so far. 

Leicester top of the league, Derby bottom of championship. Crazy times.

I'll wait until the audiobook, read by Billy Davies, comes out.

Happy Friday one and all!
I should probably apologise in advance as I feel a little bit spammy, but I'm pretty excited to say that Pride (or Pride: The Inside Story of Derby County in the 21st Century to give it the full, far too long name) will be available from the club shop and online from this weekend!
Link - https://www.dcfcmegastore.co.uk/item/2865/Books/Pride-Na.html
For those who don't know, Pride is a project I've been working on for around three years in total, and it's seen me work with just over 60 former players, managers, chairmen, coaches and #ITK fans to tell the tale of the club from the moment we moved into Pride Park until the beginning of this year. It's not really a game by game account, it's more of a focus on each season, the on-field and off-field dramas (even the crash), all told by those who lived it from the inside. So to put the 60 people into context, it varies from the likes of Stefano Eranio, Steve McClaren and Warren Barton through to Gary Rowett, Harry Wilson, Giles Barnes, Inigo Idiakez and Jake Buxton.
The club have been extremely supportive and it's been a huge surprise to have them come on board, considering the content paints a factual tale, but they've been a huge help and it's fantastic to have them on board.
For anyone who has pre-ordered already - and a massive thank you for your interest in what began as just a daft little project to pass the time - what I'm going to recommend to people is that they cancel their pre-orders with Amazon and the likes, because hopefully money won't have been taken. Then the book will be available for around a week or two at the club and the megastore, before hitting the wider world. Unfortunately this one was out of my hands so I'm expecting a few pelters ?
I'll try not to spam too much but if anyone has any questions or comments on the book, what it's about or why certain people didn't make the cut, just reply or drop me a message. And most of all, for anyone who is keen and interested in understanding almost every major development and in-story of the club over 20+ years, I really hope you enjoy it. I'm on Twitter at @PrideDCFC where I'll be rambling to myself and sharing a few articles I've done over the past few months.
You might see/hear me a bit over the media over the next few weeks, so I'm always here to throw abuse at! I had a chat with the @Steve Bloomer's Washing team as well for their latest episode: https://soundcloud.com/user-147200653/sbw-94-Derby-county-2000-2020
 
Cheers,
Ryan