Nuwtfly

When you draw out a starting XI, and write down only the names of the players you think are good enough to do a season in the Championship, how many gaps are there? (How many players do we need to sign?) I get 7, so you're probably looking at needing 8-9 signing in total this summer. Here's how I came to that conclusion using a 3-4-3 formation: GK: ? (Wildsmith leaving I think) RWB: Wilson CB: Nelson CB: ? CB: Cashin LWB: ? CM: ? (Adams back please) CM: ? RW: Mendez-Laing ST: ? LW: ?

I'm so ready for another George Thorne summer saga

Comfortably safe with an improvement in the quality of the football - too much to ask or realistic?

I certainly think we should be casting an eye on it more often as far as recruitment is concerned. Perhaps something we've not done enough in the past! Suspect Warne will do a good job of this.

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Not sure if I am alone in this today but I feel an overwhelming sense of closure after yesterday’s achievement. What a relief to be back in the Championship. But it’s more than that. It feels like all the hurt over the last couple of years: the administration, the points deductions, the financial turmoil, the humiliation, the relegation; it feels like we can finally turn the page on that sordid chapter of our history. Like we can move on. I’m not sure why I’m sharing this, but it feels even more personal for me than that, too. In the summer of our relegation, I lost my grandmother to cancer. She was the major connection to Derby for me. My whole ritual of going to the matches involved staying with her for the weekend. For some reason Derby County, the city of Derby, the supporters bus that would pick my Grandad and I up from outside The Gate in Swanwick, the cone of chips before the game, all just seemed to have disappeared. I know it sounds strange but I feel like I lost my connection to the club in so many ways that summer. Yesterday, watching everyone celebrating and the tears and David Clowes and Ed Dawe’s’ tears, just felt like closure. The end of the trauma and the start of something new. It felt like moving on. Thank you, Mr Clowes, for all of that 🐏

Just enjoy your day, they don’t come around often

Feels like we can finally move on from all that trauma of the points deduction, the finances, the ruin Back up and back to normal! 🐏

Good luck everyone - see you on the other side!

He went as soon as he realised his mates weren’t going to be able to buy the club Best of luck to him in his managerial career but I’d take Paul Warne over him and his crew any day.

The Artist Formerly Known as David

Hope I'm wrong but I wouldn't be surprised if our financial situation is actually much more similar to that Rotherham side's than we might want to admit... I agree with the notion that it's unfair to compare because, at the end of the day, they're totally different squads in very different looking divisions. But if you're looking for an indicator of his quality in the Championship then it's about all you've got to go on isn't it? When he left Rotherham for us, I'm pretty sure they were in the top 6 or something, so maybe he's going to take us straight up anyway!

And that's fine, by the way! I'm not saying it's not. It's just your own personal philosophy. For me its high up the list. So the bit in bold is essentially where I'm disagreeing with you and with others. You might not expect to be, but surely you hope to be? I've got plenty of sympathy for Warne re: all the reasons that we've played the way we have. Budget, injuries, quality of the players, the nature of the division, etc etc. But surely we have to eventually strive for better? I would imagine that if you asked Paul Warne himself he would even say that he would like us to be playing better football than this. He deserves to be given the opportunity to do that, and I hope the club back him to do so, but you can understand why some supporters don't have much faith that Warne can deliver better football than this based on a) his time with Rotherham and b) his time so far with us!!

And what is it about that competition that you enjoy? It’s entertaining, right? You’re telling me you go to watch sport to just be supportive of someone and not because it’s for your own entertainment? Do you watch the postman go up and down the road and then boo when he puts a letter through the wrong box? 😂

I'll ask again - what do you define sport as? If it's not a form of entertainment for you, what is it?

I tell you what - if Paul Warne gets us into the UEFA Conference League I will write you a 5000 word apology letter explaining, in fine detail, how I am wrong and you are right! 😂

But you are there for entertainment aren't you? You're there to watch a sport you love, a team you've got a connection to etc etc. I appreciate this has become a somewhat philosophical debate now but the purpose of sport is for entertainment as far as I'm concerned. Otherwise it would be called exercise. It's a multi-billion dollar global industry because it is primarily entertainment. Fair points - but you admit in your second sentence there but, for fans, entertainment is a big part of it. So why are people struggling to grasp the idea that some people do not enjoy the way we play under Warne? I appreciate as well as anyone that football is a game of opinions but once again people on this forum are getting absolute pelters because they don't rate Warne or don't like the style of football. I feel a little bit like @Bris Vegascould type "we should sign some players" and the pitchforks would come out 😂

But people do watch all of those for entertainment, and take part in those to compete in what is essentially a game. They're not not entertainment because you don't personally enjoy them. I don't see how you can see football as being anything other than entertainment. The entertainment of the people playing it and the people watching it. That's all sport is at its core. Do people saying all sport is just a "physical activity" pull up a chair in the gym and watch people go for it on a treadmill?

What do you think competitive sport is?

I tend not to put too much faith in anything Stephen Pearce says

What is so outrageous about this statement? The current side is a bottom three side by championship standard. Think it’s way too much to ask of Warne to keep the current squad as it is in the championship next season. Bris is right - we’ll need to make at least eight+ signings in the summer to give Warne a decent chance of success. He’s earned the right to get backed this summer - let’s hope we’re in a position to be able to fund it!

The question of whether this has been a "good" season is really interesting to me. Statistically speaking it certainly has been. How can anyone argue that a promotion season (fingers crossed) isn't a good season? And yet I would say that I enjoyed the McClaren season, the Lampard, maybe even the Rowett season, more than this one. Why? Maybe my own personal enjoyment from football comes more from what I've seen happen over the 90 mins as opposed to the result. I think what this season has done has made every Derby fan, whether they realise it or not, question whether they prefer the result or the football being played.

I certainly feel this way sometimes - but could it be that the quality of the football this season has been determined more by: - the quality of the players available to Warne (loads of injuries, especially to those with better ability) - His restrictions regarding recruitment - The reality of the league and the way the opposition force you into playing at times I’ve seen us play some horrible hoofball this season but I don’t think we can say for sure that this is all on Warne and, if we go up, he’s going to have earned the right to have a go next season with (hopefully) better players

The football this season has been tough to watch, even when winning. There's definitely cause for concern when thinking about how we're going to do if we go up. But if Paul Warne manages to get us promoted with a squad that has been plagued with injuries all season whilst having next to no money to spend, then he will have more than earned the right to take us into next season. He'll also have earned the chance to spend some money and mould this squad into what he wants. Quite what that might, in theory, look like worries me slightly, based on what we've seen this season. But that's just an assumption. Maybe with some money to spend, Warne can overhaul the playing staff and get us playing some nicer stuff? We'll see. The bigger question will then be: what money has he got to work with? The club and ownership will need to back him if he's going to have a decent chance.

Aside from the occasional one or two, I don’t think anyone on here actually thinks the football club should sack their manager with three games (maybe a few more) to go. I do think however that there’s a good chunk who don’t want to see another season of his football, even if that season is spent in the division above.