Nuwtfly

Someone feel free to tell me if I’m mixing him up with someone else, but didn’t Wildsmith hold down the No.1 spot for quite a while at Wednesday, keeping Westwood out of the team?

I seem to remember watching him and thinking he looked quite good. Might have been under Monk? Maybe Pulis? Not sure. 

Either way I think that’s a pretty good start to life under Clowes ?

Clowes might want to bring in his own man, but I do hope LR gets a chance.

So many within the game seem to rate him very highly, and young managers have had a lot of success in League One recently. 

Maybe everything that was good about Derby was down to Rosenior and Rooney was actually holding him back? Maybe? 

He certainly talks a good game. I really hope it goes well for him. 

Just now, Kernow said:

So will mine, for very different reasons.

Ten years on this forum and I have never said this, but...

LOCK THE THREAD ??

15 minutes ago, Kathcairns said:

Does it really matter, he must have enough to keep us going for 2 years or he wouldnt have got exclusive bid. I for one am extremely grateful to him,MA wouldnt really care about the club, only the money side of it, and he has had months to come in with a bid that wouldnt give us minus 15 points.

I’m grateful as well! The guy should get his picture up on the front of Pride Park for what he’s done! (Maybe he can replace Wayne)

I can just see why people’s preference would have been for Mike Ashley, in the long term anyway. I also don’t think this assertion that his bid have meant a guaranteed points deductions holds much weight to it. 

4 minutes ago, Hanny said:

You are 100% entitled to your opinion on the matter.

I was just pointing out that you didn’t offer any reasoning as to why MA would have been the best path forward.

I think the reason a good chunk of supporters think/thought that Mike Ashley would of been the “best” choice was simply two fold:

1) Most amount of money (per reports)

2) He’s owned another football club that has played at a higher level than we have 

Whether or not you think he did a good job of No.2 is up for debate, but I think it’s those two factors that earn him a lot of support.

Clowes, and to an extent Appleby, are unknowns and should therefore be regarded with a healthy level of scepticism, as well as optimism, in my opinion. 

36 minutes ago, uttoxram75 said:

Not rattled in the slightest. If you had said DC is only worth £XXXX and I don't think he's able to spend vast amounts then I'd have agreed with you. 

The tone of your posts suggested a wee bit of trolling tbh.

 

I think it’s a bit rich to pick me up on my “tone” considering your response to my original post, but there we go. 

If asking questions about how much a new owner is worth is “trolling” then fair enough. I’m only asking this question because Clowes has seemingly come out of nowhere and his wallet is considerably less public than Mike Ashley for example. (I would be asking the exact same question if this was Andy Appleby).

4 minutes ago, Kernow said:

I have no idea how much he has. You could Google it, but again it wouldn't necessarily tell us an accurate figure. In 2018 he was listed as being worth £252mil, how accurate that is I have no idea, but my hypothesis for the deal, and his motivation, is this...

Whoever buys Derby County will be buying a club that has to operate under restrictions for the next couple of years at least. That includes how much we can spend on wages and transfer fees. In League One, in theory, it should mean that with our revenue we will be able to be self-sufficient. We can start to look to build again without having the possibility of forking out extortionate amounts. We can give longer contracts than 12 months to players, so if we can recruit another Luke Plange or Malcolm Ebiowei, like we have managed to do whilst already under restrictions, then they aren't going to be poached off of us without our say so. If we choose to sell them, we get a fee to benefit us.

Meanwhile, while we're repairing ourselves and improving, we become much more of an attractive prospect to a more ambitious buyer. We won't have the debts, we won't have the admin fees, we won't have a loan against Pride Park that essentially blocks any sale for however long.

If Clowes doesn't have the funds to keep us beyond our restricted period, I doubt he'd have anywhere near as much trouble selling us. And comparatively, he would still own a stadium that he's bought for a pretty decent price, and could use his business expertise to make a profit on. He also would have saved the Club he's loved his whole life without denting his *reported* net worth much at all.

I think if Clowes wanted the Club for himself indefinitely, he would have entered the game a lot sooner. But he's in because Derby County dying is simply not an option, and if spending a portion of his wealth on us for a couple of years whilst we heal is the price it costs, then I think he's only doing what 95% of us would also do if we had his level of wealth.

A very fair summation. For what it's worth, I think you're almost certainly right and I suspect that we are probably going to be looking at a repeat of the Nigel Clough years (if we're lucky) as I said earlier to @Caerphilly Ram.

I would welcome this, too. Operating in the way we have been in the last few years is completely unsustainable and I actually think the majority of the football league is waking up to this now. You're seeing previous big spenders being much smarter with their recruitment now. Bristol City are a good example of this. Gone are the days of them spending millions on Wells, Palmer, Kalas. The business they have done so far has been excellent.

What I would say is this: people gave Mel Morris an easy ride for a very long time and, at times, shut their eyes and closed their ears to things he did because he was a "fan". In fact, at times I can remember criticism of Morris from the fanbase being largely shut down/mocked, and that includes on this forum. Yes a line has to be drawn when libel is involved, but you can't tell me criticism of Mel was welcomed or even treated as fair discussion at times.

People were celebrating his battles with other clubs/the EFL (remember that image with him as the puppet master?). I can even remember people arguing on Twitter in defence of the very policies (amortisation for example) that got us into this mess. Maybe people weren't to know better, but people who criticised the way Mel was running the club were far from popular.

Is it not fair then to approach any potential new ownership structure, be it someone from America, Saudi Arabia or Derbyshire, with a level of concern/scepticism after everything that has gone on? I remember thinking Mel Morris was going to be the guy to take us to the Premier League and beyond when he took over. It seemed perfect. But we know how that one ended.

7 minutes ago, Wignall12 said:

Yes I believe you are correct B4 , we won't go pop. I guess I was just trying to convey that message to NUWTFLY , he seemed to be worrying that DC wouldn't be able to afford to buy our club and run it too.  Lets just wait fof the announcement that he's bought us. I suspect all will become clear at that point. 

And thanks for all your positive posts keeping our chins up in these testing times .

Again, you infer something that I have neither said nor believe. 

I’m not sure why someone asking how much money a prospective Derby County owner has got has ruffled your feathers.

7 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

All for healthy debate and discussion, I get why you asked the questions, my view is we’ll find out in due course. Morris had money and threw it around causing all manner of chaos in the end, Clowes may repeat those mistakes or do something completely different, we’ll have to wait and see. 
What I want to see is the club ran sustainably, carry on being a big fish in a smaller pond until we’re definitely ready to go up through the leagues. I don’t fancy being premier league whipping boys again anytime soon, that at least looks likely not to happen for a looooong time. 

Totally agree with you, low budget and sustainable has got to be the way forward for us after everything that’s come. In a way, it’s probably got to shadow the Nigel Clough years. 

Maybe he could be persuaded back in some capacity? Even if it’s just to cause a meltdown on this forum. 

4 minutes ago, curb said:

At this point in the process, yes. If he’s got enough to save us from the imminent disaster that is liquidation, then anything else is a bonus. How would you feel if you went into Curry’s to buy a telly and they asked to see your bank account to make sure you can afford to fund Sky TV and Netflix for the next ten years?

Love that analogy. You’re telling me I should just be grateful I have a TV in the first place (which I obviously am). All I’m asking the man in Currys is what channels it has on it. I think it’s a fair question. 

6 minutes ago, uttoxram75 said:

Go and research yourself if you really want to know what he's worth. 

Why has it rattled you so much that I have asked how much he is worth? It’s a fair question anyone should ask about literally anyone who would attempt to buy this club. 

8 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Hopefully the days of us wildly speculating in the absence of solid info and communication are numbered.

You obviously haven’t been on this forum for very long

1 minute ago, curb said:

Can’t you just be grateful that we’ve got a club to support, and worry about the Champions League push when we’ve stabilised a bit? Hmm?

God forbid anybody dare ask how much someone trying to buy Derby County has. 

Would you have a problem with me asking this question if he was called Erik Alonso? 

20 minutes ago, therealhantsram said:

My view... I don't think he's in it for the long term. I suspect his plan is 3 years max, and he likely has money to do little more than that. I think he's solely in the business of saving the club he loves from disaster (which is why he got involved much later than the other parties) and his limited ambition is to get the club stable and saleable and move on quite quickly.

I suspect you may be right! Part of the reason I’m asking the question is to try and gleam whether this is long/short term!

18 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

That depends entirely on what your expectations are. There are many examples of football clubs that are owned by people who are wealthy but not on the level of a Mike Ashley or Mel Morris, those clubs are ran within their means and exist for the fans to attend, which is something Derby has come dangerously close at ceasing to do.

There are a number of clubs who’s owners are worth considerably more than Mel Morris is reported to be and those clubs aren’t punching at Premier League level. Wealth doesn’t always equal a successful business or football club. 
I am happy that it still looks like I’ll have a club to support, a club that once debts are settled and sensible business models put it place should be capable of competing on the pitch using revenue generated from a good sized fan base and an excellent academy.

Absolutely agree that wealth does not equal success, that is proven time and time again in football. In fact, I don’t actually disagree with anything in your post. But you haven’t really answered my question. I just want to get a picture of what we can expect from this guy in terms of funding. Is he capable of building a squad to push for promotion back to the Championship? Could he sustain us if we got promoted? Or should we expect nothing but survival in the here and how? Just wondering. 

17 minutes ago, Wignall12 said:

Do I take it you're a MA advocate then ? ....should we just wait and wait until someone/no-one with gazillions in the bank rocks up and we go pop ? .......

 

No sure where you’ve gleamed that from. I’m just asking the question. I wouldn’t need to ask that question if it was Mike Ashley, he is worth over a billion. I just want to understand what this guy is working with, that’s all.

16 minutes ago, Chopper said:

After 2287 pages that can be expected!

I reckon 100 or so pages back there was speculation that:

He may have a partner come in with him

He may get us right and then look to sell on to a suitable buyer

And some others too, either way the consensus was the days of spending sprees need to end, and that means that the owner doesn't need to be super rich.

The days of spending sprees are over for the entire of the 72 I think! And rightly so. Don’t get me started on that, though! 

14 minutes ago, Gritstone Ram said:

I’m no expert but he must have enough to get us out of trouble and steady the ship. I doubt he’s got enough to sustain a premier league push but I suppose it depends how the club is run and how the money is spent. Throwing 10 of millions at us has landed us in administration.

Surely he must do, right? Otherwise he wouldn’t be getting into this? There’s no guarantee he will be able to just sell us after a year or two. We’ve all learnt how hard it is to sell a football club successfully ?

Apologies if this has been stated before…

Does anyone know roughly how much Clowes / the specific group that are attempting to buy the club are worth? How much money they have in comparison to say Mel Morris / Mike Ashley?

Its fairytale stuff for a fan and local guy to buy your club (heard that somewhere before) but can he actually afford this?

And by afford I mean pay off debts / buy an entire new squad / a new coaching team / new recruitment department / all the other never ending bills that come with owning a money guzzling football club in 2022?

Its all well and good saying: it doesn’t matter how much he has as long as he runs us properly, but that is a very unrealistic way of looking at this. 

Rosenior talks a really good game. I will be fascinated to see what's different with him in charge, as opposed to Rooney.

I have seen a lot of people suggest that he was the brains behind the previous coaching ensemble. I am not sure what this is actually based on, other than perhaps how well he comes across in interviews and maybe an inherent assumption in football that the No.2 is somehow the brains rather than the brass.

He is certainly the easiest appointment. Is it the safest, though? First job? League One? Whole new squad? Could be a very tricky one indeed. I think we arguably need a more experienced pair of hands for this league, but appreciate that we're not in a position to be picky.

I also would of thought that a new owner would like his own man in charge. Be interested to see how long LR gets if things don't start well.

Blackpool obviously liked the idea of appointing LR, and then suddenly didn't after interviewing him. I wonder why.

Good luck, Liam. You are going to need it. 

10 minutes ago, Rammy03 said:

Then why is he taking the training on Monday?

The same reason everyone has to go into work on Monday 

10 minutes ago, Oldben said:

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/derby-county-manager-rosenior-rooney-7255166

Assistant manager Liam Rosenior has been installed as the early favourite by bookmaker Betfair. However, Rooney has suggested that if it was up to him, he would appoint a fresh face who have not been involved in all the recent upheaval within the club, which would rule out his number two.

"Personally, I feel the club now needs to be led by someone with fresh energy and not affected by the events that have happened over the last 18 months," said Rooney in a statement.

I agree with Rooney.

That Rooney line makes me think Rosenior is on his way out as well. 

Only one man can save us now (and it's not Pep):

4 minutes ago, EnigmaRam said:

There can be only one 

but not really!

I joked with a friend the other day that Mick McCarthy would be on the cards if Steve Morgan was successful in buying the club.

What's to say, if Clowes gets Morgan involved (maybe he already has?), that this isn't a possibility? 

5 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Please not John Terry.

He might be an exceptional future manager. But I don’t want another name change from Lampard’s Derby to Rooney’s Derby and later Terry’s Derby.

 

One celebrity circus to the next.

At least Rooney had a likability factor (for some). John Terry is a loathsome character. That Anton Ferdinand documentary was a tough watch. 

1 minute ago, Andicis said:

I kinda get where you're coming from here, but I'm not convinced he wanted to leave just because he wanted to be somewhere else, he wants to be manager. We now have a vacancy, he should at least get interviewed for it, I feel. 

And he probably will get interviewed for it - he'd arguably be the easiest appointment to make, and I wouldn't be surprised if they make it.

I just personally think we'd be best to leave all facets of the trauma of the last two years behind us. Rooney, Rosenior, Tom Lawrence, they can all go for me.

Give a new owner his choice of new manager and let that new manager build a whole new squad.

1 minute ago, Andicis said:

Wouldn't you leave if you were an assistant manager and an opportunity presented itself to become a manager? 

Definitely - I'm not surprised he tried to go. But if you'd rather be somewhere else then off you go.

Same goes for any players that were only hanging around because of Wayne. 

2 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

He turned the job down?

"But sources at the club have this evening told The Gazette these reports are inaccurate and Rosenior has NOT been offered the job.

Rosenior has been interviewed twice by the club along with former Pool boss Michael Appleton."

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sport/football/blackpool-fc/blackpool-quash-reports-that-derby-county-assistant-liam-rosenior-has-been-offered-head-coach-job-3735026