TomBustler1884

There is a huge amount of overreaction going on in our fanbase.

We have a very unbalanced squad made up of youngsters and veterans. We can't recruit properly due to the ongoing conditions related to administration.

Internally the club is being slowly rebuilt after mass redundancies and resignations.

We have a management team asking players to buy into a new style and commit themselves to aggressive, pressing and demanding football. Some of them may not have the fitness or mentality needed. It will take until at least Christmas to work out which players those are, and possibly longer to move them out and replace them. We also don't have a squad big enough to drop them.

Last night was dreadful. But to be honest, it was clear from before kick off how much this meant to Exeter. Their fans were loud and going for it before the players came out and if that excitement was mirrored by the players, it was always going to be difficult.

We're not going to be consistent at the moment, our squad options are minimal and, as Warne said last night, it's a lovely group of lads who are way too nice for League 1 football. Hourihane I don't think can do this style of football and Bird is better suited to Championship/PL football. He isn't a L1 player.

The basic thing Warne will be demanding is intensity, pace and aggression. Some will do it, some won't.

Lastly, I don't know where the expectation of promotion came from? If it happens, great, but realistically, a top 10 finish should be seen as successful bearing in mind everything that has happened in the last few years. 

I was at Bon Iver in Leeds on Wednesday which was absolutely fantastic. Odd venue though, with a crowd that had a weird atmosphere to it. Saw people fighting afterwards which is bizarre considering the sort of music Bon Iver play.

Bagged a pair of tickets to Blink 182 next year too!

Just please don't make a song up for him based around Wonderwall. The Jamie Ward dirge still gives me nightmares

Interested to see how this is communicated.

Surely if Liam is staying on the coaching team it must be amicable? Perhaps he didn't want to be manager, happier coaching?

Just can't see it unless Rosenior has expressed doubts in his ability or desire to do the job. But having seen him at the DCCT Awards last week he seemed passionate about the club and no hint of any problems.

Surely just paper talk.

On 18/09/2022 at 15:41, David said:

Still can't decide what the lyrics are to that -21 chant.

Needs some kind of organisation, @TomBustler1884 you interested in sorting them out? ?

Hell. No.

On 06/09/2022 at 09:00, Boycie said:

Pretty standard for stadium concert drinks.  Did they charge you for a refillable cup too?

No - cardboard cup for a pint of Budweiser that took 10 minutes to be poured into the cup from a can. It was Pride Park levels of beer incompetence.

It was an incredible day, lucky to get tickets, and will never forget it.

Only downside was the prices inside the stadium - absolute disgrace. £7.50 a pint, £11 for a rum and Coke. 

Not that it had any impact on the whole thing, just ground my gears.

It's not laziness, it's energy efficiency.

Spurs, Newcastle, Sampdoria, Seattle Sounders, Polonia Warszawa

35 minutes ago, roboto said:

You should see how some of the submissions are sent across. Some people will use professional standard software, some will use any free version of design software (even microsoft paint), some will sketch out their design and scan it in or take a photo and email it across.

By the time you've sifted through submissions to give everyone a fair chance, then reworked the artwork to be print-ready (not always straight forward, especially on any clothing). Then you've spent more time on that than you would if you just handed a brief to a professional designer and got them to create what the client is asking for.

I believe the diagonal design on the home shirt and the sleeves on the away shirt this year are to represent 25 years at Pride Park, but I could be wrong. The look and feel of the kits have been translated across the seasons media graphics and we'll be seeing these angular shapes across ramstv and their social media posts all season. It's not just about designing a top to wear these days. It's the whole package.

Pescara did a competition for fans to design a shirt for their 2020 season and this was voted the winner by the fans. I imagine that we'd get a design of a Ram (with or without an eye in the correct place) with taking a ? on a tree as a submission. Sure, a lot of people might think it's fun and buy it, but essentially it's just a joke kit.

Ha, yes, I didn't necessarily mean open it up to the likes of me with some colouring pens and a piece of paper. More taking some inspiration from what people who actually know what they're doing have done!

1 hour ago, roboto said:

As a graphic designer who has worked at places that have held social media competitions for people to have a go at designing things, it is much quicker and easier just to do the design work yourself. 99% of the submitted efforts have errors or don't take into account printing processes or other things that affect how good or bad a design is.

I love it when people suggest that anyone can design because they've seen some other efforts online. I wouldn't suggest that people should become a football manager because they've watched a few matches in their time.

At the end of the day, a design is never going to please everyone. We all have our own tastes and opinions, and we're all welcome to them. The task at hand is to design something that engages with the client and/or their customers. As you can see here, we've got a few people disgruntled that the home kit is too busy, but when we've released kits with a plainer design (last 2 seasons for example), a lot of people have asked for a more interesting design.

All in all, Umbro haven't been as terrible as you've let on. I don't think I'd want a Castore kit though, they seem to be the next Macron/Joma from what I've seen of their stuff over the last couple of years. As they get more clubs in their portfolio they will soon be serving out templated kits to those lower down the pecking order.

I quite like recent Puma kits and they seem to do different things for lower league clubs too. I don't think we've ever had a Nike kit, so perhaps that's another one to go for so we've used all the recent major players.

Fair enough, this is my point - not understanding why manufacturers wouldn't do competitions - yours is the only one I've ever seen!

In terms of inviting designs - if there are issues with the public not understanding printing processes etc, it could be something where a "winning" design is then adapted to meet technical requirements by the manufacturer. Is it Jake Barker on Twitter who had a go using our traditional colours for example? 

I definitely don't think Umbro have been terrible, just not terribly exciting, and Castore was just an example, maybe Hummel/Puma, whoever, might just be time for a change!

I was initially a bit disappointed with the kits as for some reason I thought we had had lots of good ones from Umbro.

However, having looked back on our kit history, we've had some very boring kits since the 90s. There is the odd exception - the 15/16 home shirt, the black Avon Tyres one, the zebra kits, but generally we don't get a lot of imagination into our kits.

It baffles me that Umbro don't do a competition and let fans have a go at designing them - there are so many that people do on here or social media that would sell out so quickly. It would be great to get an explanation why that can't happen.

I'm assuming we will get a new supplier next year, but not sure who I would want atm. Castore maybe?

There have been some great kits out this year, and some absolutely insane ones. It's a shame ours are so.... meh. Even the attempt at something a bit different on the home shirt looks like a bog standard shirt with tyre marks over one corner.

2 minutes ago, Animal is a Ram said:

Tim Horton's had put planning in a while ago, but that all seemed to go quiet.

No relation to Mike, as far as I know, just to stop those conspiracies.

It got approved, they're fitting out now.

I haven't had much to do with David Clowes, but have met a few of the team at his company. They own masses amounts of the city's buildings, especially around the Cathedral Quarter, including Friar Gate Goods Yard, and land around Becket Well.

Having sat on those properties for a long time, since David took over the company, they seem to be pursing a strategy of selling or refurbishing those properties for the good of the city. It's the first time in 40 years or so that work is being done on the Goods Yard for example, whilst they were key to getting Becket Well out of the ground.

I know for a fact David is a massive Derby fan, but he is also very private. I end up at loads of business networking and awards things through my job over the years, and he is very rarely there. He isn't interested in the limelight and his real passion is flying planes. Which makes me think he is intending to do this and do it right - he just wouldn't want the publicity.

I'm also very confident that he won't be involved day to day and will leave this to someone else. That could be Ian Dickinson, could be Garry Cook, could be Stephen Pearce.

International football and with only a week in September, it would be crazy to sack him now. 

A terrible block of results, but we qualify with ease and both tournaments he's led us in have resulted in our best run.

He has Qatar and our performance in that decides his future. If he doesn't reach the semi finals, I think he moves on.

23 minutes ago, Dai Capp said:

I understood he and Jez Moxey, who was CEO at Wolves under Morgan, were part of the Appleby consortium. I guess if he's pulled out of that and now going alone Appleby will have lost his major backer! 

Money on a Morgan / Clowes consortium with Jez Moxey as CEO?

I would imagine the individuals involved in that all know each other well enough - Redrow and Clowes have done plenty of property deals in the past together.

Derbyshire batters smashing up the place. I think it was a big shot from Masood. Thats not me FYI!

8 minutes ago, observer said:

tom out of interest and ive not checked but were you one of the fans complaining during the mel morris period of splashing the cash...

 

I dont remember many people, hes come out by a large way the worst out of all this for simply running the club poorly as a fan and not a business

 

At the time I was involved in regular discussions with people at DCFC with doing fan displays and my job means I need to retain professional relationships in the Derby business community, including with those in major institutions in the city, so if I had concerns or worries I wouldn't have put them in public out too often, if at all.

I trusted Mel, an experienced and successful businessman, to run the club properly and even if I disagreed with some of what he did, as a mere mortal fan, wasn't in a position to change anything or influence him so there we go.

I was bitterly disappointed to see how it's all turned out and, as things have become clearer since his exit, pretty livid - the same as any other Derby fan.

Regardless of all that, I'm not sure how any of my posting performance on here or Twitter is relevant to me saying I'm falling out of love with football and my reasons for doing so? If I am excited by investment in the playing squad or club I promise to complain more going forward?

7 minutes ago, Unlucky Alf said:

All he has reported is someone else paid the wages or have I missed the bigger story?, From CK not paying wages the media and others are having a field day.

I'll wait for the official announcement that CK has withdrawn his bid before I get my sharpened knifes out 

He has said the takeover is expected to collapse today as none of Kirchner's money has arrived in the UK

Ed must be extremely confident in what he's saying or he wouldn't have put this out to get shot at. Either that or he's being strung along by someone trying to put pressure on to get the deal done/collapse so they can step in.

It's just such a mess and from our previous owner to the admins to prospective owners to everyone else involved in the whole sorry saga, it is destroying my interest. Maybe the internet age is to blame but this isn't why I follow football, I follow it as an escape, somewhere I can go for a release and to share a passion with my mates.

Trying to get my head around amortisation methods, takeover structures, tax evasion, blah, blah, blah isn't an escape. Even the answer to all of this, proper regulation by an independent body with clear rules and accountability is so boring. And yet so important - every club in the country is a Mel Morris away from what we're going through.

I just want it done, for people to stop playing games with an institution that means so much to the city. Either it continues or it doesn't but this purgatory is a horrorshow.

1 hour ago, TexasRam said:

Never got the right to bear arms argument. I had so many arguments when I was out there, we were the only family on the street not to own a fire arm, and they didn’t get it that without guns these mass shootings wouldn’t happen. The right to have a weapon was more important. 
Its so so sad, all those young lives lost. My kids had lessons on how to react should this happen when they were in school, like hide and be quiet etc, it was the norm that this would happen. The change needs to be huge and quick, sadly I can’t see it happening. 

I've seen stories about these drills - kids being told not to open the door to their classroom, even if a child is begging and screaming to be let in, in case the gunman is using them to gain access. Kids being tested on this in drills by the schools using their siblings to try and get them to open up. Or some kids refusing to use the bathroom at school in case they get locked out during a shooting.

Whether there is truth to those stories or not I'm not sure, I hope it's rubbish, but in al honesty, I can see it being true.

I just don't understand the mentality behind gun ownership. It is literally killing their children and yet there has been no movement in decades. And then you see the likes of Marjorie Greene and the hardline GOP with their messaging. How parents can vote these maniacs in is beyond me.

Makes me so angry and sad for them.

Still lots of ifs and buts, but it has to be a positive step.

I would have thought that the stadium and club sales will need to be completed simultaneously to ensure neither is left without the other which explains the additional time needed.

CK funding the club is a big commitment, as long as the cheques clear.

Yes, it sounds like the same potential obstacles still exist but I think we have to be positive and assume the size of them are reducing, to the point there is now enough confidence on all sides of a resolution.

I dont see the EFL being an issue now, so it is just getting our friendly local businessman over the line on the stadium.

Big question to answer is, can CK and Rooney start offering contracts now?

Feeling cautiously positive.

4 minutes ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

Cue random speculation. Is this person an Irish pop star? 

I should be clear, I don't have a name, I've been trying to guess myself too!!

Even if it doesn't end up being true, gives us something to do for a bit while we wait!

With regards to CK being overseas, different timezone etc, he has said, repeatedly, his team is working on the purchase of the club. He literally just needs to confirm or decline the purchase.

As for the stadium, if it is being purchased by a UK-based person and is separate from CK purchase of the club, I'm not convinced he would need to be too involved. From what I've heard on the rumour mill, this person is a very wealthy Rams fan, buying the stadium as a cash purchase, no lending involved. Not any of the LoG crowd either so no Gadsby, Horton, Kirkland, etc. Could be wrong, but that's what I've heard.

I'm going to be optimistic/naive and say come 5pm it will be a case of ducks being lined up in a row, with a completion and announcement this evening.  That's the plan anyway.

Either that or Big Mike is coming in with his painful, impassionate take over later this week.