Asanovic70

There were some links for sure. I think there was even talk coming out that Mel Morris wasn’t even aware some players like Darren Bent had triggers in their contract to extend another year.
Sam Rush acted like a DOF but he is probably another who doesn’t really understand the game or he possibly had financial incentives to target players under the Wasserman umbrella.
 

I think this explains a lot of these strange signings. Wolves did this too, but got an agent who represented lots of exciting Portuguese talent. Our "super" agent was unfortunately linked to average championship players. Sam always got his man though, how did he do it?!
"Rush joined Derby in January 2013 but before taking on the top job at Pride Park he was head of European Operations at Wasserman.
Former manager Paul Clement wpas a Wasserman client when he took over at Derby in June 2015, and during a two-year period Derby signed five players who were also represented by Wasserman.
They are Darren Bent (free, Jan 2015), Jason Shackell (£3.7m, July 2015), Bradley Johnson (£6m, Sept 2015), Jacob Butterfield (£4m, Sept 2015) and Nick Blackman (£2.5m, Jan 2016)."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11696/11306499/Derby-county-sue-ex-president-sam-rush-for-7m-over-transfer-dealings
Might be worth us exploring strange Watford links too. Pearson spent big money twice from them, then he joins them later on too. We also sell them Hughes for much less than we would have dreamed possible.

You know, it’s nice to see a group of them out together again. A mix of old and new too.

The bottom two are imperative to success but are both long term objectives. Sorting the finances is the key short term action so we know where we stand and it’s stops the current paralysis and end enables us to move forward, or backwards with a plan to move forward. Therefore finances has to be the first thing.

Morris is culpable, this argument with the EFL, of whom I am no fan, is destroying us. Even if we managed somehow to extricate ourselves from the charges, we are doomed in our current state (embargo).
But no matter how much I'd like to, Mel cannot be blamed for the reckless challenges & sheer bad luck that have wrecked the two best all round midfielders we have had during his tenure, George Thorne and Bielik  (11 games back in, our record with him in the side win ratio). Both multi-million pound signings but showing value justifying this outlay. 
Thorne & Hughes rarely played alongside each other due to one getting injured just as the other was returning from a long lay off. They complemented each other in midfield. Bad luck, bad timing.
I am looking at players who could have made a real difference. We've had a few under Morris who contributed (Vydra), but it also shows that the team was not the sum of its parts. There has always been something lacking, a genuine team cohesiveness, illustrated by how we have never really challenged for the top two. 
But the two midfielders named above made impacts, Bielik transforming the dynamic of the side. Not only skillful individuals but team players.
 
 

I know this is a hill you will die on, and I do respect your opinion, but I always thought we were a lesser team with Ince as part of it. Yes his stats were good, but something never quite gelled with the him and the style of play. 
But the pickings are really, really poor. For those who are wondering, there's a list here (with Morris taking fill control in September 2015 if Wikipedia is to be believed): https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/Derby-county/alletransfers/verein/22
If loans count as transfers the best was Fikayo Tomori. If it's permanent transfers only, I'm a bit stumped. Probably Curtis Davies, or maybe Duane Holmes.

Other clubs should rightly be complaining to the EFL - they should be insisting that we are allowed to sign players because we have wasted far too much money buying their average no sell on value players for far to much and we have reduced the amount of their income. 

I watched two local teams to me (Lichfield City v Nuneaton Borough) on the BBC IPlayer in the FA Cup yesterday. 
 
The quality of football wasn’t great and I can’t imagine Derby ever dropping to that level (even with Administration) but it did make me realise that despite all the doom and gloom over points deductions, administration and transfer bans there will always been a Derby for me to support. It’s just the league we’re playing in and quality of football may not be quite what we’re used to. 
 
This isn’t meant to be as negative a post as it may seem but more my way of coping with uncertainty of the future we face. What will be will be so there is nothing to be gained from me fretting over what the future holds or who’s fault it will be. I just wish it could be brought to a conclusion very soon.
COYR

A few stats, we are on our joint longest sequence without a victory against Forest in the league (7), (8) including the loss away in the EFL Cup.  We have shared three draws in a row, but are yet to have 4 (11v11). The last eight H2Hs have seen Under (2.5 goals) so surely an Over is due. 
Today's referee, Robinson, is yet to preside over a draw when officiating at Pride Park (3W 4L). Forest have not scored more than a goal in an away game when he has officiated (2W 4D 5L) though they have managed clean-sheets in the last three, winning two.
Hughton yet to win as a manager at Derby. Still, I wouldn't be complacent, Covid has disrupted things. Mowbray had never won at a side managed by Hughton until a week or two ago.
I think the fact today is the first Derby game with fans in attendance should play in our favour. I'm hoping history prevails and we end the sequence.

A few stats, we are on our joint longest sequence without a victory against Forest in the league (7), (8) including the loss away in the EFL Cup.  We have shared three draws in a row, but are yet to have 4 (11v11). The last eight H2Hs have seen Under (2.5 goals) so surely an Over is due. 
Today's referee, Robinson, is yet to preside over a draw when officiating at Pride Park (3W 4L). Forest have not scored more than a goal in an away game when he has officiated (2W 4D 5L) though they have managed clean-sheets in the last three, winning two.
Hughton yet to win as a manager at Derby. Still, I wouldn't be complacent, Covid has disrupted things. Mowbray had never won at a side managed by Hughton until a week or two ago.
I think the fact today is the first Derby game with fans in attendance should play in our favour. I'm hoping history prevails and we end the sequence.

Now deduct him a point for questioning your process.

This is one of those times when I’m talking to a person I just nod ?

I'm not so sure we even have 20 goal a season team right now.

Managed to read a John Percy article, usually the Telegraph has a firewall. He wrote that it could be 12pts, 3 suspended. 
I think we are in desperate straits, but hoping that irony prevails. We have run the ridicule of 11pts in the PL. How brilliant it would be, if against the odds, we managed to stay up despite such a deduction. Which makes a win today imperative if we receive such a sanction in the next couple of weeks.

I dont even know what it means let alone what it is

I think you're in danger of contradicting yourself regarding McClaren. He inherited a good squad which Nigel Clough actually built on peanuts (sorry, @Mostyn6). True, McClaren brought in Dawkins. If he was such a good manager, he should have been able to continue that momentum following the play-off defeat , build on that platform and complete the job. Others have done after losing a play-off final like McDermott at Reading, or Karanka at Middlesbrough. He should have ignored Newcastle's overtures, easily said then done, yes, but focused on the job at hand. In my opinion, both he and Rush frittered away the good work they inherited. 
I think you are mistaking a spell of football where he transfixed our fans but which did not lead to anything substantial. He had an opportunity to beat a side with 10 men, something he seems to struggle with, having been once outwitted by Nigel Clough in a similar situation. We could have waited for extra time and then worn down QPR. Where were his tactics then? 
Anyone can be forgiven for losing a final, but McClaren did not go on to follow it through. I think if you're going to rip up a blue-print, as Rush did, you should at least ensure that you replace it with something that will deliver or improve on it.
 
 
 

Ha! Perhaps more people will listen in future? Then again...
You have briefly cheered me up while in a slough of despond. It's all pretty hopeless. Mel gambled a lot of money on getting us into the Prem, with what will have seemed to him to have been quite good odds, but he lost and now we're all suffering. In terms of the value of the club which this thread's about, we're sadly worthless given our debts. I think Mel would sell for £1 to someone who would take some of the debts on. Sadly, we've tried that desperate tack before when the CoOp bank gave us to the Three Amigos for the same amount, who ended in jail for their leeching off the club and fanbase. Evidence of the suitors Mel has been prepared to talk to suggests he is at the stage when he will effectively give the club to anyone, not necessarily a good custodian, if they will take on some of the debts. Which brings all the chancers out wanting to take advantage.
Where do we go from here?

I think for a club of Derby's size, bar any points deduction while in League One, that is rock bottom for us. Basically where the likes of Ipswich, Sunderland and Sheffield United found themselves.
Derby are still trending downwards. Even if new owners came in, they would be losing money immediately and would have to spend just to keep their head above water this season. It will take years to reverse the mess currently created.
I feel rock bottom for a club of Derby's size is midtable League One. Similar to the likes of Charlton, Ipswich, Sunderland, Sheffied United, Sheffield Wednesday. Unless of a crazy points deduction like what happened at Bolton, I can't see any lower than that as our wage budget, even after serious cut-backs, would in League One dwarf most the others.
With a clean slate in League One, we could play several academy players plus free transfers and compete well.
It's looking like we can't do that at Championship level. Of course as fans we'd rather stay up. League One would be horrible. But if I'm an investor, why buy Derby now? It's surely better to buy a completely demolished house at a cheaper price than a more expensive standing house that's falling to bits without any resistance.
 
 

The difference between Villa and ourselves was Villa still boasted a side capable of promotion.
If you’re a business buyer, you should only enter on 3 occasions. Either a trend upwards where you ride the momentum, a consolidation period where a financial input results in an upward trend or when the business is at rock bottom and needs a re-set.
Derby fit into neither category. We’re still trending downwards and we haven’t hit rock bottom yet unlike say Bolton and perhaps Ipswich.
Anyone taking over Derby now will continue to lose money and likely face relegation with a poor squad before being able to turn it around.

I really don’t know why anyone would take us over right now. The club is on its knees and continues to lose money.
How are we any more appealing than a dozen or so other Championship clubs who all have better foundations than we do currently?
I don’t think we will attract anyone with a realistic vision until we are at the bottom of the pit, most likely in League One similar to Ipswich Town.

No offence & obviously things are far from rosy at the minute but seen a few of these posts recently & its doing my head in. To deal with the two suggestions;
1. Only cash-rich/existing Premiership teams can compete anymore
Well, we thought that for much of 2000-2015 and then Leicester happened. And Leeds rose from the dead. And Brentford's shrewd model won them promotion. And Swansea and Wigan won major trophies. In a divisional system progress is always possible & but like it ever was, it needs consistently good decision making, good appointments to manage the football club as a whole & a long term plan. Not the short term 'boom or bust'/celebrity chasing/chuck a load of cash at it nonsense we've specialised in for all bar 2010-14
2. Derby will cease to exist so what do you do then
There will always be a club in Derby...always. Even if the absolute worst case scenario happened which I think is so unlikely as not to worry about, there are the examples of Glasgow Rangers, Wimbledon, Napoli & Fiorentina to look at. Bury will return in time too. The point here is that the fans are the club, not its legal entity
This is a one club city & a city that is passionate about football. There 100% would be a phoenix club & in time it'd be seen as a continuation of the old club - the idea we'd even consider supporting the bindippers for a second makes me vom in my mouth

Too soon? Barring a miracle we're destined to struggle this season and it doesn't take a genius to work out which clubs are likely to be down there fighting with us as the parachute payment clubs fight it at the top.
Today's results which may be of interest:
Hull 0-3 QPR
Barnsley 1-0 Coventry
Blackpool 0-2 Cardiff
Reading 2-1 Preston
Huddersfield 1-4 Fulham
Middlesbrough 2-1 Bristol City
Forest 1-2 Bournemouth
Birmingham 0-0 Stoke
West Brom 3-2 Luton
The last three might be pushing it a bit, but most the teams expected to struggle this season lost today. A silver lining perhaps.

I don't want Rooney as manager.
I didn't want him at the club in the first place.
But the club is in a terrible state. The squad is the poorest it's been for years.
And yet, Rooney has been very dignified throughout the past couple of very difficult months.*
I'm not sure any manager could save us this season.
We need a new owner, ownership of the stadium and an end to the EFL soap opera. Then we can have a total reset.
* Personal life excluded.

90% of our problems aren't down to the manager. I'm not saying he is a great or even good manager, but we have other priorities at the minute.