eccles the ram

Couple of days? Pah! We have been minutes from going out of business before now when Stuart Webb did a deal with Maxwell in the toilets of the High Court. We survived and prospered then and we'll survive and prosper now. It’s times like these that make the good times even better.
Every single club bar none has financial problems after little income for a year and a half. It’ll take time but we’ll get there. 

Interesting interview with Andy Appleby, sharing link for anyone interested.
 

To some, the cost of a season ticket is already too big an expense at this time, and so the prospect of another poor season of football may make it a bad acquisition. On the other hand, regardless of which league we are in or who the players we have next season, there will be many who can and should buy season tickets. The fans support will be so important next season, particularly to the younger squad members.
I remember the FA Cup against Chorley. It was fairly poor, and the young lads didn’t really stand a chance...but they still tried and deserved our support.
Me and my dad have got ours sorted for next season, to support whoever plays in the black and white. Hopefully there will be some joining us when we’re allowed back in the ground. If others can no longer commit, then they should feel no shame or judgement. Just make sure we can hear you from wherever you are cheering loudly!

I just want some assurance that as custodian of the club Mel isn’t going to walk away from his obligations until a credible buyer is found, and as a result I will still have my club to support. 
 
I can take league 1, I can take another 10-20 years of the championship, i can even accept never being in the premier league again. I just want my team I’ve grown up supporting and along with my family the only link I have left with my home city, to still exist. 
 
This horrific Covid season has made me appreciate this club a lot more and made me realise it isn’t all about promotion to the premier league, it’s about belonging.

With ownership comes responsibility. 
Now, let me make myself crystal clear, I am not kicking a guy when he’s down, I’ve gone on record posting I’d buy him a pint anytime and I stand by that.
However, he would have been more that happy to have been the recipient of the crowd’s adulation had things gone to plan. He’s not averse to a drop of hero worship, who would be ?
A big problem for Mel is he is owner/custodian of something a lot of people have an emotional investment in, some, a lifetimes commitment. If he was trying to get rid of his executive Lear jet because he fell on hard times, it would be none of our business/of no interest to us.
But this is is a commodity that has been a part of the town, then later, the city for well over a hundred years and this is where the responsibility bit comes in for me. Just because it’s all gone Pete Tong for him does not mean he should leave the club riddled with debt which was accrued on his watch. I believe it’s his duty to make the club as attractive a proposition for a reputable prospective buyer at the lowest outlay possible to him.
There is a saying down here that goes “Pay up and look big” and that’s what he really be thinking about.

Well I can tell you what Mel told the Daily Mail: "Meanwhile, Morris has told Sportsmail that the £60m figure (of debts and future liabilities) quoted is based on a ‘worst case scenario’.
He also makes the point that the MSD loan (a loan of £17.5m plus rolling interest with MSD Holdings, which is guaranteed against Pride Park) equates roughly to the stadium mortgage he cleared after buying the club. And with regards the HMRC debt, Morris says many Championship clubs have had to rely on a deferral of PAYE taxes to cope with the impact of Covid-19 and how it has decimated club revenues."
So you know, things could be worse. #COYR

There once was an owner called Mel
Who suffered two years of hell
He was conned by a sheikh 
Then a guy on the make 
Is there anyone to whom he can sell? 

My money on David Tepper, fronted by Tom Glick

Lot of assumptions being thrown around.
A big assumption by the media (and the EFL) that by EFL winning their case and forcing us to restate accounts that this means we will breach the £39m limit and be subject to a points deduction. Club and people on here that have crawled through the finances seem confident we’re actually within the limit, therefore no points deduction and this EFL appeal has been a complete waste of everyone’s time.
Another assumption that Mel is going to stop funding us if (should now say when) this takeover doesn’t go through. Even the Mail are conceding Mel will stand behind the club until a buyer is found.
No points deduction, Mel still in situe, pride park open for business again meaning the much needed return of our main revenue stream, a vastly reduced wage bill, hopefully we can start operating within our means. As for the playing squad, with some wheeler dealing and Bielik coming back during the season, should be enough to put a team together capable of survival even with Rooney in charge.
As for any aspirations next season, anything above 21st is a bonus. My expectations have certainly been reset and hopefully as we start getting revenues back on stream and a bit more stable, a credible buyer will come in to try and take us forward.

Can we have our Derby back Mel?
no more I’m a celeb appointments, shyster sheikhs, idiot owners and the rest. 
 
kind regards 
the vast majority. 

And that is all we need to know. The EFL say otherwise and have been backed up by the three (non accountancy qualified) judges. Its a disgraceful face saving exercise. On a positive note I am absolutely delighted it goes back to the original panel to decide on an appropriate sanction as originally they didn't think we deserved anything.  Slap on wrist incoming!!

Groundhog Day

You know what, you're probably right in what you say. Back with the 3WM I did feel it was my club that was being ripped away, spirit of Dally Duncan and all that. But football, and Derby County, have moved on so much so since then that I'm not sure I still feel like that. Sadly, there is always another Owen Oyston, Mike Ashley, Fawaz, Glazer or Shinawatra waiting in the wings and the game made that deal when it sold it's soul to them twenty years ago. Mel Morris, Alonso and BZI have all proved that to be the case in quick succession.
I love my football club, it is one of the few things that I will love throughout the duration of my life (I certainly no longer hold a passion for Scalextric, or Gillian Caudwell, like I used to). But the game has betrayed those who chose to love it and once that is broken it's not quite the same again. Nowadays I see football as a series of one night stands rather than the thing that is always on my mind. It probably does mean I'm not as passionate as you are, and I congratulate you for still having that passion. It doesn't mean I have my head in the sand or I need to be woken from my slumbers, it just means I see the game as something different than it was when I stood in the Boys End cheering Alan Hinton coming down to take a corner.

A good revealing interview with Curtis
"And I had to go against medical advice to do it, but it was something I was happy to do for my team, for my teammates and the club.
You know the thought of people losing their jobs and things like that if there had been relegation, I couldn’t have that on my back so I wanted to do what I could to help."
 

In my view, he secured legend status at the club yesterday 

One day he’ll write a book about the highs and lows of Derby. He’s been there through all of it since clough. Seen managers come and go, seen the real superstars and more popular players of the Mac 1 era and beyond, like Martin, Keogh, Bryson, Bucko and Russell, come and go. Even seen the likes of Wissy and even Mac come and go, and come again (and in Macs case go again, and come again). He’s suffered horrific injuries, and come back and is still being picked by new managers to play important games. 
He’s clearly past his best, but he’s been an excellent servant for this club and built up plenty of goodwill in my book. 

Nobody deserves singling out after this,  you do your best and that's all anyone can ask
I have not forgotten the countless times he saved a goal, and made one at the other end.
The fact is he gave his all for our club, and deserves credit for that!

Ok.. You had a bloody nightmare today. 
Don't blame you for the first really. Second was poor but unlucky. Third... Err.. No excuses. 
But what the hell, we are safe!!!
Real warrior and nothing but respect for him returning to play again and again. 
Glad you aren't being blamed for our demise. 

Huge relief. 
 
I arrived at the ground yesterday at 09:30am. I was the first there. The rain gave it a poignancy as I stood by Cloughie & Taylor and the voice of Brian and what he’d say to the team played in my head (“Look! If you can’t go out today and beat these lot, then you want bloody shoe-tin...)” 10 O’clock came and gradually a few other faces appeared. The rain eased. The stewards manned the barricades. A couple of friendly police said “hello”; “ hello, hello, hello!” I replied and they smiled back to themselves. Suddenly the crowd was apparent and the black flag unfurled. A frenzy of photographs and the air lifted; a few chants rippled up (“since I was young...”) and the sound of a drum (a guy was banging the road sign). The sound of some beer cans being opened (hissss!) and suddenly I realised there was quite a crowd and that little fizz of excitement as I read the banner“Just leave everything on the pitch, that’s all we ask” and suddenly Jake Buxton was in front of us and now it kicked of “Jake Bux-ton is a foot-ball genius” and the eyes watered, and cars hooted as they drove by and the singing continued “we love you Derby, we do” and the players got out of their cars, ashen-faced and looked over as black and white smoke filled the air and more cars hooted and Jay-sun Knight, Knight, Knight, and more cars hooted and I choked on the smoke. Football is nothing without the fans.
A remarkable day. It felt so good to be back amongst real football fans. Passion and that unmistakable chat “ay up, me duck”. 

The drunken match report is back.
What a day. 
Seeing the people I haven’t seen for a long, long time at the pub. The people I’ve gone all over the country with. To Grimsby, to Preston, to god knows where.
Yes, it’s embarrassing that we had to survive on the final day. But I don’t care. I’ve celebrated us pulling something out of the bag on the final day.
I’ve created a memory that I’ll cherish forever.
I love football. I love Derby County.
Up the bloody Rams.

Not ashamed to admit it but Waggys tears and emotion got to me and i shed a few with him , lets sort this out and hopefully never be in this sort of predicament again , i love you Derby County

That 97 minutes summed up my life as a Derby fan.
Despair, elation, more despair, more elation, anger, joy, stress, frustration, relief, ecstasy, absolute scenes on my sofa....FaceTime call from me son in Singapore, dozens of  WhatsApp chats, 
Onwards and upwards, come on you great big beautiful Rams
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