eccles the ram

I quite like that team down the other end of the A52.....
..................Notts county

Hi new member, all the way up in sunny Fife,  just joined today, never really bothered about forums before but feel exciting times are back around the corner for the Rams so here I am to keep up with the news for the new season etc
looking forward to the new season and hopefully end back where the club belongs. If Ipswich can do it then there’s no reason why the Rams can’t.

I still like the Allez Allez 21 points one but the words could be changed for the Championship.

If not Rotherham Mansfield away might be a good shout.

You know it'll happen.
The Paul Warne Chalice match?

Rotherham 

I was at the game and loved every minute from hitting the Neptune at 0930 and leaving the Brunny about 2030 en route to my hotel where I had another couple before hitting the hay, having been up since 0300.
I've just watched the full 90 plus all the shenanigans on the pitch afterwards. Congratulations, Owen. You didn't melt. You stayed very professional and did a sterling job. Your voice was so chock full of emotion, you could have been forgiven for having a meltdown but you soldiered on. Like a true Ram, fighting till the end. Thank you for your coverage, not just from last Saturday but also from the other 38 games where this expat watched and listened to #RamsTV just outside of Amsterdam. Already looking forward to next season's offerings and hoping I can, again, get over for around 8 of the games.
Ewe Rams!

David Clowes is the owner I always hoped we'd end up getting one day.
A lot of fans seem utterly fixated on the respective spending power of owners but unless you have materially more wealth than all of your competitors (extremely rare), the differentiator becomes how you manage your club. What culture are you looking for? Do you back your managers when things get tough? Do you have a long term plan? Quite apart from the extraordinary sacrifice David Clowes undertook in grossly overpaying for Derby County, everything since has been an exercise in how to run a club properly. He is an elite level owner & best of all, he cares - he's one of us.
Its no secret I'm a Warne-sceptic but I had to admire Clowes sticking by Warne during his decidedly dodgy autumn. Sitting outside the playoff spots as late as 24th November would have had many chairmen pulling the trigger but there was absolutely no sense Warne was even on his final warning - he was given time & Clowes was utterly vindicated by the subsequent promotion. That is the kind of responsible stewardship successful clubs need & that we have so often lacked in the past.
Tales of his humility elsewhere in this thread endear him even more, as does that open letter on the official site today. A successful businessman, a qualified pilot & now a successful football club owner - that is a bloody rare skillset & all credit to him that he lets his actions do the talking rather than resorting to the egocentric approach of many of his peers. I'm genuinely excited to see how he approaches the challenge of competing with clubs with bigger budgets & more reckless strategies - I strongly suspect this is where the backroom structure he brought in 2 years ago starts to bear fruit - quality recruitment, quality youth progression & a tight, respectful culture that gets the best out of everyone in the building. Progressive ownership is the only sensible game in that snakepit of a division & Clowes is smart enough to realise this.
Most of all, I hope he's enjoying it. I loved seeing him get the limelight on Saturday - the fans singing his name & him picking up the trophy - he deserves every accolade going. I hope David Clowes stays with us for many years, I'm certain he will steer us back to the Prem if he does.

My voice still hasn’t come back, I’m worried I may never speak again.
My partner is asking if it’s possible for Derby to get promoted every week.

I had the choice to go to either the pub or the golf club yesterday to watch the match live but decided to stay home and listen on the radio - the passion and genuine feelings towards Derby made it a memorable afternoon and, for me at least, much more enjoyable than going out to watch in a pub in North Yorkshire!
They have their critics, but personally speaking I have really enjoyed the matchday team on Radio Derby this season. Its been good to have Ed Dawes back and I hope he sticks around for a good while longer.  

The thing with Ed Dawes, is it's easy to forget there are much much worse commentators littering local radio coverage. He's genuinely not that bad, and imo much better for the absence of the rammage banter.
He cares, he does his best, he's frequently been on the end of fans venting frustrations far beyond not liking his commentary.
Graham Richards, Ross Fletcher, Colin Bloomfield (who was not a natural sports commentator and really had to work at it) Owen, Dom, Colin Gibson, Radio Derby genuinely do a really good job of covering DCFC and I'm pretty sure that's because they do love the club beyond doing the job.

Pleased to have Ed back. Love his passion, he is one of us!

I'm happy for Ed Dawes.
I have no problem with his commentary, his passion for derby and I am so happy he was able to sign off what has been a crazy couple of years the way he did.
That was up there with anything I heard from Graham Richards, the legend.

Blubbing just blubbing!

Couple of side notes to add -
 
My 1 gripe with Evatt is that he is a bad loser and needs more grace when things don't work. I hate excuses and as I've learnt from reading other forums, every set of fans thinks they're hard done by by the referee every week and sometimes just accepting that we didn't take our chances is a better way to learn, move forward and grow.
The other side note is that I live in Stockport, have various friends who are rams around here and have a soft spot for you, especially as someone who went to Uni in Nottingham and developed a great dislike for Forest, mainly over their arrogance in referring to themselves as "the famous club"

Hi all,
I just wanted to pop on and say congrats on a successful season and well deserved promotion. I know there's been some ill feeling between fans, mostly on the toxic social media platforms (not helped by a large number of idiots of which we at Bolton have f****** loads). I've scanned through your forum and a few others to regularly to check in on the thoughts of some of our promotion rivals over the season and as forums go, this one is generally positive and full of good and honest opinions. We have another fan called Wanderlust who often peruses the various forums and I feel he is a good fan for honest opinions too. I hope we can join you, I'm sure there's plenty of you hoping we stumble and end up stuck in L1 for at least another year, mainly for the fans who've been making stupid excuses for us not winning points this season. Reality is, you and Pompey were the most consistent teams over the season and thoroughly deserve your promotion, so well done and good luck in the championship next year. With your stadium and fanbase and what your fans have been through (trust me, I know what it feels like too), you deserve some good times now!
 
All the best gents (and ladies)

I’d question if any Derby fan is actually human if they didn’t get emotional at least once yesterday. 
We nearly lost it all. Everyone has their ritual, whether it’s going with lifelong friends and getting on the beers, travelling from afar to visit home, seeing family they may otherwise rarely see… would be all gone  
There were kids that pitch who were probably too young to remember the Villa play off loss, let alone the QPR one, they wouldn’t have seen a single moment of success watching us. I’m 33 and don’t remember promotion in the 90s, all I have is 07. Suppose we could support Man City? Nah, never, that’s not football. That’s not belonging. That’s not family.  
There’s a lot of pain in the recent past, and yesterday was a stark reminder of what may never have been again. 

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 🐏

It's not raining today it is tears of joy from you know who! Bless you B4!

We met him later Kath,told him what a brilliant job it was and that we sit with you 😁

It's not raining today it is tears of joy from you know who! Bless you B4!

I’ve spent this morning looking at all the celebrations of yesterday on the net and have to say am proud of the Rams Family and how you have exuded joy and jubilation. Also the support I’ve been part of at away games this year; it’s been exceptional. Thank you for being great fans. 

I spent yesterday morning reading through threads Daniel had created at various stages early season. 
It was a very inspiring start to a momentous day.

... The day before. Reflections of yesterday with a bangin head!
It wasn't just Pride Park or the Neptune - it was the whole of Derby - some places have it and some don't, it's that simple!
It's easy to support Liverpool, it's easy to follow one of the Manchester clubs.
I don't think there is a greater footballing place in the UK than Derby!
COYR!