ImARam2

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

As a fan, I'm impatient to have success but it's an enlightening interview such as the section where Mr Clowes actually states that he's been surprised by the success Warne has had so far. Now the interview may have been conducted before the excellent run came to an end with 3L on the road, but it does seem to indicate that the new owner expected us to mount a real challenge next season & has realistic expectations.
He also mentions about getting us back in the Champ'ship & established in five seasons, so hopefully promotion within two, maybe three seasons and then consolidating perhaps like Coventry, Sunderland & Sheff United as relatively big sides who have fallen down the divisions or been blighted by mismanagement (Coventry in particular).
I think we can use the likes of Brentford as a model. I worked in Hounslow twenty years ago when Bees United (ABeeC), I think, actually won a seat on the local council & were a club whose future was under threat & ended up putting pressure on the local council to become more supportive at a time when the club occupied a very low profile. There's been steady progress but especially in the last decade when you think how they missed out promotion on the final day to Doncaster (2012-13). A decade where they have been promoted twice & featured in two play-off campaigns in the Championship, built a new stadium and have now spent two seasons in the PL.
Brentford fans perhaps had lower expectations, and maybe that is what we need to do, temper our expectations. As Mr Clowes puts it, 'there has been more bad than good over the last thirty years and there hasn't been a lot of success...' but he praises the fans were continually sticking by the club, and it's  been a constant theme during his ownership, how much value he places on the club's support. He cannot do it alone.
It was also interesting to read early in the interview how it appears Mr Clowes has been asked a couple of years before to get involved in owing a football club & you wonder if he had been approached before by Mel Morris, but the situation at the club (its complicated finances) & the responsibility of owing it deterred him until his hand was ultimately forced by Kirchner.
It is immensely frustrating to see us where we are, but consoling, too, that we have an owner now who has a long-term vision and a proven record in his own business field, so that he can replicate, in time, something similar at Derby.

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

Love these discussions about Derby. Just to answer a few questions about what would entice people to our city, it's definitely a struggle but there is stuff actually happening, not just pretty renders. Tried to answer a few questions in the thread.
Cathedral Rd student accommodation - my understanding is that the problem here is that the insulation between the internal walls and exterior cladding met fire regs at the time of planning consent, but didn't once completed. As a result it is now not compliant so can't be occupied. I'm not sure if the developer is entirely to blame on that one, but yes, a big mess. However, there are currently 4 new student blocks all being built on Agard St.
Derby Theatre - This is being relocated to a new facility on the site of the Assembly Rooms. The govt have allocated £20m to make it happen with the Council putting up some too. The University has signed up as tenant. The final piece of the jigsaw is what to use the rest of the site for - hotel/offices, etc.
University Business School - this is now onsite and will be open I think next year.
GBR - Great news to win this for Derby. The Council now need to make sure that this new HQ is built in the city centre.
The Condor - 265 apartments are opening soon with a gym, business lounge, roof garden and concierge service. A new public park will open at the same time. All operated by Grainger, the biggest provider of private rented accommodation in the country.
Performance Venue - Opening early 2025, it is operated by ASM Global, the biggest venue operator in the world. The programme of events should be top drawer. Will seat 3,500 people.
You then have Castleward, the Nightingale Quarter, the new riverside all happening too. The plans for Derbion on Bradshaw Way and Morledge have to happen.
As for what is there in Derby to attract people, we have a shopping centre that has put a lot of work into improving the range of shops, they attract 20 million people a year. We have Derby Museum, the Museum of Making, QUAD, Deda, Darley Abbey Concert, Format, Feste, Walking with Dinosaurs, lots of running events and lots more I don't have time to think of.
I think we're all guilty of running down where we're from, primarily because we care about it. Derby has major issues with public realm, driving people to historic areas, social mobility and engaging young people in regeneration. But it is heading in the right direction.

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.
His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.
To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.
If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.
Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

I've had hospitality in the Toyota Suite on several occasions, which included a seat in the Directors Box three times.
However, the Directors Box tickets are given only when there are seats available and only when there is a small group of match day sponsors, otherwise you get a seat on the balcony outside the suite on the half-way line, more-or-less above the dug outs.
I've also been in the Igor Stimac Lounge and Captains Table, all of which are excellent places to have a pre-match meal, which, of course, are a cheaper option, which gives you a seat in the Toyota/West Stand (Captains), or on the balcony in the NW Corner (Igor's).
All-in-all, an excellent way to watch a game, in very comfortable surroundings, and, before anyone calls me a  member of the 'Prawn cocktail brigade', I am also a very long-standing season ticket holder who does clap, sing and occasionally give the players my opinion!!

I've had hospitality in the Toyota Suite on several occasions, which included a seat in the Directors Box three times.
However, the Directors Box tickets are given only when there are seats available and only when there is a small group of match day sponsors, otherwise you get a seat on the balcony outside the suite on the half-way line, more-or-less above the dug outs.
I've also been in the Igor Stimac Lounge and Captains Table, all of which are excellent places to have a pre-match meal, which, of course, are a cheaper option, which gives you a seat in the Toyota/West Stand (Captains), or on the balcony in the NW Corner (Igor's).
All-in-all, an excellent way to watch a game, in very comfortable surroundings, and, before anyone calls me a  member of the 'Prawn cocktail brigade', I am also a very long-standing season ticket holder who does clap, sing and occasionally give the players my opinion!!

I've had hospitality in the Toyota Suite on several occasions, which included a seat in the Directors Box three times.
However, the Directors Box tickets are given only when there are seats available and only when there is a small group of match day sponsors, otherwise you get a seat on the balcony outside the suite on the half-way line, more-or-less above the dug outs.
I've also been in the Igor Stimac Lounge and Captains Table, all of which are excellent places to have a pre-match meal, which, of course, are a cheaper option, which gives you a seat in the Toyota/West Stand (Captains), or on the balcony in the NW Corner (Igor's).
All-in-all, an excellent way to watch a game, in very comfortable surroundings, and, before anyone calls me a  member of the 'Prawn cocktail brigade', I am also a very long-standing season ticket holder who does clap, sing and occasionally give the players my opinion!!

The first time I visited the Baseball Ground was in the 'Boys Corner'/Normanton End for a reserve game, on Saturday, 27th January 1962, with Derby Reserves vs Bolton Wanderers Reserves, which the Rams won 6-0.
It was the day the first team were playing Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup and I can remember shouting to the Derby goalkeeper, Ken Oxford, what was the first team score.
I was 9 years old, along with a friend, also 9, my brother & his friend, both aged 7, we got the bus from Breadsall Estate to Derby, Tenant Street, got a free bag of chips from the 'Savoy' chippie on the Morledge because my mother worked there, walked to the BBG, walked backed to town, and then home for tea.
I'm nearly 71 years of age, and wherever I've lived and worked around the world, and there's been many, I've taken my love of my home town and football club with me, and I can still remember that first visit to the BBG as it was yesterday.