ImARam2

Boro fan here, donning hard hat and coming in peace. 
Been an occasional stalker on this board (ever since all the unpleasantness!) but felt compelled to register today after seeing this sad news.
B4 was a poster I saw popping up on almost every thread that appeared on here and his passion for his football team was so clear with every word he typed. Fans with this level of devotion are few and far between and should be treasured by clubs and other fans alike. I'm sure he will leave a huge hole behind for everyone who knew him. Sending condolences to all friends, family and fellow DCFC supporters for your loss. 
All the best, Steve (not that one!) 

We can all be better posters, better people, on here if we choose to be.
As @Comrade 86put it earlier - be more B4.

School for scoundrels the 1960 film is highly recommended for anyone thinking of brushing up on their Oneupmanship skills. Many on this forum will know it all already.

I just don’t think you see the full picture. L1 isn’t vastly different from the Championship. A few weaker clubs yes, some lack of consistency certainly. Yet there are good footballers in this league, many of whom would prosper in the championship. Those few percentage points that move you from average to serious contender are very small. Add in that many of our signings that were “designed” for PW’s vision had injuries and left us both thin on the ground in numbers and having to adopt a compromised style. It hasn’t been an easy ride. There isn’t a huge cheque book, 25k every week a saying we are DCFC also doesn’t cut it when there are 11 strong men in the opposing half who are busting a gut to put one on us.
This is sport, we are in our roller coaster car with all its dints and scratches. I am just enjoying the competition and thank goodness we are at the very least a competitive group. My attitude would be different if we were below half way … but we aren’t . I seriously doubt there is a manager out there who would guarantee any team promotion with the obvious strictures they would be under given our current level of strength and stability. This isn’t happy clappy this is competition, reality, oh and support.

Football is in a state , where and how it’s being driven has to a great extent destroyed the true sport that it was , obscene money for players and wages , fans disconnected from players and more and more from clubs , massive debts and let’s be honest it could at some point come crashing around our ears ,, ,
im sorry but the original poster and his post / thinking is a major player in this being pushed further and further, jeez even to the extent that a true fan like clowes who bought the club to save it is now backhandedly questioned as to whether he bought the club to protect his investment in the ground which by the way was about the only way the club was going to survive in time if he didn’t buy the ground then the dodgy yank was out , deal off and hope Ashley actually wanted the club even for buttons or as a phoenix,
sorry Kevin hectoring but fans with your views and demands are a big part of the problem🤷🏻‍♂️

I don't think we need to worry about this for now though its fun to speculate I suppose. We need to put one foot in front of the other and see where it takes us. My personal hope is that Mr Clowes enjoys his project and at some point gets his money back and then some. That will happen naturally I think when we get to the position of challenging for promotion to the Prem. I say 'when' because we are one of the biggest clubs outside of the Prem and its the natural order of things. Its just a question of how long, it could be 2 years it could be 10. In terms of Mr Clowes planning, I think that will evolve as we evolve. We just don't know if he would want to carry on owning the club if somebody made him a really good offer, but my guess is he would sell provided he felt it was also in the clubs interest   

Having followed Derby County for 60+ years, bad language on the terraces has always been prevalent, however, I can't recall 10,000+ fans singing and chanting vile and abusive comments about ex-players, the EFL or club directors.
In no way am I a prude, having spent my younger days as an apprentice in a Derby factory where some of the women could and would give as good as the men, and twice as scary, but quite honestly, in my mind, the language of the terraces has become abhorrent.

Having followed Derby County for 60+ years, bad language on the terraces has always been prevalent, however, I can't recall 10,000+ fans singing and chanting vile and abusive comments about ex-players, the EFL or club directors.
In no way am I a prude, having spent my younger days as an apprentice in a Derby factory where some of the women could and would give as good as the men, and twice as scary, but quite honestly, in my mind, the language of the terraces has become abhorrent.

I think everyone has valid points here.
Mel Morris was Public Enemy No 1 with the EFL because of his constant criticisms.
He wasted an incredible amount of money (mainly his own) on chasing the his Premiership dreams by sacking managers at will and funding some ridiculous transfer fees and subsequent wages. I think it was stated he was bailing out the Club to the tune of £2m a month.
Because of of overspending we fell foul of FFP and no doubt tried to avoid penalties by cooking up ways to present our Profit & Loss, Balance Sheets in a favourable light (even if not technically wrong).
The points deduction for FFP would have relegated us anyway but the fact Mr Morris put us into Administration made the situation hopeless.
The stewardship of the Club was crazy - Mel wanting his own success and fans demanding a return to Premiership football. A recipe for disaster.
Thank goodness we are now in the hands of a sensible and businesslike owner who is determined that the club will be run properly, despite still the clamour from some fans to spend money. He will know what can be spent prudently. The days of shopping managers at the drop of a hat and spending huge fees on players are over, at least for a few years.
 

Last season is done, and whilst it’s a fair observation that our performances have been inconsistent since then, there is still an opportunity to change THIS season’s form, performances, results, and yes for those who are desperate for it…perhaps even the manager.
My thoughts both for those so keen to wallow in their perceived realism of how terrible and miserable life is as a Derby fan and those who feel less fed up with it all, there’s still room for some optimism in this season. We could still see an improvement in performances, consistency, the health of players currently at the squad etc and we could also see a change of manager if the team doesn’t look to be heading in the right direction closer to the business end of the season. 
There’s not yet enough wrong at the club or with the team to completely write this season off. 

Listen up everyone! We need the all the positivity you can muster on Saturday. We need a sea of black and white and strong voices. If it ain’t going our way, get behind the lads and build them back up! Bring all the B4 energy. Wave the scraves and flanges. Sing your hearts out and clap until your hands sting in the 38th minute.
COME ON YOU RAMS!!!!!!  WE ARE DERBY, SUPER DERBY, SUPER RAMS!!!!!
YOU ARE OUR B4 OUR ONLY B4!!!!!! 

Warning: May Contain the longest post in the history of the forum. Read it all if you're feeling masochistic, if not quit whenever you like or maybe don't even start it. In fact I'd ask that certain posters (who probably know who they are tbh) ignore it altogether. I probably won't respond to arguments against it anyway because I simply can't be arsed to get into a to and fro, My enthusiasm for posting has gone right down the pan recently tbh and I'm, sick of having the same discussions and making the same points.
One last time though 🤣
 
Surely whether the glass is half full or half empty depends on whether you had a full glass or an empty glass in the first place?
I guess others may be viewing our current situation through the same lens they wore during the period of administration, in which case their starting position is likely that of having an empty glass, and anything else is a bonus? For me it's the opposite.
I was full of optimism when we came out of administration. The chance for a big reset and to grow the club in the 'right' way, to employ a forward thinking manager to help build a new identity with a clear way of playing that we could develop and improve over time, including proper integration of the academy with their transition to the first team eased by there being a thread running from the top of the club to the bottom, no massive disconnects in intent (or 'vision') or style. Everyone on the same page.
I was expecting and accepting that it might take a few years of slow and steady but sustainable growth. I thought it was going to be a tough and ugly league full of seasoned pros and wizened old managers, and that while they'd probably have the upper hand on us for a spell we'd learn as we went. And that was OK, we would be building toward something better, everyone understood that patience was required.
Then we started playing, and the league was nothing like I'd feared. Besides, even if it had been we'd now appointed a League One promotion specialist to help even out any disadvantage, someone who'd use his talents to get the better of other managers. Or so I thought.
Even our hurriedly assembled squad quickly showed the division up for what it really is, there was and is (this season, especially) nothing to fear from anybody. With better squad rotation to help reduce the late season burnout we could easily have found ourselves finishing in the playoffs - ultimately it came down to a single goal, one narrow defeat turned to a draw, one draw turned to a win and we'd have been in, and then who knows?
The season ended in mildly disappointing fashion. Rather unexpectedly so, as if you'd have asked a before a ball was kicked you'd have taken a top 10 finish, but the appointment of Warne coupled with seeing how poor the league really is did raise expectations of what we should be achieving and when. How could it not have done? You don't appoint 'promotion experts' only to be eternally patient while they make mistakes they probably shouldn't be making.
My optimism was dampened at various points by the performance of the manager, his lack of of tactical nous leading to him being out-thought multiple times by opposition managers, his poor squad management and lack of adequate rotation, some deep flaws in his playing philosophy (surely this isn't what we thought we were getting, or is it?) but toward the very end of the season I'd convinced myself he was showing some progress.
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And so we roll onto this season, there's some fanfare about the restrictions being eased, a big interview where the chairman of the club states that our budget is good enough, in his opinion, for promotion.
This sounds like an ideal opportunity - a second opportunity after somewhat blowing the first one -  now we've had time to plan it, to really get to grips with the 'project' we had in mind before Warne was employed which when coupled with his past record of getting the most out of his squad as a collective should have seen us taking advantage of the best of both worlds. It didn't happen last season but fair's fair, it wasn't his squad and realistically we could not have done anything in that January window to really change or even adequately supplement what we had.
Our initial signings on paper sounded altogether quite promising, the aim was to build a squad which includes a number of players who either still have something to offer at Championship level (justifying their likely higher-than-average wage demands) or could improve to reach that level. An admirable target. The manager and the players talk of a promotion season, with the aim set for automatics, it's very convincing.
My glass isn't quite full at that stage, but at about 85/90% The other 10/15% depends on the manager having learned lessons from the season just past.
However, the progress seen (whether it was actually there or not) last season went out of the window when it became clear that the manager had his heart set on 3 at the back with wingbacks but more importantly playing the same style of football he deployed at Rotherham (but without the necessary type of players), rather than building on what worked the previous season, meaning certain positions that otherwise would only need a starter or a covering player are completely unfilled and require both.
Another 'reset' then, but maybe it wouldn't matter? We have plenty of scope now to build the team Warne wants, and in the end we bring in 10 permanent signings. Unfortunately some of those signings get injured, but some look so badly researched that they look disastrously unsuited to what's asked of them and can't get in the team, some are simply not being used very much for one reason or another.  Even without the injuries it's difficult to see where everyone really fits in with the style of play so it's a transfer window effectively wasted - one which we're not looking to 'correct the mistakes of' (as is typically the manager's view of business done in January) in a couple of months.
The recruitment that once looked promising now looks haphazard, and we're back to our good performances taking the shape of something the manager has been forced to implement (through both poor performances when attempting to play his preferred style and injuries) rather than what he actually planned for. Meanwhile teams who have brought in more players than us and with many of them likely to be on lower wages show us that one of the key excuses for our performance - the team needing to gel - is somewhat negligible, as we'd also shown ourselves the previous season.
The matches we watch often come with the most predictable and telegraphed tactical approach imaginable yet somehow the messages coming from the sidelines are still muddled and the players rarely seem to know when the manager actually wants. One week it's criticism for not moving the ball quick enough the next it's for trying to be too quick and not taking care of the ball enough, one minute they're told to bypass the middle but the next they've played it wide too often. Players are still being given roles that don't suit them, or played in multiple roles in a single game and across games and often don't seem to know if they're coming or going. Substitutions are still largely random, or done so with an attempt to shoehorn in 3 at the back. The manager still doesn't know what to do when his main gameplan isn't working and he gets tetchy AF whenever challenged on the details.
Throw into that the poor implementation of academy players and the attitude toward them on which has been discussed at length recently, and there's neither a real identity or any clear future planning on display. People say that the academy players will come in when they're ready, but if they only ever get put on the pitch when there's absolutely nothing on the line then not one of them will ever be ready.
There's no reason to think that we can take what we're doing this season and 'step it up' should we get promoted, beyond the idea that we can simply chuck more money at it than Rotherham could.
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I feel very much like there are certain posters who see our potential promotion under Warne as the only criteria on which he should be judged and are willing to close their eyes to everything else.
All the reasons for my glass being (mostly) full at the start of the past 2 seasons are the very things that the manager has failed to deliver any progress toward, and shows no real signs of being interested in going forward - he doesn't appear to be doing anything other than looking after his own skin. I see him working far more in the interests of Paul Warne than of Derby County.
While a manager shouldn't sacrifice everything that they want for the sake of the club and should obviously be able to stamp their own identity on it (otherwise you end up with Cocu Season 2), there needs to be a better balance than that which is currently offered up. This alone makes it difficult to 'back' Warne or for me to believe he's the right manager for where we are as a club right now, or where we want to be.
Whether people who are being dismissive of those with long term concerns are doing so because they just think that the 'now' is more important, believe that the rest will sort itself out once we're promoted, whether they're just trying to win an argument online, whether they just want to appear to be a 'better supporter' than those who aren't happy, or whatever else their motivation for ignoring the issues presented by Warne's ongoing tenure, I'm not (except in one or two instances) really sure.
We might, and I stress might, be able to achieve promotion this season. But quite frankly so what if we do? What is that supposed to prove? Promotion is the bare minimum outcome for Warne to even come close to being considered a success as Derby manager.  It's no great achievement if it comes at the cost of an almost total neglect of any other aspects of the club's progression, and pretty worthless if we find ourselves back down here in 2 years time. History tells us that's the most likely outcome, especially if Warne's methods haven't developed beyond what they were when he was at Rotherham.
The longer he is here the more I feel we're wasting time, and the further away I feel from us being able to take advantage of the opportunity we had to build properly. The more we become a Warne team the more we seem to become a League One team, but not a more modern, forward thinking one, an old fashioned horrible one.
However, if he gets us up and keeps us up while giving or academy graduates at least some meaningful game time (something he is currently averse to doing) then he'll have proved me exceedingly wrong. I still hope for that, but I don't believe for a second that he is capable of the improvement necessary to make it happen. Time will tell - the owner of the club clearly has a lot more faith in him than I do, I just hope he's right and I'm wrong.

They do like their footie in Salone. Been there 4 times on work. Last time I was arrested as a spy and put in Wilberforce Barracks prison. In Freetown of all places. British High Commissioner had to get me out. But lovely people.

Scores one and assists one v Wolves U21.
Three Nil up v Barnsley and doesn't bring him on.
Playing Crewe  at home in the cup, we are behind, doesn't bring him on.
 
The worst part is, it surprised no one.  

Oh my goodness, what a response!
Hello everyone, I’m Claire, Daniel’s (B4) sister. I am overwhelmed by your kind words, support, and the memories you have shared.  Thank you so much for the kindness and love you have all shown to Daniel over the years. My parents are working their way through all of the posts and will offer their own thanks in due course.
I wish I knew about the scraves, flanges and ballions before now. I wouldn’t have let Daniel live that down at home. This made my husband and I laugh this morning.
I will be wearing Daniel’s shirt and keeping his seat warm at the Bristol match. Really looking forward to hearing a big cheer and round of applause in the 38th minute, a goal at the time would be perfect!  Do please continue to share the picture with details of the applause. Let’s raise the roof for Daniel!!!
Thank you all again ❤️
#BeMoreB4 

Yes, I was there as well in the Boys End/Corner, having, like yourself, walked from Breadsall Hill Top, aged 13, at 4 o'clock in the previous Sunday morning, to get a ticket.
It was January 1966 and if I remember correctly Man Utd went 3-0 up and Derby brought it back to 3-2 just before half-time.In the 2nd half, if I'm remembering this right, Denis Law scored with a back heel at the near post, at the Normanton End goal, and he said something to Reg Mathews, Derby's 'keeper, who went for him. I'm not sure if he connected or not!!
However, this wasn't my first cup game, which was in February 1963 when Derby played Peterborough, following about 15 cancellations due to the 3 months of snow and ice we endured in the winter of !962-63.
No central-heating them days, just extra blankets on the bed and the need scrape the ice off the windows on the inside of the house, however, that's another story in a time of long ago!!!

Not only do you have to register for ITVX, which is free, however you also have an Smart TV which is no older than 2012 ?

Yes absolutely. There does need to be an acknowledgement that the club is still not in a good financial position. A football club such as Derby County has considerable overheads and I imagine the clubs income barely covers the operational costs. 

I still find it hard to fathom that a good number of fans are actively having a pop at our owner.  This is a man who did not want to get involved, but simply had to because he knew what the likely alternative was.  It also pisses me off that folk think he should sell up at the earliest opportunity because he didn't spunk £3m on a striker in the summer.  Only he, along with his accountants, truly know how bad it was when he started his due diligence, so he'll do whatever he can to ensure we don't get in that state again.  If we're moaning at anyone, perhaps we should be moaning at the head of recruitment for not finding the wheat amongst the chaff, in the last transfer window.
As for bringing in, and for the time being, sticking with Warne.  If you had the choice between a novice manager or someone who has 3 promotions from this division, to get you out of it, who are 99% of people going to choose??

https://clowes.co.uk/2022/07/01/breaking-news-clowes-developments-takeover-derby-county-football-club/
July last year, it was announced that David Clowes had bought Derby County. Saving the club from disappearing into the ever-growing abyss of crushed football clubs.
I cried that day. I didn't think it was bothering me that much. As an adult in his mid-40s, I found myself resenting the amount of money I've "squandered" following Derby County around the country. I can probably count all the enjoyable moments as an adult on my fingers and toes, but there are plenty of bleak and miserable memories, from watching Jim Smith's magic-touch fade, Colin Todd's reputation dwindle, John Gregory's over-confidence implode, Phil Brown trying to reinvent the wheel, Paul Jewell signing everyone he could, to Nigel Clough being too negative to try and win. That's before Uncle Mel came along with his mad rollercoaster.
A few years ago I decided to squander my money on playing Golf badly instead of football, beer, gambling and a curry every Saturday, that made me think I was detached from it all, that I'd cut the ties that only a few years earlier had me desperately scrambling for away tickets for 0-0 draws at places like Preston on a Boxing Day!
I'd consider myself an armchair radio/TV fan nowadays, and my stress level and general health has been much better. 
I no longer live in Derby/Derbyshire, which has left me further detached from the club and fellow Rams fans. But from this forum over the last few days, I'm feeling some real rage towards Warne, and maybe even Clowes. It's worse that any time on this forum. Even Pearson had more support! 
Am I the only one who, whilst disenchanted with performances, and perhaps football in general, doesn't really feel Warne needs sacking?
Or am I still just glad we have a club to talk about?
I think some of the people so enraged by Warne could do with taking a step back and a deep breath.
AS for Clowes, he jumped into Shark-infested waters to drag us back onto the muddy bank, shame on anyone critical of a man who had no ambition to own DCFC, only duty.
Disgruntled fans could do with finding a way to contribute to the growth of the club, not the demise.

I remember it.
Everyone was saying how they couldn't wait for it all to be over and how much of a relief it would be to stop talking about finances, Quantuma, the EFL Steve Gibson et al and get back talking about / arguing the toss over footballing matters like tactics, team selection and the performance of the players and the manager etc
Now we've got that and some people don't seem to like it, it's boring and repetitive and negative and unwelcome  and people need reminding that we were in administration, don't you know?

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

Shame to see so-called fans labelling our own player as 'dogshit' and other choice terms. By all means call him out on the game, but is the abuse really necessary? He's a Derby player after all. Some on here might like to consider how they'd feel if they were being assessed in such charming terms for their efforts at their place of work. Whatever you think of his ability, he's still a Rams player and entitled to a modicum of respect from us fans as such. He's also 5 from 13 in the league this season, which is far from the horror story some of the drama queens on here portray. Hard to imagine, other spitting on the badge or flat out throwing it in, what would actually warrant terms like 'dogshit', but missing an easy square pass certainly isn't one of them. And this after we've won the game too!
Likewise Exeter - without fail, every time we win, we get a chorus of "well (insert club name) were by far the worst team we've faced all millennium" type comments. So f****** tedious. Last night, Oxford were beaten by a team languishing in the bottom 3 and Portsmouth could not muster a goal in 95 minutes against the mighty Cambridge, which more sensible heads might think tells you all you need to know about this league. The fact is, we're a league 1 team (as was evidenced by our failure to secure promotion last season) and right now we're playing like one, as often as not. The very same people who sagely pontificated on how hard it would be to get out of this league, are some the chippiest ***** on here now we're struggling. Get in the bin!
As for the game, the result was never in doubt. I thought we looked comfortable, pretty much throughout and were more than good value for the 2-0. They tried to play football, which was a pleasant surprise, but we were very good without the ball last night, harrying and pressing well and you could see their last vestiges of hope evaporate with the second goal. On the rare occasions they enjoyed a little possession, we kept our shape brilliantly and never really gave them too much hope. I think we look as good as any team I've seen in the league defensively speaking and we have a decent quality midfield if we can somehow keep Max healthy of mind and body and in good form. Still short of that explosive goal threat, though if we play like we did last night, we've enough to trouble most sides.
As for the result, it could and maybe should have been 4-0 and without the interventions of the myopic linesman, it might well have been. Surely that is worthy of more than begrudging praise, if any. Let's be honest here, there's no such thing as a 'routine win' for a side with our current home record! With 'routine' help from the officials, more often than not we conspire to turns 3 points into 1, or none at all, so let's not pretend otherwise, eh! 
Moving forwards, I hope that this is not another false dawn and that the attacking line-up is deployed against all but the best teams in the league, where a more circumspect approach is perhaps understandable. While I think we're a long way off Championship quality right now, we do have a strongish squad for L1 and we really need to be ensconcing ourselves firmly in the top 6 sooner, rather than later. Meet that milestone and we can then set about trying to reel in Oxford and / or Pompey which is a far from impossible feat if we can just add some consistency to our game.
COYR

Well, like many I haven't been happy for months, but have kept on turning up to matches because supporting the lads is what we do. But despite the ever falling performance standards I have always looked for the long term, in the hope of better times. This afternoon was the first time for year that I ended up with a really heavy heart.
Actually, once we had contained Shrewsbury's early bluster, we got a grip on the game, and played some good football for about 20 minutes or so. Bird in particular was outstanding, playing like he belonged higher up the League hierarchy. Incidentally someone criticised him for being gassed out at around the 60 minute mark, but I wonder if his influence tailing off had something to do with him being shifted further back so that Warne could bring his love-child (allegedly) Hourihane on. Conor did make a couple of tackles/interceptions which kept us in the game, but he is supposed to be a gifted playmaker, but today you'd never know. But our grip on the game came from us playing football, on the deck, and involving the midfield players.
Anyhow the Shrewsbury manager worked out how we had got a grip on the game and made changes which brought them back into it. Our approach seemed to be "more of the same, please". It doesn't work. Because our gameplan of slinging balls in for Collins to get on the end of would might work if he got on the end of them, but more often than not he is out on the wing, deep in midfield or just arriving in the box as the ball gets headed clear. But because that's all we have to offer, or more likely all we are allowed to offer, we end up with the potency of a eunuch's orgasm.
And yes, here goes DavesaRam again - the ref was absolutely crap, in fact so bad that he was nearly as bad as the Rams. Turning down a blazingly obvious penalty when Forsyth was tripped in the area was just an early warning sign. Somebody observed that because we didn't do much more than sling crosses in to nobody in particular, we didn't give him the chance to make amends. Apart from the question "Since when has a ref evened things up for Derby County?", he did the exact opposite with the award of a penalty to the Shrews for absolutely no reason at all. Rams TV thought the player had tripped on his laces - he didn't, he blatantly dived. and was 3 or 4 yards away from any Derby player. The Rams website said that it was for a pull by Nelson, but watch the video - the directions and trajectories of Nelson and the actor means that a pull was absolutely impossible. At least the ref was quick with his decision, ie he couldn't wait to pull the trigger. Why didn't the players all get round the ref and have a right good go at him? Like all other teams do? There were plenty of other incidents to lay at the refs door, but in the end, it wasn't his fault that we lost, despite us going ahead from the penalty we should have had would have helped us.
I am struggling big time over all this, as many, many more are doing, because most of us know that we are capable of much more than this. There is a well know saying, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Even if Warne has inherited an absolute bunch of wasters, in an impossible situation, he could still look at what he has got and play to their strengths. Or he could use a great big sledgehammer and force all those lovely round pins into the square holes he imagines exist all over the pitch .......... no wait, that exist down the wings and somewhere near the middle of the opposition penalty area. I know that Paul Clement and Nigel Pearson threw away loads of our talent by trying to impose their system onto players who couldn't play it. Maybe some of the poor performance by some of the players comes from them being uncomfortable with how they are being told to play - I suspect Hourihane is in that category, and tried to face the fans to try and make some peace with them. I know what it is like working in an environment like that, especially when I knew how I should have been working. It is soul destroying, and saps away motivation. 
What a mess. And we thought we were done with messes. Apparently not.

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