ImARam2

I wish fans would accept that Derby cannot "splurge" the cash anymore. It's only just over 12 months ago that we were on the verge of total oblivion - no ground; no players; no club - nothing whatsoever.
We've been to the edge of the abyss, looked in and we don't ever want to go there again.
I do not want to see an owner "splash" the cash and offer us dreams, then run out of money and see it all collapse.
If we have to buy players who are, by other club or division standards, "cheap" or loans, so be it, until the club is back on firm footing, without any embargos or EFL restricted business plans, when, perhaps one day, we can go back to trading players in the normal way.
David Clowes has a plan which he set out in his interview a few months ago, in which he hoped that Derby would be back, and competing, in the Championship within 5 years and if Derby have to remain in Division 1 for another season, I will accept that because I love my football watching my home town club Derby County FC.
Let's not get over excited about who may or may not be transferred, in or out of the club, in the next few weeks, because there is still 27 days to go before the transfer window closes on the 1st September.
Let the games begin - COYR's

I wish fans would accept that Derby cannot "splurge" the cash anymore. It's only just over 12 months ago that we were on the verge of total oblivion - no ground; no players; no club - nothing whatsoever.
We've been to the edge of the abyss, looked in and we don't ever want to go there again.
I do not want to see an owner "splash" the cash and offer us dreams, then run out of money and see it all collapse.
If we have to buy players who are, by other club or division standards, "cheap" or loans, so be it, until the club is back on firm footing, without any embargos or EFL restricted business plans, when, perhaps one day, we can go back to trading players in the normal way.
David Clowes has a plan which he set out in his interview a few months ago, in which he hoped that Derby would be back, and competing, in the Championship within 5 years and if Derby have to remain in Division 1 for another season, I will accept that because I love my football watching my home town club Derby County FC.
Let's not get over excited about who may or may not be transferred, in or out of the club, in the next few weeks, because there is still 27 days to go before the transfer window closes on the 1st September.
Let the games begin - COYR's

I wish fans would accept that Derby cannot "splurge" the cash anymore. It's only just over 12 months ago that we were on the verge of total oblivion - no ground; no players; no club - nothing whatsoever.
We've been to the edge of the abyss, looked in and we don't ever want to go there again.
I do not want to see an owner "splash" the cash and offer us dreams, then run out of money and see it all collapse.
If we have to buy players who are, by other club or division standards, "cheap" or loans, so be it, until the club is back on firm footing, without any embargos or EFL restricted business plans, when, perhaps one day, we can go back to trading players in the normal way.
David Clowes has a plan which he set out in his interview a few months ago, in which he hoped that Derby would be back, and competing, in the Championship within 5 years and if Derby have to remain in Division 1 for another season, I will accept that because I love my football watching my home town club Derby County FC.
Let's not get over excited about who may or may not be transferred, in or out of the club, in the next few weeks, because there is still 27 days to go before the transfer window closes on the 1st September.
Let the games begin - COYR's

I wish fans would accept that Derby cannot "splurge" the cash anymore. It's only just over 12 months ago that we were on the verge of total oblivion - no ground; no players; no club - nothing whatsoever.
We've been to the edge of the abyss, looked in and we don't ever want to go there again.
I do not want to see an owner "splash" the cash and offer us dreams, then run out of money and see it all collapse.
If we have to buy players who are, by other club or division standards, "cheap" or loans, so be it, until the club is back on firm footing, without any embargos or EFL restricted business plans, when, perhaps one day, we can go back to trading players in the normal way.
David Clowes has a plan which he set out in his interview a few months ago, in which he hoped that Derby would be back, and competing, in the Championship within 5 years and if Derby have to remain in Division 1 for another season, I will accept that because I love my football watching my home town club Derby County FC.
Let's not get over excited about who may or may not be transferred, in or out of the club, in the next few weeks, because there is still 27 days to go before the transfer window closes on the 1st September.
Let the games begin - COYR's

I totally agree. Some complain he's too open, too honest, borderline frivolous - implying he's a bit smoke and mirrors for a football manager (OUR manager particularly). They mistake his jokey manner for someone desperate to please when he's interviewed. As though it's a smokescreen for lacking substance, or nous - That this "type" of manager isn't what we need. An "old school" type with the tactical ability of Pep is what we need - At League 1 level! 

He doesn't rule by the rod. Modern day footballers rarely respond to those archaic tactics these days. Exhibit A - Nigel Pearson M'Lud.

Don't confuse his "matey" personality with an inability to do a job for us. It's worked 3 times already for him getting a team promoted. That's no accident. The more he practices, the luckier he gets.

In the words of a comedy sketch (which one, escapes me) - "Jesus doesn't give us what we want, He gives us what we NEED". What some think we need is a champagne manager on a Lambrusco budget. What we need, at this time of a total reset of our football club is Paul Warne. Our Lord and Saviour David Clowes worked that one out.

I happen to agree. Even if we don't get promoted this season, when the EFL financial handcuffs are eased next season, we can properly - and within our means - use our fan base and financial advantage at this level, alongside PW and DC to sensibly reposition ourselves to where we can be punching to our weight again.

Sorry for the sermon. Praise the Waaarne!

If you and other people feel the need to question Warne that’s up to you. I only ever look to contest points with people when I can see a fairly logical counter argument. I’ve not seen anything of desperate concern to worry about yet. 
The forward recruitment? We’ve signed Washington and are intending to add more strikers.
The depth of the squad? It’s currently better balanced and in need of a few more signings to be improved further, which Warne and the club have explained.
The selling of players and inability to re-invest the funds? That’s not Warne’s doing, is it? It’s circumstantial, born from Morris’ legacy, the admin and the EFL. It’s been made clear that Pearce and Clowes ultimately dictate the business side of the club.
So what are we left with? His choice of players to recruit? Always going to be subjective and can’t really be qualified until we’ve seen them succeed or fail in a rams shirt.
His bad patter? That’s just who he is, can’t do much about it.
His tactical and in game management? It let us down last season. He’s said all the right things in recognising that and needed to be better, now he needs to show it when it matters, again can’t fully judge it until the season starts.
I’ve no problem with people questioning Warne, I just don’t yet see any real questions to be levelled solely at his door. It feels like people will go out of their way to question Warne relentlessly, about anything, without much thought or depth to the argument….that’s what I don’t get. And I would feel this way if it was Rosenior, Steve McClaren, Jim Smith or Brian Clough himself. 

We will but it might not be our first or second choice, plenty of teams with money to spend like WestHam for example haven't made a signing yet have some money.
Agents probably advising players to wait until later near end of window when clubs will pay more wages and fees etc then freeing up space for movement 
We are not alone in being frustrated in lack of signings and greedy agents won't be advising players to jump at first offer.
A team starts the season not scoring many and the price and wage demands go up its not good and is far from the good old fashioned way transfers were conducted.
In many ways the transfer window itself does not help and I think it would be much better if you could buy players at any time, then agents would'nt wait until last knockings to get the price up ...i personally think agents are bad for the game and just out for themselves...a lot of teams waiting and trying to get players in not just us 

Absolutely. There was a saying though, which went that you have a bucket of bull-s**t, and a bucket of money, and when one outweighed the other you left.
So I kept taking the bull-s**t until that outweighed the money.

I went to work in Saudi Arabia (in the aviation industry) 40 years ago (1983) and trebled my UK basic salary overnight - and it was tax free!! I was also given a two-bedroomed apartment; free medical insurance and a free ticket back to the UK twice a year.
Although I had to work pretty damn hard in temperatures up to 40-50 Degs.C and 90% humidity, with many 12 hour shifts and the occasional 16 hours, but the I just thought of the money.
That bought me a very decent home back in Derbyshire, with no mortgage, as well as being able to afford holidays around the world which I would never have been able to do on my UK salary.
Yes, there were plenty of restrictions - such as no bars/pubs; cinemas or theatres, but that meant I was able to save more and after my 6 years contract finished I departed for other places.

The less than optimistic fans appear to have 3 main gripes:
1. Paul Warne - personality and tactics
2. Not replaced McGoldrick with 20 goal striker
3. Not spent money in transfer market (especially Bielik & Knight monies).
 
1. If some people don't like Warne, they will not be persuaded otherwise. To me, he is a breath of fresh air, honest, down to earth, "says it as he sees it". Prefer that to non-communicative people we have had in the past. Everyone knows what he wants - staff, players and fans. Now he nearly has the personnel he wants, we shall see what his tactics and style of play are. Lets give it half a dozen games (Home and Away) before we make a judgement.
3. We have brought in Bradley, Nelson,  - to replace Davies, Stearman, & Chester. Much as I love and admire Curtis Davies, his time had come. Bradley & Nelson are a huge improvement in our defence from last year and we still have Cashin and the dependable Forsyth when required.
Although there have been the occasional shaky moment against Championship & Premier League opposition, I think they have already shown a vast improvement in aggression and organisation in defence. Last year we conceded 46 goals (4th best in the League). I shall be disappointed if we concede 35 this year. I would also expect the number of penalties we concede to be greatly reduced, owing to their experience.
Haydn Roberts has chosen to go elsewhere, but potentially Elder is a better, experienced replacement (yet to be proved I know).
Also at wing back is Ward, who has already probably produced more quality crosses into the box than we had last year.
Bradley, Nelson & Ward will be on very decent money (probably more than those they have succeeded), together with their Agents fees.
Our Transfer Budget, as we keep reminding people, comprises of wages, agents fees and transfer fees. 
Wilson & Washington have yet to make impacts due to injuries, but the glimpses we have seen have been promising.
2. We scored 67 goals in the league last year (7th highest in League) - McGoldrick 22.
Replacing those goals is, I think, the biggest challenge.
But I am optimistic. Unlike others, I expect us to score at least 10 from deadball situations - we look threatening right now. Ward's crossing will produce more goals. I just see more goals coming from open play because we have better quality going forward (Ward, Elder, Wilson).
Collins & Washington will both get double figures and there is still plenty of time for new additions.
 
In summary, I believe we have spent quite a bit of money on our new signings. The pre-season injuries, niggles have been disappointing but I firmly believe if we can get a reasonable start, we will get better and better as the new players gel. Call me optimistic but I think we will concede no more than 35 goals and at least match last years goals scored of 67. Still time to add goals in the transfer market or loan market.
 
 
 
 
 

What a series and really enjoyed the ending with Broady taking the final 2 wickets, a fitting end to a great career. Think we’ve shown we can more than match the best team in the world and this way of playing I think will make us more competitive in India next year and in the next Ashes down under. Aussie team reminds me of when we were No 1 playing attritional cricket, think they’re at the top but just starting the decline, think we could win the next couple of Ashes series and the Aussies are scared of our potential.
I’ve not watched any of the Rams preseason games, fully absorbed in cricket and the Ashes. Enjoyed the break from the footy to be honest, now the Ashes is done I can fully focus on the Rams (although will divert my attention back to the cricket if Derbys can get some success in the one day cup). I won’t be watching the f****** hundred that’s for sure!

You tend to find the people who are ever optimistic cannot stand to see negativity...yet as soon as it becomes apparent that things aren't going to plan, the optimistic ones become negative and then all of a sudden its absolutely fine..
As was evident with Mel. There were friends of his on here defending his every move, until even they weren't able too anymore.
As it stands for me, we are on for a similar season as last, not a bad season, but also no silverware. 

To a point, my thoughts are just 'What will be will be'. I'll be there in South Stand cheering on whoever is wearing the Rams shirts so I'm really looking forward to the coming season as I invariably do. That said, it does feel as a combination of club and press that we have been slightly economical to this point with regards to our financial situation ('restrictions lifted' headlines) in the sense that very few people expected Bielik and Knight to leave for fees without Warne having the opportunity to reinvest some of that. If Bird leaves too, will that just be absorbed as well ?
You might (possibly correctly) say that we could have spent some of the incoming fees but chose not to, at least not on what was available at the price, but the reality is that we have still had to assemble another team with free transfers, potentially topped up by loans. That being the case, I think we need to seriously temper some folks expectations as other teams have not had that restriction and have been able to build on last year. With the contracts situation overshadowed by EFL restrictions, we have had to have a major rebuild again with very little resource.
If that's the reality then I'll live with that because that's where we are and as we are all aware, a bit over a year ago things were dire and we faced an existential threat to our club, but it did feel as if we were led to believe that there was perhaps more freedom to shape the side by buying players than perhaps seems to be the case.
Re 20-25 goal strikers, certainly that is not a requirement for any team getting promoted but that assumes that there are several meaningful contributions from elsewhere. At the moment I'm not really seeing where our goals will come from. The midfield apart from Hourihane hardly look to be full of goals and we still desperately need at least 1 additional forward/striker, ideally not in the veteran category who can take some of the load over what will be a long season. There were members of our squad who looked to be running on empty in the run in last year and with Warne's preferred intense pressing style I just think that running out of steam again is a real possibility if we can't give some positions a break. Our squad is tiny again.
I'm sure we'll all give Warne and the lads our full backing when they step on the pitch, but I think it is fair and legitimate to just raise a few concerns about some potential limitations to our ambitions. We have remodelled this team again with what little resource we seem to have had available but I am not seeing anything approaching a title challenge (just my opinion). After just missing out on playoffs last year, I think the expectation of most was that we'd be right in there this year with Warne able to sign players to fill the roles that he wants and that we'd have a transfer kitty that with a few outgoings and good ST sales that we would be used to fund that.
Warne suggested that promotion wasn't vital this year but he alluded to being judged if he didn't achieve it. Personally I think he is being asked to achieve a lot with this squad and I fear for him slightly re expectation.

Oppenheimer. Wow. Left me speechless in parts.
Personally, I think it's probably best to watch it at the cinema to get a real feel for it. 
9.5/10

The players we have signed are no more useful as evidence that Warne does have any particular pulling power than the lack of further signings evidence that he doesn't. It's just a complete non-issue in my mind anyway. Players go where it suits them, the manager will make A difference but not necessarily THE difference - I'm sure they're all aware that a manager at ANY club can have a short shelf life and they could be working under someone else within months.
Remember his own words about it being easy to get players to sign for Derby County, but more difficult to get the right ones.
I'm not sure if when people say 'challenging for the playoffs'  they mean that they see us hovering around 7th-12th for much of the season but hoping to finish strong and end up achieving a playoff spot, or they mean they see us comfortably sitting between 3rd and 6th for much of the season and hoping we don't fluff it at the end?
If it's the former I'd suggest that they either really don't have much faith in Warne's managerial abilities or they're massively exaggerating the quality of the squads of our competitors.
We've had Warne saying that we need to sacrifice on wages/numbers if we're to spend a fee and that will hold true for everyone to a degree - I've seen some hand-wringing that others (Charlton especially) have been spending money and bringing in this many or that many players, but in all likelihood any fees they've paid will mean that the players they've signed for free will be on lower wage packets than the ones we've signed for free. 
Our squad isn't perfect, but nobody in the league has a perfect squad. We're not blitzing the league through spending power like Ipswich last season but the players we have brought in (and some we've kept hold of) are all going to be drawing in a wage that the vast majority of teams can't afford. There's simply no way that out budget is 'weak' for the league even if we don't spend a transfer fee, if Clowes' says it's a budget that he thinks is good enough for a team to be promoted, it's hardly going to be on in the bottom half of the league. Likely top 6, 10th at worst otherwise those words would not have passed his lips IMO.
 
(not aimed at you Tom)
Come on, have a little faith in Warne! You simply don't appoint him and talk him up to the heavens in order to finish outside of the top 6, but it feels like some are already accepting and excusing failure as an outcome.

Adding waghorn or sharp or both to what we have,will not get us out of this league in my opinion.the longer we stay in this league the worse the clubs finances will get as crowds will dwindle,making promotion even harder

Analysing the game as objectively as possible:
Negatives -
Two of their three goals came from our back/sideways passes - regardless of the opposition that’s something that seriously needs to be addressed. Both Nelson and Smith can only have had what is known as a brain fart and switched off, not truly focused and made a pass that led to an opposition goal. In a preseason friendly, perhaps the intensity isn’t there and that’s the sort of thing that happens? We were guilty of similar things last season though, hopefully this was needed in order for it to become a focus. 
The opposition were very good today, really hard working and played some fantastic football at times. Berge and Ndiaye are absolutely top quality footballers and were both humming today, they do have a lot of footballers that are Championship standard but they do work really hard off the ball. No surprise they were promoted given the makeup of their team. It won’t be enough for the Premier League, but if they can add a couple more players of that standard then who knows. A lack of speed and an outlet to unbalance them was evident, Collins was isolated at times. NML played really well, perhaps a lack of legs in midfield. When Smith, Bird and Hourihane are all starting - the lack of depth on the bench is evident. I do feel like we could probably do with another centre midfielder, despite us only being in the market for two more. Difficult with our budget. 
Subbing Thompson, honestly he was struggling but I felt like with it being a friendly that he could’ve been given the last 45 minutes as a learning period. If he’s likely to start Saturday in that position then it would’ve been worth it. We don’t have to defend the same way in League One, so really it would’ve been a good test to see if he could’ve grown into the game and essentially survived it. No better time to throw him into the deep end IMO. 
Positives - 
In friendlies, you typically try and look at indicators for the ceiling of the team going forward. I feel the system is starting to feel a little more natural, the back three for the most part looked balanced and there was less getting in each others way. Cashin and Nelson getting crosses in the box wasn’t to be expected but good to see, albeit they may have to work on them going forward. The football at times was great, very slick and we did create decent chances - ironically the 10 minutes before their two late goals were our best period of the game.
Bringing me on to my next point, Waghorn can definitely still play. I thought he was like a man possessed, pressed really well and created a couple of chances - if he had scored it would’ve been a no brainer. You can see that his level of fitness and technical ability will definitely make him an asset in League One, anyway. Really did well. I felt Washington also looked sharp when he got on. I don’t think there is any player, bar Thompson, that actually played too badly at all. Mistakes, sure, but most had a positive game in the grand scheme of things. 

I know there’s a lot of negative talk of Dobbin but frankly he’s what this squad is missing at the moment. Pace and the ability to beat a man. Yes his finishing was iffy, but find a perfect player who’s coming on loan to league one and you’ll struggle. He scared defenders and made things happen, the frustrating times is just a byproduct of the style of footballer he was. We need someone who possesses similar attributes to add to the squad. 

We're not that desperate, surely?
Warne has repeated several times they want players in the 24-29 age bracket who are quick & mobile, and with a bit of experience of playing league football.
Chris Martin has had his time at Derby County and we loved him when he was with us, but we now have to remember and move on.

We're not that desperate, surely?
Warne has repeated several times they want players in the 24-29 age bracket who are quick & mobile, and with a bit of experience of playing league football.
Chris Martin has had his time at Derby County and we loved him when he was with us, but we now have to remember and move on.

We're not that desperate, surely?
Warne has repeated several times they want players in the 24-29 age bracket who are quick & mobile, and with a bit of experience of playing league football.
Chris Martin has had his time at Derby County and we loved him when he was with us, but we now have to remember and move on.

We're not that desperate, surely?
Warne has repeated several times they want players in the 24-29 age bracket who are quick & mobile, and with a bit of experience of playing league football.
Chris Martin has had his time at Derby County and we loved him when he was with us, but we now have to remember and move on.

Tha what I particularly like about this identity. It’s about the past, present and future. And the things that are always consistent. 
ie I don’t like Barnsley’s identity. Barnsley is winning. You can’t be winning all the time. We know, better than most, that there are investable ups and downs on the pitch over time. 
But there are certain things off the pitch that stay constant throughout.
derby county’s history will never go away.  No one can take away our founding status, our two league titles, our 100+ years of memories and moments. Even if we’re loosing, no one can take away the clubs connection with the community. The future may not be success in Europe, who can say, it’s certainly not something we should build an identity around. The future is the youth system, the women’s team, and the community surrounding the club. The pink embodies that.
it’s daft to build your identity on something as fickle as results, or a playing style. Like building a house on sand. But these 6 colours represent 6 pillars that we can build a strong club on and always maintain our identity.
the colours aren’t that important, it’s the identity they embody that matters. 
everyone talks about the Derby way, like the Stoke way, or the Man Utd way, etc. and thinks it’s a playing style. But playing styles depend on your manager and playing staff. They change with time. These pillars of identity are timeless. 

He lives in Belper and I've seen him numerous times in Morrisons.

For EFL league games, I believe a minimum of 10% of capacity has to be available to the away club, which would be 3,000.
For FA Cup games the minimum for away clubs is 15% of capacity.
There also has to be a percentage available for walk-up's, which if Derby have, say a limit of 22,000 season tickets + 3,000 away, which would leave approx. 5,000 available for non-season ticket holders/walk-up's.