MackworthRamIsGod

Gary Cook seems a very interesting character.

CEO of Nike, working with Michael Jordan to build the Nike Air Jordan brand.

CEO of Man City, signed some big players, almost signed Kaka, almost accidentally signed Messi. Was responsible for bringing in the investment which helped transform Man City into what they are now.

He publicly criticized Richard Dunne, publicly backed Thaksin Shinwatra a year before he was found guilty of various crimes.

He tried to induct Uwe Rosler into the Man City hall of fame but accidentally inducted him into the Man United one, he had to apologise in writing to 70 supporter groups.

He also accidentally sent an email meant for his mate to a footballers mother who was battling cancer mocking her. His resignation was accepted as a result.

Became involved with the UFC and then sacked during a shake up.

Attempts to buy Newcastle with some wealthy American backers for the tune of 350 million, which failed, unsurprisingly when Ashley is involved.

Gets Wigan taken over with Chinese backers which proved disastrous.

Apart from the Wigan thing, Cook seems someone who is good at his job in a business sense, but sometimes his mouth gets him into trouble. He is also prone to the odd disastrous gaff. 

He sounds an absolutely perfect fit for our rollercoaster of a club.

Tom Lawrence ended up having a big say in our championship survival this season, surprised he didnt make the cut.

17 minutes ago, richinspain said:

Oooh, who are we going to sign? Lewandowski, Harry Kane......? ?

oh ⚽️??, I've just remembered Erik's not taking us over after all.

On the subject of Eric or Erik, whatever happened to him? Did he ever resurface on Twitter, has he spoken since he was shamefully embarrassed over that property tweet and since the club confirmed they could no longer consider his bid.

He seemed so sure of himself.

3 hours ago, ziggyram59 said:

This so called US consortium to take over our club as gone very quiet again. Is it another fake group? 

If it's true Rooney favoured the American consortium then he either knows the bidders himself or at least knew they were serious bidders who can give him what he needs this summer. You would think the bidders are credible, it's just whether Mel accepts the deal on the table.

We just have to hope something is done soon as Rooney seems to suggest he has plans ready to put in place, I'm guessing this will be players, his staff etc. 

7 hours ago, i-Ram said:

Rumours are surely proof?

1 hour ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

So it's now been nearly 3 weeks since the EFL 'won' their own appeal. Is it really that unreasonable to believe that they ought to have agreed amongst their grubby selves what sanction ought to be applied, because the never-ending delays simply appear to be a fairly crude mechanism to keep us under embargo, thereby disrupting yet another critical window.

Some on here have scoffed at the notion that there is a vendetta in play resulting from MM adopting the role of agitator with his communication to all EFL member clubs regarding the short-selling of TV rights. Frankly, I scoff at the notion that no such vendetta exists. Eight months to conduct an appeal into a single aspect of our amortisation policy and yet having 'won', they need more time to assess a fair and proper punishment? Really? Government inquiries are conducted quicker FFS! Really is high time for this bunch of feckless charlatans to poo or get off the fricking pot.

 

I think it is plain to see there is a vendetta, absolutely.

We have been and continue to be punished. Transfer windows have been decimated, takeovers have either fallen through or stalled as a result.

If we end up with a fine Derby fans will hail that as a success, but just what damage has been caused by 2 years of charges by the EFL, which were laughed out of court at the first attempt.

The fact that rumour suggests if a new owner takes over any punishment would be less severe is surely proof that all of this is just a battle of egos and narcissists and it is a case of Rick Parry gunning for Mel Morris and it is us fans who are the casualties.

1 hour ago, i-Ram said:

That would be the Skybet EFL Cult I take it.

You have a point though.

52 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

I sometimes think that the EFL won't cease and desist until they've put every member club out of business. Quite whose interests they actually purport to serve has become a total mystery to me ?‍♂️

Maybe the EFL are a secret religious cult completely against gambling and have their claws set on Derby (32Red) and now Stoke (Bet365).

1 hour ago, DCFClks said:

Jack Wilshere just released by Bournemouth 

It would be classic Mel if we signed him.?

 

It would be classic Mel to sign him then sack him.

18 minutes ago, ram59 said:

On that basis, we didn't gain an advantage during the seasons in question because we didn't get promoted and we were so far from relegation, that any points deduction wouldn't have been enough to get us relegated.

My argument exactly...just what kind of advantage have we gained from doing what we did? If anything we have completely snooker ourselves by buying overpriced chaff and can no longer afford to buy players.

What the EFL seem to be doing is taking a club that is clearly in a poor state and beating it until it breaks. How could they ever claim to be in it for the good of the game.

Are we billionaires yet?

7 minutes ago, Spanish said:

total rubbish

 

I am sure Jesus wasn't white

34 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Nick was his signing 100% he turned down some players that had agreed to come.  Bakary Sako was one.  I’ll probably get into trouble now.

Is that true? He turned down Bakary Sako and selected to sign Nick Blackman?

Jesus Christ.

22 minutes ago, Foreveram said:

What if David Tepper takes over and appoints Mick McCarthy

17 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

I'll take that bet ?

I'm happy to bet you 10 English pounds that David Tepper does not take over Derby County. If he does drop me a message and I'll happily pay, whether direct to you or a charity of choice.

If David Tenant takes over and appoints Mick McCarthy as manager then likewise, a tenner would be lovely ?

3 minutes ago, mwram1973 said:

Spoilsport

Hey don't take my word for it, I'm hoping to God I'm so wrong and 12 billion dollar randy fancies taking over the mighty Rams.

I still think theres more chance of David Tenant dressed as Dr Who sitting in a press conference and telling us all we will be champions league in 5 years and Mick McCarthy is the man to get us there.

7 minutes ago, BaaLocks said:

The main issue is the debt - if we're as riddled with it as many claim then I just don't see why anyone would want to be £60m under water when they could buy an almost 'identical' product in (for example only) Bristol City, Sunderland, Middlesborough, Swansea, Hull, Reading, Birmingham City, Blackburn, Huddersfield or many others without the same level of burden.

Founder member of the Football League? I see that being three bits of meaningless to pretty much any investor - EPL maybe but being in the same club as Accrington, Notts County, Bolton, Preston and Stoke back in 1888 is hardly a feat that will put a zero on the selling price. Like you said, without the emotion it's not much to bolster the sales price.

Final point, we're an attractive proposition in terms of infrastructure but even the most avid Derby fan would say that 35k is probably the best we would pull, even if we were top end of the EPL. And our global footprint, here and now, is really limited - Notts Forest, Middlesborough, Charlton, Fulham and even someone like Portsmouth would be a more internationally recognised option. We're a one city club, and a very well supported one, but not one that has a massive hinterland before we start getting into Notts, Leicester or Sheffield.

Derby have all the pieces in place to be a well run top end of the Championship / established EPL club. But - to your point - the last 18 months has really dented all but the infrastructure and leaves us rather unattractive as an option. We need to take our medicine, somehow get ourselves back in order and start to move things in the right direction before we can start dreaming. I know many on here think we're the ideal option for a growth minded businessman looking to invest in an English side - I think we're not till we have a more firm base to work from, which might even require an interim owner to steady the ship a little.

Absolutely.

And, if Derby were such an attractive proposition, why are we dealing with chancers and time wasters?

If the American buyer/consortium have been sniffing for a while and if they were such a good deal for the club, albeit wanting to wait to see which division we were in, why did Mel choose to even entertain a deal with Alonso?

I think talks of multi billionaires buying us is a tad optimistic.

7 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

You mean as opposed to Mansour buying City or Abramovic buying Chelsea. Neither were exactly behemoths prior to their current owners taking over, were they?

Now the flip-side; Liverpool were priced at >£2 billion when last under offer and at that price, there's no great potential for ROI, least none that I can see. The only way is down. Would Tepper buy a club as a plaything, o do you suppose he might want to build the club and secure a return on investment?

Let's take emotion out of the equation for a moment; in the good times; we can sell over 30,000 tickets for games. Derby is effectively a one club City; we are a founder member of the football league who have twice topped the pile; we have a large and loyal fan-base and a comparatively rich footballing history.

Furthermore, I'd venture it is the very fact that we are in such a mess that makes us an attractive proposition. I struggle with the fact that so many fans are unable to grasp the notion that you buy stock when it's cheap, not when it's already peaked. Why one shitty season, when we've been challenging for promotion for nigh on 10 years now, is being taken as the only viable metric.

We know there are multiple bidders currently and this without the EFL charges being put to bed. Surely there's a clue there for those who choose to see it? I've very little doubt that a consortium that brings the financial wherewithal of Tepper and the commercial skills and experience of a man like Glick, would be able to steady the ship and put us on back on a road we were already treading until 18 months ago without too much bother. 

I think Chelsea were a little better off than Derby are now when Abramovich purchased them.

23 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Based on what?

Can't see the correlation between him being incredibly wealthy and there being no chance of him buying a UK football club.

Would also venture, on a general note, there is zero chance of Erik the Bulshitter being involved in ANY future takeover bid. The kid's a two-bob chancer, narcissist and raving attention-seeker who has now been fully exposed on all counts. 

You would think a bloke with those type of finances would go straight for one of the big boys, rather than buying a championship side who struggle to fill a 33k seater stadium entangled in so much debt.

Hope I'm wrong of course, 12 billion dollars would go a long way, imagine the amount of Nick Blackmans and Camaras we could buy with that money.

Well Alonso came with bold claims of champions league, spending 20 million on 1 player, 150 million to get promoted.

Simon Jordan said he was backed with very significant means.

You do wonder if there was a big money man who quickly realised what a fool Eric was making himself look.

David Tepper is worth more than Sheikh Mansour, more chance of us being taken over by David Tennant.

Ted Leonsis would be my purely uneducated guess.

He owns sports franchises in Washington, owns 4 stadiums that can be used for entertainment, Wayne played football in Washington, it all adds up ?

5 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

So according to Board Of Directors Response To Open Letter - Blog - Derby County (dcfc.co.uk) the preseason games are being arranged:

"In addition, we are finalising our pre-season arrangements and expect to be able to announce our games programme in early June."

Who are you guessing we'll play  people? #COYR

We always tend to play our last pre-season game against a big club from the division above, my guess is Peterborough.

If the EFL have anything to do with it.