Carnero

So, I was never a Paul Warne fan. I wasn't enthused by the style of play or the players he signed. 
However, the more I hear and read, the more I think he's done a very solid job. Not the bare minimum - but I understand why people would think the latter. 
I've changed my mind because of the following. 
The legacy contracts of Bird and Sibley seem to have been taking up far more of the budget than I thought. Reading posts from @Ambitious, it seems very likely both were on 15k and maybe some more. Then there's the wages of Hourihane. Great leader, but since Wigan away, he's been slowly ambling around like an old moose who's been asked to trample the grass down. Again, from the TalkSport interview, it would seem that there were players on 10k, or a bit more, who didn't really fit the system. 
So, that's a long-winded way of saying that a lot of wages have been tied up in players that we can easily improve on, probably by paying less money. Sibley, as much as i want him to kick-on, isn't worth 15k a week as an average LWB, for example.
I'm expecting, with the addition of Ebou to start things off, a very strong and athletic midfield. The defence needs a good LB and GK. I think both are lined-up and achievable. 
I think PW is the right person to build a squad, on a modest (for this league) budget, that will still be competitive. I wouldn't have said that 3 months a go. 

Pickford
          Walker   Stones   Guehi
                         Rice
    Trent  Bellingham  Foden   Saka
                       Palmer
                        Kane

Pickford
          Walker   Stones   Guehi
                         Rice
    Trent  Bellingham  Foden   Saka
                       Palmer
                        Kane

I’m no expert on Ben Osborn, but the idea that a player with over 350 career appearances in the championship and Premier League has nothing to offer a club does seem a little odd to me (not you saying this, others).
It’s a squad game, we need midfielders and experience having released both Smith and Hourihane, he covers a couple of positions, and seemingly is the type of player to do the leg work that allows others to go and play…maybe he’s the ideal foil for our new goalscoring midfielder? 🤔
Just don’t get the rush from certain posters to write players off before they’ve even joined, and that’s IF they even join anyway. If we sign Osborn he won’t be the only player we sign, he’d be one of many to ideally make us competitive next season. 

I have no doubt if Thommo was a starter in our midfield next season that he would  not let us down , very underrated by some on here , his game is a lot more than just running around

Pickford
          Walker   Stones   Guehi
                         Rice
    Trent  Bellingham  Foden   Saka
                       Palmer
                        Kane

Excellent post.

Just listened to the TalkSport interview. As you would expect he came over really well. I don’t think there are many managers that have his level of emotional intelligence. It’s clear there is lots of thought and planning behind everything, Paul and his team clearly live and breathe and put the hours in. Really interesting there’s two systems he’ll focus on in preseason and basically the players need to know everything about it so have to do their homework and be prepared to talk about it. 
Also it’s clear that he sees good dressing room environment as a potential differentiator and focuses on it heavily,  Personally I think this is why we beat Bolton  automatic, when we weren’t playing well the squad togetherness got us through. Most successful underdogs have strong dressing rooms and togetherness. Look at Luton Cov those sorts of teams. It can bridge some of the gap in quality where teams have bigger budgets. Interesting the whole Warne being appointed was basically Stephen Pearce liking Warne’s interviews, listening to his podcast and basically concluding this is the type of manager we want running our club. Human first and foremost. 
I also found it interesting when Matterface was asking him on Derbys budget last season trying to infer maybe Derby didn’t have the biggest budget and overachieved last season, Warne genuinely didn’t know if we had the biggest budget he saw the team as top 4, not necessarily top 2 which is how I saw it. However more interesting he said that in his 3 Rotherham promotions not once did he have a top 6 budget. I think we need to put some more respect on just what he achieved there. 

This season is his acid test, he will be battling expectancy, but he’s here as he wants to push Derby towards the premier league and go beyond  where he’s been as a manager before so he has the hunger, he creates a positive environment for people to be at their best and has demonstrated throughout his career thus far he can overachieve his budget, something we will need to do if we are to ever get back to the premier as there won’t ever be a scenario until we’re promoted that we have a top 3 or even top 6 budget. He’s definitely the right man for now and I really hope he proves to everyone this season just how good he is.

I hope we never lose 5 games on the bounce. !
 My take on it, if I was DC, would be to look at it after 10/15 games and as long as we aren’t bottom 3 and the feel/figures are showing an improving team then there’s no problem. 
If with 10 games to go we are struggling / flirting with relegation then PW will be under pressure 
I want him to have the full season and only a relegation threat would alter that. We simply have to stop the routine panic sackings. Building things properly is difficult, there are always tricky times in big projects. 

Believe it was Rodak and Mubama of West Ham

I’d take him just to wind up those OAPhobic fans that turn red in the face once a player has hit their 30s.
Would be an alright signing as well to be fair.

He’s been round the ground, and was one of the three players Warne spoke to. He wants to be local and be close to family. It’s a strong possibility 

He also looks to have good versatility too, with appearances as a DM, CM, AM, RW, LW... ideal for Warne. It's certainly ticking a lot of the boxes for someone that we could be after, even if only a rumour at this stage.
 

Had Whitley’s final ball of the innings not been caught on the boundary, by my records that would have been the joint third quickest 50 in T20 Blast action since it’s conception in the UK.

Would be a statement of intent.
Some good players from Iceland and fees are notoriously low, hence why mums go there.

I was very much a let’s see what happens when he came. Guys like Cocu who dream of something better always appeal more to me but here was a pragmatist with method for a purpose. One thing I was certain about was patience. Merry go round sackings just don’t work. PW has really grown on me. There’s a lot of intelligence behind the quirky remarks and he built a dressing room. I like him.

Here he is  

and with his mates:

Spot on. He always comes across really well, and with the radio derby reports of a 1 year option in his favour being available, not triggering that just to take the money fits with the impression I've always had of the guy. Good luck to him, I think he'll have a good coaching career ahead of him.

Midfielder in the Iceland squad been in Derby for talks this week 
 

Chat in Scotland is Johnny Yfeko is Derby County bound for a fee around half a million from Rangers. Decent prospect who seems to have stalled with not playing regularly in the last year.
no idea how true it is but person who told me has told me other transfer stuff before that had come through before the media got a sniff of it

Spot on. He always comes across really well, and with the radio derby reports of a 1 year option in his favour being available, not triggering that just to take the money fits with the impression I've always had of the guy. Good luck to him, I think he'll have a good coaching career ahead of him.

Spot on. He always comes across really well, and with the radio derby reports of a 1 year option in his favour being available, not triggering that just to take the money fits with the impression I've always had of the guy. Good luck to him, I think he'll have a good coaching career ahead of him.

Spot on. He always comes across really well, and with the radio derby reports of a 1 year option in his favour being available, not triggering that just to take the money fits with the impression I've always had of the guy. Good luck to him, I think he'll have a good coaching career ahead of him.

Spot on. He always comes across really well, and with the radio derby reports of a 1 year option in his favour being available, not triggering that just to take the money fits with the impression I've always had of the guy. Good luck to him, I think he'll have a good coaching career ahead of him.

My prediction is they’ve already got a few signings done like last year and they’ll all be announced in a few weeks. If memory serves, that’s what happened in 2023.