i-Ram

Ha! Perhaps more people will listen in future? Then again...
You have briefly cheered me up while in a slough of despond. It's all pretty hopeless. Mel gambled a lot of money on getting us into the Prem, with what will have seemed to him to have been quite good odds, but he lost and now we're all suffering. In terms of the value of the club which this thread's about, we're sadly worthless given our debts. I think Mel would sell for £1 to someone who would take some of the debts on. Sadly, we've tried that desperate tack before when the CoOp bank gave us to the Three Amigos for the same amount, who ended in jail for their leeching off the club and fanbase. Evidence of the suitors Mel has been prepared to talk to suggests he is at the stage when he will effectively give the club to anyone, not necessarily a good custodian, if they will take on some of the debts. Which brings all the chancers out wanting to take advantage.
Where do we go from here?

For someone who has done very well in business, Mel Morris seems to have very little grasp of what you should get back from a bad investment. 

From a business point of view, he has ran this club into the ground. He has spent something ridiculous like £40 million plus on players who went on to leave for nothing since he has been in charge. He has done poor business when selling our players on (Will Hughes as an example). He sacked Richard Keogh for being a passenger in a car that crashed in a drink driving incident, which would have been fine if not for the fact that the players who were actually driving didn't face consequences. He has one of the worst records I have ever seen in football for hiring and firing managers. We have been a circus since he walked through the door.

He 'had the EFL on strings' and went to war with our governing body. A war which we were only ever going to lose with the 'creative accounting' he was trying to slip through. He has then been caught trying to flog us on to anyone who comes forward, regardless of how dodgy they appear to be, to the point where he was stitched up by a journalist pretending to represent ducking criminals wanting to use the club to launder money. 

Now he refuses to agree to fund the club if he cannot secure a sale, leaving us in an embargo with a management team of novices that he can't afford to sack and club morale at rock bottom. Everyone knows we can't compete this year. Everyone knows whose fault it is.

But yeah...hold out for the big bucks Mel ? I'm sure someone will come and bail you out. 

Just do the honourable thing and let the club go to someone decent who makes an offer. It's the least you can do at this point. You're not exactly going to run out of money and you will live the rest of your life in a level of opulent luxury most of us can only dream of, and that would still be the case if you let the club go for 20p and a Freddo.

It’s something I’ve internally struggled with for a few years now, pre Covid and the EFL/Mel troubles…and maybe not just a Derby thing, but football on the whole, I just don’t get as excited as I used to.
Maybe it’s getting older. I became a dad recently too, so a bit more pipe and slippers. I actually prefer listening to the game on RD than going. 

The thing that comes to mind is the Mitchell and Webb sketch where David Mitchell implies, by way of a faux Sky ad, that Football never really ends - and I feel that a lot. Sky and the digital age mean it’s information overload 

I also feel a bit spent from Mclaren’s first spell. That was like football heroin. The highest high. Not just the football, but the ease and rate in which Cloughs neatly assembled, but fits and starts team - became so entertaining and alluring so quickly. Still in hangover from that. ‘Why can’t we always improve that quickly’……?
it might just be me. Don’t wanna be an eeyore. But in answer to the post, to some people (I.e me) it’s not just Covid, or the precarious nature of the club that’s stopping me from going.
 
But I’m a fickle sod, so if Jags comes into a back 3 on Wednesday and we start playing like PSG then I’ll start to waver….??

I became disillusioned with the professional game almost 20 years ago now.  For me it was spoilt by greed and the increasing financial domination of the so-called big six.  I follow the Rams now out of habit more than anything else. The best example I can give you of why I became disillusioned is a recent one.  It can be defined by two words. 
Lionel Messi.
Cries crocodile tears at a press conference because his current club can't afford to pay him 50 squillion euros a year to add to his already vast fortune which must be bigger than a third world debt. He he really wanted to play then he could afford to do so for nothing for the rest of his career.
I had a DCFC season ticket from the early sixties in the days of Tim Ward up to 2006 when I retired.  I stopped buying a ST then and never had one since, being unable to justify the silly amount it now costs.
Other team - well I've watched Belper Town for a long time now and have a Concessionary Season Ticket for the princely sum of £65 a year, full price being is a bit more.  For that I get a friendly club where they seemingly know everyone by their first name, a really good standard of football, a pleasant social club and some of the best match food available anywhere at VERY cheap prices.
If Belper are playing too far away for me to travel, I go the Matlock Town, Alfreton Town, Heanor Town or Mickleover Sports.
I enjoy my football now far more then I ever did when I was watching the Rams, especially latterly.
 
Bill
 
 

It must be difficult for you teachers to know with all the time you have off.

Hopefully the Forum would continue in some form. I feel a lot closer to, and care more for, this community than I do the club at the moment.

My interest in football waned many years ago. Hardly ever watch a match if it doesn’t involve Derby. Can’t even get up for England international games anymore. Football has been ruined by money. I wouldn’t support any other team.

My interest in football waned many years ago. Hardly ever watch a match if it doesn’t involve Derby. Can’t even get up for England international games anymore. Football has been ruined by money. I wouldn’t support any other team.

My interest in football waned many years ago. Hardly ever watch a match if it doesn’t involve Derby. Can’t even get up for England international games anymore. Football has been ruined by money. I wouldn’t support any other team.

I’d replace Tom Lawrence with Jennifer Lawrence. Unlikely to be any major change in performance levels, or results, but shirt swapping at full time would cheer me up.

I’d replace Tom Lawrence with Jennifer Lawrence. Unlikely to be any major change in performance levels, or results, but shirt swapping at full time would cheer me up.

My interest in football waned many years ago. Hardly ever watch a match if it doesn’t involve Derby. Can’t even get up for England international games anymore. Football has been ruined by money. I wouldn’t support any other team.

Bottom end of Loch Lomond

?

I’d replace Tom Lawrence with Jennifer Lawrence. Unlikely to be any major change in performance levels, or results, but shirt swapping at full time would cheer me up.

My interest in football waned many years ago. Hardly ever watch a match if it doesn’t involve Derby. Can’t even get up for England international games anymore. Football has been ruined by money. I wouldn’t support any other team.

My interest in football waned many years ago. Hardly ever watch a match if it doesn’t involve Derby. Can’t even get up for England international games anymore. Football has been ruined by money. I wouldn’t support any other team.

Hopefully the Forum would continue in some form. I feel a lot closer to, and care more for, this community than I do the club at the moment.

My interest in football waned many years ago. Hardly ever watch a match if it doesn’t involve Derby. Can’t even get up for England international games anymore. Football has been ruined by money. I wouldn’t support any other team.

I’d replace Tom Lawrence with Jennifer Lawrence. Unlikely to be any major change in performance levels, or results, but shirt swapping at full time would cheer me up.

My interest in football waned many years ago. Hardly ever watch a match if it doesn’t involve Derby. Can’t even get up for England international games anymore. Football has been ruined by money. I wouldn’t support any other team.

Hopefully the Forum would continue in some form. I feel a lot closer to, and care more for, this community than I do the club at the moment.

My interest in football waned many years ago. Hardly ever watch a match if it doesn’t involve Derby. Can’t even get up for England international games anymore. Football has been ruined by money. I wouldn’t support any other team.

My interest in football waned many years ago. Hardly ever watch a match if it doesn’t involve Derby. Can’t even get up for England international games anymore. Football has been ruined by money. I wouldn’t support any other team.