ram59

5 minutes ago, TheresOnlyWanChope said:

Interesting Newcastle analogy ... Newcastle situation is strange as Bruce has been doing similar job to Rafa. I assume it’s there a Rooney Cocu comparison ? I think Rooney has been rightly praised recently. Last season the results just weren’t there at all though. Cocu we had a decent season at least

Start the season when Rooney took over and we had a decent season also, unlike his predecessors, Rooney hasn't been able to spend 1 penny in transfer fees. I can't think of many people who would have been able to attract the likes of Davies, Stearman, Jagielka and Morrison to Derby on the wage restrictions that we are currently under.

1 hour ago, Abu Derby said:

So if it hadn’t been for COVID we wouldn’t have been placed into administration? 
Then why are half of the Championship clubs most of which haven’t benefited from parachute payments, still trading. This includes small clubs such as Brentford, Boro and Notts Forest. 
Brentford even got promoted!

It's probably true, the covid losses of £20M are the straw that broke the camel's back.

Put it like this, of you had given the club a sudden cash injection of £20M last, do you think that we'd still be going into administration at this time?

You could also say, if we hadn't have bought Butterfield and Johnson and was given that money back, would we be going into administration?

Non of these issues are solely to blame, but together, they all add up.

12 minutes ago, Chilwellram said:

If administration is just around the corner how long can we keep on paying the players wages for  ?

That is a big worry and without being in the transfer window, the administrators will find it difficult to raise funds. However, the club have sold quite a few season tickets and hopefully that money has been kept back for the players wages, otherwise there'll be another 3 points deduction coming.

15 minutes ago, Spanish said:

i loved what he said about amortisation, did the work and established that most players do not lose their value in a straightline basis.  We bought senior players and our experience under his tenure is their value depreciated in a vertical straight line.  Businesses should use amortisation based on their corporate knowledge and experience.  What we chose was something that would crucify us in the last year of contracts because to do it any other way would have breached P&S

Yes, it is correct what he said about player values dropping mainly in the last year of their contract and I don't see that it is illegal to do the amortisation in this way. Derby used this method in the belief that when the final year of these players' contracts were due, we would be in the premier league and then it wouldn't matter,  one of a number of gambles which didn't pay off. 

He also tried to justify Lampard's team's wages by saying that Rowett's compensation nearly covered their first season costs, but they were on 3 year contracts, how would we have covered the other 2 years?

Ultimately, he is responsible for what has happened to the club, he has taken gambles which haven't paid off. He and Derby have been unlucky on a number of occasions over the years with a number of events contributing to the current situation. Who knows, had Zamora not scored that goal, Hughes and Bryson got injured, Newcastle, Stoke and Chelsea not sacked their managers, EFL deciding our amortisation policy was wrong years later, EFL questioning the value of the ground, Lampard picking a different team against villa and finally the big one covid, we may have got away with it.

He probably thought that as it was his money, he was entitled to take the gamble. But unfortunately it isn't that simple and the reputation and status of the club are now in question.

MM still has a role to play in all this. I would imagine that he is one of the biggest creditors to the club. If this is the case, then if he's prepared to write off this debt, it could help smooth the way for new owners, but couldn't he have done this before?

6 minutes ago, SouthStandDan said:

Feel sorry for Wycombe now as we're good as down after half a dozen games. The poor sods.

Why feel sorry for Wycombe, they were no where near the championship whilst this was going on?

A difficult time for us all tonight. Unfortunately, I'm at a 'Villa' night at my local cricket club, where the guest speakers are Super Tommy Johnson and Ian Taylor, surrounded by much joviality, but don't feel in the mood. Ian Taylor has wished us all the best and that hopefully we'll come out the other side.

2 hours ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Hughton has the higher win %

Bobby Robson had a higher win % than our Dave Mackay in 1974/75, but I seem to remember seeing us get the 1st division trophy on that sunny afternoon before the Carlisle match.

Looking at the results so far, how many more points are we have likely to have gained, if we had had a decent strength squad not affected by an embargo?

Having another experienced striker on the bench would have likely changed the Peterborough result, probably resulting in an extra 3 points. The ability to have freshened things up may have helped in the other games where points were dropped.

I would say that without the embargo we would likely be 3 to 5 points better off this season and the longer it goes on, the bigger this punishment will be.

The trouble is that due to the system, we're not in a position of strength. The EFL can say accept our over the top penalty (9 points) or we'll keep you in an embargo, which will cost you more than 9 points anyway. I suspect that the club will have to give way, in order that they will be able to sign a couple of decent free agents straight away. Part of the negotiations will be us accepting the punishment providing a business plan is accepted including  an accepted level of new signings, in terms of fees and wages.

6 hours ago, sage said:

We need to go back to how we played in the first few games. Yesterday, whilst brave, has to be a one off.

 

Surely, we don't have to play one way or another, can't we mix it up a bit?

Last night, there were a few opportunities for Roos to play the ball short to a defender, who wasn't under pressure. By mixing it up during a game, you don't let the opposition settle into a pattern of play.

16 minutes ago, Unlucky Alf said:

 

Wasn't there some sort of word from the authorities to STOP! using a towel when cleaning the ball a few seasons back? they could only use their shirts.

Just wait until winter sets in, WBA will have hair dryers installed around the pitch, because you can throw a warm dry ball further.

It's annoying when refs give you the hurry up, but allow teams to spend ages, drying the ball with a towel.

How many teams in this league are relying on the tactic of lumping in long throws to giants in the centre of the box? That's 3 teams now, Boro, Blues and WBA, out of only 7 matches played. Amazingly, that tactic hasn't resulted in a goal in any of those games, thanks to our old guys in the centre of defence.

Poor refereeing again, 3 times in the second half a blatant foul on a Derby, picked up by the commentator, wasn't given and led to a dangerous Albion attack. Also, he made us take the throwins from the correct place, but allowed their long thrower to do it pretty much from where he liked, again picked up by the commentator a couple of times. He even hurried us up on a couple of throws but let their player spend half an hour, polishing the ball.

But a fine rearguard action by our defence, with Roos playing well and a special word for our fans who backed the team throughout, completely overwhelming the home support.

10 minutes ago, jimmyp said:

Emma's Road to the Championship

Qualifier 1: 6-1, 6-2
Qualifier 2: 6-3, 7-5
Qualifier 3: 6-1, 6-4
Round 1: 6-2, 6-3
Round 2: 6-2, 6-4
Round 3: 6-0, 6-1
Round 4: 6-2, 6-1
Quarter-Final: 6-3, 6-4
Semi-Final: 6-1, 6-4
Championship: 6-4, 6-3

Sets: 20-0 (100%)
Games: 121-50 (70.8%)

I wonder if the player she beat in the qualifier 2, is claiming to be the second best player in the tournament? ?

9 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

And when Fernandez took a 5 minute comfort break immediately after losing the first set. Was that poor form too?

Honestly, there's literally no pleasing some people! 

Unlike Emma's, that was a deliberate attempt to break her opponents concentration. 

Well done Emma, you given me something to smile about, after last night. A highly entertaining match from 2 players who should have great futures.

I don't mind us playing it out from the back, but we aren't playing it 'out'. We're playing it sideways and backwards far too many times and by the law of averages one or several of these passes will go astray. 2 of our 3 league and cup defeats can be directly attributed to this tactic.

1 hour ago, Crewton said:

I don't remember us not being able to get out of our half either. Obviously, if we'd have adopted their tactics, we would technically have spent more time in their half, but since we don't have anyone who can throw the ball 40 metres, it's probably not worth us trying to.

They may have contained us well, but they only had 4 shots on target - and 3 of those came from a combination of our errors and fortunate deflections. Their "creativity" consisted of "kick it to the corners", "throw it into the mixer" and "try to get their main threats sent off".

You say we didn't threaten after their first goal, but we in fact had a dominant spell before they scored the 2nd, with their keeper punching out Lawrence's shot, Sibley blasting the loose ball over and Buchanan putting a couple of dangerous crosses in. Not enough of course, and we didn't get the ball into the space behind their wing-backs enough, but if we'd had a referee and linos who recognised that pulling, barging and dragging down were actually fouls, we might have had more opportunities.

Birmingham were well-organised and had a plan that they stuck to, they got two serious 'rubs of the green', but "miles better"? Not in my eyes.

Well put, in addition to that, how many potential attacks of ours were broken up by niggly cynical fouls near the half way line?

Also, how many times did I hear the commentator say after a challenge on one of our players, 'that would have been a foul last season'?

10 minutes ago, Blondest Goat said:

Really?  They were miles better than us. 

Really, agreed they didn't have kamikaze defensive play, but I can't recall one good chance created by their team.

The scoreline tonight was;

Birmingham 0 Derby -2

Sky drooling over Birmingham, like they played like Man City.  I can't remember 1 incident where they created a goal scoring opportunity, whereas we did actually create 2 or 3 good chances, but overall a poor performance with poor tactics.

I got a screenshot the email ticket on my phone for the Boro game and it worked fine, I made sure that the orientation of the QR code was the correct way, though.

40 minutes ago, 24Charlie said:

It’s the whole point. The fact that it’s wrong winds them up more. It’s hard for them to counter that chant as they have to somehow explain that it’s the Black Country not Birmingham, by which time you’ve fallen asleep. It’s a bit like calling For*st, Notts For*st on purpose as we do.

Generally speaking people mistaking our Birmingham accent for that of the Black Country are just plain dumb or ignorant. So when fans sing yamyam to Blues fans, they probably aren't being wound up, they are probably thinking what a bunch of idiots. I see it so many times on tv shows where they give Black country accents to people supposedly from as far away as south Warwickshire. I wonder if people mistake the Mancs and the Scousers?

What I can't understand with the EFL, is that why aren't clubs who get promoted to the Premier after breaking FFP rules, not subject to a points deduction on return to the championship?  The likes of QPR and Bournemouth should have started their first season back in the championship on negative points.

Not seen much of Joz going forward, but I was impressed with his defensive work against England's £100M wonder player.

5 hours ago, tinman said:

Didn’t it happen a couple of times last season too? I seem to remember Knight playing on Wednesday for Ireland and us on the Friday

Yes, I remember that, but that was our own fault. We should have put back our Good Friday fixture by 24 hours. I don't remember hearing that we were prevented from doing so.

They should not be having Friday TV matches in the top 2 divisions at the end of an international week.