ram59

Born and bred within earshot of Elmdon (Birmingham) Airport. My parents never showed any interest in football so, as  a youngster, I followed Spurs like my older cousin. This continued to the age of 11, in 1970, when a London Spurs fan joined our class. He quickly became the gang leader and everyone became Spurs fans. I rebelled and conveniently Derby had the same kit and Dave Mackay, all I had to do, was to rip off my glued on cockerel badge on my white shirt, leaving behind the brown glue. I'm still friends with that Spurs fan and quite often see him getting on the train on the way to a Spurs match, when I get my morning paper.

Fortunately or maybe unfortunately, Derby were quite successful at the time and it was easy to get hooked, getting my first season ticket in 1973/74 season and only missing 3 seasons, due to work, about 42 years ago.

1 hour ago, Coconut said:

"as confident as ever" not "more confident than ever" 

Big difference.

First signing is the new tea lady, old one retired and needed replacing.

Does she count as 1 of the 4, though?

1 hour ago, Sparkle said:

Proper 6 pointer to start with 

No, it isn't......................I can't see Huddersfield being involved in the promotion chase. ?

I suspect that we're holding off signings atm, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, if we only have 4 available, it's best not to make an early signing, only for that player to get injured in a friendly or training. Secondly, if we're hoping for a softening of our embargo, it may make a difference to the players available and the contracts offered.

Now we have lost many of our high wage earners, will it be possible for the club to break even this coming season with the owners subsidising only future player purchases, rather than the day to day running of the club?

I wonder if there's any chance we could get Liam Delap back, on loan?

10 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

I'm certain I could scan off my phone in 19/20. They've either changed the scanners since, or they're just saying it to cover themselves in case some phones are too large to fit in the scanner?

Yes, I did the same, but with the insurance policy of having a printed copy also. I zoomed in on my barcode so it was across the width of the screen and done a screenshot. Otherwise, your phone doesn't fit in the reader, lengthways

Unfortunately, it's a no from me. I don't whether it's down to covid or down to the turmoil surrounding the club, ATM.

Hopefully, once I've been to a couple of games, the old enthusiasm will return. ?

8 minutes ago, Rammy03 said:

Yeah, it's no coincidence that we picked up all those points while he was in the side and then started losing again when he was injured. You could see the impact he had just by the way the team played. We looked a decent outfit for a time. 

We averaged 1.75 points per game when he started last season, which would work out at 80 points over the course of a season. If we get half a season out of him, it would equate to 40 points for that half alone, nearly our total for the whole of last season.

3 hours ago, Ramslad1992 said:

I know it’s not ideal but regarding the loan fee could they send him us on loan for 6 months (with an agreement to extend another 6 months) in return for one of our better youth prospects on a permanent? 

Wouldn't they just take them anyway, just like they did with Delap?

6 minutes ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

The 3 Amigo days, for as bad as they were, we saw George Burley build a team with Raziak, Idiakez, Reich, Bisgaard. We were able to loan players like Osman.

It's a shame really as we saw some good football.

The most depressing time for me was spring 1984, instead of being able to celebrate our centenary, we faced repeated High Court appearances to have the club wound up. The final straw appeared to have been on the day of the home defeat to Plymouth in the FA Cup quarter final. Our 'final' appeal at the high court had been thrown out earlier that day, no potential new owner seemed likely and the only hope of salvation seemed to be in a possible FA Cup final appearance. The game at home to Plymouth, struggling in div 3, with a Semi final with the next weakest team left in the competition beckoned and gave us hope. We lost to a solitary goal direct from a corner and as we made our way home, I feared that that was the last game I would see as a Derby supporter.

However, salvation, in the form of Robert Maxwell, seemed to appear from nowhere. Although, it didn't end well with Maxwell, I do wonder what would have happened to club, if he hadn't turned up when he did.

25 minutes ago, Sidd10 said:

I've not read the rules thoroughly, but is it a professional start or appearance? Because with this I guess Ebosele and maybe Stretton, Brown and McDonald haven't started a game. Seems awfully unfair to class a player within a 'professional' standing when their minutes might not even add up to 90!

I believe it's just an appearance, that counts.

It's also unclear whether Darren Robinson's appearance in the Northern Ireland Premiership counts, which would reduce it to 3 players.

27 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

Eric Steele often says “ We need more Nonce on the pitch”. Goodness knows where we are going to get that from. He also says- “ Judge Wazza when it’s his team”. Well it’s Rooney’s choice. He will choose players to suit his system, style and ethos. By the time he has had a year in charge , he will have had 2 windows. Fans in Pride Park will let him know what they think.

You can't be serious in claiming that he's had 2 windows, atm. He's being operating under an embargo, which seriously restricts who he can bring in, limiting him to players other clubs don't want. Any player of any value, is not available to Rooney. Nigel had untold riches to spend, when compared with Rooney.

21 minutes ago, bimmerman said:

Who in their right mind would have an agreement with Mel Morris in place? Blokes reputation is through the floor and he's seen to be financially flawed so can't see anybody ever agreeing to anything like that with Derby whilst he's the owner

If 19 clubs can vote Ridsdale onto the EFL board, anything is possible.

If the club are confident of coming out of the embargo when the season has started, maybe they will have gentlemen's agreement or agreements in place for various player or players, loans or otherwise. 

We could have Menghi sorted for the season, starting 18th August, rather than till the new year starting this week.

1 hour ago, Kernow said:

 

Jagielka would have the edge on Davies for me as his longevity and injury record at the end of his career has been better.

I don't what his injury situation has been, but Jagielka has only played 23 games over the last 3 seasons. That doesn't fill me with confidence in him playing 40+ championship games. Davies impressed me with the speed of both his physical and mental recovery from his serious injury last season, you couldn't question his commitment to the club.

If Rooney decides choose from the group of players which have been training with us, at least there will have been some continuity since the start of pre season training, as a result of those players putting a bit of faith in the club and turning up without being paid.

I'd be tempted to take a risk and let Marshall go. A player who was on the bench at the end of last season and is also a current international, who would attract interest and a small fee. Could then bring in a striker which is more important, atm.

In the unfortunate situation whereby Roos got injured, we should be able to get a keeper on emergency loan.

28 minutes ago, jake0603 said:

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/Derby-county-transfer-embargo-u-5674155.amp?__twitter_impression=true

Looks like there will be some movement on this. Expect to see Davies and Mengi being announced soon then. 

Maybe the club have discussed the 'nuclear option' of sacking the Chorley team with the EFL and the EFL don't want to be responsible for ending those young players' careers?

49 minutes ago, r_wilcockson said:

Jóźwiak could be a different player this season with fans behind him and a year of getting to know the league (assuming he isn't sold...) 

I think that having Bielik back will make a huge difference also, he'll soon be back in training in and around the first team squad and hopefully playing by xmas if he matches his last recovery pattern. On that note, he seems to be implying that he is able to progress better this time, without the full lockdown restrictions from last year.

31 minutes ago, Charlotte Ram said:

You couldn't make it up, for all the youngster here are his qualifications;

Ridsdale's sports consultancy firm WH Sports Group Limited, which provided advice to football clubs from 2003, failed in 2009 with debts of more than £475,000. Ridsale was found to have diverted payments by football clubs totalling £347,000, due to the company, into his personal bank account. In October 2012, he was disqualified as a company director until April 2020 after an inquiry by the Insolvency Service. His wife Sophie Ridsdale was likewise banned from acting as a director of any company until 2016.[22]

That's only half the story, take a look at Wiki, he's been less than successful at Leeds, Barnsley, Cardiff and Plymouth, leaving all clubs under a cloud.

58 minutes ago, Elwood P Dowd said:

It’s not just the wages, the clubs other overheads need to be paid, Tax, Maintenance, rates, loans etc.

But, it's only the players' wages which need to be paid, to avoid the 3 points' penalties.

1 hour ago, Shaftesbury Street said:

Can he afford too? Or we will be paying the team late racking up -3 point s every month in the process

You got to believe that MM won't let paying the team slip behind. The punishment would be too high, the debt incurred would be taken off the value of the club, the points deductions would also reduce the value of the club. For a person allegedly worth £500M, £1M per month shouldn't be that difficult to finance.

On a side note Nixon is asking the question on how MM can afford the £2M per month players wages. Looking at our current squad of players, where does he get £2M per month from?

2 hours ago, Olton Ram said:

 

I also look to see how my local club are getting on (Solihull Borough)

 

That's a bit 'old school' Olton, they've been Solihull Moors for the last 14 years.

Btw, Jamie Ward was playing for them last season, back to his roots.

3 hours ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Don’t get the crowd argument, surely all teams will benefit won’t they ?

Not really, you only have to look at the league table any season, to see that some teams are better home than other teams in a similar position and some are worse.

Quite often you'll see a midtable team's supporters moan that their home form is bottom six and their away form is top 6.