WestKentRam

There are lots of questions raised by the interview such as these, but I'm not sure when if ever we'll get answers, apart from what can be gleaned from the accounts when they are released, but this won't indicate future plans ie for next season. I'm no financial expert, but reading abut the League One EFL financial rules, SCMP, that are different to those in the Championship, owners can inject any amount of cash into a club and this money can be used on wages, so a rich owner could essentially buy their way out of the league. https://www.efl.com/governance/regulations/#heading-part-2-league-one-salary-cost-management-protocol-scmp-guidance-notes So without knowing how much other clubs with lower attendances are spending in this way, then Derby being a supposedly 'big' club in League One may be misleading.

The 45% on player wages to turnover stat interests me and what this means for the future, if the standard EFL financial rules apply from next season rather than having to submit and then abide by a business plan that was the case this season different to how other clubs had to operate in the league. If anyone on here has football financial knowledge, the (lots of) questions I would have are... 1) How does 45% compare to other League One clubs? If we were to stay on L1, would this figure stay the same for next season or be cautiously increased? 2) Is it all too complicated due to transfer fees, loan fees etc having to be factored in next season? If so, why was the 45% figure repeatedly mentioned in the interview as evidence of our good financial management now? 3) If promoted to the Championship, would 45% be the aim? Is the only difference then the TV money as increased income? 4) As we get bigger home gates than all other clubs in L1, does this translate to increased income compared to other clubs that is available to spend on players? Our average home gate this season is 1.29X that of Bolton who have the second largest, and 2.79x the league average. Going to away matches at clubs with much smaller attendances and worse facilities, it makes me think, surely we must have a much greater income than them? Of course spending money on players is often a road to ruin as we know, but if done properly with the right players who are managed in the right way, given that league position is hugely related to expenditure, should we effectively be 'expected' to get promoted next season if it doesn't happen in this one?

Heads up that if you're driving the car park on Queens Road mentioned on Barnsley FC website for away fans isn't open, just for disabled, as grass there is waterlogged. Parked up the road at riding club for £3.

Madley gave Chris Martin a second yellow for being fouled and so it wasn't a straight red, so it couldn't be appealed and CM got a one match ban.

I enjoyed the game today, mainly because I wasn't expecting us to get anything from it, what with Evans' pre match shenanigans and Collins not in the squad. Must admit I was disappointed Evans didn't come over to the away fans after the game for his trademark celebration, but instead he immediately skulked off down the tunnel. His bitter post match comments do bring me joy though. Haven't seen such a buoyant post match mood at PP for some time.

I would like to formally retract this statement. Until reading this thread and then looking it up further, I didn't realise Evans had a conviction for fraud in 2006 related to his getting Boston United promoted to the Football League and hiding payments from tax for five years to enable them to spend more on players. Not only that, he was incredibly smug over his rivals when gaining promotion, knowing all along he did it by cheating. A journalist in an article in the Independent in 2012 was of the view 'Having interviewed Evans before his misdeeds at Boston were exposed, it is remarkable how little he seems to have changed.' https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/fa-league-cups/steve-evans-i-apologised-now-i-m-just-judged-on-my-results-6295854.html Am looking forward to tomorrow even less so now, especially as Evans has put pre match pressure on the ref yet again in a game involving us, even though he says he doesn't know who is officiating the game, with the coincidence being he had a post match rant about the same ref two month's ago in the press. The sight of him fist pumping the away end if they win will be too much.

There's no harm in keeping his cards close to his chest though. If Collins had a scan today no need to give the result of that to Evans. and so keep him guessing to potentially affect Stevenage's team selection and line up.

I don't even remember that episode in the pain that the game still causes me! Just recall Russell not being effective at all, and it dawned on me that he was never going to score and we were never going to be the same with Martin injured.

I looked it up as having the same ref as for the away game there in October would finish me off. Looks like it's not Kirk but Tom Reeves with Michael Webb and Danny Jarvis and Fourth Official Marvyn Amphlett. However Evans has a huge beef Reeves with had a pop at him only a couple of months ago. Very poor preparation on Evans' part not knowing who the ref for the game is on Saturday, and what a coincidence he's recently had a run in with him. https://www.thecomet.net/sport/23963735.steve-evans-blasts-horrendous-penalty-decision-cup-tie/

I sincerely hope Collins is ok and it's a tactic by PW to keep Steve Evans guessing prior to our game on Saturday. It can't help but bring back the trauma of the 14/15 season when Chris Martin picked up an injury at the same time of the season when we were in a similar position in the table, and was out for 10 games. Darren Bent got injured as well, and, hey presto, no striker. Johnny Russell was played up top but didn't score a single goal in this period. Wolves away was particularly painful and sticks in my memory. We slipped down the league and the season fizzled out with us finishing 8th. Of note, the first game we played after Martin got injured was Rotherham away, managed by a certain Steve Evans. 3-3. His post match comments were along his usual themes: "What an advert for Rotherham United being (in) the Championship. "There's tinges of great disappointment being 3-1 up. We got a point but we have come across the best team and manager in the division."

As much as I don't like Steve Evans I admire the way he goes about his job and what he has done at Stevenage. His pre match routine must include a check list that has 'put pressure on the ref' on it. I also recall him doing the same before our away game there in October with the report then little different to now: 'Stevenage boss Steve Evans is "afraid" of what kind of referee will be in charge of their game against Derby County this Saturday (3pm kick-off) as the mind games began ahead of the League One clash.' https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/derby-county-steve-evans-referees-885826. During the match it felt as if his mind games worked, as Washington was taken down from behind in the penalty area when shaping up to shoot. No penalty given and it was 2-1 at the time. There was some debate about the penalty given against Forsyth who tackled their player in the penalty area, got the ball, but a penalty was given. All he needs to do is put that little seed of doubt in the ref's mind when big decisions come up like this, and job done.

Or a separate thread debating the various Paul Warne threads? I'm sure you're right but it also depends on the style of football. I find nothing more tedious than possession based side to side crab football without any attacking threat, that had been our modus operandi in the recent past. It sticks in my throat to use FFP cheats (don't get me started) Leicester as an example, but they won the PL in 15/16 with 42.4% average possession, although with a particular counter attacking style that we don't possess to the same degree. What I like to see is positive attacking football. In the past while watching our games under different managers, drifting off into boredom and struggling to work out which way we were kicking, I did think that if an alien was suddenly dropped into our stadium they'd have no idea the aim of the game was to get the ball into the opposition's net. When PW took over it seemed that for the first couple of games a switch was flicked as if no backwards or sidewards passes were allowed, pressing was everything with forward attacking football. That didn't last long and there now seems to be a lot more hopeful balls forward up in the air, with bouts of head tennis and lack of coordinated passing between players. Overall it seems obvious PW knows 'how to get out of this league' and hopefully we'll do so this season, but I share others' views that it often isn't an easy watch.

Don't they say if you win your away games and draw your home games you've got a great chance of going up? 🤔

Looking forward to this game to see what sort of a reaction we come up with after the last two performances. After listening to the excellent Rams Talk pre match podcast I'm more than slightly nervous. Cheltenham's upturn in form under their new manager apparently is to press teams with a lot of energy from the start, don't sit back but attack, quieten the crowd in the first 20 mins, and take it from there.

Yep, it's back now with correct dates.

Reading game has vanished on away ticket section. I assume dates are being amended and will be reposted. Staring at my computer now with multiple refreshes...

When I got to my seat/standing area before kick off I sat down and promptly smacked the back of my head on the rail of the seat behind me. Will only take me a couple of seasons to learn not to do that again.

I really think the club is missing a trick here. Every time I've gone into the club shop pre match it's obvious there are a lot of people looking for the hats PW sports in press footage but do not seem to be on sale. A couple of home games ago there was one supporter in the shop wearing a not dissimilar bobble hat and he said a desperate punter had offered to buy the hat from his head as it looked close enough! He declined as it was freezing outside and he needed it to keep his bonce warm.