jono

I'll leave this one to the drongos.

It seems that the vast majority of his signings get off to a sluggish start. Then, after a period of time their performances improve considerably.
Proves that as a coach he is more than capable and is ability to get his message across to the players.
He couldn't get a tune out of Kane, Ward, Sonny at first and then they contributed significantly. Sibs and Tommo got better as the season went on also.
Proves that we have a strong coaching outfit at DCFC
I fully expect CBT to hit the ground running next season as will Elder
 
 

Smith and Bradley really stepped up towards the end of the season when we needed them most. Nelson and Cash were great for the majority of the season, but I thought Bradley was a colossus over the last month. Similarly, Smith really came into his own around the same time as well. I love that we really carried no one this year. At different times in the season everyone has contributed something.

The consensus on Cardiff forums is largely the same as ours  : £500k would be about right but screw us for more if they can. They're up against it a little on FFP, so it seems there's a deal to be done, unless Vincent Tan is as contrary as Chanserai at SWFC.

Think you are being very harsh on Thommo, he’s more than just a keen runner

This also resulted in Smith playing some of his best football with us.

I didn’t particularly rate him when he first came. He provided balance and was immense as a screen but gave the ball away more than he actually won it.
But as soon as Smith came back in it changed.
Smith was the one sitting a little deeper, picking passes from deep and keeping things tidy.
This allowed Adams to start rampaging forward. He was still the steel of the midfield but he was using his energy to get forward as well as just putting his foot in.
Just something I noticed.

Our season tickets were by the players’ family block and I was talking to Ebou’s mates / family at half time on Saturday. They said he’s really enjoyed it here, but Cardiff want “extortionate money” for him. I don’t know how informed they are, or what extortionate means in this context, just repeating what they told me.
They also said he’s got a year left on his contract but there’s an option for a further year, so I assume Cardiff have the option to effectively make it a 2 year contract and push the price up.
I’m still confident we’ll get Ebou. I think he’ll want to come and there will be a price at which Cardiff will let him go, hopefully within our budget. Just hope it doesn’t become too protracted.

More desperate we look, higher the price tag.
Can stay at Cardiff for me, but if they want rid to raise some money I think we should help them out, bit of charity warms the soul.

I didn't get to many games this season, but did see his debut away at Charlton. The team looked much better straight away and it was also when the 3 cbs looked like it could work.
It took a few weeks for people to realise, but this wasn't 5 at the back. It was 3, but with Adams infront stopping the opposition running at that. As the season went on, Adams started to show he could play a bit too and became more than just a great ball winner. His positional sense is great too, always in the right position.
Regardless of other signings, getting Adams in early would already give us a solid defensive foundation for next season, alongside our exisiting CBs, including Forsyth and Nyambe who could play a back 3 too, plus Wildsmith.
In terms of priorities, Wilson, Ward, Sibley and Elder are decent enough for the wing backs.
We can focus on more attack minded midfielders and centre forwards.
 

I'm so ready for another George Thorne summer saga

In terms of impactful signings, Ebou has etched his name into Rams folklore because without him I don’t doubt for a single minute that we wouldn’t have been promoted automatically. He’s been absolutely phenomenal for us. 
At first there was Osman, then there was Thorne, followed by the trio of Mount, Wilson and Tomori.. now there is Ebou Adams.

I was hoping someone had read the books & started watching the series. I loved the books. It's just a shame C. J. Sansom died last week just before the series started. 

Has no-one realised that Blackburn stayed up today by beating Leicester - one of the results that sealed Birmingham's fate.
This current manager of Blackburn is...?

Got to love the 2,000 Norwich fans baiting the home crowd with 
"Que sera sera
Whatever will be will be
You're going to Shrewsbury 
Que sera sera"
🤣

Let's not forget as well that they've announced a new stadium:

If they're building a 60,000 capacity stadium they'd better hope that Stevenage and Burton bring a big away support 
 

They're not in Administration and they've got hugely wealthy owners. They'll survive. When they took the piss out of us, we were on the brink of oblivion and their taunts must have made some of our more vulnerable fans even lousier, so I think we're allowed a bit of schadenfreude at their expense.

Ah, poor Lee Buchanan, who tried to walk away from Derby for nothing because he was too good for League One

We also have our academy which simply has to be productive for us to be in any sense "sustainable".
Whether it's producing players for our first team or to sell for profits doesn't matter.
I'm hoping that we can see Paul Warne develop some signings and potentially turn a profit there as well.

Absolutely.
Without over egging it, I'm sure potential signings will not be looking at DCFC as a scrape around the bottom trying to avoid league 1, which you can't help but feel everyone signing for Rotherham knew they were signing up for.
 

I think it is more than funds though; my guess is we will have a bit of money and some latitude but I am hoping the difference that will help Warne may is that we are Derby County … not Accrington Stanley. There just must be ambitious players who want the right stage every bit as much the big pay packet ? 

I think it is more than funds though; my guess is we will have a bit of money and some latitude but I am hoping the difference that will help Warne may is that we are Derby County … not Accrington Stanley. There just must be ambitious players who want the right stage every bit as much the big pay packet ? 

I think it is more than funds though; my guess is we will have a bit of money and some latitude but I am hoping the difference that will help Warne may is that we are Derby County … not Accrington Stanley. There just must be ambitious players who want the right stage every bit as much the big pay packet ?