Birdyabroad

10 minutes ago, Elwood P Dowd said:

RIP Sir Bobby Charlton 

My condolences go to his family.

He was a great ambassador for the sport.

On a separate note, however, queue the SkySports love-in.

I mean this with no disrespect, but SkySports are so far up Man U's a*se, that they will be milking this news to the enth degree.

As I say though, a great ambassador for football.

27 minutes ago, RamsFan10 said:

I heard Jude Bellingham has Korey Smith posters in his bedroom. 

I hear that Mickey Mouse walks around with a Korey Smith watch on!

2 minutes ago, Sufferingfool said:

Yep, a much better performance than any other at home but no luck in front of a packed goalmouth. The new guys in midfield and right back have added some defensive steel, but as we all know we lack something up front.

Yes I was frustrated by the end, but that is football when you can’t get it in the net.
 

A big part of the problem is that a crowd of top Championship/Premiership size and expectations is having to watch budget players of Div 1 standard and the frustration at lack of quality is obvious. But that is where we are at and as with Sunderland, Ipswich etc before us found it may be sometime yet till we find the right balance and escape!

As I recall back in the 80’s when we were down there it was a lucky pen which got us out. For much of the time crowds were half what we get at present and not full of people fed a constant diet of Premiership football to judge the team against. We have to be patient.

I will add that it is our second year out of administration.

If it wasn’t for Rosenior’s little black phone book at the start of last year, we could have dropped like a stone.

Those saying that they don’t like loan players are not keeping up with modern life.

We don’t own anything anymore.

We buy cars on monthly credit, we buy houses, owned by the bank, on ridiculously long mortgages. We don’t buy CD’s and DVD’s anymore because we pay monthly to streaming services  such as Spotify and Netflix.

Apart from the clothes on our back, for many in the U.K., we own surprisingly little and, even then, some of it is on the credit card.

It’s the same with players at lower league levels; if you can’t afford top talent, you HAVE to rent them.

I recommend, therefore, a new mindset for loan naysayers.

Relax, enjoy and support the team on a Season-By-Season basis, I.E., if Clark signs, fully support him because he IS a Derby player for this season and NOT a Liverpool player (Unless he’s recalled in Jan 😞)

I follow NFL and they have such a stupid turnaround of talent every season, through trades etc, fans have adopted a saying: ‘Don’t get addicted to the talent’

In other words, accept a player is playing for you THAT season, marvel at their skills but DON’T fall in love with them, because they may be off elsewhere next season.

So, if Clark signs, or whoever we may loan, and they turn out to be the next messiah, be thankful that we had a season to enjoy them and wish them all the best at the end 😎

I’m reading comments on here about how we should spend £2 million on players.

Regardless of whether we sell Cashin, given that we clearly have a financially prudent owner and are only in the second year out of administration, with all of the financial limitations that this comes with, anybody thinking we’re going to drop a couple of million on a player has lost touch with reality.

If this applies to you, please wash your face in the sink, take a hard look in the mirror and come to terms with the waters that we are swimming in this year.

A lot of posts now saying ‘Thompson needs to start’ after a competent run off the bench last night.

Well you guys must see something that I don’t.

Yeah, he runs about a bit and is ‘one of our own’, but I’ve seen nothing to suggest he’s anything above a competent player and honestly feel that he’ll find his level in League 2 - Hopefully not with us 😞

Happy to be proven wrong, but just can’t see it 🤷‍♂️

Apologies if this point has already been made but, from my limited knowledge, it seems that there has been commitment from the manager and chairman to breathe new life into the academy set-up.

Players who were not going to make it (for us) have been moved on and new players, from big clubs such as Rangers and Spurs (I think) have come in.

There has also been significant changes made to coaching staff and, whilst I don’t know if this has made the set-up stronger, they have clearly looked at things and done what they feel is for the best. I’m hoping, for example, that this former Southampton academy guy can work some magic, as the cupboard at U18 and U21 level was left fairly bare after administration.

The only reason I raise this is because some seem to be raising the point that we’ve invested in old-timers this season, but maybe (hopefully) things are happening at academy level that may see some fruit in the near future.

I quite like the home kit, am looking forward to seeing the away version.

Judging by some of the paranoia on here about the colour red, anyone would think we’re more worried about a touch of red than the Crips!

I think we all need to hope/pray that he passes this medical tomorrow 🙏

If it should go sideways, due to the X-Ray confirming that his leg bones are, in fact, made of straw, then we’re back to less then square one with him.

We’d be left with, arguably, the highest paid want-away player in the division.

Our options would be to mutually terminate his contract at great expense, play him, disgruntled and risk injury, or hope that some Championship club take a risk on him on a free and we pay a small contribution to his wages.

All three will put a burden on our finances 😞

So, back to praying he passes the damn thing tomorrow and we move on.

5 minutes ago, BuckoBeast said:

Half that and I’d take it 

In this market, a quarter of that figure and I’d take it

Good thread.

I would have, obviously, taken promotion but it was always a bit of a ‘free hit’ for me this season; we really had no idea what a squad assembled in a hurry from Liam R’s phonebook was going to do, and it was probably above expectation.

One other positive, I can’t help but think/hope that the teams dropping into League One, Wigan, Blackpool, Reading, will not be as strong as Plymouth, Ipswich and Wednesday (Most probably) - We may be one of the bookies faves next season 🤷‍♂️

Relax, enjoy your summer and UTR! 💪

25 minutes ago, Boycie said:

I’m glad I made the correct decision to have a weekend away, that was a boring watch. 
Cashin’s distribution out of defence needs work.  The midfield looked lack of ideas and the strikers looked like they’d never played for us before.

Football is about perspectives, but I thought it was a good game to watch against two, evenly matched, teams.

I actually thought we were the better team and, if Collins could have connected with that half volley, we could have won.

I also think we need some context, Sheff Weds have more experience in this league now and a bigger, more settled, squad. 

All in all, probably a fair result and one that gives me optimism, I think Warne is hardening our, at times, soft underbelly ?
 

1 hour ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

This fella bothers me.  He seems to be a bit like that middle manager at work constantly coming up with 'deep diving' irrelevant ideas to make your life more miserable, whilst sniffing round the boardrooms arse using these ideas to prove how proactive he is.  Not like Derby haven't played Liverpool before many many times.  Your not at Rotherham anymore. All rather bilious.

Hadn’t thought of this, but I think you’ve nailed it. As soon as I read these words, it summed him up perfectly.

I hope he does well, obviously because I love the club, but it’s a bit David Brent-ish with added ‘Quality Improvement Plan’ ?

I was at the game yesterday on a rare trip to Pride Park for me.

I find some of these ratings bizarre. I'm not sure how anyone could give McGoldrick a 6/6.5??? I thought he was outstanding, you could see that he was a level above most others and came off to a standing ovation. We were still actually winning when he came off, so how he gets below an 8 staggers me.

The other rating that confuses me is Cashin at around a 6. I had a perfect view of the error that led to the final goal and, therefore, can see why his grade has tumbled, but I thought he was as solid as a rock in defence and seemed to win everything, I also thought that he was very confident on the ball when playing-out from the back. If we had won or drawn I personally would have given him an 8/8.5, but now I'm typing this, maybe a 6/6.5 is reflective of the bad error.

I agree that Bird and Hourihane should be low, apart from a great pass in from Bird for the second goal, thought they were chasing shadows for a lot of the game and the 2nd half especially.

The other player that I am low on is Thompson, he looked so behind the game, I have absolutely no idea what he was trying to do?? I thought that he was brought on to man-mark their number 7 (Someone called Butcher who, unfortunately, ran the game) but, alas, he just seemed to run about - How someone could give him a 5, a point/point-and-a-half lower than McG is baffling ?‍♂️

It is transfer deadline today and I, like many on here, would like to see a couple of signings as I think that the squad is thin in places.

The reality is that we may only see us linked with other teams academy prospects, which we will (hopefully) take on loan.

There seems to be some debate as to whether this is a good or bad thing and I think that arguments on both sides make sense, I.e., loaning a young starlet from Liverpool/Chelsea who wants some first team football may make us stronger (I.e., Wilson and Tomori). On the other hand, if they do well, then we are only increasing their value to Chelsea as they are unlikely to sign for us and will go to a higher bidder (I.e., Wilson and Tomori).

However, what the latter argument does not take into account is how the world around us seems to be changing; we are moving from a nation of 'owners' to a nation of 'renters'. I have some examples:

We no longer own music/CD's/Vinyl like we used to. Going out and physically buying records has been replaced by a subscription model, such as Spotify/Apple Music, where we 'rent' millions of songs at our finger tips for a monthly fee. A similar thing is happening with films and DVD's, where instead of physically owning DVD's, we pay monthly subscriptions to SKY/Netflix, etc, and use these as our film library. Anyone who has wandered into a HMV recently will notice how they as a business have had to adapt to this cultural shift, they are reducing the amount of space where they stock DVD's and CD's and are replacing these with t-shirts, toys, books, novelty items and even Japanese drinks and chocolates.

I teach in a local FE College and train students how to use the Adobe suite (Photoshop, After Effects, etc). One upon a time you had to buy these programmes outright and they could cost anywhere between £800-£1,200 per programme, which was far too expensive for students or people starting out. Now Adobe have changed their ownership model and, instead, you can pay anything between £25 to £55 per months to use all of the programmes - Renting instead of owning.

This model of ownership is not just specific to media and computing. For example, many motorists are heading down the HP route nowadays, my wife recently paid a small deposit for her car and now pays monthly, in 4 years she will have a few options, one of which will be to hand the car back and start the process again with a brand new car. Again, we as a nation are increasingly less owning our cars and, in effect, 'renting' them.

Therefore, back on topic, I cannot help thinking that this 'rental' model might be the way that things are going, especially for clubs in Div 1. Don't get me wrong, I love to see a youngster, like Sibley and Cashin, come through our academy ranks and commit their future to the club. 

However, I am also willing to accept that, similar to other businesses, we may all have to adapt to the fact that we may be an attractive proposition for youngsters in Premier League/High-end Championship academies, given our facilities and stature in the game. Yes, this will mean that we may have some 'mercenary' players with no links to the club and we may only see them for one year, but it also means that we are not saddled with an average player on a long team contract (See many of our signings over the last 10 years) and, just maybe, there could be some long term potential if the loan works out well for both parties. 

Going back to someone such as Tomori, I would argue that Tennyson got it right when he said 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all', and no, this does not mean that I was in love with Tomori, just that I was glad to see him in a Derby shirt for one season.

So whoever comes in on loan today, if any, let's not worry about if they are taking another players shirt or stopping our own academy products, if they are good enough then they'll be in the first team and if they do go back to their parent club and make them a tidy profit, at least we will have benefit from the good football they would have played here.

8 minutes ago, Kokosnuss said:

Also note PPS is a cashless stadium now, so only card & mobile payments accepted.

(when it was announced we were going cashless the website didn't actually mention the ticket office, just  'Concourse Refreshment Kiosks, Betting Stations, and Hospitality facilities', but I'd assume it must also include ticket purchases)

Are you going along tonight, or will it be a kashless stadium too?

I see what you did there, very good ?

11 minutes ago, 68 Guns said:

I'd love to be able to comment but once again the only thing not working is Rams TV. I can stream anything I want except what i actually want to. 

Rams TV working good for me (I purchased the subscription). What browser are you using? Might be worth switching to Chrome if you are not doing so already 

Let’s face it, we are entering the new season in administration ?

48 hours into the future

To get the ball rolling, here are mine:

1, 2nd Football Team: Torquay (I live there now)

2, Non-English Football Team: Barcelona (Classic)

3, Cricket Team: Essex County Cricket Club (Grew up in East London / Graham Gooch)

4, Rugby Union and/or League Team: Exeter Chiefs / Sydney Roosters

5, NFL Team: Miami Dolphins (Dan Marino)

6, NHL / MLB / NBA / MLS Team: New York Mets (Went to a game once and loved it)

7, Miscellaneous Team (I.e., Formula 1, other nation sport teams, etc: Plymouth Gladiators (Speedway)

8, Individual Athletic Sportsman Or Woman (I.e., tennis, golf, boxer, etc): Rory McIlroy

9, Individual Indoor Sportsman Or Woman (I.e., snooker, darts, etc): Ronnie O'Sullivan

10, Sportsman Or Woman Deceased: Shane Warne (RIP)

Inspired by another thread created yesterday, I thought that to lighten the gloom, perhaps we should share our mutual love of football and all sports.

You never know, there might be a couple of lifelong 'New England Patriots' fans on here that have never connected.

So, here goes the list, what is your FAVOURITE...

1, 2nd Football Team:

2, Non-English Football Team:

3, Cricket Team:

4, Rugby Union and/or League Team:

5, NFL Team:

6, NHL / MLB / NBA / MLS Team:

7, Miscellaneous Team (I.e., Formula 1, other nation sport teams, etc):

8, Individual Athletic Sportsman Or Woman (I.e., tennis, golf, boxer, etc):

9, Individual Indoor Sportsman Or Woman (I.e., snooker, darts, etc):

10, Sportsman Or Woman Deceased:

I’ve tried to remain optimistic, believing that we’re too much of a ‘brand’ to go down the tubes, surely someone will rescue us right?

But, today, with the Ebosele news, I’m finally defeated.

For years, like many, I’ve been excited at the prospect of our academy finally bearing fruit and, just as it does, due to our financial predicament, we’re losing them all one-by-one on free’s or for peanuts.

I firmly believe that, even if we get a new owner, this will put us in the wilderness in League One (Or even lower) for possibly a decade.

We’ve sold our future, have six or something signed players and will have to fill the team with lower league journeymen, less talented youngsters and loans from teams like Norwich, West Brom, Watford, etc.

It looks desperate from here.

I was a Mel Morris fan, thought he was a Derby lad made good and I felt the buzz when we made high profile signings (I would have been less thrilled if I knew the future was being gambled with).

Now, he is going to have to live with the fact that his legacy is that he’s financially ruined the club at worst or has set the club back ten years at best.

?
 

1 hour ago, Elwood P Dowd said:

I once read an article, by an accountant, in Accountancy Today magazine, he wrote that there are only 3 types of accountants, those that can count and those that can’t count. 

I’d heard a similar one about clowns…

’There are two types of people in the world, those that hate clowns and…

Clowns’ ?

I think Andy Durham wants to spend more time thinking about his own position.

I listen to Talksport Drive and can honestly say that Andy Goldstein and Darren Bent’s show is 10x better than Durham’s.

Goldstein and Bent’s show is genuinely funny and lighthearted, Durham relies on shock-jock sound bites meant to rile people up and get the phone lines buzzing - His show is about as cheery as a dose of COVID.

I’m certain the Talksport hierarchy are on to this and Goldstein will be taking over Drive permanently and then Durham can bore off somewhere, hopefully!

?

Knowing Derby, if this lad ever makes his England debut, we’ll probably have to pay Liverpool! ?

Although we’ll only be able to offer them some chocolate buttons now ?