Arsene Titman

I think it's common knowledge that he's been ill. I think he's said it publicly himself. I'm sure that has a lot to do with his reasons for wanting to sell up. I hope people can show a bit more respect.
We've all made mistakes. Mel is getting slammed for financially backing his managers. For me, his mistakes were his appointments. But none of it was intended to damage the club, only to chase the dream.

he was pre owning Derby, his pockets are a lot emptier now.  People should remember how much of his cash he has put into the club

To be fair, it's well known that we're in a financial hole and also that Mel has had health issues and wants to get out asap. That will attract every chancer going - some more believable than others. Perhaps sitting back and waiting for concrete news that the takeover has been concluded might make more sense than taking part in the stream of hand-wringing, bed wetting and general attacks on Mel and each other that this board has been flooded by lately.....

Musk, Buffet and Trump. 
Sounds like a holiday night out.

Everything is easy in hindsight. I’m sure every decision that has been made has been made with the best of intentions and the best interests of the club. It would be hard to conclude that many of those decisions have not turned out to be the best, but it’s easy to be wise after the event.
A lot of things that have gone wrong are also ‘sporting’ issues, which I refuse to blame the owner for. Backing your manager isn’t a crime. Bringing in managers with decent CVs and footballing pedigree isn’t a crime. There are plenty of examples of teams who underperform out there and it is rarely the owner’s fault. That’s the nature of football I’m afraid. Sometimes other teams are better than you. It happens.
I think a lot of negative things have happened all at once which has led to a lot of conflating of issues and 2+2 is equaling 5 in a lot of cases. But I’m not angry (I’m not even faux angry) - more than anything I’m just sad that it’s turned out this way and sad for Mel as well. 

You can call me a grammar pedant but I don’t care. This “appealing a decision “ drives me mad so I’m glad to see that John Percy correctly says “appeal against this decision “. “Appealing a decision” is almost as bad as saying “of” instead of “have”.

Feel this needs a separate thread.  Ar-mond or All-mond anyone? Pri-vacy or Prai-vacy?  I could go (rant) on. Too many Americanisms in our language ?

Rooney spits constantly on the touch line so what is his excuse ? It’s just a habit that players do imo , no scientific  answer required.

My all time one !!!! 

Or saying " Haitch " instead of " Aitch " - aarrgghh .

Haven’t they got a swallow reflex. What do people do in the office ? Gob ont carpet ? And don’t say it’s down to over exertion........that only happened in the last game ?

You can call me a grammar pedant but I don’t care. This “appealing a decision “ drives me mad so I’m glad to see that John Percy correctly says “appeal against this decision “. “Appealing a decision” is almost as bad as saying “of” instead of “have”.

You can call me a grammar pedant but I don’t care. This “appealing a decision “ drives me mad so I’m glad to see that John Percy correctly says “appeal against this decision “. “Appealing a decision” is almost as bad as saying “of” instead of “have”.

And that’s the problem! Right here!! You slag off Mel because of the position we are in now yet why are we here?! Because he tried to compete against teams with parachute payments. Went about it the wrong way but he tried. Wednesday did exactly the same look where they are. Reading will be the next one, if they don’t get up next season I would then say the red dogs would be next. 
 
Run the club sustainability- no ambition sack the board. Spend money trying to get promotion against teams with more resources - sack the board.
We all need a reset of expectations because ultimately we want a football club to support at the end of the day that we feel connected to, whatever division we are in.

Hi everyone,
I have posted this on my personal facebook but want to let everyone else know as well hence why I have started a new thread. As fans we need to be collectively acting now on the back of the group Club 84 raising various issues over the past week or so. Do no bury your heads in the sand any longer. I am concerned.
Spent this last week focusing on something that means a hell of alot to me, Derby County.
This past year has been tough on me, sure you all know that and my primarily focus has been on my business and family. A new addition in Phoebe, a house move that now risks having houses built at the back of us replacing the green belt land that reside on the land and then working most nights delivering Uber to bring some income in, not to mention home schooling. So I haven't had the time to think about Derby County but it has now come to a tipping point where I am very concerned about our club.
Regardless of the result on Saturday, this club in my opinion is in serious danger and when I say that I mean it in the strongest of terms. Should this takeover not happen then I worry that we will have no club to return to.
Over the past few weeks many supporters group and the local press have requested that either Mel Morris or Stephen Pearce just come out and gives us fans some 'reassurance' that our club will be secure in the event of the takeover collapsing. This has been refused many times.
I have been involved with the club for around 15 years now and have attended many meetings including the supporters committee that meet every couple of months and improving the atmosphere etc etc... Always had a very good relationship and a mutual respect with both Mel & Stephen. There was plans for a protest after the game on Saturday (now been called off due to safety concerns with the Arena Vaccines) and originally this could have simply been avoided by either of them coming out to give us fans reassurance. I asked the question a couple of days ago and they have refused to come out and say 'anything'.
It does not need a genius to work out that this is an absolute disgrace of respect for us fans. The same people who asked fans to donate their Season Ticket money to the club in the middle of a pandemic to help it be run as opposed to having a refund. The absolute pure cheek of it is astounding.
When things go silent and when people in authority refuse to speak to the biggest stakeholders of this football club, which if you didn't know, is us fans, then questions and concerns need to be raised and answered and unfortunately certain people are hiding - draw your own conclusions on that.
The focus without doubt needs to be on the game on Saturday but irrespective of the outcome, Derby County are in serious danger and as fans we need to act. Do not say to me that it will all be okay if we stay up, it won't be. Do not be naïve to think that. We are in a huge mess. There is a reason why accounts get published and that is so fans can understand the situation of our club. This is way overdue, why?.
Mel Morris has invested alot of money in this football club but whilst doing so has made us an absolute embarrassment in the football world and has failed. Selling the stadium to himself was done because he overspent and screwed up. So many thought it was clever, it really wasn't - it was hiding his mistakes as custodian to this football club which resulted in the football club no longer owning the biggest asset which in turn will make any takeover complicated. Let's not even go there with the Arab failed takeover, due diligence of any interested party failed big time there and weeks were wasted with it.
Under his command we have seen absolute appalling recruitment. This has never been addressed despite being raised time and time again. In fact, we may as well appoint him as manager as I always thought it should be the football club manager that targets & buys players. I dont need to name names with this one but there is a player at this club who has never played second time around and is getting paid very well, wonder why...
Clearly our season has been nothing short of a shambles. You cannot blame the kids and you cannot blame the players to a degree, it isn't there fault they are not good enough. The captain of the ship is responsible for this. Important we back the lads tomorrow and hope and pray they get us over the line to keep our Championship status.
This post is not a rant. Its reality that our football club and the fab Derby people that work within it are in serious danger of being no more. Please do not say to me that this derails tomorrow, I am sorry but the situation is far worse than the potential relegation we face tomorrow. Feel free to bury your heads in the sands but things need to change at Derby County and quick before it really is to late.
I would say to Mel & Stephen, feel free to respond and give us reassurances, but they have already refused to do so. That my friends is all you need to know about who we currently have running our beloved Derby County.
Stephen Pearce needs to resign. Any CEO of any business does not hide like what you have.
Mel Morris needs to depart this football club and take all the debt with him. The stadium should be given back to the football club and included in any sale. He should swallow his pride and sell this great football club to the 'best' candidate and not just who he prefers. We both know there are offers on the table and you know who they are from.
After all, you are Derby through and through - said no one ever but you.
Nick

Last time I checked there were charges registered to Gabay and MSD. I think the former might have been settled, but as far as anyone knows, the latter relates to a loan. It had been said that it was for two separate loans of £15m each, but I don't think the 2nd one was ever actually taken.
I've no way of corroborating this, but I was told that the cash that Mel has injected recently has been in the form of loans and the club currently owes him £14m. That's not necessarily an issue as it could easily be that Mel will write off that debt when he sells.
Personally, I think administration would be a terrible idea. We could easily lose Pride Park and Moor Farm and be almost guaranteed to be relegated. I think that Mel would find it far easier to sell the club if he kept things ticking over, even if he sold a couple of players to inject a bit of cash - ironically our wage bill now looks to be pretty low so a new owner would have some P&S room once the stadium is open again.
IMO, Mel won't put us into administration. 

I'm struggling to understand who people think would put us in to administration? It can only be Mel or those with a charge on the club. Which would benefit from this line of action?

So was Stan Collymore right in what he tweeted last week,looks increasingly likely.We are in it deeper than any of us know, I really fear for us if we go down, sad times, worse situation than the early eighties bought on buy ourselves.Looking like we could be the next Bolton.

There are 2 parties that would suffer from going into administration.
1 - Derby County Football Club would end up with a point deduction
2 - I will let you work out who would suffer from any financial hit.
If MM did not give a damn about the club I'm not sure he would have kept on covering the wage bill. Perhaps you could offer to step into his shoes to show how much of a damn you give about the club?
Anyway, I will try again, do you understand the implications of going into administration and how do you think MM would benefit from it?

So it looks like Alonso hasn’t been completely open with his intentions and this would be a leveraged buy out as opposed to a cash deal. Doesn’t mean he can’t complete the deal but it is isn’t ideal and could expose us to further risk down the line. Gut feeling says we probably don’t want him.
Where I’m struggling to join the dots is then some people have taken this to mean Mel is going to plunge the club into administration because he won’t fund us anymore. That is some leap!! This has not been mentioned anywhere, the same people were saying oh we’re not going to pay players wages through to the end of the season!! Players had one month without pay as funds weren’t in place due to the first takeover expecting to go through - there has not been one single problem since. It’s this blind baseless negativity that does my head in.
Takeover could be off (we probably want it to be off) but I’m not going to jump to make accusations that Mel is going put us into administration as they would have no foundation. And as for the club losing money - because Mel is trying to sell the club, because we have Wayne Rooney we are attracting the negative publicity - many more clubs in this division are losing money hand over fist during the pandemic.
We desperately need enough vaccinated to remove all social distancing restrictions to ensure the stadium is open for business again as one of our main sources of revenues both ticket sales and corporate hospitality.

 

Can you say it again on Friday as well please in case we forget? ?

If we do stay up, by winning or drawing our last game of the season against a team below us in the table, after the run of defeats we have had, then please do not let anyone claim this as a triumph for Rooney.
Rooney-ites will point out that we were bottom of the table when Cocu left. Without those few games where Bielik played and CKR was fully fit - something Cocu never had - we would be firmly bottom now.
Indeed, there are those who wanted Cocu out, saying that he should've done better with this squad, even with the entire forward line missing through injury - who are now using the poor quality of the squad and injuries as an excuse for Rooney.
The squad is weak but, not so weak that they should be fighting relegation on the last day of the season.
Rooney may be inexperienced but he has not inspired or organized the players. He has never settled on selection, formation or tactics - from one game to the next, we've been left guessing what the line up will be and whether we'll play hoofball or football in order to match the opposition. The substitutions he makes, both timing and personnel, are plain and simply bizarre.
If we stay up, it will be a blessed relief. It will not be a success.
COYR ?  

I think you may be have overlooked checking the table. Sheff Weds have to beat us to finish above us. On the other hand, if we draw and Rotherham win then Rotherham go above us on goal difference and we are down.

I think Holmes gets unfairly criticised. He underperformed this season, but it's not like his exit has reversed our fortunes. He did a decent job for the fee we signed him for. Perfectly fine player at this level - but not a gem.
Nigel and Simon Clough had a real eye for these. Brayford, Buxton, Bryson, Moxey, even Pringle went from serious non-League to a very good upper-EFL career. 
There's two cheap ways of signing players - scout lower and scout local, or scout abroad. We've been hemorrhaging money in the Morris era as we haven't done either. We've signed almost always from other Championship clubs or the Premier League.  

But if he was a good motivator he’d be getting what he needs out of them on the training ground and trips wouldn’t be needed. Comments like “getting to know each other” two games before the season ends while we’re in a relegation dog scrap doesn’t scream great management to me.