norwichram

So much talent, yet so little return. Marriott just can't be arsed to train and as such, he's not going to get the game time he needs to be match sharp. He never seems more than half fit and is constantly picking up niggles as a consequence. He's had a bunch of chances now and just doesn't seem to care about football that much and Derby County even less. It's gutting to feel this way as I was so certain he was going to be the next Bobby D, but I fear his ship has sailed. If he doesn't show up to pre-season raring to go, I'd be shipping him out to anyone who'll have him just to get some of his wages off the books.
Having been sympathetic to Jordon's issues, I saw a video recently where far from acknowledging the support of the club, or the fans for that matter, he seemed to be saying that there was no support at all, at least until that fateful Insta post that had everyone hopping about. He actually came across as pretty resentful that there'd not been more done for him at Derby, but this is a football club and I'm not entirely sure what he expects. Also seemed to resent that fact that he'd been questions raised over his frequent lateness for training. Having believed he'd be an epic signing, I'm now fast losing faith that he'll be even remotely meaningful for us. He says he's in a better place now and good to go, but I'm not feeling it to be honest. To my mind, the club, the fans and the coaching staff HAVE tried to be supportive and patient, now it's up to Jordon. If it's not to be then fine, but don't be making out that you've not been given a shot, nor that most fans have not been encouraging and patient.
As for Duncan, well he's just vanished into the footballing ether. I'm not sure he's even had an U23 start yet, let alone threatened the senior squad. When he has, it's been hard to see what all the fuss is about. Perhaps he needs a run of games, but one has to then ask, why, if he's the 'wunderkind' we were led to believe, has he not been able to secure a few more starts?  Perhaps he's not as good as the Scouse faithful and he himself thinks? The only mitigating factors I can see being there's a some decent players in front of him to dislodge for him to be starting games, but that hardly bodes well for his senior career.
All in all, three depressing signings thus far for me, with little to indicate that this will change soon, if ever. Historically I've always been super supportive where the players are concerned, but this is a season where I'd really like to see one or two more kick on. The way I see it, it's the last chance saloon for two of them. Duncan, at least, has time on his side, but if the other two fail at Derby, I can't see other clubs rushing in to take a flyer. 
Sorry for the less than cheery post! 🤷‍♂️

Whenever I see Steve Gibson I just think custard pie.

Hope the training involves coaching the players how to make incisive forward passes into the opposition half without playing a hundred balls around our back 4 then inevitably lumping it out of touch.
I know I'm a fantasist. 

similar colours with 1988 away shirt.
 
 

A replica of this one
 

From your headline I presumed he'd been slaughtering cute bunny rabbits and drinking their warm, sweet blood on Tik Tok.
Talk about a non-issue.

48 hours

Where did I say being founder members of the League gave us a special license? Never mentioned it
And you brought up the point about Leicester being the bigger city as if that was a relevant criteria to their success. It isnt as they are in a similiar bracket to us. That was the point I was making re Leeds, Birmingham etc.
Don't disagree theres a huge amount of work to be done with this club though. Even if we lazily assume the relegated sides will always fill positions 1-3 in the Championship every year, that still leaves 3 other playoff berths & a one shot game at Wembley. As we know anything can happen in one game. So we should realistically believe we can finish 4th-6th.
Instead we finished 21st with only a points deduction for an opponent saving us, we're massively in debt despite having financial advantages over the vast majority & we have a very poor manager by the standards of this division. So complaining about the riches of the Premier League & its bottom sides is futile. We are the architects of our downfall & complaining about it/insisting it should change will get us precisely nowhere.

Diedhiou and Delap could form a useful partnership fed by Roberts and Jozwiak. 

I don't see anyone banging on about what a wonderful club we are or how we won the league 40 years back. Only post I've seen mentioning those things is yours. Even if there are a couple, compare that to the absolute litany of 'woe is us' posts like we're the first and last club ever to have these problems. I don't buy that at all. 
I guess the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Let's see if we're left unsold, unwanted and hurtling towards the trapdoor. I've a hunch we won't be.

Matt Clarke has just scored from a corner.

But you have unequivocally put yourself above those fans you slated as being 'embarrassing'. You openly stated you have 'higher standards' too, so there's that.
Unlike yourself, nobody is suggesting that your less of a fan. Folk, myself included, are simply taking issue with being labelled 'embarrassing' and your apparent need to piss on everyone's chips. As you were at pains to point out to me, it's a forum. Post and folks will respond. If that holds true for you, it holds true for everyone. 
Must have missed all the 'what a superb season' posts. And there was me thinking that fellow Rams fans were just relieved we didn't get relegated 🤦‍♂️

I think he'd be a good signing for most Championship clubs as a fresh start and change of scenery is exactly what he needs. We expected a lot more from him, but in his 4 years here he's lost his mother to cancer and struggled to cope with that, was involved in the drink driving incident shortly after, along with the rest of the team has had his wages not paid on numerous occasions and has had to read seemingly never-ending bad news stories about the club, Then add to that the fact he's played under 4 different managers with 4 differing styles and a (understandable) disconnect with the fans and I personally can understand and accept why he's struggled to find consistency. 
When things are going well for the team and Tom looks like he's enjoying his football he can be a cracking player to watch, but when things are going bad he can hide during games and get quite frustrated, but he's still capable of popping up with a moment of brilliance on rare occasions. 

Been a real frustration this season but he put it all on the table yesterday and in some style. Only challenge he 'lost' was with the goalposts and I'll forgive him that. 
Whatever the future holds, I'm grateful for a real never say die performance and two well-taken goals. 

Been a tough season for him especially, but man did he deliver in that game yesterday.
Just watching the highlights again. He effectively kept us up. Nearly cut himself in two on the post, scored the header, great hold-up and chest down for Roberts, slotted Jozwiak through and had the balls to hammer in a superb penalty.
His Derby career has been a very mixed bag and I feared the worst first minute when the ball pinged about 10 yards off his shin and he went steaming into the challenge, thankfully missing the guy.
I’ll take his mixed bag career for what he fid yesterday. I’m quite sure that’s it for him here, so all the best and thanks for yesterday!

I think the point is - hopefully this statement is just the beginning of things heading back in a positive direction.
 
In terms of communication with the fans and real action taken place in the summer to ensure the right recruitment, the right coaching staff and the right players are at the club for match day one of next season to make sure we are at least competitive next season - cause this season was beyond awful. Maybe the waghorn penalty really is the turning point, something we can pinpoint in about 5 years as to we wouldn’t be where we are without that goal. Here’s to hoping! 

"We want communication from the club, we demand communication from the club, we deserve communication from the club, we are entitled to communication from the club"
*communication from the club*
"Actions speak louder than words"
Some of our fans deserve nothing.

What a pointless post.
It doesn’t change anything but I thought it was an appropriate statement to apologise to, and recognise, the fans.

I don't understand the negativity towards the statement, its basically saying i know its not been good enough, but we will endevour to make it right, watch this space.
Seems fine by me, obviously today is not the time for going into specifics, but acknowledging the fact its not good enough is a positive statement in my opinion.
I feel better having read that than if they hadnt posted anything at all.

I like that. Now, we know talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words but I’m pleased that someone thought it a good idea to put that out.
I’m very pleased the efforts of those at the ground yesterday was recognised. Hey, maybe that’s why the players went outside after the game, not for finishing 22nd, to thank the supporters for their encouragement. Who’d be embarrassed by that ? 🤷‍♂️

The actions will happen over the course of weeks, months even years.
Fans have been calling for an update from the club. That has been acknowledged by this statement. Hopefully, we will soon get to hear more details of the plans for moving forwards.
This is a start to opening that communication....a good thing.

We’ve just ended the season with 1 win in 15.
We were a one goal swing away from being relegated.
At the beginning of March, we were nine points clear of the bottom three.
Today, we ended it just one point clear.
I think Rooney has proven plenty at this point.
What makes you so sure he would use the extra time and extra resources well?
If he had got the maximum out of the squad, I would totally get your point. But he clearly hasn’t.
For me we are playing with fire by keeping Rooney in the job. Maybe we can agree to disagree?