BucksRam

Strangely, now we've been saved by St. David of Clowes, I'm really pleased, in the bigger picture, that we are now in Division 1.
Back to old school football. Back to being a big fish in a small pond. 
We tried, under Mel to turn up at the casino that was the Championship with a big F off stack of chips to intimidate other players at the table. Spent fast and loose - and lost.
We needed a total reset and we got one. I can't lie, it's hurt. Being threatened with extinction was a very real prospect.
Now we've cleared the football cache and cookies, we're back to a fresh start.
I'm still haunted by the memory of all that money we wazzed up the wall. Even the least of the excesses was Anya. £4m and and £20k a week over 4 years, ergo £8m over 4 years. There were 4 or 5 others that cost £10m+ in transfer fees and salaries over 4 year contracts.
£60m minimum wazzed up the wall on 5 or 6 players, not to mention our merry go round of managers that resulted in the amount of debt that threatened our very existence. Covid didn't help, but the aforementioned was the real problem.
Certain individuals that had Mel's ear and were administrators at our club were also abusing their parallel self-interests as agents to sell us pup after pup.
Now we're back to football reality. It's amazing what team we've managed to piece together on frees and modest wages.
Loving our new reality. We can attract decent players at this level, where if we spend within our means, which is significantly above most of our competitors, we can perform well at this level. 
If we continue in this manner, we can grow organically.
What's not to love? A fantastic academy that should finance our rebirth. 30,000+ crowds, that again should finance our rebirth and perversely the EFL reining us back to a financial plan that we absolutely NEEDED. Didn't want, but definitely needed.
Oh and being rescued by the 'quiet man of football' - DC.
What a time to be alive! I'm falling back in love with football again.
The only way is up...

Just come off a long phone call with the lad I know. Sibley allowed to leave if the right bid comes in 2m+ but the price tag has put most people off so expect him to stay. Sean Robertson looking at other options. Rosenior still in constant dialogue with him and his team. 50/50 on wether that goes ahead. Kyle Joseph has stalled as Swansea want rid completely and want a fee. We want a loan with option or a free transfer with large sell on clause. Amadou Diallo didn’t want to join the 23s for a bit so has left for other teams. Told there’s an offer if he wants it as Rosenior rates him highly. Rosenior still wants another 4-5 players with 1xGK 1xRB 1xWinger 2xStrikers. Believe Kev McDonald might be joining the coaching staff instead of the playing staff, but plan remains unchanged with him mentoring Bird and Robinson. Good news is that Rosenior is speaking to many clubs about many different loan options. Villa, West Brom, West Ham, Everton, Liverpool, Chelsea and Sheffield United are ones I know he’s spoken too. The last bit of news is good/bad depending on what you think of Stretton. Told he’s allowed to go on loan with lots of interest from National League and League 2. Expect some exciting loans and hopefully quality signings in the next few weeks ??

Didn't know where to leave this but just wanted to make a general observation as I catch up with the various threads. 
Isn't it flipping great to be talking about football again!  Clowes' brilliant interview, our first win in the league, replaying Hourihane's winner 20 times, discussing who's best suited for what position, what players are still to come in and do we want / need them.  It's been too long coming. 
Dunno about everyone else, I'm loving everything I'm seeing and hearing.  Well, apart from @Turk Thrust's joke in the New Joke Thread earlier.  A proper "taxi" moment. 

Didn't know where to leave this but just wanted to make a general observation as I catch up with the various threads. 
Isn't it flipping great to be talking about football again!  Clowes' brilliant interview, our first win in the league, replaying Hourihane's winner 20 times, discussing who's best suited for what position, what players are still to come in and do we want / need them.  It's been too long coming. 
Dunno about everyone else, I'm loving everything I'm seeing and hearing.  Well, apart from @Turk Thrust's joke in the New Joke Thread earlier.  A proper "taxi" moment. 

And an old school buddy of mine from down this way moved up there years ago, and goes to games regularly - small world indeed.

Didn't know where to leave this but just wanted to make a general observation as I catch up with the various threads. 
Isn't it flipping great to be talking about football again!  Clowes' brilliant interview, our first win in the league, replaying Hourihane's winner 20 times, discussing who's best suited for what position, what players are still to come in and do we want / need them.  It's been too long coming. 
Dunno about everyone else, I'm loving everything I'm seeing and hearing.  Well, apart from @Turk Thrust's joke in the New Joke Thread earlier.  A proper "taxi" moment. 

Didn't know where to leave this but just wanted to make a general observation as I catch up with the various threads. 
Isn't it flipping great to be talking about football again!  Clowes' brilliant interview, our first win in the league, replaying Hourihane's winner 20 times, discussing who's best suited for what position, what players are still to come in and do we want / need them.  It's been too long coming. 
Dunno about everyone else, I'm loving everything I'm seeing and hearing.  Well, apart from @Turk Thrust's joke in the New Joke Thread earlier.  A proper "taxi" moment. 

Didn't know where to leave this but just wanted to make a general observation as I catch up with the various threads. 
Isn't it flipping great to be talking about football again!  Clowes' brilliant interview, our first win in the league, replaying Hourihane's winner 20 times, discussing who's best suited for what position, what players are still to come in and do we want / need them.  It's been too long coming. 
Dunno about everyone else, I'm loving everything I'm seeing and hearing.  Well, apart from @Turk Thrust's joke in the New Joke Thread earlier.  A proper "taxi" moment. 

Yep, it's positively uplifting when I remember the stress of not knowing where the next hammer blow was coming from. It must be fantastic for the staff too. 

Didn't know where to leave this but just wanted to make a general observation as I catch up with the various threads. 
Isn't it flipping great to be talking about football again!  Clowes' brilliant interview, our first win in the league, replaying Hourihane's winner 20 times, discussing who's best suited for what position, what players are still to come in and do we want / need them.  It's been too long coming. 
Dunno about everyone else, I'm loving everything I'm seeing and hearing.  Well, apart from @Turk Thrust's joke in the New Joke Thread earlier.  A proper "taxi" moment. 

Didn't know where to leave this but just wanted to make a general observation as I catch up with the various threads. 
Isn't it flipping great to be talking about football again!  Clowes' brilliant interview, our first win in the league, replaying Hourihane's winner 20 times, discussing who's best suited for what position, what players are still to come in and do we want / need them.  It's been too long coming. 
Dunno about everyone else, I'm loving everything I'm seeing and hearing.  Well, apart from @Turk Thrust's joke in the New Joke Thread earlier.  A proper "taxi" moment. 

If we are going 4-2-3-1 this season then we’d have the four advanced positions. If you add Sibley, NML and Barkhuizen to the 5 you’ve mentioned then that’s 8 players to cover four positions, or 2 per position on average which is about right. We’ll have a couple more who can fill in from the U23s if needed too, such as George Nunn.
Don’t forget there’s 5 subs permitted per match now, so there’s more scope to give more players more game time. Having more options to change things mid-game when things aren’t going our way definitely isn’t a bad thing.

And an old school buddy of mine from down this way moved up there years ago, and goes to games regularly - small world indeed.

Sorry to hear that @whestonram, very sad.  I've signed; good luck.  That said, as @RadioactiveWastesays, money often wins and if it's a lucrative deal that helps to keep the books in the black, I suspect Derby would accept. 
I'm not a gambler myself but know many who are.  On one occasion, a bloke I know had us down to win as part of an acca. We drew, which lost him over £600.  He just shrugged and said he'd win next time.  It's that mentality that can lead to the path your family have sadly experienced. 

Alright Rams, Guiseley (who?) fan here in peace.
I came to the Oxford game on Saturday with my mate (Wolves fan). 
It was our first trip to Pride Park between us and usually we pick a random game every so often. So we ended up at your place.
We had a great time, your stadium is fantastic. Plenty of eateries around the ground too. The fans we were sat near were passionate and it was infectious. We were in the North Stand which was family orientated but it was nice to see so many youngsters getting behind the team.
The atmosphere was great, the bounce by the south stand was something I won't forget. Capped with a great goal to get the win aswell. 
Only downside being, we parked at the industrial park past the south stand and we didn't move for about an hour after the final whistle. But that didn't spoil a great day out. 
All the best for the season, will be looking out for your results and will likely come back later in the season too. 

Was WR talking to DC United before David Clowes took over?, If yes...then he's not a person imo that would go back on his word, I don't think he was duped by CK, Stretford was duped...twice, Once to go down the route of new owner, 2nd to spunk up £1.6m, Stretford would have had the false information and he passed all onto WR, WR was just a person that was strung along with promises as we were, WR has now got a clear hand, Colleen walks away with her character intact and he starts a new job once he'd got his work visa...won 2-1.
I THINK as we all are, WR had had his fill of all this crap, Triple S had their pants pulled down, WR was informed and asked for his contract release, It's all worked out for the best, No more WRs Derby County, DCFC are in the hands of a lifelong Fan who's saying the things that we all like, Our soon to be permanent Manager? his off field actions has ticked more boxes than Michael Miles, We have close on 20k STs sold and we're pi$$ing off other teams as we're still "cheating" and I love it  

I get the impression Hourinhane is going to be one of those players that doesn’t get involved all that much in open play, certainly not as much as the likes of Bird, Smith, NML or Sibley in terms of possession, ball retention or ball carrying, but he will be one of those players who makes that telling difference whether it’s a final pass, long-range effort or set piece.
I wouldn’t say he is a luxury player because that would be unfair to the work he does off the ball. But he is going to be a unique attacking threat in League One and he would walk into every other team in the league because he has that match-winning ability.

The poll has now closed and all entries and your drawn numbers are showing in the opening post in this topic.

Team out of admin - check
Squad re-build well under way - check
Over 19k season tickets sold and a bumper 31k in PP - check
A win on opening day - check
Marvellous. Thank you Mr Clowes 
 

We're in the play offs! 
Great start.  Lots more to come as we find our feet and the team beds in. COYR!

We're in the play offs! 
Great start.  Lots more to come as we find our feet and the team beds in. COYR!

Prediction League point scorers for league games, and occasional league tables will be posted in here ..
 
PREDICTION LEAGUE RULES
Every league game, I will start a thread on the 'Prediction League' page. I will go through the predictions you post  after each game and look for your prediction, and I'll attempt to keep a league table running.
 
 
It would help immensely if you could post the result in the following format
 
example :-  Ipswich 0 Derby 2 , Mendez-Laing FRGS
 
 
Points will be gained for the following correct predictions:
1 / For correctly nominating the winning team or a draw: +1 point
2 / For correctly nominating the first Rams goalscorer: +2 points
3 / For correctly predicting no Derby goals: +2 points ya miserable b'stards
4 / For correctly nominating the scoreline ,  ** with the teams the right way around ** , +2 points (so 3, including the point for predicting the winning team)
And no conditionals. No "If Sibley starts, then we'll win, but if he's on the bench we'll draw" stuff - pick a result and go for it.
A total of 5 points can be picked up per game.
I'll be looking at the last prediction you make in the thread. Only predictions made before kickoff will count, and if you go back and modify your prediction after kickoff, I'll not count it.
 
Just for fun and bragging rights , i'll attempt to make League Tables as i did last season , maybe not updating after every match but periodicly depending on how enthusiastic i become , all your predictions will be safely stored on my trusty fag packet  memory stick

 
**unless blatantly obvious , ie 2-0 Mendez-Laing FRGS , which will be allowed , even if Derby are away ** ..
 
Please try and avoid using players 'nicknames' as 'FRGS' as i may not recognise them. 
 
NEW PLAYERS  ALWAYS WELCOME AND  CAN JOIN IN THE FUN AT ANY TIME DURING THE SEASON 
 
 
 

That better not be bloody home shirt.