StantonRam

OK, here's my 2p worth.

Given that there is much uncertainty surrounding the "claims" of (spits) Boro and (spits again) Wycombe, if I were the administrators I would accept a LOWER bid from a buyer willing to take a risk on future liabilities, rather than a higher bid from a buyer who was unwilling to take the risk, on the basis that the former allows the club to continue to function, not have to sell players etc, because the current impasse is the result of previous bidders being unwilling to take a punt on the aforementioned unquantifiable liabilities.  So much for risky, dynamic, thrusting entrepreneurial capitalism eh?  Wusses!!!

One more thing occurs to me, which I don't see mentioned elsewhere.  If I were a local business that supplies the club and I was only going to get 25p in the £, then I would be wondering why the club have not been forced to sell assets PDQ in order to get ME a greater % of MY money that I am still owed!   Local businesses must feel torn between wanting to at least salvage some of their costs in the short term versus not wanting the club to go under and maybe doing more business in the future.  However, we should spare a thought for small local businesses who are going to suffer considerable pain whatever the eventual outcome.

Someone willing to take a punt, committed to securing the clubs future, and covering the liabilities is what is needed right now, and personally if such a buyer emerged then if I were the administrators I would sell to them right now for £1!

David

You genius!

Have just sent this to my local MP (Sarah Dines), hope that's OK.

The administrators should be paying you for this stuff really, I wonder what their hourly rate is?

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

23rd in January.

8 points from 21st.

Better GD than any team in the lower half.

Young players stepping up when we get shafted by the EFL moving the goalposts yet again to try to make us sell our most experienced players.

Bring it on!

4 wins and a draw, 13 points from 15!

Do that again and if the teams above us keep stuttering then we'll be out of the bottom 3 by Easter!

COYR!!!

Great fightback last night.

That's 10 points from a possible 12, and now just 10 points from safety with a superior GD, definitely survival form if it can be continued.

Bookies now apparently offering 9/2 on us staying up, I now wish I'd had a punt a few months ago when it was 20/1 LOL.

COYR!!!

Getting very excited about this now.  Here's why.

If those above us have a 2nd half of the season that's similar to their 1st half then that would leave us, after 46 games, with

Hull 46

Cardiff 44

Reading 42

Posh 38

Baaaaaaarnsley eeeee by eck lad 28

On that basis, and predicting that our GD will still be superior to all the above, we need 42 points to stay up.

That means picking up 32 more points from 22 more games.  That's an average of 1.5 points per game or 10 wins and 2 draws.

To me that means that the "go for the win even if we sometimes lose" strategy should be continued because (a) 1 point per game is not going to be enough and (b) it seems to be working!

If we win 11 and lose 11 from the remaining 22 that's still 33 points and over the line.

Even more important, in the light of the above, to beat Reading tomorrow.  Anything that reduces their chance of getting to 42 points is welcome.  We must go for the 3 points!

This is definitely doable folks, am more optimistic now than ever, what a trio of games we've just seen, and everyone is behind the players and willing them on.

COYR!!! 

On 31/12/2021 at 12:29, TexasRam said:

its all we’ve ever asked for and this team are giving more than any Derby team I think I’ve seen. Love this football club ? x

I was there!

Another two wins, and Barnsley losing their next two, will take us to just a point below them.

Do we dare to dream?

What are the odds on survival on the last day on goal difference and finishing 21st?

If that did happen then I reckon the next day there'd be not a drop of booze left anywhere north of Brum and south of Sheffield LOL.

COYR!!!

Whoever does go, please don't forget to give Marlon Pack a big shout out before the game, we all know why!

"Marlon Pack is a Ram, is a Ram is a Ram, Marlon Pack is a Ram, he hates Rovrum"

IMO in recent years by far the best aspect of being a Rams fan has been the way that 'the kids' have emerged and done sterling work for us.  Had more faith been shown in them earlier under previous managers then we wouldn't have spent silly money that we didn't really have on expensive but average bench sitters, bankrupting ourselves in the process.  Now we find ourselves in precisely the situation we have been dreading all these years, heading for League 1 with a team mostly consisting of young &/or local &/or untried talent.

And you know what?  It might actually be the best thing that's ever happened to us.  OK we might lose a couple of the best young players (Knight won't want to play in League 1 as he is already an international) but there always seem to be more coming through.  And this current crop will run through walls for Wazza because he gave them a chance.

So we should give thanks to those who made this possible, get behind the kids at every opportunity and let them know that we believe in them 100%.  We are fortunate to be able to watch such a talented and hard working bunch.  This is how football should be, primarily a means for local talent to find an outlet and connect with and contribute to their home town team.

And once the new ownership is in place their first act should be to commit to continuing to invest in the Academy.  In the long run it will save us millions. 

1 hour ago, sawley_ram said:

Looking at it very simply, we've just played the current top three teams one after the other. Considering our position and our shortage of players in certain areas, taking 4 points from a possible 9 is still very good. I'm disappointed we let that late goal in but in hindsight all three goals last night were excellent -- QPR were just the better side and that's why they're 3rd in the division.

It's still doable, I'm not writing it off this side of Christmas.

Onto the next game!

 

Couldn't agree more.  The strategy last night was the right one IMO because a point solves nothing.  Far better to gamble, go for it and try for the 3 points.  Sometimes, as last night, it won't pay off, but sometimes it will.

Just keep doing that and sooner or later we will string some wins together.  12 wins from 24 games would put us in with a shout, and then it would all be down to the last 2 games, do or die, death or glory, play a 2-3-5 formation like in 1921 etc LOL, and possibly goal difference, goals scored etc.  The last day, in that scenario, will be just as nail bitingly delicious as it was in May.

One thing's for sure, it's going to be a feast of genuine, attack minded footie with NO FEAR for the next 6 months.  The worst has already happened, we are all but down in the minds of most people, and that can work to our advantage, as we saw against Bournemouth.

I for one am looking forward to 26 fearless games played by a squad that's absolutely together and scrapping for each other and the manager and the club.  And in some ways, that's actually more exciting than watching a side that's safely mid table, cruising, and often playing out a game boringly to snatch a point.

And if they DO pull it off, against all the odds, there's a movie in that for sure, in which case where can I buy the film rights? LOL.

13 hours ago, Brammie Steve said:

We stayed up with 44 points last season.

Some teams are struggling to get even the occasional point.

27 games left. 81 points up for grabs.

Definitely not all over by a fairly long chalk!

COYR

 

That's the attitude, yaaaaaaay!

27 games remaining.

Logically all the teams below the top 2 are not as good as the top 2.

Against which we just got 4 points from 2 games.

Therefore, it might be possible to extrapolate that form going forward.

26 games (for ease of arithmetic) @ 4 points every 2 games = 52 points.

It does seem that the bottom 6 are really not very good this season, therefore some of them might not end up with much more than 30-40 points.

Theoretically, against all the odds, it IS doable.

These last two results are massive in their implications and change the picture entirely.

What's needed now is the same attitude when playing the lower teams, and absolute ruthlessness in pursuit of 3 points.

As I wrote previously, nothing to lose, might as well go for it!

COYR!

10 hours ago, Tyler Durden said:

With some of the questions being posed am not sure what answers were expected of the EFL?

Questions 13 and 14 spring to mind - did you make any errors and were you consistent with your dealings with clubs?

Of course the EFL are going to come back and say yes we made a series of errors and we singled Derby out for special punishment. Please. Talk about loaded questions.

Just because an organisation stonewalls and gets defensive doesn't mean that those kind of questions should not be asked.  The questions are perfectly fair and the answers speak for themselves, and would lead many fans to conclude that the real answer to both questions is YES and NO respectively.  

What this amounts to is that the EFL took a personal dislike to MM and used all the regulatory tools at their disposal in order to duck him up.  They would have done this whichever club he happened to own.  Not that they will ever admit it of course.

In most workplaces this stuff goes on all the time.  If your boss wants rid of you all they have to do is set you up to fail, subject you to endless 'performance reviews', forensically trawl your expense claims etc etc in order to find something, anything, that can be used as an excuse to then invoke the disciplinary process, and eventually most people will see the writing on the wall and just leave.  This is just a variation on that theme.  It's all about power. 

13 hours ago, DCFC1388 said:

Love the optimism but 43pts from 29 games will not be enough, doubt we would stay up with 40pts. I would say 48pts so end on 45 we would have a chance to stay up but that is 1.65pts ppg

14wins, 6 draws

Yes of course, my actual point was not that 40 points would keep us up but that it would keep us in the dogfight until the end rather than surrendering to negativity too soon.  48 points for safety, 44 for possible safety but not certain, 40 to be in with a shout, anything less than 40 and yes we're down.

hi all

OK, we're doomed...or are we?

At -3 we now need 43 points from 29 games to be in with a chance of at least being part of the relegation dogfight in April/May rather than just rolling over.

In other words, from now on we need 1.5 points per game on average.  Statistically, that means winning half the games and (possibly) losing the ones in between.  Draws as per our current form will simply postpone the inevitable but not prevent it.

12 wins and 7 draws will give us the 43.

This to me would suggest a "death or glory" strategy of attacking football, especially at home.  A point in this context is just "meh", but wins are worth gambling for, and there's literally nothing to lose by gambling because unless we gamble we're down anyway as expected.

Nothing to lose, playing for pride, with the pressure now off they might just surprise us.

It's also worth bearing in mind to what extent the teams just above us are struggling and will probably continue to struggle.

We are like Lewis Hamilton at the back of the grid in F1 - can we fight our way to 21st place on the last day on goal difference?

Could we pull of the greatest ever escape?

I wonder what odds the bookies are offering on our survival?

COYR!!!

Yep, am up for this in Jan.

I think some people missed my deliberate and capitalised use of the words LEAST WORST.

In theory MM was the dream owner - deep pockets, local, lifelong fan, in other words maybe too driven by emotion when making business decisions, with the results we now see.  Mike Ashley on the other hand comes across as a rude, uncultured slob who just happens to have a head for business.

Say what you like about Ashley, and many people have, but Newcastle are not in Administration, we are. So at this point in time, maybe the question to ask is this.  Which person on that list of 5 at the top of this thread has owned an English PL club for 14 years, overseen 2 promotions to the PL, and forked out to employ one of Europe's top managers?  Only one.

Ashley now at 50% on here.

I think I know why.

He has other local investments a.k.a. the Sports Direct sweatshop.

He is English.

He withstood fan criticism for a long time, kept Newcastle solvent, and didn't bail out until new ownership was secured.

He kept within FFP rules and never had to go into Administration.

In other words, he is the devil we know, which for many people is better than the devil you don't.

From his point of view, a Championship club will tie up fewer of his resources than a PL one, and we represent a safe home for his dosh due to the loyal fanbase.

We are desperate TBH and we won't have a pop at him too much if he does the deal, not for a while anyway.

Our model of investing in local & Academy talent is similar to Newcastle's already.

From his point of view, it will make a change to be actually welcome somewhere rather than being the subject of constant abuse from the ungrateful hordes LOL.

The main issue that always crops up at Newcastle, namely "we have 50,000 fans, why aren't we top of the PL and winning stuff?" etc, won't be a problem here for some time to come, thus he obtains a breathing space from all the flak.

In conclusion, we don't have to like the person taking over, or approve of his business methods, but he has done nothing illegal (as far as I know), he isn't just a front for a deeply oppressive dictatorial regime in a foreign country, and he isn't an American with no real knowledge of how English football works.  He is the devil we know and he has money.  We could do far worse.

IMO Ashley, right here right now, is the LEAST WORST option of those available, and that's why I voted for him on here.

YES!!!

Right...

We are almost certain to be playing in League 1 next season so we might as well get used to it now, no matter whether the points deduction is 12 or 21 or somewhere in between.

The administrators have made it clear that Roo is going nowhere and so has he, much to his credit.

SO - time to ditch the disrespectful song, time to show up to games if we possibly can, time to bombard Radio Derby with defiance and support for the players and staff, and above all time to get behind Roo and support him.

Like the Brexit debate, the time has come for everyone to accept that we are where we are and that Roo is our man for the next few seasons, during which I'm sure he will get his coaching badges, do his very best for us, and play his part in turning things around from the current unprecedented disaster.

The administrators are confident that a buyer can be found, that the club is "95% viable" going forward, and that Roo is their man.  I like those odds!

COYR!

The statement put out by the club puts all the blame on Covid, but if that's the case then why isn't every other club in the league also bankrupt?

Truth is, we all lived the dream when there seemed to be a bottomless money pit to fund that dream.  Now we discover that in fact it was a bottomless pile of debt, which shouldn't really have come as such a surprise.

We got so close.  And now it's time to pay the bill for all that dreaming.

Mel seemed to be under the impression that the clever thing to do was to (ALLEGEDLY) play fast and loose with commonly established accounting practices and then let loose a barrage of thinly veiled abuse aimed at whoever sought to question his actions.  As a result, we have no friends in the EFL and very few at other clubs.

Managers and players, many of them chronically underperforming, came and went, and there always seemed to be another pot of dosh somewhere to fund the latest folly, the last of which was the signing of Wazza as first a player and now as manager.

Brentford achieved promotion the right way, by living within their means, selling players when necessary (Josefzoon for example!) and building a team greater than the sum of the parts.  We did the opposite, and it damn near worked!  After complaining about the QPR/Zamora episode, for which they were belatedly punished, we then tried going down that same route ourselves.  And we too have been punished. 

Paradoxically, now that Derby fans no longer have to try to defend the indefensible,we can finally face the truth with clear consciences and move on.  We will be in league 1 next season for sure.  The next challenge is to look at how Bournemouth, Sheff Utd, Leicester & Brentford did it and learn some harsh lessons.

We've been here before and got out of the mire and into the PL (80s/90s).  So we just have to do it again now.

Just watched the highlights, great to see the new guys staking their claims to first team places, OK there were the usual defensive set piece nightmares, but eventually this mostly 'reserve' team came through and showed real guts.  My own gut now tells me that actually we'll be OK in the league this season, and although the playoffs will elude us again I think we now have enough to avoid dropping into the bottom 3 at any stage.  Really looking forward to Saturday v Posh now!

Typo...FORM a new band

Prog lives!

Shock news!

Rick Wakeman rejoins The Rams, this time as sweeper, although he looks confused when handed a brush at Pride Park.

Wakeman then quits 5 minutes later citing "musical differences" and then attempts to for a new band with ex Yes singer Jon Anderson, together with the unlikely choices of footballers Neymar and (very surprisingly) Richard Keogh.

The new group then splits when it is realised that their proposed acronymic name (Wakeman, Anderson, Neymar, Keogh) might render them inadmissible to perform in a number of countries worldwide.