Andrew3000

In other news Dajaune Brown has got a hat trick for Gateshead

Some great points.  Clowes has secured his place as one of the most important people in our history and will eventually be immortalised in some form.
The academy status is a dilemma. They have an obvious emotional appeal, but are they actually worth the investment over the long term? Anyone got any evidence either way? 
 

Poor formation for an away day breakfast plate imho; sausage should be between the defensive beans and rotated to prevent the midfield scrambled egg being encumbered with defensive duties. Egg should be deployed further forward and ahead of the hash-browns, with the mushrooms out wide but given license to cut in and play as a number 10. Really don’t believe the combination of fried & scrambled eggs ever works; they’re just too similar. At least one of the slices of toast should’ve been given a starting position to give added structure to the team, supporting the bacon which appears somewhat isolated and awkwardly placed in the way of the hashbrowns. Bizarrely part of the beans seem to currently be deployed as a wing-back…I can’t see that working at all. I’m liking the look of the fresh orange on the bench but not sure it’s got enough in the tank to last the whole 90 minutes. Just don’t think that line-up is going to cut the mustard today. Really need the lad Brown on there too, just to spice it up a bit. 

Not much preparation time with 3 games every week. It’s ok I’ve got the Italian international, Latte ready to come on.

As others have said, quite sobering, he’s effectively paid more for a league 1 club in disarray than Mel paid for a really well run club on the brink of the premier league - that with better management from Mel should have got to the premier league. To say he’s gone above and beyond is an understatement and any other owner wouldn’t have gone to these lengths, it’s why Mike Ashley wouldn’t buy the club for example. Without Clowes we’d have either gone out of existence or faced further points deductions and potentially further relegation to League 2. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude forever. It’s not his style but Pride Park should be named after him, he at least deserves a stand. He’s probably made the biggest contribution in the history of the club, bigger than any league title wins. 
It’s also eye watering how much money we’re losing, the category 1 academy is clearly a huge drain. However a wage bill of £7.3m for playing staff while competitive in this league is by no means at a level to guarantee promotion considering the lack of money we’ve spent on transfers. For context Ipswich playing budget last year was £16m and they spent c.£7m in transfers, dwarfing the rest of the division - although doing what they’re doing this season in the championship with that sort of budget is incredible. 
 
It’s clear we have to be smart about how we do things if we want to return to the premier league, we don’t have a fat Greek who will bankroll us for £300m from Ill gotten gains. Hopefully the academy will bear fruit but we need to be identifying the right talent in the lower leagues and abroad. Then the quality of the coaching will be the difference between being in a position to compete for the premier league in the next 3 years (Luton, Ipswich) or the next 5-7 years (a return to the Nigel years).
Bit first things first get this squad promoted then rebuild. Either way I think this summer will be a major rebuild. 

We’re on our way, we’re on our waaaaayy!…

Thanks for reminding me...... NOT !!  😉

If true, this would reflect very badly on those senior figures. Its one thing to have an opinion, quite another to let that damage working relationships.

I was asking the question. For those of us attending the games, home and away, I would rather see us being competitive than getting tanked every week. 
If it takes us a season or two more so we can build a team to go up like Ipswich with a fighting chance, then so be it.
Look at Plymouth and how they are now struggling after their bright start.
The pundits' take on here is that Warne can't manage in the Championship. Plus we've half our players out of contract again.
There isn't a magic money tree that will fix all that.

Watching the game last night, Barnsley looked decent and Bolton completely terrified for the first 45 minutes. Bolton then came out swinging and were phenomenal in the second half - a performance reminiscent of Ipswich last season where they were able to take over the game. 
Ultimately, you can see why both teams are roughly in line with ourselves, who are largely uninspiring, so I genuinely think it’s very much up in the air. Bolton are definitely the best team out of us three, so my money would be on them, but soft underbelly based on last night’s viewing. 

Skip to 37 seconds for Brown's goal

You're right, and given he's not looked capable of stepping up to League 1 level yet, sending him to the National League was an absolute masterclass by Warne. I'm glad you've shone a light on the brilliant decision-making by our manager when it directly contributes positively to the development of our youngsters, good to see! 👏

He's scored again!

He's scored again!

Brown that is.

"Today, I are be mostly eatin' ....WTF?!?"

#jessiesdiets

Bristol Rovers vs Derby County
Saturday 9th March KO 3pm
Memorial Stadium (BS7 0BF)
 
Opponents Form: Decent recently with three wins in their last four matches including their last two. They currently sit 11th in the table albeit with no realistic playoff aspirations or relegation concerns. Whilst their home record in L1 this season is a reasonable W7-D5-L5 it should be noted that they have lost four of their most recent six matches on their own patch with wins over Carlisle (2-1) and Oxford (3-1) dampened by defeats to Blackpool (1-2), Exeter (0-1), Fleetwood (0-2) and Burton (1-2).
Opponents Bio: Rovers are managed by Matt Taylor who is in his third managerial role. After an impressive four years at Exeter he was the man chosen by Rotherham to take over the reins after the departure of our own Paul Warne to Pride Park. Taylor's spell there lasted 13 months before he parted company with the Yorkshire club in November 2023 as the Millers were struggling in 22nd place. Within three weeks, however, he found himself in the Bristol Rovers hotseat replacing the ever-delightful Joseph Barton. 
The club have played their home matches at the 11,000 capacity (3,000 seated) Memorial Stadium since 1996 after leaving their previous home in Eastville. They are officially known as the 'Pirates', reflecting Bristol's maritime history. Or because they just arrrr. Or maybe because their form is historically patchy. They are of course also known as the 'Gas', a nickname which was given them by opposition fans originally but was cheerfully adopted by the Rovers' followers who refer to themselves as 'Gasheads'. The name came about apparently due to their former stadium being sited next to a gasworks which produced a distinct aroma which would waft over the ground. Anybody who sits near a few of our more dedicated drinkers at Pride Park will no doubt relate to that.
Opponents Player Watch: Only one place to start here as the Rams go up against our former beau, Christopher Hugh Martin. The Wardrobe has scored 15 goals this season and is joint fifth in the top scorers chart for the division. Second top scorer after CM9 is Anthony Evans with half a dozen goals. Other notable players are ex-Rams youngster Luke Thomas, experienced former Swansea, Celtic and Preston man Scott Sinclair and Chelsea loanee Harvey Vale who I think we were linked with during the summer. I'm not sure if he's their number one or not but they also have a goalkeeper called Jed Ward who you can only sympathise with.
Rams Record vs Opponents: There have been three FA Cup ties between the two clubs but we'll focus on the 27 league matches there have been between Bristol Rovers and Derby County. The first meeting was on 29th August 1953 at Bristol so hats off to any Ram or Rover who remembers that match over 70 years ago. During the early years of the fixture it was Bristol Rovers who held sway with the Pirates winning the first three encounters, four of the first five and six of the first nine overall. Since then though it is the Rams who have had much the better of it. The overall league record for Derby against Saturday's opponents is as follows:
P27: W12-D7-L8
Away at Bristol Rovers our record  is: P13: W3-D4-L6   Whilst that isn't impressive it should be pointed out that we lost on our first five visits and since then we've gone W3-D3-L1 on their turf and are unbeaten in our last four visits.
Since our relegation to L1 for the 2022/23 season the Rams have recorded home wins against Rovers in both fixtures at Pride Park (4-2 and 2-1) whilst last season we conceded a debateable late penalty in a 1-1 draw at their place.
Other Saturday Fixtures Of Note: We will either be second or third going into the match depending on the outcome of Barnsley vs Bolton on Tuesday night. Peterborough are at home to Northampton on the same evening. On Saturday our priority is of course to earn three points in the south-west but we will be hoping for favourable results in at least one of the following games:
Blackpool vs Portsmouth
Exeter vs Bolton
Barnsley vs Lincoln
Burton vs Peterborough
Expected Team: My guess is that Derby will be unchanged from the 3-0 win against a desperately struggling Port Vale. With fit full-back options rarer than a salad in the City Ground boardroom I suspect it'll be a back three plus the two wing-backs who played well yesterday. 
 
Safe journey to those who make the trip and COYR.

Mad fecker would play on crutches if they'd let him 🤕😂
Jokes aside...

Helpful angle. You see good control and some decent pace. Absolutely delighted for him.  Hopefully he breaks through next year.

Big, powerful and pacey.
Hopefully this loan will do his development the world of good and he’ll be around the squad next year.
I love a homegrown player 

Helpful angle. You see good control and some decent pace. Absolutely delighted for him.  Hopefully he breaks through next year.