BramcoteRam84

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? 
 

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. 

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. 

English football is going global, we’re trying to market ourselves like the NFL. Did I just see the EFL has just agreed an international deal for rights to EFL games?
It screws over the fans, who in the majority of cases are local to their team and therefore don’t care about the global aspect. The premier league has started all this, the biggest error in the history of English football is to allow the Premier League to happen, an independent organisation to football’s governing body whose only focus is on making it the richest league in the world attracting the best players and having 6 teams who are superpowers who can win champions leagues. The result is a league disconnected from the pyramid rigged in such a way that only the clubs who had established global fanbases (the big 6) can prosper unless you had a billionaire to make you one of the superpowers which now with the introduction of FFP they’re seemingly stopping/restricting.
Personally, I don’t care if an English team never wins the champions league again (unless it’s Derby). I don’t care if the worlds best players don’t play in the premier league, I don’t care if the premier league is labelled “best league in the world”, I want a top tier of English football that is attainable for 40-50 clubs and that the majority of those clubs have the chance to be competitive once in a while even if it’s not for a sustained period. If I had that, and an England national team that could win everything then that would do me fine and I think 90% of proper English football fans would say the same. 
Im not a socialist by any stretch but I do think some socialist principles need to be applied to English football to enable a proper reset of the game to make the whole league Pyramid more competitive. Without the playoffs the premier league would already be a closed shop by now and I still think this will be the season where the three promoted teams come back down and the three relegated teams go straight back up.

English football is going global, we’re trying to market ourselves like the NFL. Did I just see the EFL has just agreed an international deal for rights to EFL games?
It screws over the fans, who in the majority of cases are local to their team and therefore don’t care about the global aspect. The premier league has started all this, the biggest error in the history of English football is to allow the Premier League to happen, an independent organisation to football’s governing body whose only focus is on making it the richest league in the world attracting the best players and having 6 teams who are superpowers who can win champions leagues. The result is a league disconnected from the pyramid rigged in such a way that only the clubs who had established global fanbases (the big 6) can prosper unless you had a billionaire to make you one of the superpowers which now with the introduction of FFP they’re seemingly stopping/restricting.
Personally, I don’t care if an English team never wins the champions league again (unless it’s Derby). I don’t care if the worlds best players don’t play in the premier league, I don’t care if the premier league is labelled “best league in the world”, I want a top tier of English football that is attainable for 40-50 clubs and that the majority of those clubs have the chance to be competitive once in a while even if it’s not for a sustained period. If I had that, and an England national team that could win everything then that would do me fine and I think 90% of proper English football fans would say the same. 
Im not a socialist by any stretch but I do think some socialist principles need to be applied to English football to enable a proper reset of the game to make the whole league Pyramid more competitive. Without the playoffs the premier league would already be a closed shop by now and I still think this will be the season where the three promoted teams come back down and the three relegated teams go straight back up.

English football is going global, we’re trying to market ourselves like the NFL. Did I just see the EFL has just agreed an international deal for rights to EFL games?
It screws over the fans, who in the majority of cases are local to their team and therefore don’t care about the global aspect. The premier league has started all this, the biggest error in the history of English football is to allow the Premier League to happen, an independent organisation to football’s governing body whose only focus is on making it the richest league in the world attracting the best players and having 6 teams who are superpowers who can win champions leagues. The result is a league disconnected from the pyramid rigged in such a way that only the clubs who had established global fanbases (the big 6) can prosper unless you had a billionaire to make you one of the superpowers which now with the introduction of FFP they’re seemingly stopping/restricting.
Personally, I don’t care if an English team never wins the champions league again (unless it’s Derby). I don’t care if the worlds best players don’t play in the premier league, I don’t care if the premier league is labelled “best league in the world”, I want a top tier of English football that is attainable for 40-50 clubs and that the majority of those clubs have the chance to be competitive once in a while even if it’s not for a sustained period. If I had that, and an England national team that could win everything then that would do me fine and I think 90% of proper English football fans would say the same. 
Im not a socialist by any stretch but I do think some socialist principles need to be applied to English football to enable a proper reset of the game to make the whole league Pyramid more competitive. Without the playoffs the premier league would already be a closed shop by now and I still think this will be the season where the three promoted teams come back down and the three relegated teams go straight back up.

Well I’ve got it:
Derby 92
Bolton 90
Barnsley 86
However I’ve got Bolton losing to posh on last day, Derby winning their last 3 meaning we’d start final game in 3rd, and Derby beating Bolton. Also have us dropping points at Bristol this Saturday (draw), Pompey (loss) and Wycombe (draw), so 7 wins 2 draws and a loss. 
That Bolton game is massive. 

We were just as good as Man Utd in the 70’s but they have left us in the dust and are now worth over £5 Billion . They have built themselves into a Worldwide brand . Bigger than any NFL team . If we are ever going to get anywhere near the top 6 in the next 50 years - There would have to be massive changes in football. A small step would be the end of Parachute Payments . 

Well I’ve got it:
Derby 92
Bolton 90
Barnsley 86
However I’ve got Bolton losing to posh on last day, Derby winning their last 3 meaning we’d start final game in 3rd, and Derby beating Bolton. Also have us dropping points at Bristol this Saturday (draw), Pompey (loss) and Wycombe (draw), so 7 wins 2 draws and a loss. 
That Bolton game is massive. 

With a 25% success rate in our last 4 visits there is a fair chance that 90% of the regular fan base could be considered bad luck charms.
I didn’t go to the old Wembley in the 90s, I watched (and cried) at home so my record is 1/3. I really hope we won’t be at Wembley this year and we can get up automatically but I’ll be there if we are.

Good win today. Well deserved. First time I’ve liked the way we set up with wing backs. Sibs and Ward were excellent. First 20 really good, then we had a period when nothing happened probably when their keeper had issues and the game was stopped. They had a 10 min spell brought about by us carelessly losing the ball, then an excellent goal, cash put ward in a difficult position with his pass, under pressure his first touch was outstanding, plays an excellent ball out wide (about the only ball he could play under pressure) Barks does really well, great cross from Ebou and the perfect header from Gayle.
From that point we started to play with a flourish, got an excellent third, could’ve scored more then the game fizzled out as we made our changes. They were poor but you have to play what’s in front of you, we were ruthless at the right times got that second which by then we’d earned the right to play and managed to play some good stuff at times. We haven’t got that second goal often recently and as result every game has become a scrap. 
 
There is reason to be encouraged today, Gayle is a major threat, we might have found the formula with our wing backs and there was reasonable balance with Ebou and Bird in the middle. This coupled with the fact we’re getting players back from injury we should be strong for the run in to hopefully get us over the line, and if not, we should be strong for the playoffs.

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.

Yes I was being polite, it was beyond gamesmanship at a point we were on top and while it didn’t affect the result it had a material effect in changing the course of the game for about 15-20 mins 

There was nothing wrong with their keeper. This is a loophole in the rules that needs fixing. As its the only position that doesnt require the player to stay off the field for 30 seconds he went down so Darren Moore could make tactical changes. Their outfield players all sprinted off to the half way line immediately when the the ref stopped play and surprise surprise they are much better for the next 10 minutes.
 

Good win today. Well deserved. First time I’ve liked the way we set up with wing backs. Sibs and Ward were excellent. First 20 really good, then we had a period when nothing happened probably when their keeper had issues and the game was stopped. They had a 10 min spell brought about by us carelessly losing the ball, then an excellent goal, cash put ward in a difficult position with his pass, under pressure his first touch was outstanding, plays an excellent ball out wide (about the only ball he could play under pressure) Barks does really well, great cross from Ebou and the perfect header from Gayle.
From that point we started to play with a flourish, got an excellent third, could’ve scored more then the game fizzled out as we made our changes. They were poor but you have to play what’s in front of you, we were ruthless at the right times got that second which by then we’d earned the right to play and managed to play some good stuff at times. We haven’t got that second goal often recently and as result every game has become a scrap. 
 
There is reason to be encouraged today, Gayle is a major threat, we might have found the formula with our wing backs and there was reasonable balance with Ebou and Bird in the middle. This coupled with the fact we’re getting players back from injury we should be strong for the run in to hopefully get us over the line, and if not, we should be strong for the playoffs.

Good win today. Well deserved. First time I’ve liked the way we set up with wing backs. Sibs and Ward were excellent. First 20 really good, then we had a period when nothing happened probably when their keeper had issues and the game was stopped. They had a 10 min spell brought about by us carelessly losing the ball, then an excellent goal, cash put ward in a difficult position with his pass, under pressure his first touch was outstanding, plays an excellent ball out wide (about the only ball he could play under pressure) Barks does really well, great cross from Ebou and the perfect header from Gayle.
From that point we started to play with a flourish, got an excellent third, could’ve scored more then the game fizzled out as we made our changes. They were poor but you have to play what’s in front of you, we were ruthless at the right times got that second which by then we’d earned the right to play and managed to play some good stuff at times. We haven’t got that second goal often recently and as result every game has become a scrap. 
 
There is reason to be encouraged today, Gayle is a major threat, we might have found the formula with our wing backs and there was reasonable balance with Ebou and Bird in the middle. This coupled with the fact we’re getting players back from injury we should be strong for the run in to hopefully get us over the line, and if not, we should be strong for the playoffs.

Good win today. Well deserved. First time I’ve liked the way we set up with wing backs. Sibs and Ward were excellent. First 20 really good, then we had a period when nothing happened probably when their keeper had issues and the game was stopped. They had a 10 min spell brought about by us carelessly losing the ball, then an excellent goal, cash put ward in a difficult position with his pass, under pressure his first touch was outstanding, plays an excellent ball out wide (about the only ball he could play under pressure) Barks does really well, great cross from Ebou and the perfect header from Gayle.
From that point we started to play with a flourish, got an excellent third, could’ve scored more then the game fizzled out as we made our changes. They were poor but you have to play what’s in front of you, we were ruthless at the right times got that second which by then we’d earned the right to play and managed to play some good stuff at times. We haven’t got that second goal often recently and as result every game has become a scrap. 
 
There is reason to be encouraged today, Gayle is a major threat, we might have found the formula with our wing backs and there was reasonable balance with Ebou and Bird in the middle. This coupled with the fact we’re getting players back from injury we should be strong for the run in to hopefully get us over the line, and if not, we should be strong for the playoffs.

Good win today. Well deserved. First time I’ve liked the way we set up with wing backs. Sibs and Ward were excellent. First 20 really good, then we had a period when nothing happened probably when their keeper had issues and the game was stopped. They had a 10 min spell brought about by us carelessly losing the ball, then an excellent goal, cash put ward in a difficult position with his pass, under pressure his first touch was outstanding, plays an excellent ball out wide (about the only ball he could play under pressure) Barks does really well, great cross from Ebou and the perfect header from Gayle.
From that point we started to play with a flourish, got an excellent third, could’ve scored more then the game fizzled out as we made our changes. They were poor but you have to play what’s in front of you, we were ruthless at the right times got that second which by then we’d earned the right to play and managed to play some good stuff at times. We haven’t got that second goal often recently and as result every game has become a scrap. 
 
There is reason to be encouraged today, Gayle is a major threat, we might have found the formula with our wing backs and there was reasonable balance with Ebou and Bird in the middle. This coupled with the fact we’re getting players back from injury we should be strong for the run in to hopefully get us over the line, and if not, we should be strong for the playoffs.

Good win today. Well deserved. First time I’ve liked the way we set up with wing backs. Sibs and Ward were excellent. First 20 really good, then we had a period when nothing happened probably when their keeper had issues and the game was stopped. They had a 10 min spell brought about by us carelessly losing the ball, then an excellent goal, cash put ward in a difficult position with his pass, under pressure his first touch was outstanding, plays an excellent ball out wide (about the only ball he could play under pressure) Barks does really well, great cross from Ebou and the perfect header from Gayle.
From that point we started to play with a flourish, got an excellent third, could’ve scored more then the game fizzled out as we made our changes. They were poor but you have to play what’s in front of you, we were ruthless at the right times got that second which by then we’d earned the right to play and managed to play some good stuff at times. We haven’t got that second goal often recently and as result every game has become a scrap. 
 
There is reason to be encouraged today, Gayle is a major threat, we might have found the formula with our wing backs and there was reasonable balance with Ebou and Bird in the middle. This coupled with the fact we’re getting players back from injury we should be strong for the run in to hopefully get us over the line, and if not, we should be strong for the playoffs.

Good win today. Well deserved. First time I’ve liked the way we set up with wing backs. Sibs and Ward were excellent. First 20 really good, then we had a period when nothing happened probably when their keeper had issues and the game was stopped. They had a 10 min spell brought about by us carelessly losing the ball, then an excellent goal, cash put ward in a difficult position with his pass, under pressure his first touch was outstanding, plays an excellent ball out wide (about the only ball he could play under pressure) Barks does really well, great cross from Ebou and the perfect header from Gayle.
From that point we started to play with a flourish, got an excellent third, could’ve scored more then the game fizzled out as we made our changes. They were poor but you have to play what’s in front of you, we were ruthless at the right times got that second which by then we’d earned the right to play and managed to play some good stuff at times. We haven’t got that second goal often recently and as result every game has become a scrap. 
 
There is reason to be encouraged today, Gayle is a major threat, we might have found the formula with our wing backs and there was reasonable balance with Ebou and Bird in the middle. This coupled with the fact we’re getting players back from injury we should be strong for the run in to hopefully get us over the line, and if not, we should be strong for the playoffs.

Good win today. Well deserved. First time I’ve liked the way we set up with wing backs. Sibs and Ward were excellent. First 20 really good, then we had a period when nothing happened probably when their keeper had issues and the game was stopped. They had a 10 min spell brought about by us carelessly losing the ball, then an excellent goal, cash put ward in a difficult position with his pass, under pressure his first touch was outstanding, plays an excellent ball out wide (about the only ball he could play under pressure) Barks does really well, great cross from Ebou and the perfect header from Gayle.
From that point we started to play with a flourish, got an excellent third, could’ve scored more then the game fizzled out as we made our changes. They were poor but you have to play what’s in front of you, we were ruthless at the right times got that second which by then we’d earned the right to play and managed to play some good stuff at times. We haven’t got that second goal often recently and as result every game has become a scrap. 
 
There is reason to be encouraged today, Gayle is a major threat, we might have found the formula with our wing backs and there was reasonable balance with Ebou and Bird in the middle. This coupled with the fact we’re getting players back from injury we should be strong for the run in to hopefully get us over the line, and if not, we should be strong for the playoffs.

Me and young Ilkley will renew sometime in April.
I’m obviously the only one.  I’m enjoying this season - goals (some very, very good ones), mean defence, second in the league with a chance of going up automatically or the thrill of the playoffs, but challenging at the very least. So sometimes we misplace passes, sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes we lose games we should win - welcome to human beings playing in the third division. Exactly the same when Arthur was our manager playing an effective style that scraped us up due to a dodgy penalty. I enjoyed that season too. 
And we have a club, a team to support. Not so long ago I thought I was going to our last ever match. Can’t get that feeling out of my mind.  Anything, anything is better than that and worth a season ticket

Don’t think you can criticise the subs made. Adams possibly but he’d been kicked from pillar to post and played majority of the game, Smith is just back from injury so need to be careful as Gayle also we need to treat carefully. You can definitely criticise started by line up, but only alternative would be sibs or Wilson at left back, Elder would no doubt have started if fit. 
 
I just thought Smiths interview after the game was telling the players sat back and played safe, the energy and physicality stopped in the second half as well as bravery on the ball. That’s on the players. But first half was a real opportunity to bury the game and team selection played a part in not doing so. It’s easy to blame Warne it’s more balanced to look at the collective. 
 
Im not calling people out for criticising Warne, if he gets us promoted this season or next that’s par performance no more than that, he should then be judged on what he can do in the championship band jury is out as to whether he’s the right man long term, just feel a lot of the criticism he gets isn’t balanced and not always fair

Will they get points deducted from their gold stars too?
#two gold triangles