Millenniumram
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Posts posted by Millenniumram
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Feel like we’d be crazy not to be in for Alfie May.
I get peoples concerns about his age and the fact he’s only had a couple of decent seasons, as to whether he can step up to our level. But it’s really not that much of a gamble if he’s available for 200k - that shouldn’t deplete our budget too much. And with the amount of goals he’s scored, can we really afford to let someone else get hold of him?
We’re crying out for a goal scorer now McGoldrick is gone, and this guy seems the ideal replacement to me. Granted, I’ve only seen him play a couple of times, but I remember us giving him loads of s*** from the away end at Cheltenham - and that was because he was by far the best player on the pitch.
We need two strikers anyway, so it’s not like he’d even have to be the starter. He just seems a much more worthwhile gamble than Washington.
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20 minutes ago, BathRam72 said:
Has he said so?
I mean it’s quite clear
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7 minutes ago, Ambitious said:
Never heard of him, doesn’t seem to find the net a lot - regardless of level he’s been at. Cardiff fans have him down as a trier who lacks quality to be a Championship player. Me, I’d prefer to find players who have ability but may need coaching up to progress as a footballer.
A low quality footballer, who runs a lot, isn’t exactly what we’re lacking to be honest.
It’s what Warne wants though
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Never heard of them, seem like a BTEC Airbnb.
Nice logo though, pretty smart and subtle, which is all I care about. Even the colours aren’t too offensive, though I think it would fit very well on our shirt in all black.
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42 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:
There’s little mention of Barnsley amongst the potential strong sides this season. They finished last season strongly and have wealthy owners don’t they? Is it down to them losing Duff as manager that people aren’t considering them a challenger?
Don’t think anyone is saying they’re not a strong side, just that they’re not likely to have the budget that we have. Their owners have been quite prudent with spending in the past, from what I recall, irrespective of how much cash they have. Of course, they could choose this season to make a big push, again we will see.
Them losing Duff is a big positive for us, particularly this close to the start of pre-season. All depends who they replace him with, they certainly have the potential to be one of our main challengers, but the timing will hopefully throw them into a bit of disarray.
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4 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:
I can see Bolton, Portsmouth, Charlton and Oxford potentially making a financial push this season.
Maybe they’ll take a gamble given the lack of quality in the league this year. We will see. But Bolton, Portsmouth and Charlton are 3 of the clubs who’ve had financial problems in recent memory, I’m not sure there will be appetite to be reckless. Oxford is the one I see as most likely, but their income will be so small compared to ours, that even substantial owner investment won’t see them hit our budget imo.
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3 minutes ago, sage said:
You miss my point. Whilst we can pretty much guarantee we will have one of the highest budgets, you can't guarantee we will have the highest budget because other chairman may subsidise their clubs more than Clowes is planning to. That is not a criticism of Clowes.
You can’t guarantee it no, but I strongly suggest we will do. Looking at the clubs in the league this season, I can’t see many where I think the owner is going to throw money at it. Time will tell, but a lot of clubs in this league are / have recently been in financial trouble, so I don’t see anyone spending vast sums (like Ipswich last season).
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2 minutes ago, sage said:
It doesn't quite work like that. We will I imagine have one of the top 6 budgets, but we still have to work to an approved business plan.
Clowes isn't going to throw money at this, the era of speculate to accumulate is over for now.
Clubs like Bolton could run at a owner funded loss within FFP rules
That business plan will allow us to spend what we bring in. Sure, Clowes can’t pump money in, but he shouldn’t need to - the money the club generates alone will give us the biggest budget in the league.
Clowes isn’t going to spend recklessly like Mel, but I’m sure he’s not looking to profit off the club either. He will allow the club to spend what it brings in.
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4 hours ago, sage said:
What is our budget?
No one knows exact figures, but we’re the biggest club in the league by some margin. We will thus have the largest income, and therefore the largest budget. Add to that £3m in sales from Knight and Bielik and we really shouldn’t be struggling financially to compete.
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4 hours ago, oodledoodle said:
This is the kind of post rival fans come into the forum and take the mickey out of.
Perhaps, but I don’t really see why. I’m not saying we will get promoted, I’m just saying we should. That’s not cockiness, it’s just facts. I doubt any rival fan will argue that we’re not favourites. We absolutely could fail, and if we do that’s on us, and extremely embarrassing.
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Won’t surprise anyone to know I put automatic promotion. As I’ve said before, this league is absolutely s***. It’ll be even worse this season with the better teams gone, and those that have replaced them in disarray. We’re heavy title favourites for a reason, there should be no way Derby County, with our budget, fail to dominate this league. We won’t have a better chance to get out of this cesspit.
Promotion via playoffs will just about be acceptable, but shouldn’t be necessary. I’ve were still in League One this time next year, the Paul Warne should be nowhere near the club. He’s already failed once last season (how do you not even make the playoffs in League One!), to not get promoted this season would be absolutely abject. The pressure is on, he needs to rise to it.
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At the risk of sounding like Mel Morris… money.
McGoldrick was absolutely outstanding last season, ridiculously too good for this league. He was the key component of our attack, and integral to the way we played going forward. Without him, you really do struggle to see us scoring goals - and quality like him is rare out there. To lose him was a devastating blow.
However, we must remember that our transfer embargo has now been lifted, and we can finally spend fees again. Think it’s been so long that it’s difficult for Derby fans to realise how big a difference that makes, being allowed to operate normally. We should have a big budget this season for this league, following the sales of Knight and Bielik. In almost all of our positions of need, you should be able to find sufficient quality to win promotion in free agents / loans. So I really would direct as much of our funds as required towards a McGoldrick replacement.
Even if it means spending a fee barely heard of at this level, it is critical that we secure that top quality star up front to lead our attack - the cost will pale in comparison to promotion, which we won’t achieve if we f*** this up. It really is the most important signing we will make, so the recruitment team must get it right. It won’t be easy though.
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For those doubting the source of this - Pete O’Rourke is one of the most reliable journalists out there. He’s got tons of things right in the past. Just because not every player he’s linked with us ends up signing, doesn’t mean he was making up the interest - sometimes signings fall through for whatever reason. It’s the same for ITK posters, it doesn’t mean they were lying. This deal might not happen - whether it does is likely dependent on how much Rotherham want for him. But we will be trying to sign him, I’m confident of that.
Personally, feel this would be a pretty uninspiring signing. He’s always looked pretty ineffective whenever I’ve seen him play, and I’m not really sure what he would bring to the team. That said, Warne clearly rates him having signed him before for Rotherham, so you can see him wanting him here as well. And, to be fair, we really do need to seriously strengthen up front. We were short before McGoldrick left, and now we’re left with donkey Collins as our only option. I do think Washington would be an upgrade on him at least (difficult not to be!). As I say, we probably need to sign two strikers this window, so I guess we shouldn’t panic too much thinking this guy is here to replace McGoldrick - he might just be adding some more depth as we lacked in options last season. Hopefully we have someone else better lined up too.
Scraping around for more positives (before the happy clappers come on here and abuse me), it appears he can also play on both flanks, which is useful as we’re lacking cover for Barkhuizen and Mendez-Laing as things stand. I’d also imagine he won’t cost much more then half a million, which will still leave plenty in the c.£3m kitty were expecting following the Knight and Bielik sales.
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Very pleased with this signing. Looks to be a solid and accomplished player with vast experience, in a position that’s in dire need of reinforcement. Will without doubt be an upgrade on Davies and Stearman who were both finished last season, and also should be much more reliable than Chester. Welcome to Derby Curtis!
Still need a couple more at CB though imo, if we’re playing 3 at the back. We’re very short there.
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1 hour ago, Caerphilly Ram said:
According to Google lens this is what the polish text on his IG story says…
EDIT - with a bit more digging it seems he made an inappropriate comment in response to a fan’s comment on Instagram. The fan said something about Bielik having fun and Bielik responded by saying he’d had fun with the fan’s mother 🤦🏻♂️
Did my man really just blow his whole international career with a “your mum” joke?
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Just now, Kokosnuss said:
Sounds like an old school defender from what Blackpool fans say, make the tackle, clear the ball, by no means a passer and not particularly strong in the air but a good leader. They seem to have one fan on their forums who absolutely hates him but you'll pretty much always get that.
Excellent, I’ll take his place then
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Get in! Now this is the statement of intent I’ve been waiting for! Season tickets renewals will be through the roof at this news.
In all seriousness, this is good news. It’s difficult to find a goalkeeper happy to be third choice, but Loach seems a top pro and a great character to have around the club. I’m sure he’s great around the younger goalkeepers coming through too.
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3 minutes ago, i-Ram said:
Interesting thread on @Millenniumram. Which is a shame as I know a lot about him, but before today I had never heard of Joe Ward.
Honestly I’ve learnt a lot about myself. Apparently I think Joe Ward is crap? You learn something new everyday
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1 hour ago, sage said:
He was offered a 3 year contract. It was on their website. He was on the retained list
Yeah I’ve noted that since. I forgot Peterborough’s chairman seems to want to let the whole world know his business. Was the same with the Marriott deal.
Wouldn't normally expect details of contracts not yet signed to be disclosed - just a “contract offered” is usually all you’d see.
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1 hour ago, NottsRam77 said:
U know hes coming on a free right?
and we’re in league one? Just checking
You know that doesn’t mean we can only sign crap players, right?
(Not saying this lad is crap, but signing on a free in League One isn’t an excuse)
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48 minutes ago, jameso said:
Ah, so you mean a chance to prove you wrong about your knee-jerk reaction to any signing made by Warne because you identify as being anti-Warne and having your "glass half empty" on that basis alone. Sorry, I now understand what you mean. (We're using the same language but with different meanings).
That was a somewhat facetious remark to a poster who is constantly aggressive towards any post I make on here in an attempt to start an argument.
In actual fact, recruitment isn’t even really Warne’s responsibility. If this lad turns out to be crap, the blame lies with Mark Thomas and his team.
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Just now, Jimbo Ram said:
That’s a good idea 🤣
Which I’ve never once said anything to the contrary of.
Ill leave the happy clappers to keep reading my posts with the “MillenniumRam is always negative” lens and ignore what I’m actually saying.
Do we have our 20 goal striker?
in Derby County Forum
Posted
No, we don’t. McGoldrick and Collins aren’t comparable. Didzy spent the best part of his career playing at a level higher than League One, that’s why his goal scoring record wasn’t that great. The last time he played in League One before joining us, he hit 16 goals in half a season - that showed he was eminently capable of being a goal scorer at this level. Last season didn’t “come out of nowhere” for him, as some may believe.
Collins, on the other hand, has spent much more time in the lower leagues. Where he has been very successful of course, hitting 20 goals plus on multiple occasions. But last season showed us he’s not the same player anymore - he looked poor and ineffective the vast majority of the time, very much what Cardiff fans thought of him as well. At his age, he’s not going to all of a sudden become good enough to fire a team to promotion again.
If we start next season with Collins as our first choice striker, you can look forward to another season in League One. He’s backup at best. The plan has to be (and luckily, I believe is) to sign at least one striker better than Collins, to replace McGoldrick as first choice. We may even sign a second player better than him and relegate him to emergency cover.