Millenniumram

Very interesting decision from Rosenior, but a good one in my opinion.
Despite his young age, Bird is now vastly experienced, and knows better than anyone how the club operates, having been with us since a young age. He’s been a leader at every level he’s played at, and we’ve long seen him as a future captain. A year serving under Davies might be exactly what he needs, before potentially taking on the armband himself.
He’s no doubt we’ll respected within the club, particularly the younger players, for the performances that he’s put in since breaking through into the first team. That will help him become our long term captain in my opinion, provided he stays.
It’s a very logical decision to make him officially vice captain as well. Davies will be rotated out from time to time this season due to his age, probably only playing around 30 games, so in the remaining matches someone will have to take the armband. Bird is the ideal choice, as (assuming he stays and Bielik is loaned out) he will start every game he’s fit in CDM. So he’ll actually get to lead the team from time to time, gain the respect of his teammates and get that experience.

The obvious choice - and absolutely the right one.
No one deserves that band more than Curtis. He’s the perfect captain - a genuinely top bloke, both on and off the pitch, and a true role model for younger players to aspire to.
Stayed loyal to the club through some very dark days, when he could’ve left for an easier job on more money on multiple occasions. Proper modern day Derby hero in my book, and a man who loves the club as his own.
His leadership has never been in doubt, having worn the armband many times for us, and been de facto captain for much of his time here. He’d lead even without the armband, but it’s nice recognition for him to make it official, in what may be his final season in football. Let’s hope he ends it on a high by leading us back to the Championship.

I don’t think so.
I strongly suspect Rosenior was the man behind the tactics used for the last couple of years, with Rooney just as a figurehead doing the man-management side of things. 
With that in mind, I don’t think we’ll change the overall tactics and style of play. I suspect that was part of the thinking behind making Rosenior interim manager - so we have at least some continuity with all of these new signings coming in.
Hopefully we will play a lot more attacking and on the front foot, given rather than being favourites for relegation, we’re now favourites for promotion. You have to adjust mentality for that, in order to live up to expectations. But I strongly suspect the underlying style will remain the same - Rosenior will want us to play good, on the deck, passing football out the back.
Formation is perhaps slightly up for debate, given we’ve seen 4-4-2 on occasion in pre-season, but I still think it’s far more likely we’ll stick with some variant of 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, as we have done for the past decade. Anyone yearning for a return to 1980s kick and lump in League One will be disappointed.

The obvious choice - and absolutely the right one.
No one deserves that band more than Curtis. He’s the perfect captain - a genuinely top bloke, both on and off the pitch, and a true role model for younger players to aspire to.
Stayed loyal to the club through some very dark days, when he could’ve left for an easier job on more money on multiple occasions. Proper modern day Derby hero in my book, and a man who loves the club as his own.
His leadership has never been in doubt, having worn the armband many times for us, and been de facto captain for much of his time here. He’d lead even without the armband, but it’s nice recognition for him to make it official, in what may be his final season in football. Let’s hope he ends it on a high by leading us back to the Championship.

Very interesting decision from Rosenior, but a good one in my opinion.
Despite his young age, Bird is now vastly experienced, and knows better than anyone how the club operates, having been with us since a young age. He’s been a leader at every level he’s played at, and we’ve long seen him as a future captain. A year serving under Davies might be exactly what he needs, before potentially taking on the armband himself.
He’s no doubt we’ll respected within the club, particularly the younger players, for the performances that he’s put in since breaking through into the first team. That will help him become our long term captain in my opinion, provided he stays.
It’s a very logical decision to make him officially vice captain as well. Davies will be rotated out from time to time this season due to his age, probably only playing around 30 games, so in the remaining matches someone will have to take the armband. Bird is the ideal choice, as (assuming he stays and Bielik is loaned out) he will start every game he’s fit in CDM. So he’ll actually get to lead the team from time to time, gain the respect of his teammates and get that experience.

The obvious choice - and absolutely the right one.
No one deserves that band more than Curtis. He’s the perfect captain - a genuinely top bloke, both on and off the pitch, and a true role model for younger players to aspire to.
Stayed loyal to the club through some very dark days, when he could’ve left for an easier job on more money on multiple occasions. Proper modern day Derby hero in my book, and a man who loves the club as his own.
His leadership has never been in doubt, having worn the armband many times for us, and been de facto captain for much of his time here. He’d lead even without the armband, but it’s nice recognition for him to make it official, in what may be his final season in football. Let’s hope he ends it on a high by leading us back to the Championship.

The obvious choice - and absolutely the right one.
No one deserves that band more than Curtis. He’s the perfect captain - a genuinely top bloke, both on and off the pitch, and a true role model for younger players to aspire to.
Stayed loyal to the club through some very dark days, when he could’ve left for an easier job on more money on multiple occasions. Proper modern day Derby hero in my book, and a man who loves the club as his own.
His leadership has never been in doubt, having worn the armband many times for us, and been de facto captain for much of his time here. He’d lead even without the armband, but it’s nice recognition for him to make it official, in what may be his final season in football. Let’s hope he ends it on a high by leading us back to the Championship.

Quantuma probably sold the rights to it to Crystal Palace

Quantuma probably sold the rights to it to Crystal Palace

Quantuma probably sold the rights to it to Crystal Palace

Quantuma probably sold the rights to it to Crystal Palace

Quantuma probably sold the rights to it to Crystal Palace

Quantuma probably sold the rights to it to Crystal Palace

Quantuma probably sold the rights to it to Crystal Palace

His past reputation appears to suggest otherwise.

His past reputation appears to suggest otherwise.

What, struggling with life like throwing a tantrum when Liverpool wouldn’t let him leave? Demanding first team football at Fiorentina as soon as he arrived, then doing the same here after poor performances for the U23s? And then refusing to turn up for training after he failed to get himself a transfer, despite us still paying him. 
He doesn’t seem like a man struggling to me, just a man who thinks he’s way more talented than he actually is and has a divine right to first team football because of who his cousin is. 

He’s got a bad reputation through his actions, it’s as simple as that.

His past reputation appears to suggest otherwise.

Another one for the U21s. No doubt we’ll have loads of young players on trial - we need to rebuild our youth teams after they were decimated last season.

Get that point of view, but just as a devil’s advocate… the best will still shine through, even if it’s average in a poor display because of the calibre of teammates. Add to that the staff see them every day training and have done for years… I’m sure they have a good idea. 

I think “what happened” is that we discovered exactly what Man City, Liverpool and Fiorentina did - that Duncan is a clown (or insert another word beginning with C) who has an ego twice the size of his actual ability. It’s clear he doesn’t want to be here by the way he’s gone AWOL, but evidently no one else is stupid enough to take him on.
I’m sure he’ll see out the last year of his contract here without stepping foot in Derby, as his career rots away. What a waste, not the first young player to be like this either.

Definitely see your point - there’s no real way of judging if young players are ready when they’re just playing alongside other youngsters / reserves. The side probably won’t be good enough, with the young players struggling to make an impact. But if you instead play the odd young player within a majority first choice team, then you can see if they’re capable of fitting in at that level. Playing with better players can often see younger players raise their game, and prove they’re ready to step up. It would certainly be interesting to see while we have the chance, you’re right.
But then, I guess there’s also the argument that we need to build partnerships between the new signings, hence why Rosenior might want to keep the first choice team together, so they get used to playing with each other. I mean, pre-season is ultimately about fitness, and I think that’s how Liam views it, based on the comments I’ve heard from him.

I hope we don't do that, as I'd like to see us mix it up a bit, so we can see how some of the youngsters play alongside the more experienced new signings. Otherwise, what do we learn? 
For example, Cashin at the side of Chester, Stretton and Sibley playing off McGoldrick.
But you may well be right. Missed opportunity,  if so.

I don’t think the issues we’ve had are particularly to do with forward planning. 
Part of the reason we lost so many young players very recently is because we simply couldn’t hand out contracts whilst in administration. That problem was of course temporary, and I hope never poses an issue again.
The main difficultly though is persuading players to stay here. Until a player is a professional, we have no control over whether they stay with us or move elsewhere. We’ve seen a lot of players turn down pro deals here to sign at big clubs like Man City and Liverpool instead. That shows that our academy status is not enough alone to keep players here.
Is there actually anything more we can do though, or is this just an issue built into the academy system? I fear it will always be this way, takeover or no takeover. We already clearly offer more first team football for youngsters than any other team practically, so I don’t know what else we can do.