Millenniumram

The ironic thing is, I think every English football fan wants the best young English players going and playing regularly for the best teams in the country, playing in the Champions League etc and really kicking on the national team in the process.  They just don't want the best young English players from their clubs going.

Mel has gone, I’m a new man. Until we lose to Stevenage tomorrow night, then I’ll get my pitchfork back out.

Obviously the admin has caused us issues specifically, but there's a wider issue.  Post-Brexit, English clubs can't just hoover up the best teenagers from Europe any more (FIFA rules make it difficult for Under 18s to move between countries, but the EU Single Market overrides that), so they're obviously focussing on English players instead.  The issue they have is that if they wait until they are 17/18 years old, they cost like £20m+ (see Jude Bellingham), because smaller English clubs are comparatively richer than equivalent European clubs.  So they're hoovering up all the English U16s, who aren't old enough to sign a pro contract yet, and will only cost whatever the transfer tribunal decides they are worth (which is fractions of what the likes of Bellingham cost).

Oh of course, without doubt - it’s sad, but people should absolutely prioritise more important things than football. I definitely shouldn’t have just spent £450 on a season ticket when I live in London, for example! 
Numbers will be down division wide because of that however, so I hope our attendances remain big relative to the rest of the league.

Get what you mean and agree with you to an extent B4 - trouble is, there’s a balance to be struck. Fans like me would attend games if they weren’t on RamsTV true, which would boost attendances slightly. But there’s a lot of fans elsewhere in the country who couldn’t justify the same travel expense on a friendly that they do for competitive games. They’ll still want to watch the games though, which is why RamsTV is great.

Mel has gone, I’m a new man. Until we lose to Stevenage tomorrow night, then I’ll get my pitchfork back out.

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.

Just read his goodbye message in full. What a guy. Going out of his way to thank basically everyone at the club. He really is such a genuinely good guy and a top pro. The sort of footballer young players should aspire to emulate. The fact he was only at the club for a short period, and has had so many teams before, but took Derby County into his heart the way he did shows the type of man he is. Thank you Colin.

Just read his goodbye message in full. What a guy. Going out of his way to thank basically everyone at the club. He really is such a genuinely good guy and a top pro. The sort of footballer young players should aspire to emulate. The fact he was only at the club for a short period, and has had so many teams before, but took Derby County into his heart the way he did shows the type of man he is. Thank you Colin.

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.

Who are you and what have you done with the original @Millenniumram?!

Worest thing they have done personal I would get rid of them and have fans in stadiums.

Didn’t mean for it to come across like I don’t enjoy them, more that the result doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. I still watch them on RamsTV and by and large I enjoy pre-season games - getting to see new players, as well as how we’re setting up for the season. Though the Hertha performance was absolutely brilliant considering the level of opponent. To beat a team like them, even in a friendly, was some coup. We played some wonderful stuff, and if we keep that up in the season proper, then Rosenior has us in a good place. 

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.

I agree @Millenniumramthat they usually are & I don’t usually enjoy them but the Hertha game was competitive; so credit to LR, the players and Hertha who could’ve been forgiven for rolling their metaphorical socks down and strolled about. McGoldrick, Hourihane, the winger who scored (senior moment on his name), Bird, Thompson, Knight, Curtis et alia put in proper shifts and as we know it was sticky-hot. 

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.

Suspect the fact that all pre season games are now streamed live means it’s unlikely you’ll see as big gates now as we might have done in seasons gone by. Fair play to those who do travel to watch effectively meaningless games - that’s some commitment. I just pay a fiver to watch them at home I’m not going to lie! Save money for when the real games begin.

Oh of course, without doubt - it’s sad, but people should absolutely prioritise more important things than football. I definitely shouldn’t have just spent £450 on a season ticket when I live in London, for example! 
Numbers will be down division wide because of that however, so I hope our attendances remain big relative to the rest of the league.

I think you might find that some can’t afford it due to the terrible state of the economy and cost of living crisis…..will impact on numbers I think….

No surprise after signing Barkuizen, McGoldrick and Collins - we’re sorted up front now without him. It’s a shame we couldn’t afford to keep him though, because he’s such a brilliant character, and his physical “bullying” style would have suited League One perfectly. Even at his age, he’d still be a brilliant asset to have at that level.
Ultimately a signing that will probably be remembered as a real sign of desperation at first, but then a shining light through the clubs darkest days. Good luck Colin.

Indeed, the manager is the most important person in terms of the clubs future success, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve got to get it right and not rush just to appoint anyone. Let’s hope Liam starts well, and gives us no choice but to give him the job full time.

The guy is an absolute clown duck me ?
When he became preferred bidder, he agreed to fund the club until his takeover was complete. Not our fault that he didn’t actually have the money he claimed he did, and reneged on his promise to buy the club. The money to pay the wages is lost now - as incompetent as Quantuma were for appointing him preferred bidder in the first place, it’s not their responsibility to refund him. This is what you get for being a time waster.
He’s clearly not even got the money to pay Stretford back, and he’s desperately searching for any way he can raise funds. It’s not going to work. Shows him for the potless chancer he is.

The question is about as stupid as the formatting of the post.
Just like the Championship, League One is incredibly unpredictable. Any team could have a storming season out of nowhere, and any team could have a total collapse and completely fail to live up to expectations. It’s impossible at this stage to determine which games are “hard” or “easy”, not until we see how things unfold (crucially including how good we are!). 
Pointless to look at what we expect from individual games, as anyone can beat anyone. The only thing we need to focus on is ourselves, and how many points we need to get promoted back to the Championship at the first attempt. That should be 2 points a game, so get 24 from those first 12 matches and we’re on track.

The question is about as stupid as the formatting of the post.
Just like the Championship, League One is incredibly unpredictable. Any team could have a storming season out of nowhere, and any team could have a total collapse and completely fail to live up to expectations. It’s impossible at this stage to determine which games are “hard” or “easy”, not until we see how things unfold (crucially including how good we are!). 
Pointless to look at what we expect from individual games, as anyone can beat anyone. The only thing we need to focus on is ourselves, and how many points we need to get promoted back to the Championship at the first attempt. That should be 2 points a game, so get 24 from those first 12 matches and we’re on track.