Millenniumram

Not relevant to this years kit, but I’ve been told we’ve signed a deal with Puma for next season onward

Not relevant to this years kit, but I’ve been told we’ve signed a deal with Puma for next season onward

Not relevant to this years kit, but I’ve been told we’ve signed a deal with Puma for next season onward

Saint David Clowes bringing back the good times?!
 
🤤 

Not relevant to this years kit, but I’ve been told we’ve signed a deal with Puma for next season onward

Not relevant to this years kit, but I’ve been told we’ve signed a deal with Puma for next season onward

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.

I think our current squad suits a 343 best with the likes of NML and Barks being "inside forwards". This could changed to a 3412 with say Sibley playing in the 10 role.

To be fair, I think Barkhuizen could play up front. He’s intelligent enough to work the role, and does pretty well in tight spaces. Think he’d do reasonably ok linking up with someone who’s got a bit more strength and can hold the ball up for him.
Mendez-Laing, however, is completely negated up front. His strengths lie in using his pace and power to drive past the opposition. He doesn’t have the space to operate effectively if he’s through the middle. 
And therein lies one of my worries. Our current squad does not suit 3-5-2, and would take a lot of surgery to adjust - which does not appear to be our plan in the transfer market. I hope Warne doesn’t try to force the team into his favoured formation when it’s not capable of it.

To be fair, I think Barkhuizen could play up front. He’s intelligent enough to work the role, and does pretty well in tight spaces. Think he’d do reasonably ok linking up with someone who’s got a bit more strength and can hold the ball up for him.
Mendez-Laing, however, is completely negated up front. His strengths lie in using his pace and power to drive past the opposition. He doesn’t have the space to operate effectively if he’s through the middle. 
And therein lies one of my worries. Our current squad does not suit 3-5-2, and would take a lot of surgery to adjust - which does not appear to be our plan in the transfer market. I hope Warne doesn’t try to force the team into his favoured formation when it’s not capable of it.

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.

To be fair, I think Barkhuizen could play up front. He’s intelligent enough to work the role, and does pretty well in tight spaces. Think he’d do reasonably ok linking up with someone who’s got a bit more strength and can hold the ball up for him.
Mendez-Laing, however, is completely negated up front. His strengths lie in using his pace and power to drive past the opposition. He doesn’t have the space to operate effectively if he’s through the middle. 
And therein lies one of my worries. Our current squad does not suit 3-5-2, and would take a lot of surgery to adjust - which does not appear to be our plan in the transfer market. I hope Warne doesn’t try to force the team into his favoured formation when it’s not capable of it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I'd flog him a life annuity today......

Retire his number like Jude Bellingham. Club legend 

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.

He's really taken representing Birmingham City to another level!

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.

Hacked?