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George Burley was a special manager and worked miracles during his time at DCFC whilst constantly being undermined by Murdo Mackay. No question about Rooney's playing credentials, but he's currently not managerial material. The results and performances in the last couple of months of last season were absolutely dire. Perhaps Wayne will make it in coaching / management in the future. Good luck to him, but the needs of DCFC are greater than those of a celebrity footballer with more ambition than relevant qualifications / experience. 

George Burley was a special manager and worked miracles during his time at DCFC whilst constantly being undermined by Murdo Mackay. No question about Rooney's playing credentials, but he's currently not managerial material. The results and performances in the last couple of months of last season were absolutely dire. Perhaps Wayne will make it in coaching / management in the future. Good luck to him, but the needs of DCFC are greater than those of a celebrity footballer with more ambition than relevant qualifications / experience. 

George Burley was a special manager and worked miracles during his time at DCFC whilst constantly being undermined by Murdo Mackay. No question about Rooney's playing credentials, but he's currently not managerial material. The results and performances in the last couple of months of last season were absolutely dire. Perhaps Wayne will make it in coaching / management in the future. Good luck to him, but the needs of DCFC are greater than those of a celebrity footballer with more ambition than relevant qualifications / experience. 

George Burley was a special manager and worked miracles during his time at DCFC whilst constantly being undermined by Murdo Mackay. No question about Rooney's playing credentials, but he's currently not managerial material. The results and performances in the last couple of months of last season were absolutely dire. Perhaps Wayne will make it in coaching / management in the future. Good luck to him, but the needs of DCFC are greater than those of a celebrity footballer with more ambition than relevant qualifications / experience. 

Is that Mel and Erik Alonso? 

comparing someone who has never achieved anything in management and got us 7 points out of the last 45 available with a highly experienced manager who guided a newly promoted team in Ipswich (after 3 consecutive play off finishes) to a uefa cup spot before he took us over is laughable yes. 

Yes we need a clear out. If we are to move forward then Rooney and his coaching staff will need to leave. My guess is that new owners will come in (at some point in the future), give Wayne & co.  a dozen or so games, the performances will continue to be lousy and the axe will fall. 

Where did I say being founder members of the League gave us a special license? Never mentioned it
And you brought up the point about Leicester being the bigger city as if that was a relevant criteria to their success. It isnt as they are in a similiar bracket to us. That was the point I was making re Leeds, Birmingham etc.
Don't disagree theres a huge amount of work to be done with this club though. Even if we lazily assume the relegated sides will always fill positions 1-3 in the Championship every year, that still leaves 3 other playoff berths & a one shot game at Wembley. As we know anything can happen in one game. So we should realistically believe we can finish 4th-6th.
Instead we finished 21st with only a points deduction for an opponent saving us, we're massively in debt despite having financial advantages over the vast majority & we have a very poor manager by the standards of this division. So complaining about the riches of the Premier League & its bottom sides is futile. We are the architects of our downfall & complaining about it/insisting it should change will get us precisely nowhere.

Doubt if fans of DCFC or any other club would complain about the system if they were sat mid table in the Premier League. 

Ah, you do have some bias here. If you were a Citeh or Chelski fan you might think different ?
The game was ducked a long, long, time ago. Nothings going to change as the EFL are much more interested with looking in rather than looking out, and the Premier League offer the best protectionism service since the Krays.

Some would say that’s an oxymoron 

If only we had signed Wozniak then maybe we wouldn't have so many cash problems.

Obviously not as events have proven. There are a lot of more fundamental issues that are putting off potential buyers.

Wayne quoted as saying 'this needs to happen as soon as possible' .... reality is, even if Mr Morris is in talks, and if the other parties are serious, we would be months and months away from a take over being completed. Next season is a write off already. The situation hasn't been helped at all by Fake Sheikh and Alonso time wasters. Still can't believe they were taken seriously. Quite pathetic really. 

Wayne quoted as saying 'this needs to happen as soon as possible' .... reality is, even if Mr Morris is in talks, and if the other parties are serious, we would be months and months away from a take over being completed. Next season is a write off already. The situation hasn't been helped at all by Fake Sheikh and Alonso time wasters. Still can't believe they were taken seriously. Quite pathetic really. 

You’d assume the previous two failed attempts were about “finally selling up”. 

Wazza’s haircut is.
“But there could be hope on the horizon for Derby with Morris in discussions with a US group who have experience in sport”.
I hope it not croquet, although it may up our tempo.

Improvement on the last couple of jokers then....

Makes me chuckle the comments on here saying the recruitment team aren't to blame due to the massive number of managerial changes they've had to deal with and different managers trying different systems. Then I see that extensive list of players we've signed at huge cost where we have got exactly zero pounds back against the original outlay. Go figure that one out. 

Great quote from the Palace fans a few years back about Jordan
" the futures bright the chairmans orange"

Absolutely. Beggars belief that the Alonso bid got any further than an initial phone call, message or email. Perhaps suggests that Mr Morris is almost totally disengaged with DCFC at this point? Or does he rely on (bad) advisors?

Yes, right, I think that was it. Perhaps Mr Morris had a point there, but our relationship with the EFL has significantly deteriorated. What have we gained from it?? Again if my memory serves me correctly, previously, Tom Glick was on more cordial terms with the EFL. 

Really interesting. Good bit of research work there LCR. Much appreciated ?

So, had a phone call with a very helpful & knowledgeable chap from the FSA this afternoon. He didn’t dismiss the idea of fans taking over at Derby & believed a well-supported one club city would stand a better chance than most to bring about a successful fan ownership model. He also made reference to the Fan Led Review – a task force set up by Government that is specifically looking at facilitating greater fan control of clubs & sustainability. This is due to report later this year on recommendations.
He did however warn it would be extremely difficult, that the Championship in particular was a basketcase division & threw around some horrifying amounts that benevolent chairmen have had to spend to keep their clubs competitive (including Mel). Nothing to be fair we'd didn't already suspect.
Asked him a few questions on behalf of interested parties on here;
Q Have you had many past enquiries from fans of other big clubs? What were the sticking points?
Yes, plenty. General issue is either that the cost of the club is prohibitively expensive or the size of the debt is far too high for fans to reasonably service
Q What are the different types of fan ownership models?
Two main types; conventional Limited Company (with shares) or a CBS (Community Benefit Society) which is basically a mutual co-operative. A CBS has to have one member one vote irrespective of member contribution & any profits have to be ploughed back into the business. There is also potentially corporation tax exemption
Q Ways of raising money to fund a fan buyout?
Either selling shares in a conventional Limited company or via debentures/supporter bond – basically fans lend money to the new ownership group at a low rate of annual interest. Also very wise to go after High Net Worth individuals who support the club – this was the basis of the successful buy in at Portsmouth in 2013 & the purchase of the new Plough Lane ground by AFC Wimbledon in 2019
Q Standard fan involvement in fan owned clubs?
Generally is a membership scheme for a small fee which entitles each member to a vote. Supporters are then able to vote for members to be appointed to the Board, who will then appoint a Chief Executive to run the actual club (this is the model AFC Wimbledon use). Other big decisions such as a badge change, significant changes to ground etc will also go back to the membership but these can vary depending on what fans agree from the outset should go to a vote.
Q Best way of organising fans into a collective to launch a fan led buyout
Supporters Trust (yes, Ramstrust). They have the connections to FSA & are meant to represent the supporters’ interest as a whole.
 
Obviously the last point may not sit well with a few on here, particularly given the recent letter sent to the club on ‘behalf of the fans’ (I personally have no opinion on them). The guy I spoke to made it clear Ramstrust’s connections with the FSA meant they wouldn’t want to seriously engage with another DCFC group for fear of causing offence & that it would be in our best interests to bring all fan groups together (he also referenced Punjabi Rams). He certainly knew the individuals heading up Ramstrust & was also aware of some of the ill feeling from 2002-2005.
I hope the information above helps to give some perspective. I was also advised to speak to a colleague of his (when he returned from holiday) who actually led the fan buyout of Portsmouth in 2013. Think his knowledge would be invaluable particularly given similarities between a) Portsmouth & Derby as football clubs/fanbases & b) the debt mountain that had accumulated under previous ownerships
Before going down that avenue though, I think the ball is back in our court as fans i.e. is this something people want to come together & seriously look at?
For me, the route looks something a bit like this;
Form a specific group via this forum to throw around some ideas especially around gaining support from wider fanbase, getting funding & ideas for a potential constitution and then agree on a draft plan Approach major DCFC fan groups; yes, RamsTrust but also Punjabi Rams to present our plan, sell them the idea & then work on an actionable plan going forward. If this goes well, probably a good time to speak to the FSA contact who led the Portsmouth buyout for specific advice before ‘going public’ Potential two-pronged attack; float idea to fans across all social media channels/ conventional advertising in Derbyshire explaining the plan & asking for pledge of funds and target high net worth Derby fans to see if they can also commit to a pledge of funding Depending on what amount can credibly be raised via fans (and possibly externally) approach the club. We’re not going raise anywhere near £60m but a serious fraction of that may at least get us round a table No doubt about it, this is a real long shot but it’s going to happen to a large club one day – why couldn’t it be us? And even if it doesn’t come off, the thought of bringing the fanbase together & actually being proactive rather than passively accepting our fate, could recharge energy & enthusiasm amongst us.
Maybe naïve but that’s my take ?