Andicis

Leeds away would feel like a nice reintroduction to a proper division
Taking the mickey out of their latest choke would amuse & a mere 15 min stroll from my front door too

A big exciting fixture that lets us know we are back in the Championship...
 
 
Preston away

I'm also guilty of questioning the timing of certain posts/topics, including one of Sage's, the summer transfer suggestion thread, which in my opinion was absurd to be thinking about in February when we had no idea what league we would be in.
The topic remains open, into page 39, doesn't change my opinion that it should have been a conversation to be starting this week.
Same with Paul Warne's future and worrying about the style of football in the Championship. We're there now, makes sense if those want to voice their concerns. 
There is a huge difference though between being told you cannot talk about something, quiet, sssh, lock it and voicing an opinion which questions the timing. 
I also think most regular members should be able to read the room at this stage, you know roughly where people stand and if you're going to throw out a controversial take 10 minutes after the final whistle after gaining promotion, kinda got to accept the criticism you would get for that.
Also, theres been some goading from the other side if you like following promotion, forcing humble pie down someone's throat will only be spat back in your face. If you actually read what those critical of Warne are saying, promotion wouldn't change the concern they have going forward, so yeah, lose the first 2 or 3 I'm sure we'll be back to the same debate.
Although for me, if you give the manager the summer, got to give them until Christmas then barring any complete and utter disaster situation which we saw under Pearson.
All in my opinion of course. 

Great stat.
When the pressure was mounting and the race for the autos was really heating up we conceded 4 goals across the last 11 games, and 2 of those were in the same game against the runaway champions. 2 goals conceded in the remaining 10 games in that spell. Bolton never really stood a chance when our defense was that imperious.

If i hear Gregory or Smith this summer I swear to god.

If I’m brutally honest and leaving sentiment apart, I think we need better players than Smith, Thompson, Elder, Washington and Barkhuisen in the Championship. I’m not sure we should keep Forsyth though he’s been written off before. After a while, injuries take their toll.
I’m not sure Bradley is first choice and if he isn’t, then I’d rather see a younger CB in the squad. Bradley can stay if he wants to fight for his place. Rooney shows promise as additional back up.
Collins may be more ambitious than a squad option though his attitude is excellent. Gayle is too much of a risk injury-wise and has failed recently in the Championship.
I’d get a new LB/LWB, a new CB, three midfielders plus Adams, two new strikers and a winger or two.
 

The Carlisle fans summed it all up for me, 
I met some on the train yesterday who were brilliant. About 30 of us Derby fans got on at Utch station to a chorus of, "your just a bus stop in Stoke" from them. 🤣 A couple of us were offered cans of beer from them and the banter was great,
Walked up to the ground with some blokes who were sound and very respectful about Derby as we were with them. Proper fans of a proper club, they've had very little to cheer over the years but the miles they put in following their club is unbelievable.
Good luck to Carlisle, hope they have a swift return to League 1 and to all the other clubs who have fans who choose to follow their local team rather than be plastic supporters of Man Utd or Liverpool.

Not sure if this has been covered already but could I also give a shout out to the Carlisle fans who stuck by their side throughout and were magnanimous about our promotion?
Spoke to several of them afterwards and they seemed a good bunch, saying what a great club we were and wishing us all the best.
Hope they bounce back under Simmo.

Nice post from a Carlisle fan

I want to give some credit to the Carlisle fans, too. Being from an extremity of the country, albeit the complete other end, I understand that it can be hard to travel to watch your team often.
I thought their fans were great, even after the pitch invasion and their players quickly dashed off the pitch, they still stayed there singing away and I noticed quite a few of our fans on the pitch applauding that.
They weren’t a bad side either, certainly better than their points and position suggest. They played some decent stuff and added to what was a great day all round.
The only downside is that there were probably some fans who could’ve got tickets but missed out because there were some empty seats in their end. I get it’s hard with the segregation, but I thought just over 31,000 was a little disappointing given how many wanted to be there.

Given how important our history is to us, and given our penchant for displaying that visually throughout the ground, this really needs licensing and putting somewhere:

Honestly can't think of a better representation of the bond forged between the supporters and the players this season.

What a blessing this man has been for the club, saving it from near certain ruin and then appointing the management team to guide us back to the Championship. 
Am so pleased for everyone at the club on this day of celebration, but especially for our esteemed owner Mr. David Clowes.
Thank You Sir.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that this week.  If you think about the last 4 years since COVID started it’s been an emotional rollercoaster as a Rams fan.  We seemed to lurch from one disaster to another - FFP charges, fake sheiks, tik-tok takeover failure, transfer embargo’s, forced to play kids in the cup, staying up on the last day, administration, points deductions, dodgy Yanks, relegation, 5 players, 1 week from disappearing and probably more.
It feels like this is end of the first chapter of the David Clowes era.

I’d question if any Derby fan is actually human if they didn’t get emotional at least once yesterday. 
We nearly lost it all. Everyone has their ritual, whether it’s going with lifelong friends and getting on the beers, travelling from afar to visit home, seeing family they may otherwise rarely see… would be all gone  
There were kids that pitch who were probably too young to remember the Villa play off loss, let alone the QPR one, they wouldn’t have seen a single moment of success watching us. I’m 33 and don’t remember promotion in the 90s, all I have is 07. Suppose we could support Man City? Nah, never, that’s not football. That’s not belonging. That’s not family.  
There’s a lot of pain in the recent past, and yesterday was a stark reminder of what may never have been again. 

Not sure if I am alone in this today but I feel an overwhelming sense of closure after yesterday’s achievement. What a relief to be back in the Championship. But it’s more than that.
It feels like all the hurt over the last couple of years: the administration, the points deductions, the financial turmoil, the humiliation, the relegation; it feels like we can finally turn the page on that sordid chapter of our history. Like we can move on. 
I’m not sure why I’m sharing this, but it feels even more personal for me than that, too. In the summer of our relegation, I lost my grandmother to cancer. She was the major connection to Derby for me. My whole ritual of going to the matches involved staying with her for the weekend. For some reason Derby County, the city of Derby, the supporters bus that would pick my Grandad and I up from outside The Gate in Swanwick, the cone of chips before the game, all just seemed to have disappeared.
I know it sounds strange but I feel like I lost my connection to the club in so many ways that summer. 
Yesterday, watching everyone celebrating and the tears and David Clowes and Ed Dawe’s’ tears, just felt like closure. The end of the trauma and the start of something new. It felt like moving on.
Thank you, Mr Clowes, for all of that 🐏

Well it would be good if Birmingham City did go down next week, then we could all have another party !! 🥳🥳

I'm generally not that keen on "keep them on because they're good around the dressing room" contracts but they absolutly should for Fozzy, one more season as cover at left back and centre back? No brainer.
Last standing Nigel Clough player as well.

Don't know whether people noticed, but when the players walked out onto the pitch with their kids pre-match, Sibley had Fozzy's son with him. Nice touch.
May have been other younger players with similar, but it demonstrates the togetherness in the squad.

Like many fans, he’s known nothing but heartbreak. Delighted he can finally celebrate us getting over the line.

Glad that Ebou is getting MOM recognition. He was all over the pitch, and the only position he didn’t cover was goalkeeper because they wouldn’t let him have a goalie’s jumper on! 

Hi all,
I just wanted to pop on and say congrats on a successful season and well deserved promotion. I know there's been some ill feeling between fans, mostly on the toxic social media platforms (not helped by a large number of idiots of which we at Bolton have f****** loads). I've scanned through your forum and a few others to regularly to check in on the thoughts of some of our promotion rivals over the season and as forums go, this one is generally positive and full of good and honest opinions. We have another fan called Wanderlust who often peruses the various forums and I feel he is a good fan for honest opinions too. I hope we can join you, I'm sure there's plenty of you hoping we stumble and end up stuck in L1 for at least another year, mainly for the fans who've been making stupid excuses for us not winning points this season. Reality is, you and Pompey were the most consistent teams over the season and thoroughly deserve your promotion, so well done and good luck in the championship next year. With your stadium and fanbase and what your fans have been through (trust me, I know what it feels like too), you deserve some good times now!
 
All the best gents (and ladies)

Release Fozzy? You cold hearted gits.

Wildsmith the better keeper for me. Even with his rushes of blood to the head! 
I hope he stays.

Lots of short memories here from the people wanting to release Fozzy. It’s barely a matter of weeks since his 90 minutes against Bolton did arguably as much as any other performance by any other player at any point in the season to get us promoted.
Sure, he’s getting on and may no longer be a starter in the Championship, but it takes more than eleven players to see out a season and I can’t see him letting us down.

And sign Adams!!!