GB SPORTS

Blimey, was he to blame for Covid 19 and the assassination of Kennedy too?! ?
Perhaps coming back fresher after a break, and seeing how much we missed him, knowing he should have been on the pitch, will motivate him to try harder after his ban! You know a bit like making him captain encouraged his play. #COYR

I don't see a problem with him following advice from his manager who has been there and done that in his playing career. Clearly Rooney has managed Lawrence well this year and showing faith in him to be our captain and lead from the front has been working for everyone.
The red card was reckless and an error of judgment, but I think most people have been guilty of making rash decisions in the heat of a moment and if we want to protect squad morale we should be supporting Tom when he returns.
He was a miss last night, but he wouldn't have had an effect on us going behind with the first attack of the game. We still controlled most of the game, but we just didn't make the most of our possession and some were too afraid to shoot when given the opportunity. Millwall are aiming for top 6 and we all know a Rowett team is hard to breakdown after they get ahead. I don't think having Lawrence there (on the pitch or on the sidelines) would've made a difference to the result unfortunately.
We've got 2 more matches without him. One just as tough (on current form) with Luton and then hopefully a more winnable fixture against Cardiff. From then on Tom needs to come back in and be the leader and difference maker again. If he can be fresh and ready for the challenge physically and mentally then that can be the difference to survival or just wilting away and seeing through the rest of this season.

We don't hear or see what happens at Moor Farm or PP, TL lost his Mum, This still could be affecting him...who knows ?‍♂️, If and it's a big IF TL was advised to take a break then he's taking that advice, If on the other hand WR is sending TL off on a jolly to recharge his batteries it's not a descision I agree with, Everyone and his dog if fighting tooth and nail for the cause and yet our Captain has been given some time in the Sunshine...if this is true.
Different strokes for different folks I guess, But this could be seen as TL being a favourite with WR, When Sven Goran Ericson was the England Manager he treated David Beckham differently to the rest of the squad by giving him special treatment when staying in hotels, While other players had certain curfews, Some other Senior players were not happy.
 

I fear we may get ridiculed invading the pitch at season's end, with cries of "But you have won nothing"!
I didn't go on v Southampton... we'd won nothing... plus I was stuck at the very back of the SE Corner busting a lung trying (and eventually succeeding) getting the "Idiakez" chant going.
I didn't go on after Brighton... we'd won nothing... and I was in Spain anyway!  ?
In fact, I haven't been on the pitch for literally decades, and never at PPS.
But I say this now... IF we stay up... I will be on that pitch after the Cardiff game... and regardless of the snipes from elsewhere in the football fraternity, I would say we have very much won something!  One of the biggest victories in English football history!  
Not all victories come with a trophy!  ?
 

Reading weren't going to continue losing every game, it had to end at some point. To the same extent, they're not going to win every match going forward either.
At this point, it's got to be about getting two more wins than them between now and the end of the season. If another team gets dragged in, then great but we can only focus on getting as many points as we can.
It's a tall order with a tiny squad and a load of youngsters but we have nothing to lose and should go for it. 

Jourdan, I don't know what's happened to you. But I like it UTR

And so what if they are? We can’t honestly expect them to lose every match, we can’t win every match. They’re not going to lie down and give up it’s what makes relegation fights just that. No team wants to be here, hell even Barnsley won last night! 

I'm all for giving Tom a pat on the back, and offering him an arm around his shoulders, but let's at least keep to the facts.
1/  This is not his first indiscretion.
2/  Comparing today's red card with other recent ones is not even a fair comparison.  All the others were purely down to players making a hash of what they were doing.  Today's was purely down to red mist, deliberate and considered revenge, and downright stupidity.  (As was a previous red of his, for laying the nut on someone!)
 
Yes, as with his previous indiscretion(s), I'm sure I'll forgive him.  And I'm sure it won't take me long to do so.
Yes, of course I hope him missing the next 3 games doesn't cost us. 
No, I don't think he deserves a holiday, but then immediately yes, of course it may well do him... and us... a lot of good in the long run, so I can certainly appreciate the method in Rooney's madness.  Here's hoping he's the hero of the run-in.
He's let us and himself down today.  He will know that already.  He won't need others to tell him... but he should still be told!
I assume he feels a bit of a tit this evening... and that's good enough punishment imo.
 
Onwards... and hopefully upwards.  ?

To be honest, I think the Reading result last night will be a blessing in disguise.
We know now that there is no room for complacency and we can’t afford too many more off days.
You can’t fault the players. They are giving everything. But we have to step it up again.
Earlier in the season, we brushed off some disappointing results out of a ‘just glad to be here, this cardboard tastes delicious’ mentality.
Now survival is a possibility, we have to go full throttle and take games by the scruff of the neck and win.
We have six home games from seven that are there to be won and will likely make up the majority of our points gained.
But we also have to push for more away from home. 2 wins from 16 away games is simply not good enough. We’ll have to do more to give ourselves a fighting chance.
I am still sticking with the thinking that we need a point a game plus any deficit to make up. So that’s 22 points, as it stands. 6-7 wins potentially.
No time for hard luck stories, time to go out and win.
 

Even if we lose tonight it’s not over. If Reading go on a run now (they are capable as on paper they have the best squad in the whole bottom half) then it’s going to make it difficult. There is serious potential for Hull to do what Derby did last season and be sucked into it. We have to keep winning games and picking up points. We were starting to think less than 40 points will be enough, I think with Reading winning two on the bounce it changes that complexion slightly and we’ll need a few more, still don’t think we’ll need more than the 44 last season. That’s 23 from 14 games. Difficult but not impossible and we may not even need that many.
The embargoes and points deductions were designed to relegate us. We are not meant to survive, we shouldn’t survive but here we are approaching March with a chance which is incredible. The players and coaching staff are fighting to the end, we as fans also need to fight to the end and that means staying with them until it’s no longer possible, and believing we can do it not throwing in the towel at results that don’t go our way that we cannot control.

Exactly I get that people feel they're bring realistic but until its mathematically impossible it its on. I think it will be imposs if fans throw the towel in and that support fades. What happened to "we fight to the end"? Or should it be resung as "we fought until Reading won a game"?

Nothings changed. 
The thing is, we still have a chance, yes, its highly unlikely that our threadbare squad can continue to perform miracles but, we are still in the mix.
Rooney believes. The players believe. We need to keep believing. 
Get behind the lads against Millwall. Every game is a cup final now.
COYR ?

@i-Ram I run a Limited Company, and let me tell you my Director is clueless. 

Nice barnet Alf,
 
Just like mine.

It means they don't have a Boro guy on the Board. It means there is no one who represents the interests of other clubs who could benefit from one club being punished. Like Millwall could have Sibley playing for them instead of against  them if EFL had forced us to sell players whatever the price . And so on.  

Birch said they asked people with conflicts of interest to leave the room when Derby County comes up on the agenda. Which means really every EFL Board member  should leave the room. Especially as EFL were threatened with being sued by Boro if they didnt take action against us. 

A better fight than the one in the ring 

If the "big" man who threw a forceful punch at a woman was one of the group who were harassing Foden in the first place then he is a w anchor of the highest magnitude and deserves prison time. Doesn't make one iota of difference that she shoved him, if he was harassing her and her son, then he's in the wrong, to then punch her is disgusting behaviour.
Hope he gets a bit back one day.

No-one said that a man shouldn't be able to defend himself from attack by a woman, absolutely no-one, but just like a man defending himself from another man, the response has to be proportionate. This wasn't. I hope he gets sent down.
 

So you're effectively comparing Foden's mum  to serial domestic abusers and feral street gangs and justifying her being assaulted on that basis. Yeh, that makes perfect sense. You're pressing my buttons now so I'm ducking out before I say something I regret.

Women and children are off limits, full stop. You're also conflating thuggery with domestic violence. They're different things. I also very much doubt you'd stand by and let anyone do that to your mother irrespective of your stand on domestic violence. You'd be in like Flynn, as would I.

Seeing as she didn't hit him first, that's not actually "truth" is it? 
Frankly, if a man's reaction to a woman who's pushing him is to punch her in face, he deserves to be dumped in the Manchester Ship Canal with concrete wellies. 
 

Frank Stapleton?

Frank Stapleton?

As a chesterfield based Ram, I know a few who would take offence at the "no other club" comment! They got over 7k at home in the National League yesterday. There is a lot of good feeling about Derby at the moment from Spireites but I feel for Derby to be universally popular throughout the county, we need to actually take an interest in what's happening outside of our bubble. This is something I feel really strongly about and I don't think we've always lived up to our obligations as the county's big club in the past. 

Who cares?