Macintosh

19 hours ago, Scott129 said:

I'd be very surprised if we don't take another look at Harry Leonard from Blackburn. 20 years old and only a year left on his contract.

He was the striker who was all set to come in on loan in January, before Eustace took over and pulled the plug.

Old news. We've already signed him, he is a Rams legend and went on to play 144 times and scored 72 goals for us, interrupted by the First World War. 

26 minutes ago, YorkshireRam said:

The ''big money'' you mention here comes from parachute payments, and in Coventry's case- the Gyokeres money. We have neither, therefore these kind of suggestions are probably a bit of a stretch for us right now.

It was to illustrate that international players do drop to the Championship as queried by Roboto. We would all be appalled if our club did spend big money bringing in those players right now. Even Bielek on his present £16k wages would not be welcomed. Anything more than a £500k transfer fee would be foolish. However, I do think there is a stellar signing to be had, from abroad, from the list of free agents, someone that see us as a challenge, like McGoldrick, Smith, Hourihane and Bradley did. Whereas Blackett-Taylor, despite having pace to burn, able to beat a man at will, goals and assists galore, there is a reason no one else was interested in signing him.

6 minutes ago, roboto said:

We had a salary cap in place when Hourihane signed, so we didn't break the bank with him. I don't think Wood or Welbeck will take the financial hit to move here. McBurnie might be slightly closer to our top end budget, but again, he is 27 years old and probably feels he can get a contract with another Prem team (possibly the likes of Ipswich or Luton, if they stay up).

Micklewhite, Gregory and Stimac are from eras that are long gone. It is very rare to find players like that who will join second tier sides in the prime of their careers now.

Harry Winks did, joining Leicester this season while still a regular in England's squad. Haji Wright's move to Coventry as the regular USA striker. Turkish international Abdülkadir Ömür moving to Hull. Wales's Ethan Ampadu to Leeds. Switzerland's Christian Fassnacht to Norwich. Montenegro's Milutin Osmajić to Preston. Scotland's Ross Stewart to Southampton. Georgia's Giorgi Chakvetadze to Watford. All big money transfers and current internationals we'd have probably sought to bring to Derby only a few seasons ago. It happens. 

1 hour ago, roboto said:

Less than a week since promotion and the delusions of grandeur have returned. I will be pleasantly surprised if we are in and around the top half of the league next season, but in no way do I demand we start throwing money around like we used to to get us there.

Yes, they are technically free transfers, but what do you think their wage demands will be? Chris Wood and Danny Welbeck will be on over £50k pw currently and McBurnie can't be far off that. Also, do you think that we're such a big pull that we'll be able to convince them over other established Championship clubs?

Silly season has begun!

Conor Hourihane was on £42k a week at Villa and yet Liam Rosenior attracted him here, and that was as a Third Division club. Those two are probably on their last contracts, it is possible a two-year contract with us is attractive, that we are a bigger draw than many clubs you are suggesting, our facilities, history and ambitions? Probably not, but if you don't ask. Gary Micklewhite and John Gregory bought similar dreams last time. Igor Stimac did, although he was shocked when he was told it was us he had signed for. 

16 minutes ago, Wolfie20 said:

Yet you consider the likes of Wellbeck, McBurnie and Wood to be possibilities? Hilarious!

Really? Out of contract and 132 international caps between those three and 50 goals. I'd consider each of those to be credible targets now we are back in the Championship and worth a text.

I remember this thread going crazy about Kamil Jóźwiak. He'd be on TV playing for Poland and Mel was being advised by many here to snap him up at any cost. And many are bigging up this guy  just the same after five seasons in the lower divisions playing for Walsall, Tranmere and Charlton, that it is his fitness holding him back. SpecSavers have several branches locally.

33 minutes ago, Srg said:

Don’t think any of them had extensions to “trigger”. Dont think we had the capability of putting them in our contracts at the time. 

What we did do with Fornah, Wilson and Washington is put a clause in for some kind of fee upon promotion with the up front fee being free. 

Cashin and NML just signed new extensions. Nelson has another year anyway. 

11 January

Paul Warne says there are players within his Derby County squad who will trigger an extension to their contract if they pass a certain threshold of games.

The Rams head coach says a "few" are on course to extend their current deals ahead of next season with the club currently chasing promotion back to the Championship. 

Warne said: "A few of the lads have extensions anyway if they play so many games and some are on course for that. That is not something I need to concern myself with yet. 

Thinking we won't be in a position to pay fees or have to, and we plan for one season at a time, no more than two-year deals. Strikers: Danny Welbeck, Jay Rodriguiz, Chris Wood or Oli McBurnie could be possibilities. Matt Ritchie, Seamus Coleman, Jack Cork, Ryan Fredericks, Ben Mee, Aaron Cresswell all of these are out of contract from PL teams and may be within our reach at a pinch. Obviously Will Hughes but he will be snapped up. Next division strikers: Kelechi Iheanacho, Aaron Connolly, Sam Gallagher, Jamie Vardy, Scott Hogan, Tyrese Campbell, Lukas Jutkiewicz, then Alex Mowatt, Jaydon Bogle, Stuart Armstrong, Axel Tuanzebe, Adama Traoré, Chris Willock, George Saville, Bradley Dack, Sam Morsy, Josh Windass. Not forgetting Ben Gibson, that would be funny. Players that impressed: Harrison Burrows, Jonson Clarke-Harris, Devante Cole, Liam Moore, James Husband, Shaun Rooney, Femi Azeez. Some from abroad. Some top loans. Spoilt for choice. 

And will David Clowes be actively looking to sell the club? Would Mike Ashley be wanting to come back in? Is there a deal to be had with naming rights for the stadium, and can we get a big deal for shirt sponsorship? 

Who are the players that triggered an extension that got mentioned earlier this season but not named? Nelson, Sibley, Smith, Hourihane, Collins? We know Cashin and Mendez-Laing were, and Wildsmith turned down his.

I have memories of the official photographer at Derby, John Grainger, loathed by Stuart Webb and some others at the club and during a pitch invasion he kicked a spectator or three near the Normanton End goal and lost his job, banned from ever attending a game again. Fast forward a further 20 years and he lost his job at Derbyshire CCC to complete the set, but for different reasons best not added here.

He didn't have to work hard,most of the players who came in during that period thought that they had Rooney as their boss,that was the draw.

Rooney resigned 25 June, Collins arrived 13 July. Similar dates to all that were signed by Rosenior.

I still think there are strikers to be found with some hard graft and imagination. Gayle, he was released from his contract after the window closed because of the zero chance of him getting a game and he wants to find a club that will play him. He has taken that gamble and given up £7,000+ a week for an opportunity of match time. He has that hunger. Gregory still comes under this category of being no use to his club now. Many others whose contracts are up in the summer too, costing their club wages to see out the next six months for adding nothing. How hard did Liam Rosenior work to get Cardiff to release James Collins? He did not have a recruitment team to help him. Think outside the box, including Europe. Maybe phone up a few agents in the spare time they now have and ask them for inside info, if players could persuade their club to cancel their contract? Not every player is a greedy bar steward like Ikechi Anya.

Just now, bcnram said:

I am not a fan of selling a player and keeping him on loan. If we sell him, wish him well and let him go. It is different from loaning a player coming in, where they hopefully see it as an opportunity to impress.

But if it was Cashin, that Brighton bought him and loaned him back, would you change your tune? Cashin's attitude since the move fell through has been exemplary.

I'd go for free-agent Conor Wickham on a six-month contract. He's 30, a target man, and would be playing for a contract extension. That can be done after we miss out on whoever we are chasing and being held ransom by Wednesday. Let them continue paying their wages, they will soon regret that. Waghorn must be weeks away from being involved and Washington not that far behind.

I remember the halcyon days under Colin Addison's stewardship, for, luckily, a short period in the early 1980s. It was the last days of the wonderful Roy McFarland who had Alan Ramage at his side (he had the video shop on Ashbourne Road and was a mean fast bowler for Yorkshire), a strike force of Alan Biley (looked like Rod Stewart and often played like him) and Dave Swindlehurst (his wife got run out of town for dodgy lotteries, having the office next to me, next office up was the strip-o-gram girls). There was Hector's return and the [un]dependable Mick Coop marshalling the defence like the old pro he was. Kevin Wilson joined in, not to forget Steve Buckley and the other Powell, Barry. Try as many might, forgetting football prodigy Jonathan Clark still is impossible, the masterclass in midfield we were meant to witness.

The tactic back then was to give the ball to Steve Powell who would, no matter where he received it, get it over to Paul Emson on the left. He would bomb down the wing and that was it. One tactic fits all, the crosses would go anywhere and did, those in the crowd behind the goal were in danger. Thirty years later, how football has changed. Now the whole team do that, get the ball over to Mendez-Laing and off you go, do something. Now duplicated with Blackett-Taylor, two to do something. Collins to wait patiently, and wait, and wait.

10 minutes ago, YorkshireRam said:

Devil's advocate: If Ladapo was a backup choice for midtable Charlton, doesn't that imply he may not be good enough to improve our first XI? Just to add to this, he was never first choice for Ipswich last season either, though did very well off the bench.

We shall very soon find out, especially considering three of the four striker choices are sitting on the treatment table and the next best off playing non-league. Ladapo must be absolute pants. We missed out on Jordan Rhodes and Freddie Ladapo, both Warne-type strikers, and Michael Smith is too expensive, if MackworthRammIsGod's prophecy comes true, then we might as well hand over the recruitment reigns to Peartree Intant's School and save a few bob.

6 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Why would a recruitment team be needed for Ladapo, Warne could just WhatsApp him couldn't he.

Considering Collins persuaded two players to join us when holidaying with them, Waghorn fell in his lap, and Bradley Johnson suggested Ryan Nyambe, maybe no one lets Warne into any WhatsApp group? 

It begs the question, knowing Warne's admiration of Ladapo, who surely would have been the first choice loan incoming of our management, how come Charlton got him, considering he was a second thought after Clarke-Harris had turned them down? Something does not add up with this recruiting team of ours. 

1 hour ago, TomTom92 said:

Great shout. Either way we've missed out on key funds in the summer. Hopefully there's no more skeletons in the closet. 

1 hour ago, U.M. said:

I thought the Knight money went on paying the Jozwiak balance.

We settled the dispute with Poznan in August, around the time of Knights transfer.

https://www.sport.pl/pilka/7,65039,30045467,swiat-zachwyca-sie-gestem-lecha-uratowali-moj-klub.html

They waived the majority of the fee still owing. And it appears Arsenal came to a similar deal regarding Bielek.

This age thing and lower league football. It would be similar to when Liverpool went and signed John Aldridge from Oxford United in the Third Division (under Jim Smith), who had earlier signed him from Fourth Division Newport. I think he was around 28 at that time. He went on to score 50 goals in 81 appearances for Liverpool, and after a spell with Real Sociedad, he ended up at Tranmere aged 32 and managed, amazingly, another 243 games and 138 goals over seven seasons.

53 minutes ago, Wignall12 said:

A certain young Steve Gerrard had a lot of injury problems in his formative years , how did he turn out ?

He became a crap manager just about to get sacked again, impossible to understand with his accent, a thug for attacking the DJ in a Southport pub, and gave us his cousin, Bobby Duncan, the least said about him, the better. He got an MBE for that.

A lot of talk about how Moyes does not give youth a chance at West Ham, rarely do players progress there, and it appears Divin has turned down a couple of contract offers on the table and promises haven't happened. Danny Ings is a problem that he is on big wages and should be next in line or they play Bowen. Their fans are disappointed he could be leaving but understand he has to get minutes and hasn't when the chances have been there. They are comparing him to Antonio. A bit like Darren Robinson, play 'em of lose 'em.

16 minutes ago, Curtains said:

Which site is this !

This one 

“Apart from the awful run of injuries, our shape and system have been our biggest problem this season. I would also say it was Warnes biggest problem in the Championship “

https://boards.footymad.net/showthread.php?t=38311146

https://boards.footymad.net/showthread.php?t=38310358&p=40355624#post40355624

13 hours ago, Kokosnuss said:

We can pay fees and we can offer better contracts to players than other clubs.

We can't do both.

Very few clubs at this level can. We made a choice to pay higher wages for fewer players. It's paid off with Nelson and Nymbe and Fornah, it hasn't paid off with Bradley and Elder 

We also employed a manager (after paying compensation) who's insight into the league should provide us with an advantage over teams who may be able to pay more than us. That's what good managers do.

On the overall balance, Warne is NOT a good manager, he's a very limited manage with one speciality - getting teams promoted from League One. He doesn't currently look capable of providing that 

We're currently making every excuse in the book to defend that manager and treating him as if he's got the hardest job in football as an excuse for his underperformance, and making out that him meeting the minimum requirements of the job he was brought in to do somehow proves that people who are unhappy with him are wrong to be so.

On the Rotherham fans' site their fans were asked if they would like him back – they are struggling again. The majority said no, especially critical of his coaching staff and the limited style of football played. There were some unpleasant comments when he did join us at the time, leaving just as the season started. They highlighted that one promotion was gifted to them and another they nearly blew a 14pt lead, and the players ran out of steam. They'd prefer he remains a legend and stays here. 

If Brighton thought Cashin was first-team material he'd have gone the same route as many, like Kaoru Mitoma, Deniz Undav and Kacper Kozlowski to Union Saint-Gilloise (their sister club in Belgium), or Moisés Caicedo did at Beerschot. Steven Alzate went to Standard Liege. Kjell Scherpen went to the Austrian Bundesliga. They have so many players being developed and it is tremendously successful. Matt Clarke was one of a few they never bothered with. It was the same with Haydon Roberts and Aaron Connolly.

When the rumour went around that Yves Bissouma was going to be sold after his night club incident – he was the best midfielder in the league at that time – I was told they were not worried if he went, because they knew they had a much better player in Caidedo performing wonders in the Belgium league. It was similar with manager Potter, they were happy he left them, and they had a replacement already scouted and were delighted he joined Chelsea.

Brighton are massively in debt, they owe their owner nearly three quarters of a billion, but he is not worried, he is a professional gambler and his wealth increases each year. All I was told when I asked why the deal did not happen is that a fee was never agreed. The fault, it may be at their end, or at our end. I doubt it would be Cashin's demands.