Dordogne-Ram

What's Larry Lamb doing at the back of our end?

You missed a couple
Male Grooming by Derek Hales How To Apply For A Passport by Esteban Fuertes How To Deal With Flat Feet by Raul Albentosa Brave As A Lion by Gary Teale Dealing With Difficult Fathers by Lee Camp Falling Down by John Robertson Escapology Made Simple by Tyrone Mears How To Make Friends by Billy Davies Spending Wisely by Paul Clement Sat Navs For Beginners by Andre Wisdom Defending For Dummies by Darren Bent How To Be A Good Neighbour by Steven Bywater  

8% in to Totally Frank so far which obviously isn’t Derby related (2010) but as he’s our manager we can squeeze this one in, been interesting so far. 
Remember the Max Bird interview where he spoke about doing more work with Frank after training? This is something he has done himself since he was a kid, if you already love Frank I wouldn’t read it as you would only fall for him more.
Went to a posh paid school in Brentwood, long socks, shorts and cap you know the sort, even went to school on Saturday. Had the choice between taking an apprenticeship at West Ham or captain of the School team and carrying on further education, seriously considered staying on at school but his Dad wanted him to go to West Ham. 
Doesn't regret it, having watched mates go to Uni and seeing the lifestyle, not a fan of it now unless it’s for Science or technology education, in fact says he wouldn’t want to send his daughters to Uni.
Loves his politics as well apparently, up until 5am debating with mates Tony Blair and the Iraq war, so far he hasn’t revealed which side he’s on, probably wise not to.
Oh, if we lose in the Play Offs don’t text him after if you was going to, not into sympathy, sounds like he loves a good old cry by himself in a locked room. Talks fondly of his mum knowing how to handle him, sadly not here today.
The other 92% could be rubbish, but so far it’s been an enjoyable read. Doesn’t come across as one of those like Beckham which you can sense was not written by him. 
The media talk about how intelligent he is, really comes across as that. Last bit, he also feels the FA should do more to encourage better education for young footballers to give themselves something to fall back on.

Thanks for that RamNut, what a video!
What struck me watching, a lot of those Spurs players were legends, yet we brushed them aside easily. That save by Green from Greaves was brilliant and at 4 up we were simply toying with them. I’d have loved to have seen those games, it’s great to have some of them on film.
Loweman really does credit to keep the focus on them, for they truly are OUR LEGENDS.

He did actually and it gave me an excellent way in to tell him that I had the actual match ball from that game ! The night the BBG really rocked !

When Steve was 16, there was a bit of a tussle between school (Bemrose) and DCFC (ie Sir Brian).
Bemrose headmaster -  Dr WRC Chapman, one of the wartime code breakers at Bletchley Park, although we didn't know it the time - was keen for Steve to stay on into the Sixth form, as he had a bright future, but BC wanted him to play football.
After some dialogue in which the Doc obviously sensed that he was losing the battle, he ventured that if Steve stayed on he was good enough to go to Oxford (University), to which BC retorted " if Steve signs for me he will be able to BUY Oxford"! 
One of BC's lesser known quotes, and as they say, the rest is history.

When Willie was eventually prised away from Sheffield United, Peter Taylor sagely declared that "you can put your mortgage on us to go up now". Winless in the opening four games of the 1968/9 season, the Rams never looked back and of course were easily promoted as Champions.
At 5 ft 4 inches, he was even shorter than Archie Gemmill, and in the tackle he probably had the edge. His finest hour was the memorable League Cup replay win at the BBG v. Chelsea on 2/10/68. Wonder if he mentioned that in his discussion with @loweman2 ?
 
 

The journey has nearly come to an end visiting the legends of our great club, I was never happy with how it had finished with Willie Carlin, so today I went back to see him but this time I took him one of the Ramtique limited edition medals that we had comisioned with the permission of the club and the football league to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Derby County winning the second division championship and the journey getting well and truly underway.
we decided to give Willie number eight out of a hundred as he wore the number eight shirt in that season.
willie had had his original medal stolen a number of years ago by some scum bags who robbed his house.
willie and his wife are very private people who understandably do not like strangers knocking on their door asking for photos or signatures so I made sure that I was brief and to the point.
They were really pleased with the gesture of the medal and both took a lot of time to make me very welcome in their home and Willie signed a few things for me.
they even gave me a limited edition plate.
A very lovely couple of people and one of the few real Derby County legends of 69.
Like with Jim Walker it was nice to be able to give something back.
up the Rams !

Met up with Mr Todd tonight round at my dads, proper Derby County royalty ! he popped in for a cuppa and to check on Jordan’s fitness levels, absolute top man, always makes time and now does house calls, I wish he was more involved with the club ! They really could use his great personality!
100 bonafide Dcfc legend !
Toddy !

Did Waghorn have problems finding a pair of shorts for his third leg?

O
 
Travelled overland independently by train, lots of snow around Banya Luka (October), but still arrived in good time at Mostar. Walked from the station to the ground in conversation (in French!) with a German, who recognised the Ram motif on my shoulder bag. Gateman at the ground was after Rams souvenirs when Stuart Webb arrived, we exchanged a few pleasantries, he showed his DCFC credentials and I was allowed in with him!  The team coach arrived shortly after and Alan Hill was struggling with the kit hamper across a pebbled area, so yes, just offered a hand to get it to the visitors dressing room. Most of the players had gone to have a look at the pitch, but David Nish followed us in. He had just moved into our village and had had conversations over the garden gate with my Dad, so that was a useful starting point until Zac arrived with his bit of typical Yorkshire forthright approach!
I bade my adieus, and walked out into the next room which happened to be the club bar, which, needless to say, was full of Bosnians and Serbs. My bag and rucksack singled me out as a Rams fan, and it was only seconds before I was besieged with more requests for Rams souvenirs. I had only two left when their inside forward Vidic, who had played in the first leg at Derby, came and sat down, and he ended up with a copy of the Football League Magazine which came out with the Rams programme.
Whilst waiting in the York Hotel outside the station for the train back home after the first leg, a tall smartly dressed individual wanted the phone, speaking in  reasonable English to the hotel staff, who of course had to get the call for him - in the 1970s it was necessary to wait for calls to be obtained to less popular international locations, in this case Mostar. I assumed that he was possibly the Mostar president or CEO perhaps, so in the bar I motioned to Vidic that I wanted to speak to the "President". He disappeared and duly returned with an ageing gentleman who was in fact the Club President. But the message had got across that we needed an interpreter, and shortly after the guy seen in Derby appeared. I recalled to him that I had seen him at the York, so we were well away! Drinks and food were provided gratis, courtesey of the club / President, and I could leave my rucksack there until after the game. The well dressed guy was the reporter for the local paper, and this was news, as Mostar had beaten one of the Moscow teams (? Spartak?) over two legs in the previous round, unbelievable for a town the size of Burton!
As it built towards kick-off, I made my way out to the Terraces, only to find that I was in the private part of the ground, with only a small three- step terrace which held about 20 people maximum! A programme seller appeared walking round the ground, the very guy who had been manning the gate earlier on. I called to him and rummaged in my shoulder bag for the last souvenir, one of those circular gold and dark blue DERBY COUNTY pin badges with a Ram in the centre - you might have one still, I haven't! I thought that offering it was an appropriate gesture to a guy who had been instrumental in what was turning out to be some totally unexpected "adventure", and he proudly pinned it on, safe in the knowledge that no one else had one!
The Rams of course lost 4-1, and it was almost dark as the firecrackers went of following their third and fourth goal, the latter a penalty against Colin Todd which was clearly ball-to-hand rather than the reverse, which the high profile and even more highly controversial Dutch referee, Charles Corver, duly gave.  (He was handing out photos of himself on the flight into Dubrovnik apparently - some ego!). Stuart Webb was beside himself at this unexpected setback, and on returning home made it clear that Derby would appeal against the firecrackers during the match, so I sent in some camera shots of them to him, and weeks later they were returned after the appeal had been turned down.
So, back to the bar, where the President came to commiserate - and celebrate that lightning did sometimes strike twice. In true English fashion I offered my congratulations, and eventually took my leave of them, reflecting, in spite of my disappointment, that I had witnessed what had been a momentous event in the history of this small club.
This must sound unusual to many of you, but the club is not like an English club. The dressing rooms and bar were part of what we would call a large two story club house, set back some 50 yards from the pitch and behind the goal. The directors / officials watched the games from easy chairs in a first floor "terraced room" with sliding -folding doors, looking out "onto all they surveyed". The 50 yards in between were flower beds with rose trees, neatly trimmed low privet hedges and a pebble path for the players to access the pitch. The opposite end was not spectator accommodation. The side nearest the road was terraced, and provided perhaps 15 steps the length of the ground, and the opposite side had 3 /4  steps of concrete terrace, with a small seated stand at the half way line. Beyond this, the (enclosed) hillside rose quite steeply into the far distance, and would have accommodated the population of the three East Midlands cities with ease.  Little did I know the horrific significance that this welcoming club was to play some 20 years later. During the dissolution of the old Yugoslavia, you may be aware of the subsequent ethic cleansing which took place: the Radavan Karadice saga / era, plus others.
That same pitch was used as a concentration site / camp for those unfortunate enough to be on "the wrong side"......
And no, I had no part at DCFC, I'm just a popside fan who took his chance when it came, this being the third "adventure" that being a Rams fan has brought my way. To me, DCFC has always been a Way of Life.
Thanks for reading - sorry if I bored you.

Nearly completed the journey now of meeting the legends, tonight was one of the great names in football, the man who stood in as captain and lead us to a second first Division Championship, the scorer of that goal for Scotland against Holland, the scorer of that free kick against Forest in the FA cup, one of Cloughs lieutenants who fell out with him so publicly over the European cup final, the man who would run tirelessly from box to box and never be in the headlines, working twice as hard as the ones who scored the goals.
was really pleasantly surprised at what a top friendly guy he was, he spent an hour with us, I took loweman1 and loweman3 with me and he sat there chatting away with all of us and bringing out his grandad skills to charm Jordan.
he had some great tales, we only scratched the surface but most of them were about him, Clough and Taylor, his fall outs and how Cloughie tried to make it right with him in the end.
Good old Archie ! Top Ram !

We might get Ronaldo cheap,but I would only recommend a short contract.

We're still in for Messi,  aren't we?

Will Hughes

Got this today from  the only man to have played every game in both of the first division championship season ! Goalkeepers were certainly braver back in the day ! (In my opinion ?)

I bet that one didn’t even need to be laundered. He never seemed to do anything that warranted breaking out in a sweat!

I suspect that goes back to the final game at home in the 1971/72 season. Steve did precisely that to him, and a scouser next to us on the Popside turned to his mate and said "did you see that, he's left Smithy on the floor". We took just a little pleasure in telling him that Steve was still at school - I'm not sure even now if he believed us!
Of course, we did not know it at the time, but that was the 1-0 victory courtesy of John McGovern's remarkable goal that gave us the first Championship title, although we had to wait a few more days for others to drop points meaning our points total could not be overhauled.
Seem to remember that Wolves held Leeds to a draw the following Wednesday evening, preventing the Dirties from snatching the title from us!
Steve Powell - "The Rock".

I suspect that goes back to the final game at home in the 1971/72 season. Steve did precisely that to him, and a scouser next to us on the Popside turned to his mate and said "did you see that, he's left Smithy on the floor". We took just a little pleasure in telling him that Steve was still at school - I'm not sure even now if he believed us!
Of course, we did not know it at the time, but that was the 1-0 victory courtesy of John McGovern's remarkable goal that gave us the first Championship title, although we had to wait a few more days for others to drop points meaning our points total could not be overhauled.
Seem to remember that Wolves held Leeds to a draw the following Wednesday evening, preventing the Dirties from snatching the title from us!
Steve Powell - "The Rock".

I suspect that goes back to the final game at home in the 1971/72 season. Steve did precisely that to him, and a scouser next to us on the Popside turned to his mate and said "did you see that, he's left Smithy on the floor". We took just a little pleasure in telling him that Steve was still at school - I'm not sure even now if he believed us!
Of course, we did not know it at the time, but that was the 1-0 victory courtesy of John McGovern's remarkable goal that gave us the first Championship title, although we had to wait a few more days for others to drop points meaning our points total could not be overhauled.
Seem to remember that Wolves held Leeds to a draw the following Wednesday evening, preventing the Dirties from snatching the title from us!
Steve Powell - "The Rock".