Abu Dhabi Ram

I see your point but I mostly disagree especially in the context of playing style, options available and the fact that we likely have to gamble a little in what we do next season if we want to have anything close to a decent season.
Ultimately right now our midfield choices (ignoring primarily u23s and the injured Bielik) are Bird, Shinnie, Knight, Sibley and Watson. Are we likely to add to them before the start of the season, honestly I doubt we manage it especially with glaring problems elsewhere (namely CB and CF) so the above are your options. If you want to be conservative you pick a team with Shinnie in it, he's the most experienced and off the back of previous seasons evidence the best defensively. However he is a limited player and can be something of a stifling influence on forward play through midfield, making a quick-passing attacking game plan difficult to deploy especially if you aren't careful with how you play him. In my opinion if you feel he's too vital to drop then you likely have to do one of two things; give up playing football on the deck and go full poohouse tactics or play him with both Bird and Watson to compensate (to be honest I quite like this option).
I'm working with the assumption that I think that the "academy" midfielders  are all very talented and our highest chance of success this season would be to build the team more concretely around them. I wouldn't call any of them especially lightweight and you'd expect that to be increasingly less true with another pre-season under their belt. I just have this feeling based on what we've seen so far that with the right coaching, the right tactics and the right players complimenting them that trio of Bird, Knight and Sibley could form something approximating a good, attack minded midfield and that we should gamble on that. 

Massive missed opportunity for me. Southgate is very likeable, but his selections are so negative, maybe have faith in some of our world class attackers who should start instead of being on the bench. 

Massive missed opportunity for me. Southgate is very likeable, but his selections are so negative, maybe have faith in some of our world class attackers who should start instead of being on the bench. 

Massive missed opportunity for me. Southgate is very likeable, but his selections are so negative, maybe have faith in some of our world class attackers who should start instead of being on the bench. 

Massive missed opportunity for me. Southgate is very likeable, but his selections are so negative, maybe have faith in some of our world class attackers who should start instead of being on the bench. 

Massive missed opportunity for me. Southgate is very likeable, but his selections are so negative, maybe have faith in some of our world class attackers who should start instead of being on the bench. 

The fact these clubs want to sue us actually illustrates what a morally incompetent, corrupt bunch of idiots reside with the EFL. 
 
Furthermore I have never had such little interest in football in general as there is no fair playing field for any team. We are only guilty of trying to compete in an unfair system. We should now sue the Premier League for forcing us into this position. 

£125m for being the worst team in the league.
Just let that sink in.
One hundred and twenty five million pounds for being crap.
That’s 3 clubs coming down with a total of £381m, but that’s not all, the Premier League will also give them parachute payments to soften the blow.
Sorry to start another topic on this, but it’s a topic that needs to be repeated, football is broken. It’s broken and they are doing nothing about it. Why?
We have to try and compete with those 3 next year, with barely any revenue we have to compete against clubs with over £100m in their back pockets.
What hope do we have?
Yes I know money doesn’t always = success, Brentford beat Bournemouth, made it to Wembley but how many years have they been trying to get there? 
Whoever goes up it’s a major achievement, getting past the parachute payment clubs, it’s huge, one season up there and they have banked over £100m, it’s madness.
We can never have a completely level playing field, I understand that, but the PL and EFL could come together and distribute that money out more fairly.
Why are they not?
Why are these questions not being asked?
Do we need to see more clubs liquidated, more clubs going bankrupt trying to compete from the Championship to League 2, all the national media journalists will be all over that, justice for Bury, why not call it out now? 
Heads are so far up the Premier League’s backside the Football League barely gets a mention.
I’m ranting I know, but £125m for being crap. 
Who signs off on that and thinks it’s good for football? 
It’s broken, football is broken.

Great questions to be fair and why I personally chose to decline the invitation to co sign, reading the replies has justified my position.
I'm not sure how the supporter groups handle this issue of speaking on behalf of their members, be it votes, meetings or what and to be honest it is't any of my business either. 
The way I look at it is if you are a Labour member, vote Labour, this doesn't mean you agree with every point on their manifesto. You simply agree with what they are trying to achieve.
We're never going to agree on every aspect of the club from pitch to boardroom, 1 day on this forum will show that, but why knock others for having different opinions, strong opinions that they felt the need to act? 
Having read the letter and despite not signing it, I never felt once that they were trying in anyway speaking on behalf of myself personally, which the topic is getting lost in and the "who do they think they are". They are Derby fans. 
Would it not be a far better discussion if it focused on the points in the letter and why you agree or disagree, the forum is a platform designed to hold discussions, was never intended as a battle base to throw stones at other supporter groups or fans from other platforms.

Jeez, our club is in the poop, nobody knows what going on and the thing that animates more than most posting in this thread is that they weren't consulted, we've got a poet signing it and someone who signed it blocked a poster on this forum or they think the tone is a bit aloof.
It's a request for info, written by a group of fans who - collectively - have a fair claim to represent more than a single point of view. If you care enough then join Ramstrust (trust me, they will happily take all the help they can get) or set up your own group. I might get on my hind legs at Nick claiming to speak for the fans but at least he's making the effort to do so, not sitting behind some keyboard going 'well they didn't ask me before sending it'.

I thought it was reported at the time he accepted a 60% reduced pay off? Even so, never thought he should have gone in the first place. The fact we allowed a group to make a managerial decision, who at that point had put no money in and now have nothing to do with us, is a farce. I don't believe we would have got relegated, we would then have hit the end of Rooney's contract as well. Now, just a mess.

Mel gets stick for overspending.
Other club owners get stick for not backing their managers and not splashing the cash.
To me, Mel's mistakes have been the managerial appointments.
Managers with different styles of play meant that each new manager went to recruit different types of player. That resulted in a hotch pot of a squad.
It needed a clear out, a reset and a long term plan to rebuild the club.
I had hoped that we would have that under Cocu. That's why I backed him so heavily.
The more aged and expensive players left as their contracts expired. Unfortunately, however, by then a lack of money and transfer embargoes inhibited replacing them.
Without reopening the debate again, it didn't work out this season on the pitch and Cocu left.
But whether we get new owners or not, whether Rooney stays as manager or we go for someone else..... We still need that rebuild process to be completed. Hopefully with a mix of academy graduates and quality acquisitions.

Curtis Davies: Plays with a serious injury against medical advice to keep us in the Champ.
Richard Keogh: Goes on a team bonding night out, has way too much to drink to the point he has no idea what's going on, gets injured. Rejects the clubs reduced offer and sues for 2.3 million.
Two polar opposites. 
Give him the reception he deserves at Pride Park next season.

But the issue with Mac is he can’t build foundations. If we didn’t have Clough we wouldn’t have Mac. Clough is not a good coach, Mac is not a good manager. If we combined them we would all be happy ? 

You make it sound so so easy, like Mac just turned up and switched the light on. It took Clough years to build that side and I am so greatful, let’s not forget after six months of Mac our position steadily declined to where we are today. 

But the issue with Mac is he can’t build foundations. If we didn’t have Clough we wouldn’t have Mac. Clough is not a good coach, Mac is not a good manager. If we combined them we would all be happy ? 

Agreed, our club is rotten. We don’t need a big name, we need someone who can utilize the academy and Make the most of what we have got. 

We finished 4th from bottom, claims to resign Waghorn, Gregory etc are ludicrous, our team at present is pants and we need a major overhaul.
Lets not get emotionally involved in players who have ultimately failed over the season, by one good game at the end of it.

You are of course absolutely correct in confessing that yours is the poorest post for a long time. 
 
Nigel Clough, who I am a great admirer of, had the luxury of bringing Hughes and Hendricks in to play with seasoned players. In the main, Wayne Rooney has had to select younger players because of what he had available. They were bound to regress after being brought in to the team, that is what most young players do. It is clear that Rooney has tried to rest them when he can, but not always possible. 

As a manager he was given a duff hand to play. Thank goodness he can have the luxury of picking his own players before next season. 

Sorry, I need to add, better than Nigel Clough. The man who brought though Will Hughes and Jeff Hendrick?? Show some respect!! Wayne has, in my opinion done the complete opposite of Clough and seriously damaged the young talent we have. He had, Sibley, Bird, Knight, all touted for bigger things and they have regressed massively under Rooney. 
 
this maybe the poorest post on here for a long time. 

Sorry, I need to add, better than Nigel Clough. The man who brought though Will Hughes and Jeff Hendrick?? Show some respect!! Wayne has, in my opinion done the complete opposite of Clough and seriously damaged the young talent we have. He had, Sibley, Bird, Knight, all touted for bigger things and they have regressed massively under Rooney. 
 
this maybe the poorest post on here for a long time. 

Sorry, I need to add, better than Nigel Clough. The man who brought though Will Hughes and Jeff Hendrick?? Show some respect!! Wayne has, in my opinion done the complete opposite of Clough and seriously damaged the young talent we have. He had, Sibley, Bird, Knight, all touted for bigger things and they have regressed massively under Rooney. 
 
this maybe the poorest post on here for a long time. 

Are you kidding me??? This a sarcastic post? Rooney has saved us? I feel like Ted form line of duty. 

Because he has not got a response...

Rooney one more seasons??  Hahahaha. Don’t forget he has been here for 18 months. There is no evidence he will turn this round... one point from the last seven is horrific.