Duracell

Every season second place in the Championship gets a trophy, never heard anyone complain.

Maybe that didn’t rattle as many neutrals because they didn’t notice when smaller clubs than us were doing it?

That game was the first huge target my dad gave himself the morning after the stroke. His recovery in 7 weeks has been incredible!

He may not have been able to clap, or bounce to prove he’s not a Red (but take our word for it, he isn’t), but with my help and with assistance from a steward, he was able to invade the pitch…

The short walk to the stadium was the limit of what he could do. Another enormous thank you to the absolute gent that is @ram59, and his mate Paul, without whom we simply wouldn’t have been able to make it.

UTR!!

20 hours ago, dcfc the 1 4me said:

Sorry to hear about your dad, hope he gets well soon. I too have a similar problem and wondered if anyone can help me also for the Carlisle game. I had an operation a couple of days ago which means I’m not allowed to stand for very long, as I’m in the south stand that’s a bit tricky! Also it might get a bit excitable where I sit and don’t want to risk anything getting accidentally knocked. If there’s any takers for a pair of tickets to swap somewhere in the stadium where me and hubby can sit down and see the game for two south stand lower, block C , please let me know. I also contacted ticket office but same problem with sell out. Thanks if anyone can help 

Thank you @dcfc the 1 4me! I hope you get well soon too. Just bumping this up for everyone in case they missed it...

Thanks everyone for your kind messages - I've shown them to him, including from our guest from the coast, and even the smallest well-wishes from strangers can give a boost to people in his situation that I didn't appreciate until this happened.

Events like this makes you realise that it's the fans that make the club what it is. Thank you!

On 18/04/2024 at 23:57, RodleyRam said:

My old man is east lower, third row back from the pitch, half way line, right on the aisle. Only one seat though but his mate might be in the seat next to him, I'd have to double check. If you're interested DM me and I'll see if he'd be willing to swap but I imagine you might want two seats so the previous offer may be preferable to you.

I live in Haddenham, just down the road from Aylesbury at it happens. 

Thank you so much for your kind offer, I really appreciate it! We have gone with the hero that its ram59!

Small world that you live so close to him 

Hi everyone,

My Dad, a life-long Derby fan and season ticket holder, recently suffered from a stroke which left the right side of his body paralysed. Up until it struck, he had made the 200-mile round trip from Aylsebury to Derby 

His progress has been remarkable since - he can how walk short distances and has gained a lot of mobility. 

I would love to take him to the final game of the season with Carlisle to see out the journey. I would be devastated for him if, having supported us through thick and thin all his life right up until the stroke, he missed out on us winning promotion. This is where some of you could potentially help.

Our season tickets are about as difficult as it could be for someone with mobility issues: East Stand Upper, on the half-way line, half-way between stair wells. I'm just not sure I can safely get him up there with a capacity crowd.

I am only asking having tried to arrange disabled viewing with the club, who cannot help as the game is sold out. Does anyone sit in a lower block, close to a stairwell, who would be willing to swap seats just for this game? I'm only asking as this is a final plea!

Not sure I agree with “no stopping that”. It swerved which made it harder, but it wasn’t beyond saving.

Just now, Mckram said:

Really surprising me how shaky they are at the back. Feels like we could score whenever we go forward. 

The weather hampers them more than us, as much more of their game is about playing through the lines. Helps that our forwards thrive on chaos too

1 minute ago, Duracell said:

Wish we were able to put as many men on Kamara as they have on Blackett-Taylor.

 

…but I guess it gives a bit of space to Ward

Wish we were able to put as many men on Kamara as they have on Blackett-Taylor.

13 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

If you like sports car racing, there's IMSA 12hrs of Sebring this saturday, free to watch on the website unless you're in 'murica.

Support races include MX5 cup, a carerra cup and Mitchelin pilot cup (GT3 i think)

hey, at least it's BoP'd and Sebring is a good track.

IMSA and WEC are well worth a watch this season. Almost as many Hypercars in WEC as there are cars on the entire grid in F1. Season opener in Qatar was great, highlights on YouTube.

47 minutes ago, inter politics said:

We knew TJJ had a poor injury record. We knew Waghorn and Washington were/are injured and are older players with histories of muscle injuries. We loaned Browne out...

It isn't unfortunate. It's either poor planning or lack of implementation. I'm all for praising our great club when deserved but this was a big error from the club. Can't change it now but don't pretend it wasn't a mistake (not you, the club themselves).

It's obvious we're missing a fully fit striker.

"Poor planning" is extremely harsh. A non-injury prone striker with excellent finishing has to be a.) willing to drop down to League One and b.) have a club willing to sell him in the middle of the season c.) be available with next to no transfer fee, given we're not out of the woods yet financially.

Not like there's a plethora of forwards that fit that bill. 

Do agree that loaning out Browne, a striker that we actually have, is a bit of a head-scratcher.

xG needs a rebrand. It doesn't mean "how many you should have scored" - it's a metric of how many shots were close to goal.

If you see a team with loads of shots and low xG, you can tell that it was a side struggling to break into the final third and taking fanciful shots at goal.

If you see a high xG and no goals scored, you know a team's been wasteful.

I don't see what's hipster or controversial about that.

I think under Warne these players are as far away from the first team as anyone was under Rowett.

It’s a pity, and ultimately makes little sense given our financial situation. What’s the point in the expenditure if you’re not going to give players a chance and sell them?

Does anyone have any midfield control at this level? I feel like I’ve not watched enough other teams to answer that question.

I get little satisfaction from watching this team play and if we go up and want to stay up, we’re going to need to change a lot about the way we play.

But the fact we’re in contention to go up automatically speaks volumes about both the quality and style of play at this level. 

Most goals seem to come from turnovers in possession from unforced errors. Patterns of play are much less structured and it’s rarer to see teams put lots of passes together. I’m not old enough to have seen us play in the third tier and I’ve had a hard time recalibrating what “good” looks like.

This performance has come from nowhere. We’ve got an opportunity to go top here - totally out of character for a club that usually thrives under pressure, particularly in promotion pushes.

6 minutes ago, Duracell said:

Think it's a bit unfair to say "we" are sloppy - it's Bird and NML. So much of our play is based on those two taking it in tight areas, or taking a man on in the case of NML. They don't look sharp.

 

 

Since I’ve posted this it seems like the entire team’s joined them in sympathy 

Think it's a bit unfair to say "we" are sloppy - it's Bird and NML. So much of our play is based on those two taking it in tight areas, or taking a man on in the case of NML. They don't look sharp.

20 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Dress it up with stats as much as you want, his general play has been pretty poor on most occasions that he has played.

We talking about Sibley or Bird here? If it's Sibley, I completely agree.

He's a talented dribbler and has a fearsome shot on him. With these two attributes - or if you only watch players on the ball - then I can understand why you'd rate him.

Unfortunately, his decision making and off the ball work are really poor. He often spots this when it's too late, gets annoyed with himself, and then gives a free-kick away with a clumsy challenge with a yellow card for good measure.

I think even for a mid-table Championship side, those shortcomings are too great in the modern game.

We could've gone out of business. Keeping ourselves afloat in the top three tiers without doing a Portsmouth or Bolton - or even just completely vanishing like Bury - was in itself a miracle.

Instant promotion to the Championship isn't realisitc.

2 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

I'm a big poppy fan myself... but never been keen on forcing it on folk.

 

Non-poppy fan posting in peace here, this is class 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Best of luck for the rest of the season for you guys 👍🏻

Just now, Sparkle said:

Fortunately we got away with that one 

I think Crewe got away with that one.

We totally dominated the game.

We have a lot to answer for with the shocking defending which allowed them to score twice, and given how easily they caved under real pressure, we very clearly didn't set up the right way to break them down. That's all incredibly disappointing from our side.

But 2-2 overall does flatter Crewe, even accounting for how hard they worked.

Looking forward to the manager saying that this is down to us not being showing enough aggression or Crewe running more.

Sometimes feel like I’m watching a football match and he’s been watching a game of British bulldog.

When we're like this, we look like a side with all the downsides of a team trying to play expansive football without trying to play expansive football.

Not sure how we manage to be so timid in attack, whilst at the same time leaving ourselves vulnerable enough to be in a 2 v 2 at the back for that second goal.

11 minutes ago, WilkoRam said:

I don’t agree with this idea that it’s now our turn to get behind them and cheer them on.

I’m sure we all got into football because it’s an entertaining game. We pay money (be that for a ticket and cost of travel or travelling to far off places to be able to pay for RamsTV) which many of us struggle with at the minute, in order to go and be entertained and have that enjoyment. 

The players, manager, coaches, etc get paid well to provide that entertainment. It’s not on us to mindlessly cheer each week, it’s for them to give us something to cheer about. We’ll sing and cheer and bounce if we’re entertained but it comes from them in my view. That has been missing recently, the entertainment has gone!

If the football is poor and boring then the atmosphere is likely to be negative and why shouldn’t it. Why should we accept paying money to be bored and frustrated for 90mins?

Criticising the team and supporting them during the game aren't mutually exclusive. 

I really believe we're awful at the moment, and when I go to Pride Park, I don't want to become an obstacle to the team peforming when their lack of fitness or talent is already a huge one. Supporting the team the team is the entertainment for me, and I'm not going to get any more entertainment by getting on their backs. The whole point of home advantage is to give the players something they can't get without us being there.

It's just the way in England that most fanbases respond to the team rather than the other way round, but the one time it was the team responding to the support from the fans was 2021/22. We nearly kept a team of sixth formers and pensioners in the Championship with a 21 point deduction with our support.