Duracell

Genuine question here, and I would appreciate someone taking the time to respond in detail.

Can someone point me to some evidence about the BBC's misgivings and bias? No evidence as opinion pieces please, but some data or evidence or research to prove of their right or left bias.

I got some from @maxjam earlier in the thread, thank you for that. Just need a bit more to get my head round it. I've never come viewed their content as one-sided or partial or partisan.

Just one decent pre-season for the squad is all I ask! 

4 games. Last one Notts County away. Serious danger of our tiny squad starting the season undercooked here.

Gary Rowett was our manager last time we had a suitable pre-season schedule. 

I've voted for 15-20th, and I think I've been optimistic to the point of delusion with that prediction.

Left and right both accuse the BBC of bias.

Who's right?

Or could it be that neither are satisfied until their definition of 'bias' is met - which in my mind, is presenting the news in their favour. 

2 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

That's not what was implied.

It was something more akin to your seat will remain reserved for you to renew for 21/22, and therefore not let out to others*, and nor will you lose any long term/consecutive season ticket holder status.  That will very much remain the case (As I see it?).

It appears those of us who did renew will get priority (assuming a reduced capacity). 
I assume those next in line will be those who suspended/deferred renewal last season, but are now keen to renew for this season/as soon as numbers allow. 

Obviously, 21/22 was heavily referenced, but that was because the whole world assumed this whole sorry mess would be all over by now, and all stadiums will be full again next season, so maybe the timing will need adjustment, but nothing more sinister than that.

Until they can fit you in, how can you expect them to sell you a ticket?

 

 

*Assuming reduced capacity, and social distancing, and as the club have previously hinted that when we do return (under those circumstances) some of us may not be allowed to sit in our specific seats, then of course, someone may well be sat in "your seat", but it will still be "your seat", until such time as tickets go back on sale, and you decide not to bother (by a yet-to-be-specified deadline date)

Sorry, didn't mean that - I meant that I thought my seat would be reserved for renewal. The longer the passage of time flies by, the more worried I become that this will actually happen.

I was told very firmly if I didn't renew last year, I'd still keep my seat.

Getting concerned that the post-it note with that written on it has been thrown out.

Dunno about anyone else, but the complete lack of news with the club and the uncertainty over the C word makes it very hard for me to visualise supporting Derby County next season. I'm really worried.

3 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

This is another good point - does anyone holding crypto actually use it to pay for anything? I don't know anyone who does, and I don't think I've ever seen anywhere online offering me the option of paying in BTC. The only people i know holding it, are doing just that. "Currency" trading in a currency that no one uses

Which is another reason why I question if it has a serious future. It won't ever become accepted as a currency until "normal" people have a reason to spend it on goods. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe until recently, in some parts of the world it was possible to walk into a Tesla dealership and buy a car using bitcoin.

23 hours ago, NottsRam77 said:

My electricity company seem v proud in telling me every invoice I get that 100% of my electricity needs come from renewable sources 

to add … allegedly 70% of mined Bitcoin comes from renewable sources 

but your point is totally valid 

From what I've read, the majority of Bitcoin mining happens in Chinese provinces where the primary source of electricity is burning coal.

Crypto and NFTs together now omit more greenhouse gasses than is saved from using solar energy - or, to put it a different way, the world's entire investment in solar energy has been wiped by crypto currencies and NFTs.

I've read another paper  - from 2018 admittedly, but things aren't changing quickly so I suspect that this may still be true - that mining cryptocurrencies consumes more energy per dollar created than pure gold.

In theory, we could live in a world where mining bitcoin and the like is totally renewable. We're very far off that theoretical world at the moment because it's so cheap to burn coal and effectively turn it into something more valuable that doesn't physically exist. 

I get why people are tempted by the idea of making money, but considering the state of our planet, I think we need to urgently have this conversation more often.

29 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

I don't like Horner, but i respect his playng of games and it's not as if Toto (or Stroll sr "we're going to sue the FIA because the new regs made our car suck", or Zack Brown or any of the other team bosses are not going to be playing these games) - in fact, i don't think there many genuinly likable people in F1, or they don't behave in likable ways in terms of the sport, might be lovely away from it, but soon as it's business, top bamford mode.

Is there anyone who embodies that better than Schumacher?* Quiet family man with a love for bunny rabbits. Deliberately drove into Damon Hill to win a Championship. 

*Perhaps Max Mosely. Fascist family links, Nazi-themed orgy, autocratic leadership style who also saved tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives by introducing the NCAP safety rating to road cars as well as all the advances in motorsport.

18 hours ago, ziggyram59 said:

Another thing that makes me sick is Martin bloody Brundle it's obvious he can't stand Lewis and is up Verstappens arse so much, his won 2 races to Lewis's 3 and leads the championship but according to Brundle(Who as a F1 driver achieved nothing) Verstappen is so great and Lewis is yesterday's man. On Sky they hate Lewis winning. 

Sky's commentary is used in world feed commentary, and in other countries, they're accused of pro-Hamilton bias. I really don't think Brundle can be much more complimentary and remain neutral. It's definitely not as pro-Lewis as the days of James Allen but I don't see an agenda from him.

Di Resta, on the other hand, is absolutely a Max fanboy and pretty poor at hiding it. Shame as he's a pretty good pundit for offering driver insight.

Really glad this story comes with such a helpful visual. It was unclear from the first sentence exactly what was happening but now I can see that Cardiff's plan is for him to leave Derby - hence the big red cross - and make a move to Cardiff, as referenced by the big green arrow, pointing to Cardiff City's badge.

For those of you unsure what would happen next, he'd sign a contract with Cardiff, hence the cartoon image of a contract in the bottom left.

9 hours ago, uttoxram75 said:

Its pretty obvious that the EFL have nothing to really punish us for, Mel has wound them up about future streaming of live football, he's pushed the system to the limits to meet FFP, he's brought in Lampard and Rooney to the frustration of other owners who would have absolutely done the same if they had the nous.

What they have got is jealous owners like Gibson moaning and snarling in the background putting pressure on them to punish Derby for having the temerity to play the system slightly better than they have.

Villa, Leeds, QPR, Watford, Wolves, Leicester etc, etc, etc, have all cheated and beaten the system over the years and now the EFL have been pressurised into making us the scapegoat. The only problem has been proving that we have done owt wrong.

Our accounts must be the most scrutinised of all time yet all they've got is a subsection about player amortisation that probably makes very little difference in the great scheme of things.

If they had anything on us they would have hammered us by now.

While I agree with a lot of what you say, do you remember how it felt when we left Wembley in 2014 in that disgustingly beautiful bank holiday sunshine?

We were run properly. We played football properly. And QPR did neither. They'd played the system, got a light 'punishment' for it, and their team of mercenaries had no answer to our team of talented, excitable youngsters who footballed them to death. Their game plan was to soak up pressure and hope for the best.

It wasn't just the nature of Zamora's goal - it was the team that did it, and what they stood for at the time. It felt like money and greed would always win, no matter what you did.

To many other clubs in this league, we're the present day QPR. If we were still living sensibly within our own means under GSE ownership, and it was Gibson selling the Riverside to himself and outcompeting us for transfers due to creative accounting, we would want the EFL to fight our corner too. 

Perhaps we haven't broken the rules, and that is why the EFL have nothing on us, but I personally feel that if the shoe was on the other foot, I'd be wanting the EFL to throw the book at the club and find anything they can.

Just now, Andicis said:

In hindsight, but at the time most were happy. 

They were. It's difficult to see who's rewriting or revising history here, but on reflection, some signs were there and there were a few posters (me NOT included - I was buzzing to see Jacob Butterfield terrorising the league with devastating 6 yard sideways passes) who shared what turned out to be very astute concerns from the word go.

The dressing room incident against Reading when MM entered the changing room was the watershed moment for me. 

3 minutes ago, Andicis said:

I'm just doubting the validity of the statement that you always had doubts, pretty much everyone was happy the first few years of Mel when he was throwing the cash around. People started turning on him after that.

I get to tell the grandkids about the money splashed on Bradley Johnson, Jacob Butterfield, Andi Weimann, Ikechi Anya and Nick Blackman. 

5 hours ago, GeneralRam said:

That's why I always go to the Indy 500 instead. Always a great day out.

Indy 500 is one of those rare things where the ridiculous American hype is justified. It's every bit as exciting and huge as they make it out to be.

Helps that unlike many big American sporting events, international participation isn't just tolerated, but actively encouraged. 

Reading this thread and I can't wait to read Pride II to find out what's actually going on.

2 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Huh? Thats Gibbo who now works for that 'hand'? Or have I misunderstood you.

I still think they're not talking to RD because more fans would hear it.

Colin Gibson works for the club, but Radio Derby itself may have changed policy about broadcasting speculation since then. That was my point

This issue Radio Derby is that they just don't seem to have any sources or contacts beyond the official channels. Fair enough that the club refuses to talk to them, but I somehow doubt John Percy has the club as his only source. 

Maybe they had their hand bitten badly by Colin Gibson and his comment about the dressing room under Nigel Clough.

That said, you really need to listen to any other local radio station in order to realise how good we have it. It's local radio. Not national radio. Comparing Radio Derby with talkSport is not a like for like comparison.

2 minutes ago, Millenniumram said:

This whole consortium or sole owner thing is very confusing. In interviews with the English media, Alonso has seemed to indicate he’s on his own, but that interview over in Spain seemed to suggest he does have backers behind him. All a bit contradictory. You’d have to assume the latter is true, given the links to the more wealthy Indonesian businessmen. But why not say that more openly? If anything, that will reassure fans as they can see evidence of funding for the club.

Well, this is the concerning thing for me. If he is being economical with the truth about there being a consortium behind him, the kind way of viewing that is that he is making himself accountable for what happens next, protecting the anonymity of any other investors. The cynic in me worries it’s ego.

2 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

 

I see a lot of terrible words, just not necessarily placed in an intelligible order. 

Is our new owner a passionate anti-fascist boxer?

1 hour ago, ColonelBlimp said:

Won't argue with Hamilton's legendary status, never been a massive fan but have always respected his talent.

This 2019 3rd fastest car nonsense, where on earth are do you get that idea? 

The fact that Ferrari took more pole positions and had many more front row lockouts, Red Bull took as many poles as Mercedes in the second half of the season, Ferrari continually lost races from a winning position due to driver/strategy error or reliability, Bottas often struggling in 5th, 6th or 7th on various circuits. By the final races of the season, there was very little to choose between the top 3 but Ferrari and Red Bull definitely had the edge.

2 hours ago, Zag zig said:

Maybe then again Toto is no fool either, it took Hamilton some time to sign that extension that everyone wanted, knew was going to happen.

Hamilton won’t be around forever, in 2 years Russell could be Toto’s ideal replacement. Next year he challenges, the year after top seat, that’s how F1 has always worked, you only have to look to the past. Ferrari struggling car or not, perfect example of old and new kid on the block.

Absolutely! The difference is, drivers of Russell's ilk have to wait a bit longer these days. Alonso had one season at Minardi before he joined the big leagues, Schumacher a handful of races for Jordan and the Merc Le Mans team, Raikkonen was in F1 just 2 years after karts. 

With improvements in safety and sports science, drivers are hanging around for a lot longer than they used to. 

Fingers crossed Russell gets a competitive car sooner rather than later.

8 hours ago, Zag zig said:

Don’t get me wrong I rate Hamilton, think Max should just have been more patient.

My main point was about Russell. Hamilton will still win this year for me, he still has the edge in car, possibly the edge in race nous too but it’s great it looks a closer championship. I reserve the right to be talking total ass come the end of the season ?

Russell is fantastic - but to do anything with Merc, he needs to hope that Bottas leaves and that Toto believes he can have two drivers so close in talent in the same team. That can be a recipe for disaster - why rock the boat when they have such harmony? His next bet is to get out of his Mercedes contract and hope there's a space at another team which is more competitive with the new rules in '22. 

I'd be really disappointed to not see Russell fighting for championships but the quality of the field is absolutely stupid. 10-20 years ago, Russell would already be in a car with winning potential, but these days, who makes way for him?

1 hour ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Just caught up with the c4 highlights this morning.

I was particually pleased with the competetiveness of the racing through the field. Alonso until he retired was having a good day, Perez did a good recovery job, Leclerc had a good race against the McLarens.

The track limits thing baffled me as well, not so much the pass during the race (soon as I saw it i knew he'd have to give it up) but the whole is it or isn't a limit. You could forgive the stewards i they said that's the limit, but used a bit of discression if there was a racing incident in the first few laps (someone goes wide to avoid contact being let away with it for example).

Anyway, enjoyed the race and looking forward to the next one.

And if anyone likes MotoGP but doesn't have BT, highlights are on ITV4 tonight.

MotoGP selling the rights to BT Sport at a time when F1 went into a period of single-team dominance was a huge act of self-sabotage. I'm not really a fan - more the attention I give to Derby and auto racing that prohibits me from getting into it further - but it's relentlessly exciting. It could have been the one top-level form of motorsport left on terrestrial television.