Dean (hick) Saunders

A little bit of Daniel at Pride Park forever ❤️ Give him a wave when you pass the east stand 🐏

I'm going to assume promotion for this and we'll go with a 3412/3421...
Loans for: Evans, Rooney, Fornah, Radcliffe, Weston
Extensions for: Forsyth (backup and in-game coaching for U21s), Sibley, Thompson and DRobinson
Meaning we retain the following squad:
GK: Vickers
RCB: Nelson, Nyambe
CB: Bradley, Forsyth
LCB: Cashin
RWB: Ward, Wilson
LWB: Sibley, Elder
DM: -
CM: LThompson, DRobinson
RW: -
LW: Mendez-Laing, Blackett-Taylor
CF: Washington, DBrown
In my squad, that would leave gaps at GK(x2), CB, LWB, DM(x2), CM, RW(x2), CF(x2) - 11 signings
GK, 1st choice - Chris Walton (free, Ipswich)
GK, 3rd choice - John Ruddy (free, Birmingham) May want to go somewhere he will get game time which would rule us out. He's at the age where he should be stepping back, and he wouldn't have to move too far if he were to join us.
CB, 1st choice - Sam Stubbs (free, Bradford). A risky option, but he's still only 25, dominant in the air, and a good defender. He is slow so could struggle with stepping up a couple of divisions. Saying that, I thought he played very well in his game against us in the EFL Trophy.

LWB, rotation - Sam McCallum (free, Norwich)

DM, 1st choice - Ebou Adams (£?). Makes our team click without doing anything fancy. Difficult to say what Cardiff would want for him.

DM, 2nd choice - Nohan Kenneh (£?, Hibs). He would often train with the first team at Leeds under Bielsa, so you know the type of player he is. A 21 year old version of Adams.

CM, 1st choice - Herbie Kane (free, Barnsley). Would take over from Hourihane as the main set-piece taker.

RW, rotation - Tyrhys Dolan (compensation, Blackburn). Versitile, coming through as a winger at Blackburn before moving more central this season. The type of player you need in a squad to give the flexibility between formations depending on opposition and injuries within the squad.

RW, rotation - Femi Azeez (compensation, Reading). One of the best wingers in the league, with a high goal contribution output. Will be in high demand, so an unlikely signing.

CF, 1st choice - Harry Leonard (loan, Blackburn). A good all-round forward who creates as well as scores. We were apparently close to signing him in January, so I can see us going back in for him in the summer.

CF, 2nd choice - John McAtee (loan, Luton). More of a #10, but is another hard worker and one of the more creative CFs in L1.

 
A final squad of:
GK: Walton, Vickers, Ruddy
RCB: Nelson, Nyambe
CB: Stubbs, Bradley, Forsyth
LCB: Cashin
RWB: Ward, Wilson
LWB: McCallum, Sibley, Elder
DM: Adams, Kenneh
CM: Kane, LThompson, DRobinson
RW: Dolan, Azeez
LW: Mendez-Laing, Blackett-Taylor
CF: Leonard, McAtee, Washington, DBrown

Great shout! I liked him in Hook too! It’s a yes from Smee! 

According to Dom Dietrich Warne has said Collins will be involved against Blackpool, as will NML but needs further assessment. 
I know how important Friday could be, but I really hope we don’t take risks with NML. It’s not ideal but I’d play him from the bench on Friday, give CBT chance to show what he can do with Ward or Wilson on the other side then only use Nat if needed. 

Put it this way, if we don't finish 2nd now then it'll be the worst bottling since last season.

Nobheads have appealed it.
(Forest that is)

Adam Thorley is back at Derby
Derby County's academy has been strengthened with the return of the highly-rated Adam Thorley. Thorley was poached by Chelsea back in 2021 when he became their under-15s coach.
But it is understood he has now returned to Derby where he has been appointed head of technical development for under-nines to under-16s. Thorley initially started his career at Derby having joined the club in 2010, but had a short stint at Wolves where he was YDP coach for eight months.
He was Derby's under-18s coach and professional development phase coach before leaving for Premier League Chelsea. During his time at Pride Park, the club cultivated a number of players to come through the academy including the likes of Kaide Gordon (Liverpool) and Liam Delap (Manchester City).

Seeing as 50% of prem teams are struggling with ffp. Ditching their #2 or 3 keeper on £30-40k pw and hiring a competent replacement on a free offering £15k could be quite attractive?

Wildsmith
Smith         Nelson       Cashin         Elder
                         D.Robinson
             Adams               Thompson
   Wilson          Washington            CBT
(Loach, Ward, Sibley, Hourihane, Radcliffe, Waghorn, Collins)
Weston, Fapetu, Allen, K.Robinson and Cox on standby. 
 

Seeing as 50% of prem teams are struggling with ffp. Ditching their #2 or 3 keeper on £30-40k pw and hiring a competent replacement on a free offering £15k could be quite attractive?

It's interesting to see how a lot of people are now suggesting 3 at the back rather than a back 4 that people have been saying is how we should be lining up. I've liked the idea of having a back 3. It allows us more players to attack, but gives us 5 at the back when defending. 
Big game today. No complacency please. We have to be professional and get the job done and not assume it's 3 points in the bank. Northampton will likely raise their game against us. 
COYR! 

Seeing as 50% of prem teams are struggling with ffp. Ditching their #2 or 3 keeper on £30-40k pw and hiring a competent replacement on a free offering £15k could be quite attractive?

To me we don’t play to his strengths. He’s at the wrong end of the pitch. He has a sweet left foot and is a good scoring option but for some reason finds himself in defence.
 I know he can’t run but the little energy he has should be focused on offence not defence. Let Ebou, Thompson, Smith etc do the grunt work. They aren’t goal scorers.
Let’s make the most of Conor’s time here and have him lurking around the edge of the box waiting to rifle in a goal.

Yeah, if he's that way inclined he may be tempted to quadruple his money and sit on the bench (or worse) for a Prem team. He may have seen Scott Carson having the time of his life and wants a piece!

With the injuries, we really could do with him stepping up now. Leyton Orient, Blackpool, Wycombe, Carlisle & Cambridge are all teams he's had goals/assists against this season, so we could do with him reproducing that going forward. 

I've literally lost all interest in football since our problems with the EFL started. Thank God I support a team that plays Warneball 🥷

*Might contain small edits.

I’m in Lisbon for the Half Marathon race tomorrow so missing the fun. Give them a shout from me everyone.
COYR.

I’m in Lisbon for the Half Marathon race tomorrow so missing the fun. Give them a shout from me everyone.
COYR.

I’m in Lisbon for the Half Marathon race tomorrow so missing the fun. Give them a shout from me everyone.
COYR.

I’m in Lisbon for the Half Marathon race tomorrow so missing the fun. Give them a shout from me everyone.
COYR.

I’m in Lisbon for the Half Marathon race tomorrow so missing the fun. Give them a shout from me everyone.
COYR.

Just realised it’s 55 years yesterday for my first ever Derby game.
We won that one 1-0 against Huddersfield, a win today would be good.

Whilst the very slow mo version shows the ball hitting Gayle's arm, it's hardly cheating  nor is he a con man. Harsh words, imo.
Likewise the goalkeeper may have looked almost stationary to you in a slow mo replay, in real time he was thundering out of his goal.
So, a refereeing mistake.
Now, who benefitted from a refereeing mistake against us earlier in the season?