DCFC27

11 minutes ago, Jram said:

I’m not convinced it’s courageous tbh when, by walking away, you would forfeit a 90 grand a week pay cheque 

If he had walked away at the end of last season he would have had a fairly high stock given we stayed up after being cut adrift. He’d have found a decent championship job with less going on. He’s not short of money so I don’t think he is motivated by money at this stage. 

Most entertaining game of football I have watched since lampard was in charge. I know it was only Salford but honestly how great was it to be back in the stadium listening to fans sing to an empty North stand “give us a song”. Lots of goals won at the end a players that clearly care about Derby county!

On to the positive points from the game 

Ebosele - great to watch will be a very good player his pace is scary fast. 
 

Morrison - Can Rooney be the one to make it work for him? Good game overall can’t remember him loosing the ball, he keeps the ball moving well and at times ran at players who clearly didn’t fancy trying to tackle him knowing they'd foul him. Moved into CDM in second half and I thought it really suited him as he seemed more comfortable taking from the defenders and playing forwards, first half the midfielders didn’t take in forward often just recycled it. Part of his game I didn’t expect was he can put in a good tackle and read the game well when covering. One moment in particular though he thought he was fouled in the first half and he looked like he was about to have a paddy and feel sorry for himself that he didn’t get the foul but his first look up was to Rooney and not the ref. He got straight up and tracked back hard. IMO he may have a lot of respect for Rooney. Good goal and the fans sang his name. Really good start to his Derby career, I do think confidence is going to be massive for him.  (Only Salford though and he needs to take this into Peterborough!) 

From the squad, whereas this squad is lacking in quality, it seems to be making up for it in morale and togetherness. All the players celebrating together, calling for decisions together. Kissing the badges and engaging the fans. Sometimes it’s the underdogs that do well on the back of a bad situation and hopefully that will lead to a moderate safety for us this season.

Glad you pointed him out, first half IMO he looked like a rabbit in the headlights kept missing headers and making bad decision however second half he was the complete opposite and looked a real player. Someone at half time has said the right thing as he came out looking a foot taller with a new found confidence. Really liked what I saw. 

I think the whole thing has been miss handled by the club and certainly not the fault of anyone attending. 
The meetings should be broadcasted with selected fans asking questions such as David. Surely a more appropriate way of communicating with he fan base, surely anything Mel can say to a few fans should be open to all fans. Again poor from the club and poor from Mel. 
 

When is he expected back? Seen some photos of him on the Grass already which is encouraging but wonder when he’ll be fit to join the team. Could be very important if he can get back to full fitness. 

On 06/08/2021 at 20:29, Ravabeerbelly said:

With that line up, how can the bench be a real problem? If we start as above the bench would most likely feature :-

Forsyth - Over 200 Championship appearances, over 300 professional games and 4 international caps!

Cashin - Most felt relieved and reassured after his performance last week and while I don’t think he has 46 games in him id be more than comfortable with him coming off the bench if there are injuries.

Watson - Many on here would have him starting and have ridiculously high hopes for him 

Thompson - was excellent last week v Notts County and Rooney has spoken highly of him. More than capable for short periods.

Hutchinson - played the most minutes of all the young players pre season and played left wing, right wing, rotated into the 10 v Salford and sat deep centrally v Notts and did well in each. He also has 50 EFL games under his belt 

Festy - changed the dynamic completely when moved further forward v Notts and won us the penalty. Can also play left back and right back and again many on here would be happy to see him start.

CKR - Our main striker and almost talismanic leader. Over 500 senior appearances in 7 different countries and nearly 100 senior goals and played in the top division in at least 3 countries inc the Prem!! Hardly a bad one to have to bring on!

Personally I wouldn’t pick your starting line up but if we did I really wouldn’t worry about the bench!!

Bar Fozzy maybe who comes on when your 1-0 up in a tight game and need someone sure things up? 
They might turn out to be good players but let’s be real, we don’t have any strength in depth. 

Roos 

Byrne 

Davies 

Stearman

Buchanan 

Shinnie Sibley Bird 

Lawrence 

Joz 

Stretton

This year will be massive for Stretton, I see him being a great striker for Derby as long as he can shake off the little injuries he gets, he’s so quick and always gets his shot off early. If the go with CKR I’d like to see him play instead of Joz. 
I actually think our starting 11 is good enough to beat Huddersfield, it’s the Bench where we have a real problem.

I admire his record with us so far, he kept us up when we were cut adrift last season. The off field antics were awful but he keeps focussed on the football. I actually think last season he had all his best players injured - Lawrence Beliek Davies. 
He probably should have left at the end of last season as he could say he achieved his goal and found another club in less turmoil however he wants to stay and make Derby a success.

Yes, if a big club comes in for him he will go but why do people keep hitting him with this stick? Of course you’d go to Man U if you got the chance. As a Derby fan I’d go to Man U!? 
 

The only time I considered it might be better for him to go was when a girl farted in his face in a hotel room. 

Could be announced a couple hours later, as the contract might be signed etc before 12 and the signings do all their photos etc after. 

On 28/07/2021 at 18:22, David said:

And there lies the problem, fans demanding an improved team whilst refusing to pay for tickets and streams for the players we have, maybe if we didn't have P&S restrictions you could demand these things I guess, but the balance sheet isn't looking that healthy, especially with Pride Park being empty for 18 months.

What came first, the chicken or the egg?

If we was playing Forest, wouldn't be an issue I would imagine, but the game should still be seen as a big one, the first competitive game with fans back in the stadium. Work starts on persuading my chauffeur tonight ?

Personally I think there should be a league limit put in at £10 or £15. Puts each team on a level footing pricing wise. (More so in the prem where you don’t even need ticket sales to survive) 

To do this the EFL would have to pluck their finger out their **** and negotiate decent  TV money however. 
 

1 hour ago, LeedsCityRam said:

He's 6' 1" - possibly slightly below average height for Championship CB but not noticeably so. From today's evidence he was brave in aerial battles, decent spring on him, well positioned & got good distance on his headers...all more important than pure height. 

He also looks quite a physical lad & I'd argue strength is as important to deal with the units that play up top in the Championship. His comfort on the ball also suits what looks to be our new style. Whilst we urgently need Jagielka & Davies through the door, I'd really like Cashin to start plenty of games this season. Think he could mature into a good CB at our level especially with one of those two alongside him.

Is he 6’1” though? When he celebrated his goal he looked smaller than Ebosele whose 5’8”. 
Its certainly the first thing I noticed about him. Hopefully it doesn’t hold him back as he did look good but against the likes of Mitrovic etc in the championship he’ll need some leap. 

As good as Cashin looked today, (and I’ll happily be proved wrong) he’s too small for the championship at CB. 

On 15/05/2021 at 20:38, sheffieldram said:

Mel says that he will guarantee to pay the wages until a new buyer is found but any chance of us being in the market to spend any money on transfers is wishful thinking. Mel wants rid of us so he is not going to splash the cash. If the reports are to be believed we are up to our ears in debt.

Until we know the outcome of the EFL appeal we do not even know which division we will be playing in or if we will have a points reduction at the start of next season. Who would want to sign for us under those circumstances?

The other issue is we have not put in any accounts so under EFL rules surely we are under a transfer embargo?

Just watched the Leicester final......depressed me even more......what 2 different paths we have both taken over the last 10 years!!!!

 

He didn’t, he said he’s paying for April’s wages but is unsure on how long after that. 

12 hours ago, Ken Tram said:

Everything you say sounds sensible, especially about spending matching income. And the commitment by Mel - you said that in a way that was a good reminder.

If the Premier League believe that it is in their interests to have a wider variety of teams making it up, even if many don't stay up for long - and having fans from more clubs thinking that their club has a chance of promotion - then restructuring the parachute payment seems sensible, especially if it is these that drives unsustainable spending in the Championship.

For example, the parachute payment could be used to encourage premier League clubs to buy talented players, making the premier League more exciting, while protecting clubs that get relegated for having paid out on good players.

The parachute payments should ensure that the club if not out of pocket for having tried to be competitive. But, that doesn't mean a fixed amount need be paid either! And maybe there should be an expectation that a certain number of players will be sold, with various protections, but without having s fixed amount.

Having praised your response ... I might sound a note if caution. If the system is changed, and less money is pushed into the Championship by clubs aiming to reap the rewards of promotion to the Premier League; either player costs will fall, or the quality of players in the Championship will fall.

Maybe there is an adequate supply of people willing to risk their money? Or, it may be that some of the people who take such risks bring considerable dangers to clubs.

And reducing the £13m per year acceptable loss over the years brings problems when single players can have such a value, and when eager bills can exceed that amount. Lower limits could have unintended consequences.

It's a very complex situation, and I don't think their will ever be a perfect system. I do think think their needs to be a much more flexible model whereby it allows clubs to invest if they can, but with sensible guarantee's in place to stop clubs going into administration and further more punishing them if they do. 

I just feel for clubs like Wigan, why should the club and more importantly their fans be punished for an owner abandoning them? Its owners that need to be held to account, and this isn't some witch hunt on owners I love to see a club taken over and money invested. Wolves is a great example of an owner coming in to a championship with the right intentions and revolutionising a club.

No amount of background checks can prevent an owner coming in, making a mess and leaving. However steps can be put in place to ensure that they can't just leave. 

2 hours ago, Ken Tram said:

How does that encourage the owners of football clubs to pump cash into the system?

The idea is to stop clubs going bust, there needs to be a massive overhaul of the system as at the moment the championship are trying to compete with premier league wages and transfer fees without the income.
Clubs should spend what they generate, but if an owner wishes to spend more they need to be accountable and affordability needs to be assessed before they commit the club to such fees.
Fortunately for Derby, when it all went wrong and Mel realised he’d messed up, he has paid for it. But had Mel walked away in 2016 or 17 the club would be massively in debt due to the massive wage bill. 
There is not easy fix but owners need to be more accountable. Alonso might well put £35 milllion in an account tomorrow, the EFL approve him, he buys Derby and he could take it back out and walk away the day after. Just look at Wigan for that example. 
Real time oversight and independent regulation on club activities is the only way to enforce this. Furthermore no more penalties for financial hardship further aggravating the situation.  
Instead a fund should also be set up to catch any clubs that fail and do slip into administration in the form on a levy on all clubs turnover. 

51 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

But that is not what you said.

Out of interest how were they going to pay off the £15m mortgage when it fell due?

And who was going to fund the annual losses?

People seem to have a very hazy memory about this period but the voices against these being the kind of custodians we wanted for our club were growing louder by the day.

Would GSE have kept the 2013/14 squad together? I have my doubts.

So my understanding is that GSE sold the club Debt free to Mel. But even if I concede that, mortgages aren’t just due at some point in time you generally pay in instalments and you even refinance them if you wish as you go along. 
I have just taken a look at some of the losses and generally as a football club your not looking to make a profit and generally this looks like clever accounting rather than the type of losses were making now on massive wages and transfer fees. Let’s put it this way, we didn’t look like we might not pay the wages.
 

To be honest I don’t see that as a bad thing, we should have been selling our players at peak value and replacing with new players. 

At their peak what were these players worth vs what we sold them for, we only got peak value for Hendrick.

Hughes 

Hendrick 

Bryson

Martin 

Keogh 

Fozzy 

We got 2 fees for these players, collectively worth maybe £40million at their peak. 
 

We have to learn to sell and buy at the right time Burnley, Brentford, Norwich all sell their best players when a good offer comes in and replace with quality. 
We just focused on ins without a thought for outs. 

28 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

They paid off the stadium? That is just blatantly untrue. MM paid the £15m mortgage off after taking over the club.

And despite GSE getting rid of the high earners we were still losing £9m per year, a loss that they no longer wanted to cover and they could not wait to get  rid of us.

I had no problems with GSE but its amazing seeing their tenure being praised when people were protesting against them and 'the Barker type fee' jibe was used against them on an almost daily basis.

It was a time whereby Derby stayed out of the headlines unless it was for the right reasons.

They are the type of custodians you want for your club. 
I remember the protests, but they were in the season following relegation from the premier league and maybe a little the following season. Ultimately responsible owners that built the club that Mel took over. 

I personally feel there needs to be independent regulation over the transfers and how they are funded, clubs should put together a budget send to a league regulator that approves the budget, based on the individual club and its income. Derby should be able to spend more than Rotherham, because Derby generate more income via their turnstiles etc. The EFL should take a look at Derby’s projected income and say okay Derby you can spend £10million this season as that is what you can afford, even if your owner pulls out,  You’ll be okay. 
They’ll then do the same with Rotherham, and they’ll give them a budget. If Rotherham suddenly get a massive financial takeover, they might want to spend more and the League could look at ways to allow them to spend more but protect the club by putting in measures to ensure that the owner can’t just leave and put the club into admin. 
 

FFP just doesn’t work. It’s failed. It’s allowed clubs to go bust. 

13 minutes ago, hintonsboots said:

 

2 minutes ago, therams69 said:

I hope so .. Would prefer a local consortium to anything else. A board of good figures as opposed to 1 man deciding everything. Lets just hope this come to fruition and quickly.

By the sounds of it, they won’t be pumping money into the club, but they will balance the books each year.

I actually rate the job the GSE did for us, they managed to get the club in to a very financially secure position, paid off the stadium got rid of all the high earners and in the end they had us very competitive under Mac, who knows how it may have turned out had they had continued? We would have sold out best players but probably have spent wiser knowing that what is spent must come back in. 

7 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Without sounding rude, if you have something to tell us all why not just say it instead of carrying on with all of this cryptic nonesense.

You claim to have the clubs best interests at heart, so surely if you have some earth shattering news then surely you would need us all to know to get us on your side and putting some pressure on the ownership. 

Now I don't know you but from what other people say you seem to be a nice genuine guy, but from an outsider point of view, the tactics you are employing on here just make you lool like an attention seeker. I'm not saying that as an insult just letting you know why you will potentially be harming the cause that you say you want people to join with you and fight.

I know you've said you wont say anything because people know who you are but what are you expecting? Mel Morris and Stephen Pearce to come round your house when it is dark and bury you under Pride Park Stadium?

As long as what you are saying is factual and not libellous I'm really not sure why you think that you cannot say it on here.

People aren’t allowed to spread rumours on this forum. I was well informed about about Mel and the sale on quite a few things but my comments deleted because I’m not John Percy. Some of what I hear ends up being rubbish too, but that’s the thing about rumours you’ll get some stuff like that. 
 

FWIW another takeover is being lined up by a local consortium, they can’t get the funds to make it happen as it stands but if the fans are in next year and we haven’t been sold off to whoever will take us before then it may well happen. 

I like Alonso from what I’ve heard so far, seems like he has his head screwed on and sounds to me that he’s likely to actually have a business model for recruitment. (Something we have really lacked) however it doesn’t seem like the money he’s bringing to the table is his from the murmurs I have heard.
What happens when he upsets his rich friends and they just turn the tap off? 
I’m not actually convinced this will go through, again it seems we have found a buyer that’s desperate enough to get into ownership that they are prepared to buy a club in our covid and relegation threatened state. 

Ultimately under Mel I have always felt he would keep the club running and not allow us to fall in to administration. Owners like Alonso don’t give me that feeling. 
 

1 hour ago, Boycie said:

Is that the one we’re you said it was up for sale to a local consortium for £20million mate.  “Not the obvious contenders”

The local consortium is still in the mix. 

1 hour ago, Jimbo Ram said:

? sauce ?

I posted news about Mel and BZI a couple of weeks before his interview. My comment was deleted by the admin but true. This is also true. 

Not happening until fans back in the stadium is confirmed and we know for sure what league we will be in. ITK. These are however currently Mel’s preferred bidders. 

Upto the play off final he had played well for us and claiming the ball wasn’t something he seemed to struggle at. In fact he seemed to play quite far off his line too to sweep up. 
The Villa goal happened and it must have played on his mind because it was on such a big stage. 
His confidence was shot so he made some mistakes early on last season, following this clubs took note and put loads of crosses on Roos every week to keep him unsettled.

It might be he’s got over that confidence issue, or might just be a one of game.