IslandExile

Bogle was a great spot by Lampard but there was no-one else who really featured other than Bennett, who had obviously been around the squad for a few years by that point.
My quarrel isn't with Lampard (or even Rowett) - their ambition was clear to see & the club could always have said no to their transfers. Bottom line is if you appoint managers like that, you have to accept their make up & can't simultaneously have a totally different strategy. Always believed with Lampard that Mel was totally seduced by the celebrity (a mistake he repeated with Rooney). After all, he told Rowett in the spring of 2018 that the plan was to restrict big name signings & to rely on the Academy more - which is the reason Rowett jumped ship to Stoke. That was the point at which we needed a Cocu-type manager - instead we had one last season of bingeing on high wages/big transfer fees & have been in decline ever since.
 

This is the first post I have seen since opening the thread, and the perfect one to say I'm sorry if you have messaged/mentioned me and I have ignored you, this morning has been chaos in all honesty, I'm not being lazy, haven't stopped since 8am.
I am now just finalising things by getting a couple of points fact checked to ensure that what I put out is completely accurate and not spend the day/evening correcting myself. 
Feel like I'm apologising a lot lately, it's just I want to you to know I'm not trying my best here, not looking to tease this out, get more views, likes, attention, nothing of the sort.
I'm being sent screenshots of abuse, tweets and posts asking to verify all morning across different platforms, I'm asking you to please stop, in fact please don't even react to this thread as it will only add further to my notifications I have to work through. Never had to deal with anything on this scale before and in all honesty, I'm struggling as I don't want to ignore any of you.
Thanks again to the many for understanding on the forum, love you all and the positive support from last night makes me proud of what we have all created, I just need a bit more time. ??
 

Anyone having a go at David about attending this meeting is a disgrace.
However, anyone slqggjng him off about his dress sense, cooking, tattoos, quiz ability, electric scooter skils and choosing to love in Grimsby is spot on.

I now know that there are a large number of known unknowns. That I will never know. 
Plus of course the unknown number of unknown unknowns... (copyright Donald rumsfeld)... 

My little input regarding the academy involvement.
When Mel took over, he started investing heavily in the academy, which he knew would take a number of years to bear fruit. Investment went into the first team in his 2nd season, which theoretically wouldn't impact the long term prospects of the academy. Involvement of fringe academy players was reduced under certain managers (Pearson, Rowett). I believe Mel has previously suggested he was misled during the interview process Academy products were involved a lot last season, but Buchanan and Sibley in particular should have been used a lot more than they were Minutes given to academy graduates in the league

 
Bad recruitment
This could fall under the manager, recruitment or even Mel.
15/16, Pearce/Shackell - Signed both at the same time (4 and 3 year deals respectively), only for Shackell to play in the first season and Pearce to play in the second, with minimal involvement in the other seasons. Why didn't we sign just 1 of them, with Rawson in reserve? 15/16, Olsson - Warnock and Forsyth already at the club with Lowe on the fringes 15/16, Blackman/Camara - We already had Ince, Russell and Weimann, with Bennett on the fringes 16/17, Anya - We already had Ince, Russell, Weimann, Blackman and Camara on the wings. One of the most pointless signings of all time. 18/19, Malone/Cole - Forsyth and Lowe. We also had McDonald on the fringes. 18/19, Jozefzoon - With Wilson, Lawrence, Waghorn and Bennett already as options, we should have given minutes to LThomas, McAllister or JML 19/20, Hamer/Dowell/Paterson - all pointless loans  

If staff and players believe what a fan group is saying on twitter then there are more problems in the club than we all thought!

I don’t like to criticise, but I don’t think the Punjabi Rams have helped here, I understand why they wanted to get ‘something’ out there quickly, people were almost begging for information, but tweets with limited information wasn’t the best way to do it. There’s no context, no explanation as to when, or why, something was said. Was it in answer to something? Was it a tiny comment amongst a longer statement?
Look at the storm it has apparently caused, that comment on no transfers, people read into it what they want, and now we hear that it’s causing problems with the staff and players, when it’s one interpretation of one comment amongst a 4 hour meeting, by one person.
I completely understand why @David wants to get everything out in one post, when he’s had the chance to get it all down. This is what happens if you get out of context snippets.

This thread's updating all the time so it's tough to keep up. I have to say I'm surprised by the vitriol and new negativity last night and this morning. Nothing that's been reported seems remotely surprising or particularly new.
I agree with @Igor Igor Whats the Score?here and that's why I'm very wary of signing up a lot of journeymen triallists to further impede the development of talented young players. 
Mel's huge error was bringing in Cocu to develop the youth but then completely undermining him by signing Rooney for the profile/publicity to help sell the club. But we knew (or guessed) that already. I'm happy for Rooney to walk and give Wassall the reins to try to see what he can do with the mess he's left with.

That’s not what was said if you listen to the interview. Mel Said if the season starts badly and the placards etc come out saying Mel to go he could understand that and would agree because he has been trying to for 2 years. Said if it got toxic though could put off potential buyers. 
No where has it been said Mel would walk away think that is a wrong interpretation. Chinese whisperers etc , in hindsight minutes would have been good to avoid confusion 

He didn’t say it. He said (according to Jim Wheeler) that if we lose a few games at start of the season and we see protests and placards saying Mel out etc then it might put off prospective investors. Any protests won’t serve any purpose because Mel himself wants out and has been trying to get out for 2 years. 

From an article in The Athletic:
"Saturday’s opening Championship fixture against Huddersfield Town will mark the first competitive game where Jozwiak will experience with fans. He makes no secret that he enjoys playing with an intensity and, at times, a little on the edge. He is very much looking forward to a packed Pride Park for extra motivation. And he hopes to inspire a chant.

“I heard that in England fans have songs for certain players they like. But in Poland, we don’t really have that. I don’t know if the Derby fans have one for me or not. But if I could get one, that would be OK. I missed them last season. Sometimes it felt like a friendly. I thrive off the crowd.

“In Lech, I played in front of a lot of fans. I saw at Derby (on TV) that the fans are also very good and Krystian also told me how great they are. So I know the fans will fight with us.

“When you do a good thing and they react you get additional energy. After the game against Sheffield Wednesday, I was trying to drive home and I couldn’t get out of the car park because all the fans came down to support us. Not every place in the world is like that. Sometimes fans only support you when you are in a good position. That was very helpful for us.”

"The only thing to look forward to is the past".
(Whatever happened to the Likely Lads theme tune)

Lazy barsteward… do the minutes! ?

I wasn't knocking Jagielka... He has been an excellent player. I'm sure he'll do a great job for us.
And I am painfully aware of our current predicament.
I was merely lamenting the days when we would be signing players that would thrill us.... Charlie George, Franny Lee, Saunders, Eranio, Baiano and so on.
That's all I meant.

I wasn't knocking Jagielka... He has been an excellent player. I'm sure he'll do a great job for us.
And I am painfully aware of our current predicament.
I was merely lamenting the days when we would be signing players that would thrill us.... Charlie George, Franny Lee, Saunders, Eranio, Baiano and so on.
That's all I meant.

I wasn't knocking Jagielka... He has been an excellent player. I'm sure he'll do a great job for us.
And I am painfully aware of our current predicament.
I was merely lamenting the days when we would be signing players that would thrill us.... Charlie George, Franny Lee, Saunders, Eranio, Baiano and so on.
That's all I meant.

Some of the language I'm seeing on twitter is beyond ridiculous. Branding Mel Morris a 'disgrace' etc is really poor imo, the club has clearly been mismanaged, it's an omnishambles at the moment, but I don't think it's appropriate nor fair to use such harsh language. Fans need to understand that there is a fundamental difference between mismanagement and having malicious intent. The sort of owners I reserve that sort of language for are people like the Oystens at Blackpool or that bloke that put Wigan into admin, not Mel Morris. 

The Academy comment is very odd. Morris bought in an untried ‘name’ (Lampard) and allowed him to spunk millions on average (at best) players, and also loaned 3 youngsters from other clubs obstructing a pathway for our own, and then he sacked Cocu who had much success in Holland bringing youngsters through, and who was giving our youngsters lots of game time. Supposedly he still owes Cocu and Co. massive compensation for terminating their contracts. You couldn’t make it up really.

Or in a nightclub.

Nah, just needs to get this out.
Get rid of the self-entitled little twerps! 
 
(I expect one of the other moderators will hide this soon but tonight I don't give a fig!) 

DCFCFans (Some)

 

If anyone gives @david grief over tonight they're a moron. (Deliberately not tagged to give him a rest).
The fella has gone above and beyond his duty, after all he's just the owner of the most popular DCFC forum, not a spokesperson for the fans.
It would have been so easy to either send someone else, or decline the invitation outright, and no one would have called him for that, in fact I'd guess some people would praise him for a principled action, and not being cowed by a NDA.
Instead he's put himself out, travelled a decent distance, by crappy public transport, and attended what was probably not a particularly pleasant meeting so he can report back to us whatever he's found out, yet he still gets knocked.
Tbh, if I were him, I'd switch the forum off once I got home and let everyone stew.
 
 

David tonight

FFS. Have you not seen the message from @David saying he'll type something up in the morning?
Rather than this being typical of the poo show that is DCFC at the moment, your post is typical of those that feel the need to have a pop rather than wait to see what is shared. I suggest you be patient, go to bed and then respond appropriately when David has had a chance to share what he can.

Wow. Thanks for updating me. Didn't realise that.