Leeds Ram

Bit odd to give the captain's armband to a player that's never shown any leadership credentials up to this point.
The "it might make him mature" argument is illogical and wouldn't hold water in any other industry. 
How would you feel if one of your colleagues who got your old team leader sacked because he crashed a car drunk with your team leader in it, and had a track record of letting you down a few times by losing his head in vital moments, was made team leader because it might by some magic sort out his flaws? 
I can't make sense of the argument that regular demonstrations of irresponsibility makes you the best person for a position of responsibility. We're talking about club captain here, not the Year 3 milk monitor.
None of this is criticism of Tom Lawrence's character as a professional footballer, by the way. His team-mates obviously still respect him and he has served punishments for his indiscretions. But to become club captain is a huge leap.

Very strange response, I thought my post was pretty insipid to be honest but must have horribly misjudged that one I guess.
I guess you think I have voodoo dolls of a caricature of Mel Morris that I stick pins in to amuse myself or something of that ilk but alas I lead such a quiet existence am afraid.
Anyhows I'll DM you next time I'm going to post something to run it by your internal censor to avoid further offending you. 

Yes and I believe it initially began with the outbreak of sars in the early noughties but I might be wrong about that. 

Just giving my take on it. Louts picking on an easy target sickens me. Duncan Ferguson’s about the same age as Whitty, I’d like to see them being a bit silly with him.
I’m pleased an apology seems sufficient for you, that would have been a throughly unpleasant experience for Whitty, and not the first one he’s had to endure if my memory serves me correctly so I hope both the perpetrators have a lousy few months.
I’ve got a lad I’m proud as punch of. Polite, gentle, respectful, thinks of others before himself. He’s been on the wrong side of a bit of silliness and it ducked his head, he couldn’t understand why he was target of people he was no threat to.
These see you next tuesdays don’t give a toss about the consequences of their actions so don’t duckin’ give me all that silliness crap.
 
 

Any discussion of going back into lockdown should be muted quite honestly, the number of cases is not the issue it's the hospitalisations that we need to be looking at. Providing case numbers without the context of hospitalisations and deaths is irresponsible and mutes the entire point of the vaccination programme in the first place. Yes cases are up almost 70% in the past week but hospitalisations are only up 6% in the same time and with over 80% of the country at least receiving their first dose (65% have had their crucial second dose) it seems the vaccination programme is largely doing its job. It wouldn't surprise me if the rise in hospitalisations largely comprised of both slightly younger people, those for whom the vaccine hasn't quite worked and those in the groups that are vulnerable but refused to have their vaccine. 

 Lockdowns are supposed to be a temporary emergency measure to prevent death and protecting crucial health infrastructure and should only be temporary precisely  because they're economically and socially destructive. Increasingly people seem to be seeing lockdowns as a 'go to' policy when cases (but crucially not hospitalisations) are beginning to spike again and even more seem to be positing it as something to do in winter because flu is around the corner. All the data points to the fact that if you're under 55 and you don't have a serious underlying condition covid isn't particularly deadly- this is precisely why the vaccine roll out was first targeted for those in that age category and for those with a severe underlying health condition. 

I don't really tend to trust the Guardian's critic section quite honestly as too often they seem to prefer the obnoxiously pseudo intellectual rubbish that all too often gets put on and just slam a lot of shows that appear low rent basically. The actual review read like she had made her mind up before she'd watched the show and the critiques didn't really appear to be true if she'd watched more than a single episode. 

I put it on the other night at 12ish and got through the entire season until 4. It's definitely a funny show that can be poignant even if it is a bit confected at times. Clarkson is a naturally good presenter tbf and eases you nicely into something that isn't top gear. Yes, there are the staged bits and the repeated jokes that hit home less and less the more they're done but it's solid 7/10 amusing comfort tv after a long day. I'd watch the second series if they made one just to see how the project gets on tbh. 

Very nice ? Got to love a good folio copy of a book, can often find them in second hand bookshops or charity shops on the cheap too. 

I bought this a few months back:
 

No-one is saying completely gut the academy and do it completely brentford's way though are they... but asking about the realistic output of the academy into the first team in the long run as opposed to do something different. Personally, I just want Derby county to be successful and for us to consistently use our resources in the likeliest way to make it happen. It's great if we can do that via the academy but if that can't be done then changes need to be made. Personally, i think we've overestimated just how good a lot of our recent graduates are from the academy. 

Brentford have gone from a small time 3rd division team to leapfrogging us into the premier league and consistently earning big returns on players they've recruited. The last thing I'd be doing is scoffing at them but trying to see what elements of their model can be integrated into our own. 

I'm not sure you'd get more than 12 million for those 4 upfront especially in this market. Sibley hasn't cemented his claim to first team football, Buchanan was also increasingly being left out as was bird and this was in a team that if everyone had started at 0 would have been relegated from the division...  Hughes, Hendrik, Bogle and Huddlestone (our best recent academy graduates) were consistently in the first team by 18/19 years of age and making a considerably bigger impact than these 4 in the division and producing much better performances. 

I think if we can be successful via the academy great but how many teams actually become successful by integrating numerous academy products into the first team at this level? Currently, our integration process is not producing results i.e., points on the board and that's something we've got to look at long and hard. 

Yes really,  QE isn't necessarily going to cause hyperinflation in the way you're suggesting because it's not as simple as just continually devaluing currency until it goes into a death spiral. That's why you can support QE but see MMT as complete and utter nonsense because fundamentally they operate differently. That's just a fundamental misunderstanding of what QE entails and how it's supposed to ensure a robust response to capital crises that emerge such as 08 financial crash. 

You can totally think bitcoin has a future (i think the sheer energy requirements are what's going to kill it in the long run) but to believe in it because you think QE is going to cause mass hyperinflation so best to buy gold, land or bitcoin is a pretty mistaken analysis. 

No-one is saying completely gut the academy and do it completely brentford's way though are they... but asking about the realistic output of the academy into the first team in the long run as opposed to do something different. Personally, I just want Derby county to be successful and for us to consistently use our resources in the likeliest way to make it happen. It's great if we can do that via the academy but if that can't be done then changes need to be made. Personally, i think we've overestimated just how good a lot of our recent graduates are from the academy. 

Brentford have gone from a small time 3rd division team to leapfrogging us into the premier league and consistently earning big returns on players they've recruited. The last thing I'd be doing is scoffing at them but trying to see what elements of their model can be integrated into our own. 

don't do it unless you really know what you're doing would be my advice. 

Relying on the academy to find and produce players for the first team is a massive gamble and you certainly shouldn't be relying upon 5 or 6 of the first team coming from the grass roots at this level. I think realistically if we produce 1 young player a year who isn't picked up early on by a bigger team and they make the grade we'd be doing very well. Even extremely promising academy products of ours in the past who have made the grade initially have fallen down the league pyramid for all sorts of different reasons.
To make a good championship player is not an easy task, how many have we managed in the last 10 years? Hughes, Hendrik (signed as a youth from Ireland), Bogle and no more immediately spring to mind. I might be missing some obvious ones though so please correct me if I'm wrong. Sibley might turn out to be good although he has that lee Holmes feel to me, but I'm thoroughly unconvinced by Knight and Bird in the longer term to be good players at this level.  Ditto with Buchanan who had a torrid last half of the season. 
Brentford got rid of their academy but in fairness they're in the catchment area of London so they'd be getting the dregs of youth footballers in the area given they have Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Charlton, and watford basically sitting on their doorstep. The Bilbao example is interesting but precisely because it is different due to their informal rules on who they do or don't sign based on if they are Basque or have learned their football from a Basque club. 

If we want success we need a developed identity of the football we want to play at the club and we need to scout players who fit that identity and ethic of the team. This needs to be consistent and appointments from the academy to the top of the club need to reflect this and be integrated into the same vision. The same with the scouts, a lot of the problem with the scouting isn't that we've brought bad players but oftentimes the players don't fill the gaps in the jigsaw that need to be filled. There needs to be an homogeneity of style, ethic, and attitude across the club to make it work from top to bottom.  The club needs to ditch its fascination with celebrity ex footballers and appoint the manager and coaches who can best fit the ideology of football the club sets out and can prove they've achieved success with it.
If we do all these things then we don't need to take a massive punt on Derby county having its own class of 92 steering us to promotion and success. 

Relying on the academy to find and produce players for the first team is a massive gamble and you certainly shouldn't be relying upon 5 or 6 of the first team coming from the grass roots at this level. I think realistically if we produce 1 young player a year who isn't picked up early on by a bigger team and they make the grade we'd be doing very well. Even extremely promising academy products of ours in the past who have made the grade initially have fallen down the league pyramid for all sorts of different reasons.
To make a good championship player is not an easy task, how many have we managed in the last 10 years? Hughes, Hendrik (signed as a youth from Ireland), Bogle and no more immediately spring to mind. I might be missing some obvious ones though so please correct me if I'm wrong. Sibley might turn out to be good although he has that lee Holmes feel to me, but I'm thoroughly unconvinced by Knight and Bird in the longer term to be good players at this level.  Ditto with Buchanan who had a torrid last half of the season. 
Brentford got rid of their academy but in fairness they're in the catchment area of London so they'd be getting the dregs of youth footballers in the area given they have Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Charlton, and watford basically sitting on their doorstep. The Bilbao example is interesting but precisely because it is different due to their informal rules on who they do or don't sign based on if they are Basque or have learned their football from a Basque club. 

If we want success we need a developed identity of the football we want to play at the club and we need to scout players who fit that identity and ethic of the team. This needs to be consistent and appointments from the academy to the top of the club need to reflect this and be integrated into the same vision. The same with the scouts, a lot of the problem with the scouting isn't that we've brought bad players but oftentimes the players don't fill the gaps in the jigsaw that need to be filled. There needs to be an homogeneity of style, ethic, and attitude across the club to make it work from top to bottom.  The club needs to ditch its fascination with celebrity ex footballers and appoint the manager and coaches who can best fit the ideology of football the club sets out and can prove they've achieved success with it.
If we do all these things then we don't need to take a massive punt on Derby county having its own class of 92 steering us to promotion and success. 

Yeah, I'd like it if the wayne rooney was taken out of the name it does make me cringe every time I see it quite honestly. 

Yeah, I'd like it if the wayne rooney was taken out of the name it does make me cringe every time I see it quite honestly. 

I think perhaps it should be renamed
"His Imperial Majesty Kind David's DCFC Fans Forum. Tribute accepted. No profanity. And please draw the Curtains."
Perhaps with a catchy slogan like
"Click the ads you ducking plebs"
Or
"Keep posting, wee Davie needs a new Jag and he's got jacuzzis to have cleaned"
Or
"Mods will continue the beatings until moral improves"

Derby County Football Club are about to potentially be relegated to the third division for the first time since the eighties, but let’s talk more about Wayne’s playing career shall we?
Sick of it. Just like it was with Lampard. 

What Rooney says to the players tomorrow is critical...

There is a lot of speculation about what is happening, some of it could be wild but it’s happening due to the radio silence from the Club. 
 
We need to get the game tomorrow out of the way but then we need Mel (not Stephen  Pearce, Mel) to address the fans, if we go down tomorrow then this is especially true. I have faith that he will continue to back the club should this takeover not happen, but that might be misguided, what if he doesn’t have the money? We need a sense of clear direction here. This can’t drag on through the summer. 
 
The EFL with Trevor Birch involved will block this takeover if it’s dodgy. If they do then Mel needs to provide some answers on what happens next because that would be the second failed take over and the vaccum of silence is leading to all this negative speculation. 
 
This isn’t about entitlement, Mel is the custodian of this football club which has been the heartbeat of the community for 137 years. He has a duty to all of us to confirm and ensure the club will be in safe hands. I still have faith in him but he certainly isn’t doing himself any favours with the silence with the club in its most precarious league position for 37 years.

Makes me wonder how many of our fans have any idea what happened at the end of Pickering's ownership. #COYR

The lack of comment and general mystery surrounding the club is a problem that Mel needs to fix. It does make me think something is amiss as if everything was totally fine then they could simply release a statement reassuring us all and that would be that. It wouldn't need to comment on the Alonso takeover but simply reaffirm the financial health of the club itself and address the rumours that are doing the rounds. The fact they aren't doing that makes me wonder if it's because they can't do it and that is worrying on its own. I hope these issues are addressed as soon as possible so we can all be made aware of the actual state of the club. 

You linked the wrong ones but ultimately it kind of proves my point- the essential parts of the squad are very similar- we have replaced bogle with byrne, hamer with marshall (deffo an upgrade), martin with ckr (the one area i do agree is a downgrade) the loans of edmunson and menghi are supposed to have beefed up the defence and are more than an adequate replacement for an injured davies and Roberts is just as good as jof who is now at rotherham. So where are the massive deficiencies that have led us to this position?

you talk of fan entitlement what about the entitlement of Rooney walking into a job he'd never done and was completely unqualified for?