Jram

Sibley and Whittaker in the U20s 

Sibley and Whittaker in the U20s 

Sibley and Whittaker in the U20s 

Happy Friday one and all!
I should probably apologise in advance as I feel a little bit spammy, but I'm pretty excited to say that Pride (or Pride: The Inside Story of Derby County in the 21st Century to give it the full, far too long name) will be available from the club shop and online from this weekend!
Link - https://www.dcfcmegastore.co.uk/item/2865/Books/Pride-Na.html
For those who don't know, Pride is a project I've been working on for around three years in total, and it's seen me work with just over 60 former players, managers, chairmen, coaches and #ITK fans to tell the tale of the club from the moment we moved into Pride Park until the beginning of this year. It's not really a game by game account, it's more of a focus on each season, the on-field and off-field dramas (even the crash), all told by those who lived it from the inside. So to put the 60 people into context, it varies from the likes of Stefano Eranio, Steve McClaren and Warren Barton through to Gary Rowett, Harry Wilson, Giles Barnes, Inigo Idiakez and Jake Buxton.
The club have been extremely supportive and it's been a huge surprise to have them come on board, considering the content paints a factual tale, but they've been a huge help and it's fantastic to have them on board.
For anyone who has pre-ordered already - and a massive thank you for your interest in what began as just a daft little project to pass the time - what I'm going to recommend to people is that they cancel their pre-orders with Amazon and the likes, because hopefully money won't have been taken. Then the book will be available for around a week or two at the club and the megastore, before hitting the wider world. Unfortunately this one was out of my hands so I'm expecting a few pelters ?
I'll try not to spam too much but if anyone has any questions or comments on the book, what it's about or why certain people didn't make the cut, just reply or drop me a message. And most of all, for anyone who is keen and interested in understanding almost every major development and in-story of the club over 20+ years, I really hope you enjoy it. I'm on Twitter at @PrideDCFC where I'll be rambling to myself and sharing a few articles I've done over the past few months.
You might see/hear me a bit over the media over the next few weeks, so I'm always here to throw abuse at! I had a chat with the @Steve Bloomer's Washing team as well for their latest episode: https://soundcloud.com/user-147200653/sbw-94-Derby-county-2000-2020
 
Cheers,
Ryan

its amazing how good Lawrence has suddenly become since he isnt fit.....and Waghorn..!

Watching Jack Stretton and Bobby Duncan play up front together is going to be extremely confusing.

Just for information, I work occasionally in Nigeria (not this year obviously) and have come to realise that all the Nigerians I know are football mad. They know so much about English football, and all leagues as well. They particularly follow teams with players of Nigerian descent and the Rams are now firmly in their sights. They are following the Academy players Shonibare, Ebosele and Aghatise. And now we’ve got Ibe we are a favourite team (though not yet up there with Chelsea and Arsenal which are the two main teams followed there)
 
Hopefully I will go to Abuja next year and I’ll take some scarves and shirts with me. 

Far to early to change things 

As has often been the case over the last couple of seasons, it's far more enjoyable watching our youth teams than the seniors. Looks like it's going to be the same again this season.

3-1   What's a !JAOD??   Do you have to remove backward goals from your tally?    

I believe Liam Delap is starting for City tonight in their Carabao Cup tie.. could be interesting 

Pretty sure he's still 16

Just wanted to bump this thread to highlight the free stream of the U23s v Liverpool on Rams TV tonight. Kick off is 7pm. Should be two strong teams and hopefully a better watch than the first team has been so far ? 

Cybulski’s goal for the U18s v Sunderland 
 

When the first team, U23s and U18s were all playing on the same day with our very stretched resources, I really feared for us. Brilliant from both teams of youngsters. A 3-3 draw with Man City with that U23 team showing such resilience is  a stunning result in the circumstances.
The great thing is that these youngsters know there is a route to the first team open. If they impress, they will get their chance. Today there were seven academy graduates in the first team squad, four of them starting.
It's important for the Academy to be a continual production line rather than just giving us a one-off golden generation.

Limited highlights, I know, but I had two main takeaways...
- Ibrahim looks the business. Believe he’s only 16? Big future for him, would not be shocked to see him involved in the first team properly before too long. 
- Idem is absolutely monstrous. Looks an absolute beast in between the sticks. 

#2 Bardell
#4 Matthews
#9 Cybulski
# 10 Rogers
It looked like we played Roberts in goal for the first half and Randle for the second.