Addingham Ram

Blackpool 2 Derby 3

FRGS Collins 

Derby 3 Cambridge 0

FRGS Collins

Carlisle 0 Derby 3

FRGS Sibbo!

18 hours ago, alram said:

justifying warne's mediocrity by saying LR was also mediocre is nonsense in my opinion

 

at least LR gave us a vision and something that resembled a plan of action. he may have failed too but we are going nowhere under warne and will need a few transfer windows to clean up his mess.

I admit that I was fully behind PW's appointment, especially on the back of 3 promotions from League One with that small club from South Yorkshire, but I'm now firmly in the 'we need to see something soon or things have to change' camp.

I realise we are still under some transfer restrictions, being those of the EFL, or those applied by David Clowes in trying to run the club sustainably, but as has been said many times by others, PW has been in charge for 50 odd games now, he has assessed our squad, brought in a lot of his own players, and still there appear little signs of improvement. It can certainly be argued we've gone backwards.

My biggest worry now is if we keep PW for another couple of transfer windows - potentially with less restrictions, might we have an even bigger rebuild if the axe were to fall on his reign?

Or do we get somebody else in before the next transfer window, somebody who is more adept at working with the players available and willing to play to the players' strengths, rather than trying to shoehorn players into unfamiliar roles in an unfamiliar playing system. I honestly think there is a decent amount of talent at the club, certainly enough, with the right manager, to be challenging for the top 6.

I'm happy to give PW until the end of October, but I'm hoping that unless there is a significant improvement, DC is putting together a plan B.

Derby 3 Pompey 2

FRGS Cashin

Bolton 1 Derby 3

FRGS Waggy

P'boro 1 Derby 3

FRGS Waggy

11 hours ago, IslandExile said:

I agree with you @Brailsford Ram but in the back of any young player's mind will be "this could be my one big chance".

When you're young, you are warned about how dangerous motorbikes can be (because of other road users) but does it stop you wanting one? No. "Accidents only happen to other people". 

Similarly, "What happened to Matt Clarke won't happen to me".

---

My other concern in all of this is Warne.... He doesn't seem to 'trust' the players that were here before him. 'Trust' is the wrong word but I can imagine him preferring an ex-Rovrum player over Cashin, regardless of their respective abilities.

 

I bet Matt Clarke is already set up for life financially though.

That will always be in a young player's mind.

What a complete mess up.

If it was clear that PW needed the Bird sale to fund other players, then we should have pushed the deal through as quickly as possible, and not played him.

Now, as others have pointed out, we have a player with little, if any, sale value, who might not want to be here, playing in a system that might not suit him.

And when he is fit, do we try and fit him into the team (by which time hopefully we have settled on a formation, playing style and team) knowing he probably leaves next summer?

Complete mismanagement of the situation all round.

1 hour ago, Addingham Ram said:

Derby 2 Fleetwood 1

FRGS Collins

Would love a clean sheet and a comfortable victory, but can see them scoring and us just scraping a win 

 

Change FRGS to Waggy pleasr

Derby 2 Fleetwood 1

FRGS Collins

Would love a clean sheet and a comfortable victory, but can see them scoring and us just scraping a win 

34 minutes ago, Barney1991 said:

Doesn't help with the rebuild that we are getting turned down by players left right and centre for other league one clubs who we have been linked too. Had players available and either do not have to brain to go for them or they went elsewhere and some players in mind are harris, regan poole, lloyd jones. Even camara on loan from ipswich would have been a shout. Out f the players we have got we have signed the likes of washington and curtis nelson so would i trust warne with 2 years worth of rebuilding? No i wouldn't 

The playing style is totally devoid of any sort of entertainment football wise that we don't even use the midfield. Even a sunday league team can move into space to receive the ball yet we don't even do that. ALso when will he get it into his head hourihane is not a defensive midfielder is beyond me. He couldn't tackle a sunday lunch never mind a tackle on the pitch. Stick him further forward and drop bird back and play thompson instead of smith and have 2 legs to get forward. When hourihane finally got forward against burton he scored like he did last season. 

There is a conundrum here.

You are right, we seemed to completely bypass the midfield last night. Everything went down the wings, then into the forwards (or should I correct that to onto their No.5's head!).

So putting Hourihane further up the pitch simply means he would be totally bypassed by our game plan. Perhaps Warne playing Hourihane as a DM is the only way he can get him on the ball.

What frustrated me most last night, was the number of times Hourihane dropped back to take the ball off one of our 3 CBs, from no more than about 5 yards, only to smack it upfield. It looked like he was playing as an additional CB at times when we had the ball.

it's no wonder we were being completely overrun everywhere on the pitch. The way we set up was just bizarre!

Derby 4 Oxford 1

FRGS Collins

3 hours ago, WharfedaleRam said:

Just arrived before you - from Grassington. 

Enjoy the match, and a safe journey home afterwards my friend, hopefully with a first home win under our belt.

Too far for Oxford fans. Really?

We are just setting off from Skipton now (somilar journey) for our first game of the season. Can't wait.

COYR.

PS. Will give Leeds the customery 2 fingered salute on the way through.

Burton 0 Derby 2

FRGS Wars

BBC have us in the bottom 4 already, WTF!

Derby 3 Wigan 0

FRGS Ward

1 hour ago, Gaspode said:

The club's still alive, I'm still alive - what's not to like about the start of a new season? (plus with any luck, the amount of ballcocks that's being posted on here will taper off as we have the actual football to discuss....) - all positives for me..

Do sometimes forget that this is predominantly a football forum 😀.

Fly out of Heraklion 1.55am tomorrow, got a little bit of wriggle room if flight is delayed, then back in time for the full first match of the season build up on here.

Can't actually make tomorrow's game, Forum updates for me, but Oxford tickets in the bag. Hopefully by then we'll be top of the league!

I'm firmly in the Sonny Bradley camp for Captain.

Whilst he is undoubtedly a good player, I can't believe Warne didn't bring him here not expecting him to be the captain.

I love Fozzie, always have, but he's never been the captain before, probably for a reason, so I just don't get the logic of giving it him now.

Many on here, on various threads have also suggested Bird, if he stays. I wouldn't be against that, if he is playing further up the pitch. Bradley would still no doubt organise things at the back, and no doubt provide Birdy with lots of support. It could be the making of Bird this year.

31 minutes ago, Andicis said:

Nothing to worry about then, miles apart on valuations. 

But now that Max has it in his head that a Championship club want him, and will undoubtedly offer him bigger wages, we might have already lost him, so to speak.

I've never bought into the idea of loaning Premier League youngsters just to fill our squad out.

Yes, a loan or two if they are going to play regularly, like Mount, Wilson etc., but if we have sufficient players for a first team, plus a few extras, then I think we should be calling on our own youngsters to fill any gaps as and when they occurr.

At our level, we need to develop our own talent to be sustainable. I've enjoyed watching so many of our youngsters break through to the first team over the years. Granted, not all have made it, but there's nothing like seeing the odd one shine.

Who didn't get excited by Ebosele for example last year?

How many Premier League loanees actually go on to be top class players anyway, a very small percentage I'd guess.

The Premier League Academy system (certainly at the very top) is set up to hoover up all of the talent, then sell most players on for an over-inflated fee to the lower Premier League clubs, to fund their foreign player purchases who fill their first team. Yet another scandal the Football Ombudsman (or whatever they are going to be called) should be looking in to.

Rant over.

If we're talking promotion or bust next year, Hourihane, Knight and Didzy.

If we are building for the future, and prepared to see out the efl restrictions with another year in League One, Cashin, Bird and Knight.

I still think Sibley has so much potential, but needs a fresh start away from Derby.

1 hour ago, Oldben said:

I agree with you.

One thing, I don't see how we go from now to being better, if we can only sign free agents. Free agents are highly unlikely to change this squad and in any case I listed a lot of potential free agents and 1% seemed to get picked by other fans as being good enough for us. For me, that clearly shows that we can't build a strong enough team from free agents and loan signings.

In my opinion, We have one more years punishment from the efl, before we can go all out for a promotion push, due in part to us being allowed a transfer budget.

Pw can bring in some players this summer, ahead of him in the order of where players are going to go ...

1. Any club paying even a small fee gets the pick of the players;

2. Championship teams get priority;

3. League one will fight it out for what's left, but will need to offer particularly high salaries to fend of other clubs.

4. We have a longer time to prepare for the transfer window this time.

5. Pw went on record saying he only wants to sign players that are improvement to what we have now, plus I think I recall reading some where that he wants to sign players under 30.

Signing players under 30 means they will have more energy by the end of the season.

Many free agents are injury prone or are older than 30.

Players that are 32 years or older have little resale value.

Loan signings are difficult to predict, how good they will be.

I fear you are right Odben.

Unless the efl loosen their grip, we'll struggle next year. This year's unbalanced squad will deteriorate. Any of our older players still here next year will be a year older and much as it pains me to say, Bird and Knight deserve to play higher up the league.

I hope Cashin stays, but I can see offers coming in for him.

One thing I don't want to see is any more Premier League loanees. I'd much rather look for out of contract Division One or Division Two players that fit Warne's player profile, young, athletic, and hopefully with a point to prove. They will also know the League, which I believe is very important.

Owls 1 Rams 2

FRGS Didzy