FlyBritishMidland

I seriously worry about the youth of today when I watch it. Can’t tell the difference between crumble and breadcrumbs 🤦‍♂️.

If (!!) it happens he’d be a good backup. Which is essentially what we would have been after anyway. You could see how he’d be good to come on after 70mins either alongside Collins or when Collins has worn out the defence.

Hang on. He’s 21(?) playing in the 3rd division. And you’re comparing him to title winning, England internationals? Using that logic we may as well call it quits and let them all go.

And yet as a TEAM we’re higher up the league and scored more goals than both of the clubs they play for. And here’s me thinking that was more important.

I made a similar point yesterday. If he’s rated so highly, at least L2 clubs would want him. And throwing him in should Collins get injured could potentially destroy him. Imagine if we get booed off at half-time on his debut, like Saturday. Whilst they wouldn’t be aimed at him, mentally it would affect him.

I thought he’d done an interview with Rams TV early in the season that he didn’t expect to be here in his preferred central position 🤷‍♂️.

I get we’d ideally like a striker - and something may still happen - but let’s not forget the squad is actually stronger than at the beginning of the month. With a lot of players to come back. We’ve added in midfield - which most of us have said we needed - and we’ve added a wide attacker. This frees up Barkhuizen to play in his preferred position. Chin up, we’re not in a bad place.

For all the talk about letting Brown go on loan, he’s gone to non-league. Not even to L2. If he was to be used if Collins got injured he’d probably be out of his depth, get a load of stick and set his career back 5 years. I’m all for letting him go out and play mens football lower down and learn his trade rather than throw him in at the deep end, even if we don’t sign a striker.

I’m choosing to look on the positive and my glass is half-full. The Bird deal didn’t just crop up today. Talks ongoing for probably a week or more. It obviously wasn’t dependent on getting the Adam’s deal done as it’s a loan back. Although I do wonder if we have view to a permanent with Adam’s. I wonder if we’ve been in discussions about a permanent striker over the last week or so. And it’s a case of if we can get a striker in our price range, we’re prepared to sell Bird now to fund it. Plus, as it stands the only striker we have on the books next season is Washington, so it would ease the summer window. I guess we’ll find out in the next 3-4 hours.

Just got home and read this. Post of the day!!

Fee plus a loan back is a decent deal. Makes sense if he doesn’t want to sign a new deal. We aren’t weakened, plus gives us money that may fund another incoming, if there’s time. Makes sense both football and business wise.

January is a tricky window. Realistically any striker we’re looking to loan, as that’s all we can pay a small fee for unless we sell is going to look at Collins form with 18 goals and realise they’re 2nd choice, maybe lower than that once one of the others is fit. That means there not going to be playing regular at their parent club. If you’re that striker do you swap one bench for another? Also, it makes getting a young PL loan tricky. If you’re a PL club, do you loan your young striker to a club knowing he’s back up for the rest of the season? Ideally you’ll want him playing around 75% of th3 time, may even stipulate it in the deal. The summer is easier as it’s a clean slate and easier to cement your place. Anyway, Gregory wouldn’t be a bad back up and will do a job, but I think I’d rather have Smith.

According to the DET Warne wants a striker and a midfielder, but the latter is dependant on someone leaving. That would be a very good window in my opinion. If there are no arrivals or departures, not ideal but we’ve had worse windows. And we do have lots of players to come back for the final third. A striker in and no one else in or out would be good. The thing with a striker is we’re likely to get someone who isn’t playing, like Smith, which means they’ll need minutes to get up to speed. You’re signing someone and basically telling them they’re 2nd choice at best behind Collins so you need someone happy to play that role - which means they might not be a popular signing. It’s like when Mac1 was here and Martin was the main man. Getting another striker was extremely difficult as no one wants to be 2nd choice.

Still find it hard to believe that he was once a footballer!!

Oh my life!! Please tell me where I said Warne kept Rotherham in the championship. I said he had a better points per game than his replacement and that his contribution shouldn’t be ignored. Which it shouldn’t. Would he have kept them up who knows but, statistically, he’d have had a good chance had he stayed. Hence we I said arguably he would have done, not that he did do. And I’m not a Warne-ite. I just don’t think he deserves all the flak he gets on here and deserves some credit for where we are. He has his faults, which I’ve previously mentioned. It’s called being balanced.

That’s right. And Warne has those players doing better as we’re on the fringes of the Top 2. And there’s more than Nelson.

But Warne made a significant contribution, which shouldn’t be ignored.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll do it again. When Warne left them they were about 7th or 8th averaging around 1.5 points per game. The new manager averaged around 1 point per game and they stayed up by the skin of their teeth. Arguably, if it hadn’t been for the good start, they would have give down. And of course, the manager has been sacked.

I think you’re right about this. I also seem to recall that PW said that Mark Thomas was focusing on next summer and longer term recruitment. It might have been in the interview he did on Radio Derby towards the end of the last transfer window. My memory could be playing tricks though.

Given how the Blackett-Taylor signing was done we’re either looking for a similar deal where we pay a loan fee for someone out of contract in the summer and then sign, or a pure 6 month loan. Either way, unless we sell someone, and probably for a significant fee, we’re not buying anyone this week. Unless we do something similar to the Fornah & Washington deals. I’ve no idea how much we’d get for Ward with 2.5 years on his contract, but probably not enough for a permanent striker signing. So if we want a top end L1 or lower end Championship striker, we might have to sell more than 1 that’s on the fringes or accept a sizeable bid for Bird or Cashin. And they would probably generate enough cash for 2 or 3 signings. An interesting dilemma, and one that is probably getting a lot of discussion at Moor Farm between now and Thursday.

Agree with what you’ve both said. I agree with the pros and cons that @Caerphilly Ram has mentioned. I also share @Comrade 86 points about the long term. I’m also not convinced he’d be sacked if we didn’t go up. My thoughts are lose at any stage in the Play Offs and he’s still in charge next season, miss out on the Play Offs and DC has a bit of thinking to do.

I meant Wilson has jumped ahead of Ward at RB. Agree Nyambe will be 1st choice when available. I think is Ward is now 3rd choice for both RB and RW positions.

I see little point in changing now and I do believe we’ll be top 6. Top 2, who knows. It could come down to what happens in the next few days, who goes , who stays, injured players coming back and, out of al, the clubs up there, who can be most consistent. I did walk away yesterday slightly concerned for Warne. The booing, jeers sarcastic cheers when Hourihane went off doesn’t bode well for him long term. I said to my mate, it’s a long time since we’ve heard that level of angst in a home crowd. It’s a shame but I do wonder if he’s reached a tipping point?

On the comment about someone on the fringes not getting the game time they want, I wondered about Joe Ward. Nyambe comes back this week and Wilson has jumped ahead of him at full back. Smith can also play there. In the wide midfield position we have NML and Wilson ahead of him on that side. Just a thought 🤷‍♂️.

For 60 minutes it looked like they were still in Reading!! One of the games where you’re glad you’ve got the 3 points but know you’ve got away with one. But, there are no bonus points for playing well. That said, we do need to start doing the basics better. Too many times in the last couple of games passing the ball more than 5 yards seems to be the most difficult thing in the world. And the players have to bear their share of the blame and that really is basic. They do seem to have character though. After Tuesday, to behind at home in what was, at times, a pretty nasty atmosphere takes guts. Booing - never understood it, never will. I think that if I had people following me around at work and they booed me at lunch, would it motivate me for the afternoon. No. Footballers are no different.