FlyBritishMidland

I'm sure it was. But my point is that even four weeks' away from automatic promotion, and folks still acting like idiots.
Well, no acting involved, really.

Agree with much you say. My dim distant memory of the Cox years was that Division 3, as it was in those days, was not as competitive as it is today. May be wrong! The other point I would make is once Cox’s teams got promoted e splashed the cash and it was obvious certain players disliked each other e.g. Gabiadini / Kitson. You do not find that in Warner’s team. Never seen a team spirit like it.

I’ve no problem with critics provided they have some evidence/justification to back up their arguments. It the speculative ones who say things like “Warne won’t be able to manage in the Championship” I cannot really tolerate. 

Arthur Cox is undoubtedly one of the greatest managers in our history. He too got us out of the third tier in his second season, but Arthur started with twice as many players as Rosenior inherited and was able to strengthen the team part-way through the first season using money raised from the sale of Kevin Wilson and subsequently using investment from Maxwell. Rosenior (building on Rooney's undoubted influence) put together a functional team, but Warne's ability to trade-up was far more restricted than Cox's. I think for that reason it's fair to see this promotion as a greater achievement than Cox's first promotion, and a fair contender to be considered alongside Cox's 2nd promotion and Clough and Taylor's in 1969, purely because of the obstacles that had to be overcome.
Warne may never achieve another promotion or honour with Derby, but this is an achievement worthy of the prefix "great".

He said “one of the greatest” not “the greatest”.
Of course the achievement in itself doesn’t compare to our league wins, glorious victories in Europe or even winning the old second division but, as other have said, the context is all important here. Less than two years ago we were on the brink of extinction. Even after DC saved the club we could easily have found ourselves floundering in league one for too many seasons.

Thanks for the kind words, gang.
My understanding is that we’ll carry on as we are next season, but there will be no more UK streams due to the new TV deal.
That’s subject to change, of course. I’m sure we will look at what we do and how we do it as the dust settles, so we’ll have to see.
But it’s been a great ride, eh?

Final post Stevenage update - outstanding figures for the Rams
In that 32 league game period, we scored 57, conceded 22
Won 22, Drawn 5, Lost 5

Pretty remarkable really. Over the course of the season that’s 102 points, Bolton would have finished on 83 so we could’ve had it tied up after 40 games.
For at least 2 of those games we played with no fit strikers and lost back-to-back, so that figure could have been even higher.
Some effort from everybody involved.

Remember when there was a clamour for Rooney to be given the Freedom of Derby??  This man really deserves it.  He stepped up when others couldn’t, or wouldn’t.   In doing so, he paid local business more than the minimum amount.  He recognised the importance of DCFC on the fans and the community.  He saved our club 🐏.

Remember when there was a clamour for Rooney to be given the Freedom of Derby??  This man really deserves it.  He stepped up when others couldn’t, or wouldn’t.   In doing so, he paid local business more than the minimum amount.  He recognised the importance of DCFC on the fans and the community.  He saved our club 🐏.

I’m glad you posted that as I’ve tried numerous times to find a link.  I remember reading it and Mel Morris talking about Cocu’s appointment on Talk Sport.  I’ve got a feeling he also said that Cocu was ranked as the 14th best coach in Europe.  Again, that was from the same FFT feature about the top coaches and managers in Europe.
Something else I’ve often looked for, but been unable to find, was the press conference from when Pearson was appointed.  I’ve got a feeling it was on as I was driving home from work on a Friday evening.  MM was asked his thoughts about Pearson’s style of football and he responded with something like it was uncanny how similar their views were.
As you say, hindsight and all of that.

Remember when there was a clamour for Rooney to be given the Freedom of Derby??  This man really deserves it.  He stepped up when others couldn’t, or wouldn’t.   In doing so, he paid local business more than the minimum amount.  He recognised the importance of DCFC on the fans and the community.  He saved our club 🐏.

I’m glad you posted that as I’ve tried numerous times to find a link.  I remember reading it and Mel Morris talking about Cocu’s appointment on Talk Sport.  I’ve got a feeling he also said that Cocu was ranked as the 14th best coach in Europe.  Again, that was from the same FFT feature about the top coaches and managers in Europe.
Something else I’ve often looked for, but been unable to find, was the press conference from when Pearson was appointed.  I’ve got a feeling it was on as I was driving home from work on a Friday evening.  MM was asked his thoughts about Pearson’s style of football and he responded with something like it was uncanny how similar their views were.
As you say, hindsight and all of that.

Remember when there was a clamour for Rooney to be given the Freedom of Derby??  This man really deserves it.  He stepped up when others couldn’t, or wouldn’t.   In doing so, he paid local business more than the minimum amount.  He recognised the importance of DCFC on the fans and the community.  He saved our club 🐏.

Remember when there was a clamour for Rooney to be given the Freedom of Derby??  This man really deserves it.  He stepped up when others couldn’t, or wouldn’t.   In doing so, he paid local business more than the minimum amount.  He recognised the importance of DCFC on the fans and the community.  He saved our club 🐏.

I agree. If my assumptions about our resources are likely to be accurate - and we’re sensible with the money we have- then I reckon mid-table would be a very good achievement. Higher than that - an excellent achievement.  We may well struggle a bit, especially at first.
If we do struggle, then I hope people manage their own expectations a bit and we don’t start getting at the manager, players and owner.  Sure there will be some who want instant gratification and pushing for playoffs straight away, but hopefully most will be sensible and be patient (especially when the parachute payment boys come to town!).

Just when I thought I’d got past the crying stage.
he’ll always think about his old seat and the people he sat with.
at the risk of sounding like an emotional wreck, Saturday was definitely a time of thinking of those no longer with us. Friends, family, ex players and managers. 
 
it’s more than a game of football, that’s for sure 
Ps. When do the pre season start! 

Great photo of the academy lads put on Twitter by Sibley…

Anyone calling it tinpot is clueless to what this club has actually been through in the last couple of years. Push their club to the brink of extinction, stick them in L1 for two seasons and see how they react when they get out of it.

The same as you , I’ve seen the glory days and for me this season is right up there , well actually these last two seasons in the context of admin all taken together ,, 
football is more than football , my wife and daughter have come to games since admins and it’s been great , we have shared so much , we got two extra tickets for Carlisle so my wife and daughter could both come and bring my daughters boyfriend, there was the bit of sorrow that my eldest daughter who had season ticket when both daughters were small is no longer with us in person,
football is shared emotion , we will remember the day , the season , the emotion , we won’t remember what division we were promoted from , we won’t go back over the style of football we played ,
the last two seasons have been great , a bond between generations in families , happy times shared ,
that’s just how I see it 🤷🏻‍♂️

Great day that will live long in the memory.  Early goal settled the nerves and even though we lost our way a bit in the middle of the 1st half, they never looked like scoring.  I don’t really remember Wildsmith being troubled other than the tip over the bar.
Really nice that Bird got his standing ovation and hugs from the players as he went off.  Cash-in ran half the length of the pitch to hug him.  Adams was immense and my MOTM.  He was everywhere.  A bit like the shopkeeper in Mr Ben - as if by magic, Adams appeared (one for the over 40s!!).  And David Clowes got his well deserved moment too.
It’s nice to read all of tweets from ex-players today, keep posting them.
Fantastic end to a great season 🐏.

I have feeling he’s kept the most clean sheets in the entire EFL, not just L1.  That’s pretty impressive.

Great day that will live long in the memory.  Early goal settled the nerves and even though we lost our way a bit in the middle of the 1st half, they never looked like scoring.  I don’t really remember Wildsmith being troubled other than the tip over the bar.
Really nice that Bird got his standing ovation and hugs from the players as he went off.  Cash-in ran half the length of the pitch to hug him.  Adams was immense and my MOTM.  He was everywhere.  A bit like the shopkeeper in Mr Ben - as if by magic, Adams appeared (one for the over 40s!!).  And David Clowes got his well deserved moment too.
It’s nice to read all of tweets from ex-players today, keep posting them.
Fantastic end to a great season 🐏.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that this week.  If you think about the last 4 years since COVID started it’s been an emotional rollercoaster as a Rams fan.  We seemed to lurch from one disaster to another - FFP charges, fake sheiks, tik-tok takeover failure, transfer embargo’s, forced to play kids in the cup, staying up on the last day, administration, points deductions, dodgy Yanks, relegation, 5 players, 1 week from disappearing and probably more.
It feels like this is end of the first chapter of the David Clowes era.