On the Ram Page

You are about as positive as Andy Hinchcliffe!

As Warne has been preaching all week - stay CALM. We don’t want anyone sent off with an adrenaline fuelled stupid tackle, or taking on stupid shots when someone is better placed. Let our skill do the talking so we can celebrate afterwards with the players/staff and above all owner. No stupid pitch invasions to spoil the day for most. Lets get behind the team for the full 90+ minutes

Invading the pitch would spoil the celebrations of many fans sat above ground level access to the pitch. Why can’t people wait and let the players /staff do their lap of honour so everyone can see, join in and applaud the efforts made during the season. to my mind it is a selfish act to invade the pitch.

No, that was for the Baseball Ground!

Where is your evidence for the statements you have made? Give me one shread of evidence that he has been told to do the things you mention. I would suggest this is just another of your imaginative thoughts! Bird himself praised Warne for the amount of time he has spent with him to improve his goal scoring and output. Just ridiculous comments.

No, you’ll have plenty of arguing on here to keep you occupied during the summer

I understand your frustration at wanting to see exciting, flowing football through all areas of the team with midfield dominating and passing through the lines. But I would argue we just haven’t had the players to do this the way you want. The first point I would make is that you are assuming that at every stage of every game, the players are doing exactly what is asked of them by the management team. I don’t believe this. They don’t encourage players not to pass to each other - they don’t encourage them not to attack the opposition. I have lost count of the number of times in his interviews after the game where he has “criticised” his players for not being braver on the ball and in games. The matches at the end of the season are slightly different as all that matters is gaining 3 points (e.g. Cambridge). the fact is that our midfield (until Adams arrived) was weak - physically, aggressively and pace wise too. We were bullied off the ball too much, waltzed around by younger, quicker players (Peterborough). We just did not have the right players in there to compete. Before Adams arrival we didn’t have anyone in there who could be aggressive, have any pace or could tackle. Fornah was tried for a while but ran out of steam and made mistakes. At least playing 3 at the back, gives you more potential bodies in midfield with the wingbacks available to help out, but even them, unless it was Forsyth or Nayambe, they we’re not tacklers. Added to this was poor movement off the ball and poor passing. Unfortunately, Hourihane is no longer mobile enough to dominate midfield and we have looked better since he has not been in the side. Our midfield needs a complete overhaul in the summer. Hopefully we can get Adams in permanently but we need others of similar ilk and also a good playmaker. I think Warne was trying very hard to get the right midfielders in, but it just didn’t happen until Adams arrived. Finally, I would add that with all the injuries we have had this season (Ward, Elder, Forsyth, Rooney, Bird, Waghorn, Washington, Nyambe, JJ,Embleton,Thompson,Gayle,Barkhuizen), Warne has done a remarkable job in patching us up but still managing to pick up points. Admittedly, not in the exiting way we would all want to see, but there have been some good footballing performances too. Plenty of goals have been scored too (9 more than last year despite losing our talisman McGoldrick). All in all, I think we have done pretty well, but I think you are wrong to lay all the Blame on Paul Warne for our less exciting displays - much is down to the players too. I am sure we will recruit well during the summer.

Couldn’t disagree more. You cannot (although you will) compare Rotherham in the Championship (with all due respect to them) to a Derby side. No doubt your evidence that Warne cannot manage in the Championship is that he has had relegations with Rotherham? you are basically saying that individuals cannot learn and improve - which is crazy. Hopefully you will prove to yourself that people can learn over the next year, and that in a year’s time you will come back on here and say you were wrong.

Yes you do tediously keep saying the same thing. But I for one totally disagree with you. I am happy with the way the team has (nearly) achieved promotion, the way the whole club has developed. We have done this season, what we needed to do to get out of this league, despite lots of injuries and having to play people out of position. I am confident we will recruit what we need to be competitive. I hope just to keep you happy over the summer that our 3(?) midfielders pass the ball to each other on Saturday and your boy Sibley gets a goal.

Two of David Clowes’ aims when he took over the Club were to bring integrity and also establish ourselves in the Championship within 5 years. We didn’t get promotion last year, much to many fans angst. On reflection, it was probably a good job we didn’t. We would still have been working to a strict business plan which would have tied our hands in the transfer market to some degree and made the season very difficult. We have recruited quite a few players this year who will be able to play in the Championship next year. Some recruits haven’t been quite so successful. We will have a reasonable pot for transfers this year we have been told. Probably, Wildsmith, Nyambe, Cashin,Nelson,Elder,Ward,Wilson,Mendis-Laing,Blackett-Taylor,Sibley,Forsyth,Rooney should be ok in the Championship - I personally have more concerns about Smith, Collins, Barkhaizen, Thompson, Fornah, Gayle, Washington, Vickers. We will lose Bird and Adams (for now?) I think, with some shrewd business, we should be able to put together a competitive squad. in terms of integrity, I think our progression has been amazing. There has been hardly any, if at all, negative news regarding our club in the media. The Management team all absolutely appear to be working together to a common goal. We have recruited (not to everyone’s like) good people, who want to play for the shirt, not just here for the money, as in the past. The Academy has made good progress in its rebuild and the are a few players who look to have good futures, hopefully as Derby players. At our best and most confident, we do play some exciting football, score goals and don’t concede many. Yes, we would like to see more of the exciting times but our main aim has been to get out of this difficult league this year. Too often in the past we have had a soft underbelly and have struggled against strong, aggressive teams. We currently have a side, which mainly, doesn’t buckle against this type of side. So I am happy with the progress of Derby County this last two years and look forward to what will happen next. David Clowes is a quietly shrewd business man and I think Paul Warne is an intelligent manager, who is a lot shrewder and football wise than many give him credit for. Not only this but he is a fantastic man-manager and team spirit builder. Can’t wait to see what happens next.

If we put 7/8 passes together, the crowd moan we are not getting the ball forward quickly enough!

Typical comment from you. Thought you might be a bit quieter after the response you got to your post earlier.

Excellent post. I think he is an intelligent guy and has gradually worked things out. Expect it to continue into next season.

We still need to work on a lot of things but 100% agree on throw ins - we are rubbish. Other teams don’t seem to have a problem but invariably we lose the ball, either through a bad throw which the recipient can’t control easily, a poor return to the thrower or lack of options to throw the ball to. Don’t see it should be too difficult and Warne has mentioned it several times. prefer to score from a set piece than get a throw in right. Can’t e have both? Also I can’t remember too many goals scored from a direct free kick. Bird springs to mind but can’t recall any others. You would think with Hourihane and Ward we would get a few more.

Nerve jangling time still, as there are still 3 teams who could get the 2nd auto promotion spot. I think we really need a win at Cambridge on Saturday which would then give us an excellent chance. Bolton play Port Vale on Saturday and you would expect them to win (as we expected them to win big last night!) although Port Vale will be fighting hard to avoid relegation. If Bolton score first it could become an easy win (to reduce the goal difference). It seems they struggle a bit when the other side score first. Peterborough travel to Bristol Rovers and must win really. Bristol are a strange animal who can be awkward. I do expect Peterborough to win though. They then play Cheltenham away on Wednesday which again could be difficult with Cheltenham desperately clinging on (could Curtis do us another favour?). I would expect Bolton and Peterborough to win both their games. If Peterborough do not win their games then we face the possibility that they may rest players for the match against Bolton on the final day, making it easier for Bolton. If Bolton win against Port Vale, they have to keep going, play their strongest team and overtake our current 5 goal advantage in their last two games. I know I have stated what everyone knows but needed to get it off my chest. Oh, for a win on Saturday! But we all know we don’t do anything easily. I also expect a really difficult game against Carlisle, who have a free hit while our players will be on edge (silly mistakes, sendings off spring to mind). I am sure it will all be fine! (Fingers, legs and everything else crossed)