Alty_Ram

I wouldn't go spending your winnings in advance on our account 😉

2 minutes ago, SK47 said:

Looking forward to seeing him take up their physio table all year, they have a crap season and then when we face them next year, we absolutely humiliate them.

 

But no hard feelings, obviously.

And it's a gamble for them for sure. He's one heavy tackle away from a long layoff and on his wages we just needed him gone. Having a fully fit and firing Bielik in this side would be a huge deal, but with current ownership we are choosing to cut our cloth according to our situation and the Bieliks of this world just don't fit into that plan. It's just too much resource tied up in one player who would just leave for nothing next summer anyway. This was always going to happen and it was just a case of when and where. So, good... one loose end tied up.

As for the message itself, well I'm not sure what some fans expect him to say. If he says nothing then he looks like an ungrateful arse and if he is too gushing and badge kissy then he just looks insincere. I think he's ticked the 'respectful enough' box and there we go, job done. No problem, both parties move on.

1 hour ago, Tamworthram said:

OK, so the relationship didn’t work out as well as you’d hoped. You feel let down, possibly even betrayed. The other person in the relationship didn’t show the same commitment as you did but they’ve tried to end it with an element of good grace and now moved onto a new partner. Isn’t it time to stop being quite so bitter and in the words of Elsa - let it go? 😀

Nah, exactly. We often have unrealistic expectations of loyalty as fans because the club is something fundamental in our psyche. It's no great surprise that he doesn't exactly bleed black and white though is it ? He is a modern footballer from another country who played for DCFC for a bit and has now moved on because he had a more attractive offer and his National Manager has strongly hinted that he wanted to see him play at a higher level than the 3rd tier in England. 

He's been ravaged by injury and despite that has been given a 3 year contract by a club in a higher division so obviously he is going to take that. Good luck to him. No hard feelings or much in the way of feelings either way really. We'll always have the 96th minute..

31 minutes ago, Srg said:

Still baffling they're allowed to sign players. I secretly hoped we might be in for Knibbs.

Its is almost certainly just my ignorance but I really don't understand the rules and precedents with this stuff. Signing a manager and players while copping for points deductions and teetering on the brink of a major financial default that may end up with organisations taking a huge hit on defaulted debt. After everything that we experienced and the level of interference, how is that OK ? I presume the argument is that the EFL is not doing anything because Reading are not in administration yet. This just seems like they are walking to court to accept bankruptcy while handing out i.o.u's for a slap up meal at Greggs and a nice new pair of designer shades and some swanky trainers.

1 hour ago, Tamworthram said:

There are, of course some poor teams in this division but I really don’t think it should be “automatics or else” for PW. Do you not think it’s reasonable to consider Barnsley and Bolton as serious contenders? There will be other teams that are also expecting an improvement on last year (Portsmouth?) as well as a potential surprise package or two.

For me it has to be: automatics is the target (as it should be for half at least dozen other teams) and reaching the playoffs is minimum expectation. The consequences of achieving anything less is of course dependent on circumstances. If we finish 7th on goal difference having lost some key players due to injury then we dust ourselves down and start again. If we finish in the bottom half of the table with no mitigating circumstances then DC may have a serious decision to make.
 

Completely agree with this. After a 7th place finish last year and less restrictions this time out, I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect us to build a team that can achieve playoffs as a minimum goal, but I just don't think you can insist on top 2 as a minimum requirement or it is a 'failure'. Sheffield Wednesday didn't get into automatic places but I bet they don't give a rats ass right now. By any reckoning, a Top 2 finish is going to need a relentless run of point gathering. Wednesday lost just 6 games from 46 and still missed out on automatics. Even a slightly sluggish start with a largely new team that is still getting to know each others game would leave you needing a special season.

I'm afraid that there is zero chance of anything even remotely like the numbers that you are quoting/wishing for B4.

Can he play at a higher level ? yes. Are multiple clubs chasing his signature ? Possibly, but that will just add a few hundred thousand to the price, not 10 million. Fundamentally, at the moment he is just a good hard working league 1 midfielder in the last year of his contract. There is a natural limit to what teams will pay in that situation and the fees being offered are not far of the mark.

We may not be desperate to sell these days but we DO need to get money for him if he moves on. We just can't let his contract run down and see him walk away. If Warne wants him and has a role and he's prepared to sign then fine but otherwise we have to secure what people are prepared to pay, and the rumoured offers that we are seeing are reflecting that value.

Like any commodity where the buyer has a choice as to whether to buy or not, it is worth what people are prepared to pay for it, and teams are just not prepared to shell out that much for a player like Knight in his current contractual situation.

1 minute ago, S8TY said:

anyone got any more rumours? I wonder who the attacking players are we’re interested in? I suspect this is where the money will be spent fees wise as we look very light up top especially with Didzy gone 

Maybe we're waiting to see what happens (or not) with Bielik and Knight and what potential fees we might get as that'll presumably have a big bearing on what route we go down. We have to do something, clearly, and lots of teams are on the hunt for reliable goal scorers. 

Hopefully Warne hasn't convinced himself that with a few more crosses than last year that Collins will become a goal machine !

37 minutes ago, JakeDCFC said:

really think we can start the first 10 with 7+ wins and from there hopefully ride the momentum as we get better and better

It would be really nice for once to get off to a flyer and be the pace-setters ! So often we seem to be playing catchup and we need a burst of title winning form to get back in the mix.

26 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

https://londonroad.net/Forum/

derby are splashing the cash.

They also seem to be under the impression that we have an ancient squad. Someone's not been paying attention have they.. "a squad that has an average age of about 94".. apparently.

45 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

I’ve just had a quick look at their company accounts -

18/19 - £56m wage bill, £5.1m in sponsorship
19/20 - £52m wage bill, £7.9m in sponsorship
20/21 - £48m wage bill, £8.4m in sponsorship 
21/22 - £35m wage bill, £10m in sponsorship. 

To put it into perspective, Bristol City a similar size club receive £1.7m in sponsorship and retail combined. The wage bill is £12-13m less too. 

I don’t think Stoke would be a particularly great move for him footballing wise, but in terms of financial package - he would be well paid for his services. 

Doesn't their owner write truly eyewatering sums of debt off on top of that though ? I don't believe that they are remotely living within their means.

Given that it's already the 16th, the first day of training might be a bit of a shambles 😄  We can probably organise a 5-a-side if we get some of the ground staff involved 😉

I'm not that Gull-ible

At this stage you could just tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

2 hours ago, JakeDCFC said:

Best thing is to just have someone who can more often than not whip a good cross or ball in and have guys who are absolutely deadly in the air. Whether it is scored directly from the free kick or from a header doesn't matter too much to me but finding that consistency in terms of whipping it in is difficult and it doesn't help that we struggled with both of those things last season haha. Numerous creative set pieces definitely helps too. 

In an ideal world Jake 😊

I think this is the crux of it for me though. Teams watch us and know before they play us that we are not a big set piece threat, either directly or from getting on the end with a header. Our delivery seems pretty average but we don't have a dominant aerial threat so it all feels a bit 'hope for the best'. If you are Hourihane, who are you going to pick out ? If you don't have people who will win their share of aerial duels then it is even more important to get that delivery right. Many times we seem to just swing it in at no great pace and that's perfect for the defending side so invariably the ball either doesn't clear the first defender or we lose the aerial dual or get put off to the point of a tame nod into the keepers hands or whatever. A ball whipped in at pace and dip gives a far better chance of an attacker stealing half a yard on their marker and being able to make it count and in a crowded box a defender might also nick it past their keeper or scuff a clearance into someone's path.

It's much the same with crossing. Putting a routine diagonal balls in when you have a beast of a No9 is probably fine because they'll win their share and create threat that way but if you don't win aerial duels then it's a wasted ball. If you have quick nippy forwards then you need to stretch that defence and give them a chance to get the drop on a backpedalling central defender.

Unfortunately teams don't fear us at set pieces and they are right not to. It seems to have been that way for a while now though, not just this current team. Looking back to when we looked genuinely threatening, with Harry Wilson there was always that sense of expectation that he may just score a worldie and that is another thing for the defending side to worry about, not just whether he might drop it on someone's head 6 yards out. Even going back to the likes of Bucko though. He was no any great height but for whatever reason he looked like he'd get himself into areas that might cause problems and he won more duels than he had any right to. Don't know if that was sheer belligerence and determination but he was always in there amongst the flying boots. We seem to have neither of these elements currently but and I'm sure that if we give the set piece taker a viable target then we'll have a whole lot more joy even with the same personnel taking the kicks. We're not going to win every game with champagne football and set pieces are a big part of the game at all levels. We need to get this aspect right or we are making life harder for ourselves.

Phew, what a day eh !? Frantic stuff from start to finish. I need a lie down! 😉

Hi Jake. Wow, what have you let yourself in for 😉

Amazingly none of us are here for the glory so as with the rest of us you'll just have to get your 'wins' in whatever way you can! Derby is one of those clubs that the vast majority of fans have some direct personal connection with so its great that you have found us via our funky little club badge - we're absurdly proud of it !

We've had our moments in the spotlight of course (a couple of League titles a few decades back) but it's times like the present that I often think we're at our best - adversity often does that. It was a rough time during Covid and with the club's finances a mess, it needed everyone to pull together and our owner is an absolute legend for stepping in and saving the club. Obviously far from ideal to be down in the 3rd tier of the league but hopefully we'll bounce back soon now we have the club back on an even keel. New season coming up, new signings to discuss (hopefully!) and who knows, it might even be our year to bounce back !

Anyway, welcome to DCFCfans. Tuck into some of the threads. Enjoy 😃

3 hours ago, Leveller said:

Well thanks! Haven’t been on here for a while, but popped along this time to research Haydon Roberts who seems to be joining us.

Mr Popodopoulos is actually extremely into various clubs’ financial analysis and very interesting reading (mostly on OTIB). I wouldn’t take it personally that he concentrated on your late unlamented scoundrel for a while. He’s pretty objective and has moved on to other projects now.

He can probably take his pick these days.. There still seems to be enormous scope for owners to ignore the rules if you know the ins and outs and have deep pockets and happy to write debt off. The problem (as always) that remains is what do you do when they get bored and want a different toy to play with.

Ouch... what a mess. Hope they find a way through this 😟

Jeez, give me a bit of notice people !
Sorted.....

I have to say, I was expecting a few more too. Still, there's plenty of time yet I guess.

I knew I was going to renew so I just did it as soon as we were able, plus I wanted to avoid clashing with the final payment on summer holiday so I just got it out the way. I appreciate that with cost of living etc that "just getting it out the way" is not an option for everyone though and whether you can afford/justify a ticket may be a rather marginal call.

How many did we sell in the end last year ?

12 minutes ago, Barney1991 said:

Quite a few teams in for Morgan Whittaker. Wonder if we have a sell on included in the deal that took him to Swansea 

Doesn't sound very Derby. We probably added a clause to pay 50% of any sell on fee.

One thing that some fans are going to have to be mindful of is that we are presumably going to be signing a fair few players and some of these will only ever intended as backup options or to cover multiple positions or just for the U21s or whatever.

The squad needs bolstering in numbers as much as it does quality and some of the signings this window may seem a tad underwhelming at first glance but are a necessary part of the squad rebuild. You can't have superstar cover in every position.

I agree completely with David's approach to this. I think some debate and reasonable banter is perfectly OK and in fact think the forum would be poorer if away fans were blanket banned. Equally, lots of pointless confrontational and abusive posting just invites an immediate ban. No problem with that at all.

I do actually like to hear what reasonable, sensible fans of other teams think because they may for example have a different take on a player's performance than we do and as long as it isn't just trolling then it can add a different perspective and they may also for example add some honest assessment to a debate over the merits of one of their players that we are trying to sign.

I am also one of those folk who likes to browse opposition forums in the run up to and aftermath of our games to see how they view us and our likely threat and see whether they changes their opinion after the game or whether they were impressed with a particular player or felt that we deserved the win or whatever. I don't however hang about on other teams forums apart from that because frankly most of their postings are of zero interest.

I have on version rare occasions created an account on another forum where there is an ongoing subject between clubs or where the content is blocked unless you sign in with a valid account, so guests have very limited or non-existent access. Where I have done that I am always mindful about being fairly respectful because otherwise you'll waste a few posts and get banned anyway, plus I might be looking to get a genuine answer to a question. If you wade in and needlessly and deliberately try to antagonise people then no sensible exchange is going to happen which renders the whole thing pointless anyway and a ban will never be far away.

I do prefer if any posters from other teams are just up front about their allegiances though, either through user name or just being open and honest. I have been on a site where as part of registration you have to declare your team and you get a flag to that effect so people can choose to engage with you or not I guess.

1 minute ago, JJH said:

We lost that because of COVID - the main source of our stable income was gone and the transfer market was decimated.

We've both spent recklessly in pursuit of the PL, and both suffered because of it.

Roberts isn't joining us because we're offering him some daft deal whilst you're offering him a sensible one, there's a whole host of reason why we're a more attractive proposition than you lot currently. That's just how it is.

No, and I can't really argue too much with that and if someone has also done a good job of selling your setup and his potential role in it then that's how it goes. Equally we'll be seen as a much better option for some promising incoming players than many League 2 and League 1 teams and we need to take advantage of that.

As regards your point about academy and our better young players. That is an area that we suffered really badly through all the financial carnage, so there is likely to be very limited help from that source for us for the immediate future so we are going to need to be really canny with our recruitment. We are seriously short on numbers as much as anything else though and have a really small squad, even for this level. Players have been released and loans gone back and others are reported to be being wanted by other clubs so either way we'll need some serious squad building and that includes rebuilding the U21s from the rubble of their terrible season. U21s got absolutely battered last year - must have been seriously dispiriting.

The financial upheaval caused us to lose a steady stream of good youngsters for nothing or peanuts due to contractual limitations and our academy was gutted and a lot of excellent work from the last few years was completely undone. Most of the players who were good enough were either poached by other clubs or were moved into the first team squad due to necessity. Rebuilding the damage caused at that level will take a considerable amount of work. Green shoots from the U18s though so longer term it's perhaps looking more hopeful.