kevinhectoring

Been in my seat since the turnstiles opened.  It is always such a great feeling being here, no matter what competition we’re in. I just love it 
 
ps. George Thorne absolutely fascinating interview on radio Derby tonight 

Not quickly necessarily. But before we return to the Championship.
 
Owning a club in L1 - especially Derby under an EFL business plan - is relatively low risk and I’d think there’s a part of him which will enjoy it despite his desire for a low profile. But his Saturday afternoons at PP are important to him and he’ll know many fans will turn on him if we don’t get promoted before long.
Owning Derby in the championship is a different proposition.  Parachute payments, he knows how stupendously wealthy several other owners are and he’s seen what rams ownership did to MM (a much wealthier man). Plus he knows that tens of thousands of people in derby expect a good owner to take us to the PL (especially given what our noisy neighbours are now enjoying). 
It was no secret that he was a reluctant buyer of the club (albeit he may have been an enthusiastic buyer of the stadium for £23m !). In fact the big (largely unnoticed) reveal in his video interview was that the decision to buy the club after CK crashed and burned was in part driven by a desire to protect the value of the stadium (already purchased). 
 
Best scenario for DC overall might be for us to narrowly miss promotion this year, then for us to run away with the title in 23/24. Then he has time for a leisurely sale of a championship club that (I think) would be free of EFL constraints. 
We’ll see ...  

Not quickly necessarily. But before we return to the Championship.
 
Owning a club in L1 - especially Derby under an EFL business plan - is relatively low risk and I’d think there’s a part of him which will enjoy it despite his desire for a low profile. But his Saturday afternoons at PP are important to him and he’ll know many fans will turn on him if we don’t get promoted before long.
Owning Derby in the championship is a different proposition.  Parachute payments, he knows how stupendously wealthy several other owners are and he’s seen what rams ownership did to MM (a much wealthier man). Plus he knows that tens of thousands of people in derby expect a good owner to take us to the PL (especially given what our noisy neighbours are now enjoying). 
It was no secret that he was a reluctant buyer of the club (albeit he may have been an enthusiastic buyer of the stadium for £23m !). In fact the big (largely unnoticed) reveal in his video interview was that the decision to buy the club after CK crashed and burned was in part driven by a desire to protect the value of the stadium (already purchased). 
 
Best scenario for DC overall might be for us to narrowly miss promotion this year, then for us to run away with the title in 23/24. Then he has time for a leisurely sale of a championship club that (I think) would be free of EFL constraints. 
We’ll see ...  

Not quickly necessarily. But before we return to the Championship.
 
Owning a club in L1 - especially Derby under an EFL business plan - is relatively low risk and I’d think there’s a part of him which will enjoy it despite his desire for a low profile. But his Saturday afternoons at PP are important to him and he’ll know many fans will turn on him if we don’t get promoted before long.
Owning Derby in the championship is a different proposition.  Parachute payments, he knows how stupendously wealthy several other owners are and he’s seen what rams ownership did to MM (a much wealthier man). Plus he knows that tens of thousands of people in derby expect a good owner to take us to the PL (especially given what our noisy neighbours are now enjoying). 
It was no secret that he was a reluctant buyer of the club (albeit he may have been an enthusiastic buyer of the stadium for £23m !). In fact the big (largely unnoticed) reveal in his video interview was that the decision to buy the club after CK crashed and burned was in part driven by a desire to protect the value of the stadium (already purchased). 
 
Best scenario for DC overall might be for us to narrowly miss promotion this year, then for us to run away with the title in 23/24. Then he has time for a leisurely sale of a championship club that (I think) would be free of EFL constraints. 
We’ll see ...  

Not quickly necessarily. But before we return to the Championship.
 
Owning a club in L1 - especially Derby under an EFL business plan - is relatively low risk and I’d think there’s a part of him which will enjoy it despite his desire for a low profile. But his Saturday afternoons at PP are important to him and he’ll know many fans will turn on him if we don’t get promoted before long.
Owning Derby in the championship is a different proposition.  Parachute payments, he knows how stupendously wealthy several other owners are and he’s seen what rams ownership did to MM (a much wealthier man). Plus he knows that tens of thousands of people in derby expect a good owner to take us to the PL (especially given what our noisy neighbours are now enjoying). 
It was no secret that he was a reluctant buyer of the club (albeit he may have been an enthusiastic buyer of the stadium for £23m !). In fact the big (largely unnoticed) reveal in his video interview was that the decision to buy the club after CK crashed and burned was in part driven by a desire to protect the value of the stadium (already purchased). 
 
Best scenario for DC overall might be for us to narrowly miss promotion this year, then for us to run away with the title in 23/24. Then he has time for a leisurely sale of a championship club that (I think) would be free of EFL constraints. 
We’ll see ...  

We might not have seen the back of GSE. DC will be looking to sell before we return to the Championship (sell the club that is, maybe not the stadium) and Appleby will still be looking to put a deal together to help pay the air conditioning bill on that sprawling mass of real estate he owns in the mid west. DC has seen the chaos and publicity that a competitive process can generate - so maybe we’ll just wake up one day to be told we’ve got a new owner ... 

hmmm don't you think Stretford was driving the bus ?  I reckon q only came back to CK as a result of pressure from Rooney and Stretford     But for the two of them, the indication was that Appleby would have bought us 

Not quickly necessarily. But before we return to the Championship.
 
Owning a club in L1 - especially Derby under an EFL business plan - is relatively low risk and I’d think there’s a part of him which will enjoy it despite his desire for a low profile. But his Saturday afternoons at PP are important to him and he’ll know many fans will turn on him if we don’t get promoted before long.
Owning Derby in the championship is a different proposition.  Parachute payments, he knows how stupendously wealthy several other owners are and he’s seen what rams ownership did to MM (a much wealthier man). Plus he knows that tens of thousands of people in derby expect a good owner to take us to the PL (especially given what our noisy neighbours are now enjoying). 
It was no secret that he was a reluctant buyer of the club (albeit he may have been an enthusiastic buyer of the stadium for £23m !). In fact the big (largely unnoticed) reveal in his video interview was that the decision to buy the club after CK crashed and burned was in part driven by a desire to protect the value of the stadium (already purchased). 
 
Best scenario for DC overall might be for us to narrowly miss promotion this year, then for us to run away with the title in 23/24. Then he has time for a leisurely sale of a championship club that (I think) would be free of EFL constraints. 
We’ll see ...  

I still think it was unlikely it was anything like this.  He couldn't borrow (much) money against us because without owning the stadium, there was nothing to secure it against.  Money laundering or similar seems unlikely too, because you don't do it with an international border in between (because of the enhanced checks that take place on transfers), or a company that's being monitored more extensively than normal (you've got FFP reporting, plus enforced business plans and any other fallout/follow-up from exiting admin).  Any weird payments in or out are going to get flagged up relatively quickly.  And if his intention was something like trying to and drain excess funds out of the club to fund his lifestyle, then I'm not sure there's going to be enough excess funds to make that worthwhile, especially if he was intending to carry on making payments to creditors over the next 2 or 3 years.
The only explanation that makes any kind of sense to me is that he genuinely wanted to buy us, probably because he thought owning a football club would be a cool thing to add to his flash lifestyle.  And then he either changed his mind when he realised the true costs, or he genuinely couldn't transfer the money (whether that be because of money laundering checks, or the money was no longer "available" to him, or whatever).

We might not have seen the back of GSE. DC will be looking to sell before we return to the Championship (sell the club that is, maybe not the stadium) and Appleby will still be looking to put a deal together to help pay the air conditioning bill on that sprawling mass of real estate he owns in the mid west. DC has seen the chaos and publicity that a competitive process can generate - so maybe we’ll just wake up one day to be told we’ve got a new owner ... 

Correct. It’s corners that can be better.
 
(We’d have had more free kicks on goal if knightly had been in midfield )

I fear it's more likely to be hard times

Matt Clarke was good at corners. Unfortunately he has a square head and the bounced off anywhere but on target

Maybe two arms is front post and one arm back post, but we’re just not very good at the execution 

why do the guys taking corners stick two arms up in the air before hitting the long ones, as if it's some sort of secret squirrel code ? I mean how long would it take for 11 fit and alert young men to learn 'front post' and 'back post' in say Cantonese ? 

I fear it's more likely to be hard times

what makes you think the cash that was intended to be handed over was not (as reported) trapped by a bank's compliance team?

hmmm don't you think Stretford was driving the bus ?  I reckon q only came back to CK as a result of pressure from Rooney and Stretford     But for the two of them, the indication was that Appleby would have bought us 

why do the guys taking corners stick two arms up in the air before hitting the long ones, as if it's some sort of secret squirrel code ? I mean how long would it take for 11 fit and alert young men to learn 'front post' and 'back post' in say Cantonese ? 

I fear it's more likely to be hard times

I was hopefull for the Appleby bid. Probably just associateion with the club being actually well run in the GSE days (and as we've rather painfully learned, the club being run well and the team being successful are not neccessarily the same thing) but as time wore on, it did seem his backing was flighty and not as substancial as it might have looked at first.
Mike Ashley could've bought us at any time, and, i do not doubt he had the ability to run the club. But he didn't buy us because getting his rocks off on creditor tears is his thing.
CK was me just being despirate to believe it was going to be OK. Yes, I feel so so hurt and stupid for not seeing it.
But mostly, mostly, i really have very little time for Mel Morris after all this. I probably would not urinate on the fellow were he to be in a state of combustion in front of me.

hmmm don't you think Stretford was driving the bus ?  I reckon q only came back to CK as a result of pressure from Rooney and Stretford     But for the two of them, the indication was that Appleby would have bought us 

Absolutely, for someone to shell out circa +£50m for an acquisition probably only worth half of that is an amazing act of philanthropy. 

We owe a sizeable debt to a certain Mr Clowes 

what serious questions need to be asked? Seriously