Kathcairns

In the North Stand? Isn't that where he used to sit?

I know he might cringe at the thought, I'd get a big flag with him front and centre.
Absolute hero.

We don't know where it will end but we all know how it started. David Clowes is a hero.

I was there for the last auto season. I was 11 I think and gripped by football fever. That win to seal it against Palace was a truly great moment and one to savour.
If we get over the line on Saturday (and let's hope we do because frankly I don't think any of us could take the epic meltdown from all corners) then I shall be sinking a few beers (one at least for our dearly departed talisman of positivity) and savouring it because these moments don't come around too often.
Come on Rams, bring it home!

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 you've only been entertained by 2 out of 22 home games, I think your expectations might have been a little too high, and if you're only attending Derby games in order to be entertained, then I can understand why you're not renewing. But for many fans, the entertainment factor is only one of many aspects that draw them to Pride Park. For a payment of what is effectively only £8/week, I get an awful lot more than entertainment out of it.

I have been taking my son to the match since he was 5. His first match was 2018. In the six seasons he's been watching Derby, he's gone to Wembley to watch Derby in a play-off final - one goal away from the Premier League. He's seen Derby play (on Rams TV) in an empty stadium during a pandemic. He's seen Derby escape relegation on the last game of the season in a 3-3 draw with a dramatic twist in the last 5 minutes. He's seen Derby go into administration, docked 21 points and be (as it turned out) 7 days away from not existing at all. He's seen Derby relegated to the 3rd tier. He's seen Derby, two weeks before the start of the season, with 5 registered players. He's seen Derby miss out on the play-offs on the last game of the season with some dodgy refereeing. He's now seeing Derby 1 draw away from promotion.
It's never dull at Derby.

I have seen two automatics under Arthur Cox one play off final win. Missed TBE promotion because I was playing football on Saturday afternoons then and watched god knows how many failed play off attempts. Sadly I will not be going on Saturday and I’m not counting ones chickens yet. 
Rest assured I will be on my phone or if it’s on RamsTV I may even watch on their if I can get a good internet connection (my missus will be please).
Good luck on Saturday and I hope we make it across the line and everyone celebrations are just as good as the ones I had back in the 80’s. 
COYR’s

Where's our Ipswich budget? There's a reason they've gone from this league straight to challenging for the Premier League.

Depends on your definition of “sizeable section of the fan base”. It only takes a dozen or so vocal individuals on social media voicing their opinion (which of course they are entitled to) to make it appear as if their views are reflective of a much larger group.
My gut feeling is: a very small majority have total faith in PW’s ability to keep us in the Championship whilst at the same time playing decent football, a small minority want him gone now regardless, some have accepted he is here to stay next season but have already made up their minds that it’s going to be dross, but the overwhelming majority, whilst they may have concerns, think he deserves the chance to prove himself and are trying not to prejudge him.

I am not sure I agree with this angle. We certainly have better players than many; but the best ? I think that is debatable. Look at the midfield. The arrival of Adams has made a huge difference but prior to that I reckon or midfield was average. Bird is wonderfully talented but in this league often got out muscled and his skill wasn’t always enough for him to win those battles … so better or just good  ? Hourihan 6 years ago, yes a better player, but our Hourihan ? The one who gets caught napping against athletic sides ? A good player but “better” than the rest ?
The only areas where I think we had demonstrably better players was defence and out wide. We Haven’t got the better strikers and we hadn’t (until Adams) got the best midfield. 
 
Warne had “better” wide players and made best use of them to support our  lack, for much of the season, of a dynamic striker. This leads to a form of football that by necessity involves getting the ball in to danger areas via the wings and making good use of set pieces. All to create the greater number of chances to address those areas where we didn’t have “the best” players.
 
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see one touch midfield interchanges crafting chances with slick passing ; but too many of our players didn’t demonstrate enough of those skills either due to ability, age, or the type of opponent / type of football played in this league. 

No - you're paying good money to watch YOUR TEAM play football. If you want to guarantee being entertained then spend it on going to a West End show or to the cinema - you have the choice! 

I think most Rams fans would concede there's some doubts around his pedigree for the Championship, but look at what he's done most lately, at a time where we we told the team would be dead on its legs. Look at the form he's delivered and this despite the lads dropping like flies at times.

Assuming we finish the job on Saturday, he WILL be given his chance to show that he has the game to prosper at Championship level and I think that's fair enough. Whether or not he will succeed, of that I'm less certain, but I think he's more than earned the right to prove his doubters wrong, or not, as the case may be. 

Love this, not seen the video for years.

That would be good, wouldnt like him to sell outright, hes one of our own.

We dont know what sort of football we will be watching next season, so lets at least give him chance, not write us off before a ball has been kicked.

Pinched from elsewhere.
This decision is based on the club failing to meet the 10-year security of tenure at their stadium, required for new teams applying to enter the EFL which was required by 1 March 2024.
The club requested a 10-year security of tenure from Gateshead Council. This was refused. The National League wrote to the council in support of the application by the club highlighting the impact on the club, its supporters, and the local community if the security was not given.
Unfortunately, the response received was not supportive of the club’s requirements and placed the club at risk of a refusal of membership to the EFL and therefore forfeiture of any right to participate in the play-offs.
Being a member of Gateshead Council could well be a rather precarious pastime at the moment!

I find it hypocritical of the EFL to allow Coventry twice the 11th hour to find a home ground to play at both Northampton and Birmingham just for the upcoming season but they can't allow Gateshead if hypothetically they got promoted (big chance they would not) let's say until the end of July to find a solution to their ground.

Come on guys! Paul Warne has got to be good. He got us a win yesterday with us only playing football for 30 minutes! That second half was absolutely terrible, probably worse than the fiascos against Stevenage, Wycombe and Northampton. And yet again we have spent most of the match being outplayed and even dominated by a team right at the other end of the table. BUT - he Has got us the win, and he has got us promoted, bar a catastrophe next Saturday.
Most of the brick-ends thrown Paul's way are because of his intransigence, particularly last season and the first part of this one. He only had one way of playing it, and he was determined to play it, even if it didn't work, and even if he had found other ways to set the team up that did work - twice! And yes, I threw quite a few myself.
But what has emerged is that he has grown into the job, and has been prepared to learn and develop, so that there are now occasional flashes of football, which show that actually we can be quite good! It still isn't the silky, smooth liquid football that we would all love to see flowing all over the pitch, well not yet, anyway, but we have seen on the pitch better than what we had to put up with in the earlier days. So for someone who was so stubborn to be prepared to change is quite refreshing, and tough to do, so thank you, Paul!
And yes, when we are promoted and I am happy for him to get the chance at last to take on the Championship with better resources than he has ever had before.
COOME ON YOU RAMS!!!

Probably fair. This place would catch fire if we go up Saturday and he says "i wish it was Rotherham"

From what I've read of the situation National League teams have to apply for promotion to the Football League at the start of the league season which was accepted so the EFL and National League both knew of Gateshead's ground situation which I don't think has changed for years.
To just boot them out at this stage is just cruel. Why should there need to be a 10 year security on a stadium when EFL clubs for example aren't required to show an equivalent financial security for that long of a period.
 

Unless it`s a team we have bad history with, then seeing them get promoted, even during such an awful season for us, is
something I`d be happy for them if it happened. Derby have been down in L1 a while now, and if they go up, they`ll have
earnt it, and their fans will be ecstatic after the match.

Which means they`re less likely to want to beat any of us up, and any of ours who are in Derby afterwards, would probably
have a great time enjoying the celebrations with them, into the night, and might not even have to pay for drinks !

I like this side of football, when 2 sets of fans can come together, and just enjoy the game, and those special moments.
 
Exactly!
I really can't understand why people feel bitterness towards another club simply because they've done well and have got promoted?
I met a few Derby fans in 'Spoons' before our home clash with them earlier this season, and they were as sound as a pound, even taking the 'Mickey' out of a mate of mine because he is Scottish (nowt wrong with that, is there ??)
If we had some sort of rivalry with them then fair enough, but ............'DERBY COUNTY!!!!!!!!', they couldn't even beat us when they won the 1st Div (Premier League) title all those years ago. 
Anyway, we're stopping in Derby over the weekend, so looking forward to sinking a few pints with them afterwards.
COYB
TAKEN OFF THE CARLISLE FC FORUM

He'd do well to hear it in Cleethorpes 

Dear Paul Simpson, hope you are reading this blog and still have some love for Derby County (the team you made most appearances during your 679 playing career total). Please do not turn up at Pride Park with the intention of ruining the party. Play your fringe players and youngsters, get them ready for next season in League Two.
Afterwards (providing Carlisle do not win) go and milk the applause from the Derby Fans, whom a lot of them will remember you playing for the Rams in the Artur Cox/Roy McFarland/Jim Smith times.

I'll be thinking of B4 - I'm pretty sure he's had a word with the big man...