Kathcairns

Fantastic posts. @Archied really got me thinking. Football fandom is a very social thing. I try not to miss a single game, but celebrating goals and victories or suffering losses on my own just isn't the same. Fortunately a couple of friends texted me last week to say that they were coming to my home next  Saturday to watch the game with me and help me celebrate. At first I thought "well, ok", but now I'm really excited about it. Having friends with me (I'll also be thinking about my dad who left us two years ago) will make it so much sweeter. @B4’s Sister, I'm sure you and your family will shed a few tears at the final whistle knowing how your brother would be feeling. Let it all out, he deserves it.
And please, please, please Derby, don't 🦆 it up.

I'm 30 and kind of enjoyed the billy davies years at the age of 13-14 but it wasn't the prime age to really savour it. It is the first really big bit of success we've had as supporters and we should treasure it. Yes it's the third division but it doesn't matter. Considering what happened at the club two years ago and we almost went bust it makes this promotion extra special. We should all be singing our hearts out next Saturday as we finally confirm an automatic promotion! 

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.

I'll do my bit haha. 

Well make sure you get off after 15 mins so us oldies that cant run can applaud the team🤣

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.

His excitement may be attributable to the  1968\69 season when we won league 2 with Sir Brian, for so many seasons Derby had been nowhere, then all of a sudden it was as though someone had waved a magic wand and all our football dreams came true. It was one of those "you had to be there moments" I remember thinking, at the time, that things like this didn't happen to Derby County but they did. 😀 
Having seen the changes in our fortunes there's a feeling, deep deep down, that this might happen again. 
Yes I know things have changed and money rules football but facts and sats cannot compete with dreams. 
COYR
 

This. I truly thought we were going in admin. Everyone always says it'll take a big club to go before anything changes and I thought we were it. Added to that the terrible stuff we were going through with my dad's dementia (his first awful episode was the night we went into admin) and it was really rock bottom.  Have felt quite emotional many times at PP since Christmas because of what going up represents and it hit me again yesterday at the game esp as Camb away was first match dad took me to. I cannot imagine what it feels like for David Clowes and his family.
 
I dont care if other teams mock us if we do go up and celebrate it as if we've won the champions league as its not just the promotion and until it happens to their team in the same way they will never understand.
COYR 🐏🐏

@DarkFruitsRam7  As someone old enough to have witnessed 2 League Division 1 Championships, a victory over the 'ammers at Wembley, I can see you've managed the "tired and weary" bit. I've not always been enamoured by the style but we look like we've had sufficient good results, in a results based business, to have earned the step back up to the SBC. I've "accepted" the style as it's PWs tried and trusted method of escaping this League. It's a recipe that looks like it's going to work. Our 3rd ever stint at the 3rd level and looking like it'll be our 3rd 2nd season promotion.
To all you young uns that haven't experienced the absolute brilliance of the sweet smell of success, I say, breathe it in, hold it in, commit every jump, every shout, every tingle of the spine, every hug from fans, most of whom you don't know to undeletable memory banks. I can still remember where I was when we won in '72. In the Swan Hotel, Burton listening to the L**ds commo on a transistor radio. There when we won it at '75 at Maine Road. Most other successes were enjoyed remotely as I moved abroad in '84. 
Whatever your age, savour each and every moment. Next Saturday promises to be one of the best days of your life.
 
COME ON EWE RAMS!!

That’s the position I am in. I was ‘around’ for the promotion in 96 but too young to remember or appreciate it. And although I’ve technically been to the BBG, too young to appreciate it again.
For those who witnessed previous successes, I have nothing but jealousy. But for people like me, my entire experience of Derby County has been misery, disappointment and heartbreak. Where I grew up, it was all Premier League clubs, nobody even supported the ‘nearest’ professional team because Plymouth was still too far away. I’d go into school on sports days in my Derby County shirt, and get laughed at by those wearing United, Liverpool or Arsenal shirts.
To experience success, an outpouring of joy and probably relief,  at Pride Park, is going to be special.
I’m sure lots of people here have other interests outside of football and Derby County, I don’t really. I’m not really into other sports, for me football & this club is everything. Since Covid really, it’s been hard. From not being able to go to watch, to then being plunged into administration & feeling like we were kind of Death Row waiting for the inevitable was very, very hard.
We’re going to do the job on Saturday and I can’t even begin to imagine how good that’s going to feel. 

Exactly. Our club probably deserves Premier league but promotions don't come along very often in the life of a football fan. As you say, enjoy every moment 

My Dad is in his 80s, so he’s seen the League titles, European run etc etc. He was alive when we won the FA Cup! But he’s so tense/excited at the moment that he can’t sleep!

I missed the late 70’s glory years and starting supporting The Rams in the 70s so the mid to late 80s and late 90s are my glory years.  But if we get over the line next week it feels like this one would mean more.  I put that down partly to being a little bit older (not necessarily wiser!!) and the amazing turn round in 2 years.  2 years ago, we were a week away from going bust.  Now we’re a week away from a potential return to the championship 🤞.
If it happens @DarkFruitsRam7, enjoy and saviour every moment.

To be fair Harkes was stealing a living and the Bald Eagle agreed 😅

Can you imagine what that season would have been like if we'd had social media/this forum?!
'Smith out' after four matches with only two points.
'John Harkes is stealing a living.'
'Why is he playing 3-4-1-2? That's never been done before, so must be bad'
All those draws in Jan and Feb would have created an intense debate whether it was good to keep the unbeaten run going or two points dropped.  
The feeling on the way home from Tranmere was so strange - we'd been thrashed but I'd seen a football god playing in the second tier and for little old Derby.
Anyway that's enough reminiscing. Let's create some more memories next week. COYR

I have always liked PW but at one stage I passed over to the just about had enough of this side of the argument after a negative spell but never stopped supporting and wanting us to win. But then I stopped doing the matchday prediction thread and Adams was signed. Not sure which had greatest effect! 
With the injuries he has had, especially to forward players, PW and his team have had a brilliant run-in. Hope we get the dream end next week with a win. Saw some idiot post thanks for promotion now bye bye on twitter. Words fail me.  On the injuries front couple of weeks ago heard a radio discussion on EPL and how many coaches were linking increase in certain injuries to the additional time being played and general delays in games this season. Sure this will be discussed more
 
Should have stuck with my initial view of PW that he is just what we needed post admin. Looking forward to him being the boss next season wherever we are. 

I was going to make the same point. Warne was brought in because he knows how to get promoted out of this league and is doing a good job again. He's put together a squad and tactics to get us to second in league 1 and that was his objective. Fingers crossed we get it done next weekend.
What none of us know is how he would want us to play and what players he would like to sign in the championship, especially as he is likely to have a different budget to Rotherham in the championship. Pearce has already said that we wouldn't be there to just make up the numbers and money would be available. That and the lifting of restrictions, I actually look forward to seeing what Warne and his team can do. 

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.

Exactly. Anyone who accuses us of being tinpot because we’re celebrating finishing 2nd in league one (baring a disaster on Sunday) needs to be reminded that it’s more than simply promotion we’ll be celebrating. The club, and its supporters, have been to hell and back over the last couple of years and this will be the first chance we’ve had to celebrate anything. Even the last day survival against Sheffield Wednesday was in the Covid year.
OK, so we’ve not won the cup, we’ve not even won the league 1 title so let’s not get too carried away with open bus tours or anything but let’s celebrate the moment.
 
oh, and if you do go on the pitch, can we please find a way to still allow the players and their families to do their lap of appreciation?
Although the club probably felt they had to publicly ask supporters to stay off the pitch, if it does happen, perhaps after a short period of time, they could announce that if those on the pitch would return to the stands the players would do their lap (advising the players in advance that this is the plan if there is a pitch invasion)?
Such an announcement might encourage those still in the stands to hang around as well.
 

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.

Adams, Niambe, Nelson, Ward, Wilson, CBT, NML, Fornah .. he definitely favours an 'athletic' footballer. 
Generally strong, or at least tenacious....with pace preferably, especially up front.
What I struggle with is why he persisted so much with Hourihane? It was clearly where we struggled (in the middle) and yet he kept picking someone in that crucial role who doesn't really seem to be his kind of player.
Cashin and Nelson have got a bit of everything,  surely the best defensive partnership in the league.
Collins has been an absolute warrior this season... just think we need an upgrade there most urgently. 

Quoted part of what I said without the context I provided regarding how their promotions from league one suggest he can make a team more than the sum of its parts when Rotherham compare in size and stature to some of the other sides in the league in those seasons. 
I’m not saying he’s perfect, far from it, but it was stated as fact that Warne can’t get the best out of players (paraphrased slightly there) when I personally feel there’s some evidence he can.
Whether or not he’s able to adapt his tactics to keep a side in the championship is questionable, whether or not he can get the team playing the brand of football some would prefer over the more pragmatic approach we’ve seen is even more questionable, but the statement comparing him to the likes of Bielsa, Farke and Warnock just seemed odd to me. He’s not any of those, and isn’t trying to be, could we get a “better” coach and/or manager? Probably. However he’s what we’ve got for now, I don’t understand how people can’t reluctantly accept that and just enjoy the relative success the side is having at the moment. If he struggles at the next step, he’ll go, that’s how football is and everyone then gets a chance to see how our new wonder coach does instead. 

Fair play to the police yesterday btw. They were some of the soundest I've met at the football, and they were very understanding of those of us stood outside (even though some had been kicked out of the home end). 

Happy Birthday @Ellafella 🍻 I have 5 years on you and grew up thinking we would be the Champions of England virtually every other year. I’ve seen the good times and bad since my first game in 1970 but still celebrate every win whether it’s 4-1 v Real Madrid or a 0-1 at Cambridge in League one. COYRS 🐏🐏🐏

Spot on angie , im getting to that age too ,where if you peg it people say a bit young but no massive surprise, live it and enjoy the good stuff ,,,, 90 mins every week where I feel alive ,excited, euphoric, gutted and happy to be sat next to my lovely wife having a lovely day away from work and stress