Ambitious

Bournemouth, Fulham and Brighton spent a ton of money to get promoted. All of which is well documented. Palace were highly competitive in terms of finances too. Palace had a lower revenue than us the season they got promoted but spent 150% of our wage bill to put it into context. Burnley (first promotion) and Luton were Cinderella stories but then you’re considering two in almost 20 years, so 60 promotions. Money is no guarantee, of course, but not having it guarantees a ceiling to your success over time. It’s no surprise that Rotherham are in the bottom three, for example, whilst Leicester are top of the league. It might be that Leicester are a better run club or it could be due to their additional £100m in wages - difficult to say.

To be successful, long-term, you need money to compete. We’re a bit of a unicorn at this level so we can more than compete with our revenue. The Championship is a different ball game, of course you can beat all the odds with excellent coaching and recruitment. Usually, though, it’s the teams who spend the most money and have the biggest wage bill at the top. I think under Clowes, with all due respect to him and us, we would only be treading water at the next level.

I've mentioned it before, so not to be a broken record, but these are the teams that really benefit from higher ticket prices - majority of their income is fan generated. In the Premier League they could charge £10 or £100 - it doesn't matter realistically speaking because the TV revenue is their bread and butter. I know £30 is high, but you aren't going because you're investing in the entertainment - you're going to invest in your club, therefore the league they play in. I would pay the same ticket prices to watch Derby in League Two than I would in the Premier League, for example, because I'm going to watch Derby - regardless of the opposition. I don't go based on division - like the majority of us.

Based on my eye test, I don't think there has been much change from last season. We've lost McGoldrick's class in the final third, but we're a lot better at the back. Last season we could put bad teams away, this season we can take points off those around us. Differences, but the performance level is very similar. No surprise to see us on similar points at the same points in the season. The key now is how much we can push on, I feel like we're slowly finding our way but as mentioned the league is so bad so I think it's actually harder for the players to progress as they want - if we played Bolton, Portsmouth, every other week then we would be a much better side.

A good win against a team who really left everything out on the pitch. Credit to Vale, who I thought would fold under the slightest bit of pressure, but they were a lot better than I expected and a lot of teams we have played this season. No wins in 11 looks bad, but they’re losing games to the finest of margins which must be a nightmare for their fans, staff and players. Despite the win, I felt it was very on trend with our season and performances so far. We are so inefficient with our final third entries, which has been a cornerstone of this Derby side under Warne since he got into the job. McGoldrick was able to pull some rabbits out of the hat last season, but we don’t have that this season and often I come away baffled by our lack of cutting edge and innovation in the final third: too many crosses just being hit in blindly or fizzed across straight into the first man. Warne and Co can surely draw up some designs for final third entires so the players have a vague idea of how to approach it - it looks very disjointed in the final play of our build up, whereas the build up before hand often looks good. Lack of composure or whatever it is, definitely is a flaw in our game that needs to improve. We have five league games of this calendar year - Leyton Orient, Wycombe, Lincoln, Wigan and Oxford. Three away from home. Ideally we get ourselves into position that the Oxford game could see us go above them, that’s got to be the aim, get within striking distance. Four league wins on the bounce should breed confidence going into December.

A good example was the weekend, Martial was booked for diving despite a clear trip by Ashley Young. VAR interjected and gave a penalty. Without VAR Martial is on a yellow card for being tripped in the box. Despite it being very obvious on first viewing, they did the whole song and dance about the ref going over to the monitor - why can't the ref in his ear just go 'Young tripped Martial, contact made, penalty should be given' - why does the on-field ref have to 'have a look' makes no sense and prolongs the frustration. Obviously some cases are a little more subjective, but ultimately VAR has helped referees come to more right decisions than wrong. I think if they ever did away with VAR the amount of incorrect decisions on a weekly basis would be a bigger cause of concern and frustration. They do need to amend the rules with VAR in mind, though, that is the next step in order to achieve a more a seamless approach. I really don't buy that VAR is the problem though, the refs implementing the technology are the problem - it's not like taking it away from them is suddenly going to make them better. It just gives them more power to actually f*** things up and impact results.

These decisions directly responsible for costing people their jobs, tens, if not hundreds, of millions of pounds and potentially causing catastrophic financial implications for clubs and I've never bought in that 'it equals out at the end of the season' Bournemouth were relegated due to an error in goal line technology, where VAR wasn't able to interject and the ref got it wrong - 100s of millions of pounds all because of one error in a system. The emphasis needs to be on getting decisions correct. Especially when you have the technology to get it right now, no excuse for taking 5 minutes to come to a decision. The ref doesn't get 5 minutes to come to a decision, so not sure why VAR does - but it all goes to pandering to the on-field ref and that's what takes the time.

If done correctly, it will be good as these often are key moments in games. If done correctly, is the concern though. I still don't understand why it takes so long or why there is an emphasis on supporting the on-field ref rather than just getting the decision right. A lot of it is subjective, but if you can watch something in a million different angles and slow it right down - why on earth can't they in some key instances still overrrule the guy who saw it once in real time - second yellow cards are a great example! One thing I have learned, however as frustrating as VAR can be at times - it's still a lot better than having games littered with terrible decisions - goals called offside when they're a foot onside and goals called onside when they're 5 yards beyond the last defender. Think back to the Plymouth game last season, that penalty is overturned and their player booked. Bolton game this season, Wildsmith is still allowed to carry on - two big games, two big decisions against us. I can't remember who it was against but there was a ludicrous penalty decision given against us, where there wasn't a player within a couple of feet of him by the time he went down. I think 3 of our last 4 red cards have been retrospectively overturned, haven't they? I think it will all start to click when they stop focusing on backing the on-field ref and just put emphasis on getting the decision correct. The NFL are a good example of efficient video refereeing and the margins are much, much, much tighter than they often are in football - and there is a lot more of them.

A player who often looks bright, without actually doing much, devastating lack of end product. He’s like a Mendez-Laing lite.

I don’t think we have a say, it’s not like it was a meaningless friendly, it was a qualifier and he must’ve been fit enough to play a part. Terrible result for NI in the end!

By mercenaries, you mean players who came through our academy or signed for our club post-administration while still heavily regulated by the EFL... those mercenaries? I think that might well be one of the harshest indictments of our current team I can say I've honestly seen.

Impossible for us to say what kind of captain Hourihane is, without being behind the scenes. The players voted him as captain, presumably because he has shown that leadership behind the scenes. I don't think for one minute the players are thinking they would try that 10-15% bit harder was captain over him. It's a lazy argument IMO.

It’s the tale of our season so far, ironically the complete opposite to last season where we struggled with the team’s around us but were clinical against the teams who struggled to offer players more than Motorpoint can offer sales staff. I’m not entirely sure why, either.

I didn’t watch the game, so can’t comment on individual performances or how we approached the game. Easy to assume a lack of professionalism based on the result though. A stain on the career of every single player on that pitch in a Derby shirt.

I hadn’t had chance to get on the forum as I was out after the game yesterday, but saw someone mention it on Twitter as I was scrolling through this morning - it’s really knocked me for six. Like most, I never knew him personally but having been on here for so many years, he was one of the stronger characters and his positivity was unwavering. The club meant so much to him, as it does to most of us, so it’s upsetting that he won’t get to see the rebuild and hopefully the club back in a strong position. I know it would’ve meant the world to him. When that happens, should I be lucky enough to witness it myself, I’ll share a thought and drink in memory of B4. Incredibly sad news.

I didn’t watch the game, but I believe we had something like 700 passes and 30-odd shots at goal with almost 80% possession. I thought the majority wanted Warne out because we didn’t play in that manner more often? It’s hard for a manager to have total control over situations in football games, it’s not FIFA, all he can really do is set up a team in a way that generates the most possession, opportunities and the players are liable for the rest. Again, without watching the game, but just looking at the box score, I’m not sure how you can blame Warne for this?

David Clowes has a free pass for life. The situation we were in when he bought us makes that so. I'm amazed that others feel anything different, but guess people do have short memories. I will critique his ownership of the club, in a constructive manner (not that he would listen, nor should he) but you'll never see anything derogatory from me towards him and if anyone is bold enough to do so then I would hope there is enough of us to pull them up on their b******* and explain the gravity of the situation we were in when he saved the club. I really hope this works out for him. He obviously feels like he's got a good one in Warne and is happy to bat for him against the supporters. Many weaker owners would buckle to fan pressure. Of course, he could be completely wrong and the situation never gets any better. He's the one with skin in the game at the end of the day, so I'll support his decision - whatever it is. That said: I personally do not see it getting better, by that I don't mean our league position, because I think even with Warne we will be in the play-offs come the end of the season due to the nature of just how s**** this league is, but I definitely don't see him as a long-term solution for this club. That is my opinion.

Warne... IN.

I’m not even going to say Warne is a bad manager, like most in the game I’m sure he will have good and bad spells wherever he goes, but it’s definitely not working out here.

It’s a very sad situation. I feel the players and the coaching staff have an us against them mentality (Derby supporters being the them) and it’s just toxic. Look at the fallout from the game today and I could make an argument for Paul Warne to be one of the most hated managers of this club in my lifetime and probably the most hated manager of the past 20 years. I can only think of John Gregory and Phil Brown as worse situations. I don’t think Jewell got it this bad, certainly didn’t have this level of animosity towards him at the time from memory, in my opinion. I think any connection between the fans and Warne is well and truly sullied. Warne is waiting for a payout from Clowes and in the meantime the atmosphere at the club continues to get worse. We are looking at a complete rebuild next summer, again, because of our short-term approach (albeit under restrictions) so the commercial strength of this club, the fans, should be considered. A League One Paul Warne’s Derby County kicks off next season to an opening crowd below 20,000 - in my opinion.

Steve Evans has turned Stevenage into a more competent team than Paul Warne has Derby on roughly a fifth of the budget - without the benefit of a category one academy to utilise. We’re both playing the same type of football, they’re just better at it. What a sad day in the history of this club.

Nelson, like Rhodes, is probably at the stage of his career where he could probably carve out a career in the Championship, probably as a third/fourth choice in a team, but looks streets ahead of everyone at this level. I was never in doubt that Rhodes was too quick mentally for defenders at this level, even if his legs have gone a bit, he is a composed finisher and most defenders at this level give strikers every chance to put the ball in the goal.

Was that 10 goals by the end of the season or by the end of October? It has been good of Rhodes to put on notice just how the most run of the mill Championship striker (at this stage of his career) looks in this f****** dreadful league. I didn’t expect him to get 9 goals in 10 games, but assumed he would easily get 20 at this level. He looks like it could be on for 30+ if he carries on.

I can honestly say I'm not at all arsed about who starts for us. The balance is miles off - Max Bird is the best example I have in that he has started 7 games for us this season and we've lost 4 of them. In the six games he missed, we won four of them. He's one of our better players, but we are a weaker side with him for how Warne wants to play. I don't think we would be any worse off if we picked the team via a raffle.

I don’t blame Clowes for hiring Warne. He talks a good game and I think fundamentally he’s a very intelligent tactician. Like most of us, who have grew up watching football, we have an idea of how we would want things to look and processes on how to achieve that. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple and I think Warne has ultimately fell away from being able to achieve his vision for whatever reason. The question is now, for both Clowes and Warne is where do they go from here. Clowes obviously has an affinity for Warne as a person, but will naturally be worried about his investment. By any metric, we are underachieving. The fans aren’t happy. In this league, the fans are our commercial strength so there is an emphasis to keep them onside, more so than if we were in the Championship or Premier League. I think there needs to be an honest conversation between the two and some more immediate key performance indicators outlined. I think ideally they drag each other through this period, but there needs to be a plan in place.