Miggins

Many of the older fans around us are nervous about attending. And have not done so so far. They do intend to return. 

Yes, I do realise that. I know three people personally that have died due to Covid, and a heck of a lot more who haven't got back to anything like normal living. Thought I had acknowledged in my post that there would be a variety of reasons why they aren't there.
That doesn't alter the fact that the people who were sitting in my area of the ground, all regulars, did very little in recent seasons to get behind the team. Their money, their choice.
I didn't like it and much prefer to sit with supporters who give some support. 

I was shopping in Belper last week and my ears pricked up at a conversation between two elderly gents in the aisle at the supermarket. They were lamenting the fact that getting tickets (or season tickets?) was beyond them at present because they couldn't print their tickets. One said that he thought he might have to cancel his direct debit.  A club that is in such dire financial straits should surely be encouraging as many supporters into the ground and removing obstacles. The confusion over season tickets and a closed ticket office just before the start of the season is financial madness or am I missing a huge point somewhere? Surely the income generated by opening up the ticket office and telephone outweighs the cost of staffing it? I really feel for those of our older fans who can't access the system.

I was shopping in Belper last week and my ears pricked up at a conversation between two elderly gents in the aisle at the supermarket. They were lamenting the fact that getting tickets (or season tickets?) was beyond them at present because they couldn't print their tickets. One said that he thought he might have to cancel his direct debit.  A club that is in such dire financial straits should surely be encouraging as many supporters into the ground and removing obstacles. The confusion over season tickets and a closed ticket office just before the start of the season is financial madness or am I missing a huge point somewhere? Surely the income generated by opening up the ticket office and telephone outweighs the cost of staffing it? I really feel for those of our older fans who can't access the system.

I was one of the lucky ones who won that competition with the club after buying the membership, a little off topic but what a day for my parents(I unfortunately couldn't attend due to being away).
Shaun Barker, what a legend, my parents said he was such a pleasure to talk to and had such a polite and positive attitude. Wish I could have met him in person!
Can't wait to go again and if you are a true fan you always love the club and always want to go whenever you can ❤
 

No I wasn't there today - I was at the Salford and Notts County friendlies and the Huddersfield game.
To preempt the next question I'm struggling to function on a day to day level, you may get a flavour of this if you read some of my posts in the Anxiety and Depression thread on the Jim Smith forum but anyhows didn't feel upto going today for that reason. 

I’m not sure you are right. I also don’t believe that a football club the size of Derby County can’t afford to open the ticket office or answer phone calls. I also don’t believe that it can’t communicate fully with its fan base. The total mismanagement of the club has had a far greater impact on more than the couple of hundred than you think in my opinion. 

It’s farcical if you haven’t got a printer, internet access or a smart phone. As I have put on another thread, the impact our shambolic ticketing policy is having on a certain demographic of our support is far greater than people on here seem to realise. If we had sold our season tickets before the season, like every other club, and issued season ticket cards then I think we would have another couple of thousand at least on the gate. 
 
Other factors, such as the club not communicating properly with fans and the absolute shambles that it has become has certainly disenfranchised a lot of people. 
 
I am quite enjoying the back to the wall siege mentality personally and am enjoying the greater bond between players and fans and the recognition of where we are as a club and the greater effort on display. I am sure that more will return once we have new owners but fear that COVID combined with mismanagement will have cost us more who will never return. 

Factors 1 and 3 are the same for all clubs but we appear to have taken the heaviest hit proportionally in drops in match days attendances. 
Factors 2 and 4 are singular to our club and have had the most pronounced impact, supporters are voting with their feet.
I also don't like the comments along the line of well if they're not coming to games then they can't be true supporters - if the club are disenfranchising people enough to make them stay away from games then that's absolutely unacceptable.

Thats what they're getting.

Thought we edged it in the first half and boro edged the second half ,,, for me a draw was a fair result
though we weren’t electric I thought we looked like we wanted to play football the right way and try to win the game going forward,
for me it wasn’t a dire performance where you thought jeez we are in real trouble this season we look clueless , it was a hard won point in a hard game against a big physical side ,one you can build on and move forward and for me that’s a real plus given our situation, we’ll done Rooney and the team and players 

Was a typical game against a Neil Warnock side. Quite scrappy and bitty second half in particular, neither side in my opinion really dominated the game. We had a spell of about 15-20 mins in the first half, they did similar in the second, yet we still had a couple of chances second half, the save from Sibley was outstanding. Even when they were on top I never felt like we were on the ropes. We saw the game out comfortably. A draw was absolutely the right result. 
I continue to be encouraged by this team however. We are starting to look solid which is always a good sign. We tried to play and in the first particularly played some good stuff. Second half I agree with Wazza that we were dragged into their game, but we stood up to the physical challenge, we weren’t bullied. They are a team who will be up there around the top 6 and we matched them. The only downside is we had no real options to change it, but that’s where we’re at with our injuries and the off field situation. 
 
Jags is looking an inspired signing. Bird continued his good start to the season. It was Shinnies best game so far today (hindsight it was his sort of game today and we needed him), Morrison oozes class, excellent player. Sibley had his moments and Joz - didn’t really happen for him today but liked the effort, they played him well but he will have better games, his showed his quality a couple of times.
All in all a thoroughly deserved point and more encouraging signs. We’re not going to threaten the top half as we don’t have a squad but I’ve seen enough to think we’ll be ok.

What a great afternoon it was today at PP
So proud of the whole crowd who were obviously also delighted to be there
And also a word for the Boro fans - every one of them were clapping the video announcement of the passing of our oldest supporter, pre match . Very well done to them . 
And thank goodness their young fan, who was taken out around half time, is now ok - it looked truly horrible
Thats my last word of thanks to Middlesborough ! 
 
What a truly dreadful and appalling team. All down to their manager of course. Anti-football at its worst. No wonder young people are finding other activities to focus on. 
 
As for us - marvellous , and unlucky not to win in my opinion (although I am bias of course). Every one of them was magnificent today. 
 
Special words to : 
Roos - his saves are winning us points now 
Byrne - at half time it looked like he would have to be taken off, such was his litany of calamities. Responded absolutely fantastically in the second half
Joz - really put in a shift (as they say !) and seemed really up for it today. As long as you dont need a header, just blast it at his body and he will control it in a nanosecond 
Davies and Jag - the Masters 
Stretton - see Joz comments above. Nearly got us a winner when it looked physically impossible to shoot 
The Crowd - wow ! 
 

We have a good team!
Well done!
Happy with that.
Proud of you.
Despite crap ref.
 

It was a super tackle. The fact that the ball went 50 yards down the pitch told you everything.
However, let us put petty rivalries aside and pray for their  number 7 who was so badly injured today, numerous times, that it will probably be the end of his career. The fact he kept jumping back up and smiling at the crowd must only have added to the intense pain he must have been feeling. 
Warnock’s teams never change do they. At least we had a strong ref who wasn’t fooled by it….oh…

If ever there was a game which demonstrated the value of Shinnie to the team then todays' was it.  Granted there were a couple of wayward passes but the number of ball-winning tackles and interceptions went a long way to stifling the Boro attacking threat.
Some of the criticism he's had on here this week has been laughable.

We didn’t look like scoring loads of goals today did we? But we didn’t really look likely to concede.  Middlesbrough are a poohouse team and last season they would’ve poohoused a goal.  They didn’t.  We were the only team today that played some actual football so I’m not as concerned as I was at the end of last season.  Rooney has brought some life saving players in and to be fair, that’s what we needed this season.
I had us down for a loss today, but we looked ok, not promotion but ok. We might just survive the sh1tst0rm !
COYR!!!!!!!!!

I am very happy .. a win would have been better of course, but you can see the younger players getting better, stronger and more resilient as each game is played. Watson and Stretton .. let’s face it they are boys .. looked effective and hungry off the bench. Watson is a terrier of considerable finesse. Jack got hugged every time he was near the ball but their temperament was excellent. Either could start and I wouldn’t worry about them being over run.
On to the game ! It was always going to be a tough one. Derby a bit short of front teeth playing a typical Warnock side full of gamesmanship ( AKA cheating ) and a ref who was so dim he couldn’t see it. … So, regardless of this, on the balance of play and chances, probably a fair result. ( That said I am wishing their No 7 an embarrassing stomach upset or something similar .. nasty little cheat who loved being being the east stands bad boy after he cheated his way to a throw in and a free kick ) 
Shinnie .. cover so much ground and fought so hard, Morrison is one of those players like Sherringham .. space just appears around him magically. He is going to be so influential. Curtiss and Jags together remove the set piece jitters. Bird continues to prosper as he now knows he doesn’t always have to be covering the back 4 and can look forward. Everyone else did a sterling  job full of effort. Sibbo and Joz are nearly there .. they just need a goal each, then watch them go ! 
South stand and fans in general … huge shift post Covid .. so much more noise and continuous support despite reduced numbers .. Great job, I am certain the players can feel it. 
Right then, who’s got an axe for some tree felling duties next week ? 

Bloody love this team ?

Roos: Looking more composed this season and made a great reaction save to keep the scores level. Suspect he feels more confident playing behind Jags and Curtis and rightly so.
Byrne: Taking a while to find his best form but more positive signs today. Hasn't suddenly become a bad player, obviously and I think he's only a game or two short now.
Jagielka: Looked like he'd gone 15 rounds with Tyson. A suitable look for one who displays not only his class, but also his warrior spirit. Do we risk rotating the CBs to keep these lads fresh?
Davies: Same as Jags. Future Derby manager I reckon. Love him!
Forsyth: Playing his way back into some form after a rocky start this season. Thought he did well today.
Shinnie: Another player who has apparently not forgotten how to play football after all ? Excellent today, snapping into tackles and passing better than of late.
Bird: Looking back to his best. Having Morrison in the side is helping players like Max no end and it's showing. Another very good game. 
Morrison: Has played a lot of minutes for someone with so little game time recently, but understandably so, given his influence. A bit quieter today, but still so assured on the ball and critically did not lose his head when targeted by the knuckle draggers.
Sibley: Another solid outing if slightly less effective than against Hull. Seemed to lose concentration a little before being subbed.
Jozwiak: worked hard again but Boro defended against his threat well, though not always within the rules! 
Baldock: Worked really hard and made some good runs. His endeavour might have been rewarded had we shown a little more composure. 

Got stuck in traffic I heard.  Didn't leave till midday as it took him and Rick Parry 3 hrs to set each others perms this morning  and they got up late.

No wow factor.  No scintillating football.  No bombarding of either goal line... and yet, I came away feeling entertained, pleased with the performance, accepting of the result, and most importantly proud of the lads out on the pitch, and the fans in the stands.
Pleased the south stand didn't make Steve Gibson the centre of attention, and came home to check the other scores, and the league table.  All in all, a good day all round!
?

After everything warnock experienced alongside jagielka in their careers he should be ashamed of how he conducted himself today.
Despite his wwe striker elbowing jags and splitting his face open, pulling his shirt in every single challenge and then promptly falling over every time its jags who should be sent off.
Jags should be proud of how he conducted himself today. Warnock, who I used to have some respect for, can get ducked.