Caerphilly Ram

24th September 1997, Sheffield Wednesday 2 - 5 Derby County. A few days after my birthday, I finished school for the day and when my dad got home from work he asked out of the blue (and out of character to be so impulsive) if I wanted to go watch Derby that night, I of course said yes. So we picked up a mate of mine along the way and drove to Sheffield, watched some Italian magic from both sides with Di Canio and Carbone trying their hardest (and failing) to upstage Eranio and Baiano (scored 2). Wanchope (who I loved) and Burton combined for a goal a piece….can’t remember who got the other but it was a pretty special night under the Hillsborough lights wearing that sexy orange and blue Puma number 😮‍💨

Just to be clear I wasn’t disputing our wage budget, the poster I replied to asked about evidence of our financial might so I shared a couple of bits of info to answer that query. I do dispute the use of that budget as a stick to beat Warne with, but I don’t wish to get into that.

I think the £7-8 million they mentioned on radio Derby and quoted by @maxjam was just the additional money from the tv deal, there was then further speculative points made about some of the points you listed above in helping increase revenue more. It’s an interesting listen, if you can put up with Maguire.

I’d probably say most of them if you look at what they’ve gone onto achieve; Liam Delap currently on 30 apps with 8 goals and 2 assists in the championship for Hull. Festy Ebosele played 17 times for Udinese last season and is on 28 apps and counting in Serie A this season. Omari Kellyman has played in Europe, the EFL Cup and the PL for Villa. Lee Buchanan ( 🤮 ) played 23 times for Werder Bremen last season and has 31 apps in the championship for Brum. Malcolm Ebiowei hasn’t done loads since he left but had a spell on loan in the championship at Hull last year and didn’t look out of place there for us. Kaide Gordon has had an injury hit few years at Liverpool it seems but has made some first team appearances and looks to be doing better in PL2 this season. Not sure who else there was, the youngsters that went to Man United maybe?🤔

The financial figures released for 22/23 showed we had a high wage budget compared to the rest of the league, maybe not the highest but very much up there. £7.3m on first team wages according to this, not sure how that compares to other sides but it's probably pretty high for league one and we’ve recruited further for 23/24; I’ve preached patience with Warne for 2 years, and yes the club has been working with restrictions for sure, but let’s not pretend we’ve not had some money to spend. How that money has been spent should be the focus of the debate for me, with consideration of those restrictions as part of the debate. Our agents fees were the highest in the league as a result of both the restrictions we faced (big focus on free agents) and the resources available, we could afford to spend the most; Just presenting the info I can find, I don’t see why people use it as a stick to beat Warne with as there are plenty of examples throughout football where having the biggest budget doesn’t always equal success (Chelsea lately anyone?), it still needs a capable manager to shape a squad and get it performing which Warne has done, perhaps more pragmatically than some would like.

🤣 I only asked as a Google of Morgan Spencer brought up an American Football player, so I tried to find alternatives and Morten Spencer came up. Asked a mate of mine who worked for Leeds about him and he spoke highly of his ability, said they signed him as an exciting prospect from Sunderland but it hasn’t quite worked out for him, reckons the talent is there but maybe the expectation affected him but with the right club and the right support could be a good player.

Let’s open up that conversation again, you and those others with valid concerns that you’re undoubtedly able to articulate should put them forward now (not saying you shouldn’t have before either by the way). The season is done, the radio Derby review and preview last night included some deserved praise for what has been delivered and some fair observations on what could be better, so let’s discuss it openly as adults as you say 🍻 Any inappropriate comments or behaviour can be reported should there be any.

I second that. Listened to it this morning and thought there was some good, honest discussion on the season and also what we might need and face as challenges moving forward. Some balance in their chat about what went well and what could/will need to be better.

Could it have been Morten Spencer? 20 year old Norwegian from Leeds academy?

If Cardiff want £500k there’s maybe a deal to be done somewhere between the two figures, £350-400k would be a good bit of business, don’t even think paying the £500k would be terrible.

You’re correct, with my patient optimism I have always been right! And some people have also always been correct in their concerns. But mainly I was right 😉 I think the door has swung both ways with the more vocal minority on either side of the argument quick to goad, dismiss, mock, label all season long. Looking at it objectively the following concerns have been raised, some of them are valid and some were clearly short sighted and spiteful, the evidence is there if you go looking from all sides. These are summarised/paraphrased points to try and capture all sides ; - “Warne doesn’t have any pull” (disagree here as we’ve signed some effective players this season… and gambled with some injury prone ones) - which brings me to point two, “he’s been operating with restrictions so we should be patient.” I always felt there was some logic to this and also agree with the points made that we still could have recruited better when you look at some of the other free agents signed up by our rivals. Overall the group we had were effective and got the job done, hindsight being the wonderful thing that it is I can’t help but wonder if we’d have won the league with a couple of different options. - “he only signs old players/cloggers/former Rotherham players” biggest short sighted load of nonsense out of all the criticism for me and one point I’ve been at pains to counter for the last 2 seasons. It’s a generalised and ill informed view that ignores the restrictions at play and also the likes of Nyambe, Adams, Nelson, Wilson, Elder, Ward, TJJ, none of whom are ancient or cloggers or former Warne players. - “players don’t want to play for him/he’s a glorified PE teacher/fitness coach” always felt this was unfair and it’s clear by the end of the season that this squad did want to play for him and he’s got a little more about him than some would credit. His man management seems to be a big strength and one people have been quick to dismiss, surely he deserves credit for getting the team over the line even if they are “the best players in the league” and he’s “just done what’s expected of him” 😉 - “he’s tactically limited” this is one of the big ones and hard to fully pick apart without a good dialogue from all sides. Part of me agrees and sees it from the football purists point of view that we don’t typically control the ball and control games so see why folks have issues there. But also he has adapted all season, used different shapes, different combinations and still got the job done. It seems to be a case of pragmatism over style which then comes down to preference as many have expressed, it’s not for them that’s fair enough, and others (like myself) are happy seeing us score goals and win regardless of style (which is also fair enough). Though my biggest and remaining complaint with him will seemingly always be his timing of subs, a couple of times this season he’s nailed it (can’t remember specific games) but there have been others when a change was desperately needed and he’s done nowt….come on Paul, save my blood pressure next season please. It’ll be interesting to see how he adapts in the championship with Derby, but I think he’s earned that right. - “the football is dire”, another difficult one to reconcile personally for me as I’ve enjoyed it but I get that people want more control in midfield, more passing etc so again it’s a complicated point to discuss with more nuance. Personally I’ve enjoyed winning lots, scoring plenty, improving away and ultimately going up automatically but it could have been smoother sailing for sure. - “he doesn’t trust young players”, another of the biggies that so far seems to be evident and is more a wait and see thing for me. He definitely could/should have used the pizza cup to blood a few more youngsters this season then perhaps they’d have been ready to plug gaps when injury struck. However I also see Warne’s point about not throwing them in and “ruining them”, he’s essentially done the job this season but given the investment in the academy and his key it in theory will be to the clubs future this is one he must do better on. - “his interviews are *insert positive/derogatory comment*” this is all down to personal preference, some like his interview style and some don’t, if that’s how you feel it doesn’t make you factually wrong it’s just an opinion. - “give him time”, seems so far to have been the right shout, earlier in the season understandably more and more people had concerns, I even had my own mini wobble, but essentially the patience appears to have paid off (for this season at least….what happens next we have to wait and see). There may be other points but I’ve got to do the school run so feel free to pile on and tell me what I missed and where I’m wrong. My point here is that there are valid concerns all round, and plenty to discuss respectfully, we all want what’s best for the club.

If I were Clowes I’d be leaving Warne (and his staff’s) contract as is. Warne probably also content with that. There’s still 2 years to run, probably had some sort of bonus or % increase written in should he achieve promotion. Wait and see how we go and if there’s a need to discuss a new deal it can happen later in the next season.

Here’s hoping those rumours saying talks have started over a permanent deal are true.

This is great 🤣

For the first time ever I’ve had to use the ignore function, and now I feel bad

Can you start a “AI generated commentary on the championship” thread for these posts please? Or if I start one for you will you put them in there? You keep posting these “detailed analysis”, none of which is your own thought or comment, in a TRANSFER SUGGESTION THREAD. The idea of this thread is for us to suggest and discuss potential targets we think would strengthen the side, or add to what we have, or be realistic for our suspected/assumed funds etc…. Please stop posting these random collections of championship analysis in here…pretty please?!

Percy’s latest article has a couple of interesting points in, one of which is that allegedly a recruitment meeting is taking place tomorrow and Warne will meet out of contract players next week, so probably won’t get confirmation of the retained list until later next week.

Jon Percy saying in his latest article over 20,000 sold already. Not seen anything official from the club on that but if he’s correct it’s decent going.

Agree about Barkhuizen, there’s a couple within the current squad who can do a job in the champ, especially as we should play against teams more willing to open up and play a bit leaving us space to exploit. Him, CBT, NML and ideally a younger, pacier 4th option with Ward and Wilson still around too gives us solid options out wide.

Percy says in the above article talks will start with Cardiff soon over a permanent deal for Adams, also says recruitment meetings will take place on Tuesday (assume tomorrow).

Was just having a little nose at the clubs who finished outside the play offs and there’s definitely some options at the likes of Reading, Blackpool, Wigan and co. Like you say, don’t want to pick over the bones of a doomed club but if selling players helps keep them going maybe we can get a couple signed.

Agent CBT encouraging the signing of Adams with his Instagram comments…