Sussex Ram

With the 32Red deal expired, and no announcement of a new headline sponsor, even when the new kit is revealed against Oxford I wonder whether it will be without a sponsor? And updated again once we have a deal signed? So there could be another unique shirt for the collectors to chase…

I loved the Clowes mock up earlier on this thread, by the way. 

It’s noticeable how there has been zero coverage of pre season training (video or photography), assumedly a conscious choice by the club to prevent speculation over triallists and upcoming signings. Or, potentially to prevent panic over the lack of triallists and upcoming signings!!

Begs the question, if we do have some potential new players at Moor Farm, will Rosenior give them a run out at Bradford for fitness? I just love the intrigue.

Are the terms of the business plan made public? I am almost certain I read a previous version of a business plan which laid out restrictions on total wage bill etc; but I can’t find it now. That would have been long before relegation, so I assume terms have changed. I’d be fascinated to know what we’re working within in League 1- and (as everyone else has asked) how long for.

In before locked

Does anyone else have the DCFC app? There is a link in the menu which shows the squad page. That page has for some years been horribly, horribly out of date and inaccurate. At points it described Tom Lawrence as a central defender, and embarrassingly included photos of players taken at their previous clubs. Tom Huddlestone was shown in a Hull shirt for a full season.

BUT- in the past couple of weeks it has become scarily up to date. Positions, squad numbers, pictures, all neat and tidy. Even Louie Watson has disappeared today. And amongst the 17 names listed there…is Festy Ebosele.

Are we SURE he’s going to Udinese?? Is a pre contract agreement binding?

Before you ask, I know what you’re thinking. It’s as follows: Byrne, Bielik, Bird, Sibley, Bardell, Buchanan, Stretton, Ebosele, Knight, Borkovic, Cashin, Thomson, Aghatise, Richards, Robinson, Cybulski, Roberts.

10 hours ago, Loughborough Ram said:

Do we have a volunteer to go to Moor Farm tomorrow morning with your list of free agents under your arm, and report back who turns up? 

Anyone?

Seriously, anyone? I’m willing to reimburse a flask of hot coffee and and a Birds cob, for anyone who is willing to sit at the gates of Moor Farm this morning with a long lens camera.

Spygate: The Sequel.

Rams TV ordinarily do a video special of the players turning up for the first day of preseason training. I vividly remember watching the video last year. Assuming they do the same again, it will be the most intriguing video for a long time!! I bet the car park might look a little empty though…

A few people have mentioned this, but it’s important to remember that the search for a manager is bound by financial restraints. To take a manager under contract elsewhere, in almost all cases we will need to pay compensation. Even if we take a manager who is currently unattached, do they have agents to pay? A signing on fee? I’m less convinced on those last two points, particularly in League 1, but nothing would surprise me.

I am guessing that the Clowes loan didn’t budget for a lump sum for a new manager. If the budget isn’t there, the administrators won’t (legally can’t?) spend more than they need to.

Given Rosenior is under contract for one more year (I’ve assumed this), if he wants the job he will get the job. Bear in mind that players arrive for preseason training on Monday, and someone needs to be there to put the cones out and hang the nets up etc. ? so if it’s not Rosenior then Quantuma need to act very fast. And that’s not exactly their style, is it?

Also- we are still in administration, and may be so for some weeks/months yet. I really hope that’s not the case, but I’m prepared for the possibility. It means this season is going to be all about survival and consolidation. So it feels neat to me to let Rosenior have the last year of his contract, and then we reassess next summer when things are more “normal”. Not that I can remember us being “normal” for such a long time now.

2000 pages up, and we’re back at square one! Fitting. Do you remember the good ol’ days when settling a spurious legal case with Steve Gibson was our biggest worry??

37 minutes ago, angieram said:

Surely the club can multi-task?

Very fair point. You won’t have the same staff drawing up player contracts as you will sorting out season tickets sales, I think? All depends how bare bones the staff has become!

Surely you have to prioritise player contracts over season tickets? If you wait too long to offer contracts to players they might get pinched- but if you wait a couple of weeks to sell season tickets, I doubt it will make any difference to how many you sell?

Fairly sure the photo is Kornell McDonald, Lee Buchanan and Liam Thompson in that order.

Photo taken by Max Bird, and other people have said they’ve seen similar pics from Jack Stretton and Louis Sibley also. That explains all your six place settings @CBRammette!

Next question- who is drinking which cocktail?! ? 

5 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

I'm not advocating anything. I'm asking WHY CK is putting the condition he is on him buying the Club. Why do you think he is insisting MM doesn't own PP?

Why do you think CK has stated that condition, Roy? Genuine question, interested to hear your view.

23 minutes ago, Big Trav said:

String rumours that Ashley will be announced imminently

18 minutes ago, Rambalin said:

 

Announced while Rooney is sitting on the sofa at Monday Night Football? I’m sure he’ll thank Quantuma for that. Immediately subject to a barrage of questions that he has heard nothing about, on national TV.

Approaching 2 million views on this thread. Crikey. I have truly lost count of the amount of times I’ve checked in here and internally (sometimes audibly) sworn at the fact that there were no real updates- just predictions, puns and chit chat. Here I am adding to the pile ? 

Despite all that, and despite all the “48 hours” and “imminently” letdowns, I still can’t help but get excited at the prospect of some actual news. It’s so irrational.

Edging ever closer to the £25,000 target- which would be a fantastic achievement, I’m sure we’d all agree.

Having seen the large anonymous donation, as well as hearing about a donation from Shaun Barker, I wondered if there is scope to “supercharge” the fundraising efforts by appealing to ex-players, via Twitter? I can’t pretend to know anything about Twitter, but is that something that can be easily done by Punjabi Rams/BAWT/RamsTrust who have a reputable presence?

I suspect there may be a few active and retired players looking on with dismay at what’s happening to the club- but I bet there are plenty that probably don’t want to make any kind of public statement. Is this fundraising campaign a method by which they can anonymously do their bit to help the cause? Even if it’s £100, £500, £1,000 (or maybe £10k for someone on a wage like Mason Mount ?); whatever those people can afford.

Maybe I’m too much of a romantic optimist, but I have visions of Waghorn, Bryson, Martin, Vydra et al on a WhatsApp group deciding how much they should all give to help tide over the club, and indirectly get tickets to the next generation of Rams fans- some of whom wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity.

As a few people have said- I don’t think there is a legal basis on which Boro and Wycombe can take Mel Morris, as an individual, to court for the actions of a corporate entity (DCFC). I’m no lawyer, but I believe that is basically why limited liability exists. Mel will know this.

If Mel really wanted to put on his superhero cape, he would have offered to indemnify the corporate entity against any loss from the future court cases. Then I think we might have seen the impasse broken.

Nonetheless- there are a lot of people who won’t fully appreciate the nuances, so this move does put Gibson/Couhig under pressure from a PR perspective. If they turn down Mel’s offer, it will certainly look to most people like they are running scared and trying to unnecessarily damage the club’s prospects of survival.

On the other side of the coin, if they accept Mel’s challenge, surely they will lose in a High Court case? Surely? I think their prospects of getting any money are much reduced in the High Court as opposed to an EFL arbitration- particularly considering the additional cost/time to a court case.

So whilst Mel hasn’t quite gone as far as he could have done, it is a smart move from a PR standpoint.

Another twist in the saga- when this is all over, can someone please write a book about it?! There’s enough material!

…I think it’s fair to say we’ll have a much clearer idea of whether it’s possible to pull off the great escape. By then, we’ll have played 4 of the 6 teams closest to us in the league. Huge games. Huge.

BUT- I’ve always had a feeling that February is a bad month for us, results wise. And December we always seem to do well. I looked at league results over the past four and half seasons:

February:

W 32% // D 36% // L 32% // GD +2

December:

W 52% // D 28% // L 20% // GD +15

Even discounting an insane Dec 2017 (won 5, drew 1 with +10 GD) I think the numbers show something there. I’d argue that matching our past February record might not be enough to get us where we need to be, given the amount of 6 pointers. We need to be more like “December us”.

Granted, losing Stearman to suspension and Jozwiak/CKR to injury puts even more strain on an already threadbare squad. But our strength this year has been in guts and determination, not necessarily in experience. Let’s hope we can keep the momentum up (and the injuries away!) over the next 7 games.

For those saying we ditch this style of play, what’s the alternative? Without Forsyth coming in off the left, and CKR injured, who is our target for an immediate long ball? We have to persevere with it, it’s the style we base our entire shape upon (CMs deep, full backs wide, wingers more central).

In the case of the goal, it’s three mini mistakes- Alsopp probably chooses the wrong out ball (Byrne was in far more space and was probably the better option), Thommo gets a bit caught in two minds, Stearman thinks he can make the challenge whereas (in hindsight) staying on his feet is probably the better option. It’s just one of those.

There often comes a point at which the opposition press us well, and the only remaining option is to go long. This is NOT the same as just having punted it long in the first place. If they have pressed that high, you get the ball in behind 4 or 5 of their players, and if Plange/whoever wins the first or second ball, there’s more space to get it down and play towards goal. What’s more, their front players have put three or four short sprints into their legs, which they can’t maintain at such high intensity for 90 minutes.

Playing devil’s advocate, in the first 5-10 mins of an away game (particularly against a high energy team like Town) I wouldn’t mind the point at which we choose to hoof to come slightly earlier- just to take the pressure off.

Keep the faith. In Rooney we trust.

What struck me about all the statements flying around a fortnight or so ago- from Steve Gibson, the EFL, and Quantuma- was the amount of finger pointing.  All the “it’s his fault” and the “you started it” is, frankly, tiresome and distracting from the real issue- which is getting the club sold.

My opinion is that it has to be the fault of a number of parties to get into a situation this complex. Mel Morris, Gibson/Couhig, the EFL and Quantuma all made mistakes.

I’d say Mel Morris made the biggest mistakes for the longest time, so he is most at fault for causing the mess. But the simplest way to resolve all this is Boro and Wycombe to drop their claims- so they are most at fault for this dragging on.

But I suppose that’s why we’re still talking about this. Boro and Wycombe will not drop their claim, and no one has the power to make them do so.

38 minutes ago, DCFC1388 said:

I will also add that our last 10 games are much more difficult than these upcoming 9.

You’re absolutely right. The positive point is that we have done relatively well against the “better” teams recently. That point at Fulham is starting to look like an incredible result, the way they have been scoring. Wins against Bournemouth and West Brom obviously positive too.

I know it doesn’t help to keep coming back to it, but how different would we all feel had we held for 1-0 in the final 5 minutes at Peterborough, and actually turned up at Barnsley before the international break? 

I am as far from being ITK as you can possibly be, but on this one particular issue I have a loose connection (through multiple people) to Stephen Pearce. I heard through that particular grapevine that Wayne Rooney voluntarily approached the club shortly after administration, asking to significantly reduce his wages in an attempt to save jobs of others at the club. I don’t believe this is “new” news, and we can never know for sure. But I choose to believe it’s true, and I think it’s worth reminding ourselves of that. 

In this whole sorry mess, nearly everyone has made mistakes or done something they shouldn’t (Mel Morris, the EFL, Steve Gibson, Quantuma, Stephen Pearce- the list goes on). Wayne Rooney, and the players alongside him, are probably one of the only people who cannot be questioned. Their dedication and desire is on show every week, and is reflected in the league table, and in the fact we’ve lost no more players this week. No-one can seriously question Rooney’s character.

Now I’ve said all that, I give it 2 hours until Rooney is confirmed at Everton and Knight is confirmed somewhere else ? 

My first time starting a topic, as I couldn’t think where best to put this.

Last Thursday, Wayne Rooney did a pre-match press conference in which he said we were just waiting on a rubber stamp from the EFL on a preferred bidder. A mere 5 days later, DCFC are being discussed in Parliament; MPs are holding the EFL to account; Boro and Wycombe are making statements about their claims; national media is actually talking about the issues.

I want to say a sincere thank you to those on this forum that have made a difference. I don’t know any of you personally, but those who have called Talksport; those who are part of the various fan groups; those who signed and shared the petition; the mods; others I’ve forgotten- all of you, collectively, have made a huge contribution.

That being said, we still have far to go. Until this club is in the hands of new owners, still in the EFL (ideally in the Championship… ? ) and still largely intact in terms of assets, we’re not done.

Keep the faith, keep up the fight. COYR.

I wonder if this statement by Boro might be ill advised in the long run. They seem to make public the grounds for their claim, being DCFC and their directors’ “cheating” under P&S rules.

1. As per the league regulations, isn’t it squarely in the remit of the EFL to determine punishment in the case of P&S infringements? This is to prevent a club being subject to 23 separate claims from clubs once they are suspected of wrongdoing.

2. It’s obvious to everyone that the EFL have already ruled on that P&S infringement. Just look at the league table.

3. In one of the written decisions (can’t be sure which one) it is made really clear by the EFL that the decision means individual clubs have no grounds for a further claim on the basis of missing promotion/getting relegated; and it would be impossible to attribute a value to any such claim. Someone has pointed this out on Twitter- I wish I was savvy enough to find the precise comment and post it here… (help welcome).

4. If Boro believe the directors acted improperly (“cheated”) should that not be a claim against the individual as opposed to the club?

5. Isn’t it widely known that Aston Villa exceeded the P&S limits in the same season? Why haven’t Boro made similar claim against that club? If it’s because Villa are no longer a member of the EFL, doesn’t that point towards the fact that the EFL have a role in settling the matter?

At the end of the day, I am not sure if there is any party who can force Boro to retract their claim, regardless of how spurious it might be. Other than perhaps the EFL. But I think we can all expect the EFL to dig heels in- there is no way they will climb down now, as it will be a PR calamity, and effectively an admission that they acted incorrectly in letting it go this far.

14 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

This was going to be my point.

How is it possible that the administrators have not figured this out? Are they lazy, incompetent or both? Or is there some other explanation in which they have figured this out and the EFL are simply ignoring them?

Another big thanks to @David for pulling this together.

In response to the above, and other similar comments, is this the point referred to in response 5 of the EFL’s most recent statement? Quote:

”…Middlesbrough and Wycombe Wanderers consider their claims should be protected under the terms of the Insolvency Policy. The Administrators disagree.”

I wonder if our new expert ? @David could comment on whether this is one and the same issue? Basically, are Boro and Wycombe arguing they are football creditors, and therefore protected under the insolvency policy? And the administrators are arguing the opposite? I would be absolutely stunned if the administrators aren’t aware of this.