Ramrob

Steady on!

David Clowes took Paul Warne and his coaching staff on to get us up. PW’s record of achieving promotion from L1 is unreal.
PW set the squad a target of 92 points to get us up this season. 
we achieved exactly that and in the dying embers of the season held our (experienced) nerve and fought off the challengers who now have to go through play-off purgatory.
Paul Warne has got the job done. 
he will get a long unfettered transfer window and a fair crack at Championship management. He deserves that.
I think Rotherham were in 7th or 8th position in Championship when DC came knocking. 

I’m looking forward to seeing his Derby side and how they fair next term. I’m hoping for an Ipswich rather than a Plymouth season.
Massive respect to him his coaches, DC and all the players. Enjoyed that ta 🥈🐏⚽️👏

So I’m sat at the beach bar in Hikkaduwa, drinking a beer & watching & re-watching the videos of the celebrations on my phone when a guy walks up, orders a beer and sits down next to me. I then notice his shorts..

My thoughts are that it feels like proper football. I’m becoming increasingly alienated by modern, elite football. I watch it less and less now, and when I do watch it, the enjoyment is sucked out by the way it’s organised and run.
There’s real supporters who support less glamorous clubs because they love them. Not because they win anything or because it’s a tourist attraction. 1700 fans travelled from little Carlisle, just to watch their team that were relegated weeks ago. That’s proper football.
There’s obviously far less money, the facilities are nowhere near as good, the players can’t quite play the same kind of football, but it’s strangely enjoyable.
From scoring two in added time at Port Vale, to Wilson’s header against Bolton, to watching Collins’ penalty at Forest Green from a grass verge outside the ground because the one single turnstile wasn’t working quick enough, it’s been great.
Although saying that, I’m hoping we don’t have to return any time soon!

The Carlisle fans summed it all up for me, 
I met some on the train yesterday who were brilliant. About 30 of us Derby fans got on at Utch station to a chorus of, "your just a bus stop in Stoke" from them. 🤣 A couple of us were offered cans of beer from them and the banter was great,
Walked up to the ground with some blokes who were sound and very respectful about Derby as we were with them. Proper fans of a proper club, they've had very little to cheer over the years but the miles they put in following their club is unbelievable.
Good luck to Carlisle, hope they have a swift return to League 1 and to all the other clubs who have fans who choose to follow their local team rather than be plastic supporters of Man Utd or Liverpool.

I hope it will bring a smile to your face that Dan found a place on here where he was understood , loved and defended to the hilt , it always made my smile and made me proud when perhaps a newish member or one who hadn’t had much interaction with him might get in a bit of a spat and so many of us would jump to his defence , yes we could disagree the odd time over an opinion but going over the top with Dan was not tolerated, im sure there are many ( myself included ) who learnt so so much from Dan or at the very least reminded us of things we already know but at times can forget 

B4 April 2023…….
Well calling all derby fans to get really really really behind the lads we need get behind the lads lets have wall of noise and have sea of black and white let's have scafs flags and balloons let's cheer lads on.
get behind the lads ✅
wall of noise ✅
sea of black and white  ✅
scafs flags balloons ✅
cheer lads on ✅
……………...I think we did you proud Saturday Dan. 👍

 

It will be.
I still haven't stopped crying myself.
Oh the emotion. I was convinced we were going to lose the football club.
B4 himself struggled with that and not being able to go to matches because of COVID.
Ying and Yang - things will get better and they have - thanks to Clowes rescuing the club and, now, we've been promoted back into the championship as B4 knew would happen.
It's just bitter sweet though because B4 wasn't there in person to see it. 
Someone said on here they're not much for the afterlife, me neither, but B4 lives on in all of us. All those in this community were touched, helped in my own case, by B4's positivity and love of the Rams.
I really miss him. 

I’d never spotted the eye before 🐏😉

I have to put you right about the cinema. He didn’t lose his job but he had to go back to work despite having problems with his foot. Unfortunately, someone hacked his Facebook and changed his job details from Usher to former Usher. We think it may have been someone he knew for this reason. This really upset him as he was worried about his job at the time. It is partly the reason his posting on here slowed down as he had become worried about people accessing his accounts. I didnt find out about this until after he died. Some people can be very cruel. 

I'd like to think that his legacy will be "Be More B4". It's a lovely sentiment, befitting the guy. Kudos to the member who came up with it, and we all know that the internet can be a horrible place - but B4 was just 'nice'.

I like many others would occasionally give Daniel a bit of stick but it was nothing to do with disliking him, or his attitude towards his beloved Rams, but simply my own, overly cynical world view.  I think it’s extremely important, especially during the massively divisive times we’re living in, to be more like B4.  
 

We can carry on chasing them now. If we can finish above them next season, he would be over the moon. I’ve got visions of him bending Cloughie’s ear up above. Never mind the Damned United, they’ll be the Danned United 😂

This really got to me. It's such a funny but warm picture. Just like B4.

Please, please, please, take some time to grieve over the summer and look after yourself 

I was one of those who met you on the pitch after the match and said a few words. I think it's only natural for you to feel a little down today. It has been a whirlwind few weeks and emotions have been high. I hope you do start to feel your spirits lift soon and I'm sure they will. Take care of yourself and I'm sure we're all looking forward to reading more of your posts very soon. 
#BeMoreB4

Genuinely thought the emotion from yesterday had waned a little, then you mention Birds and I well up again. As part of his pre match routine my Grandpa would pop to Park Farm to run his errands and always went into Birds to buy my Nana a cream bun, clearly to stay in her good books while he was at the match and a couple of jars deep afterwards, the daft old sod.
What a bloody good feeling it is to have that promotion secured for those of us still around and those watching from…somewhere else 🐏

As someone who has engaged all season in dialogue and disagreement with people holding opposing views to my own I’d also argue “part of growing up” is letting things be and not goading people for the sake of it.
It’s the day after we confirmed promotion to the championship after a rough few years, thousands of fans poured onto the pitch and into the streets of Derby to celebrate it, enjoy it for what it is, let those with entrenched views and constructive concerns enjoy it too, we can get back to bickering when the first athletic former Rotherham player is signed 😉 

Your stats are indeed correct & proves what we already knew about the respective supporter base of both clubs.
I wanted to expand the idea a little further to the crowd numbers in the third tier for any team matching the 'what on earth are they doing at that level' criteria, beginning with Manchester City who dropped into then Division 1 for 1998-99. It also makes a nice 25 year stint for comparison with the crowds Derby have averaged in our 2 year stint down here. Full table below which shows just how loyal this fanbase have been - only Sunderland & Man City pip us on average crowds and of course, City were only down at this level for one season, we've had two.
I think it also starkly illustrates the gap in support between Derby & our local competition. When the going got really tough, we showed up in far greater numbers - true measure of support, true measure of loyalty.
 

I too didn't want a pitch invasion but was wrong. It was a thing of beauty and seeing it again now from all angles on peoples vids all the more so. The sight of  the fans building up on the touch line in the minutes before gave it an impressive inevitability. Whilst joyously happy the invasion seemed to express all our pent up rage and frustration at what happened to us in the lead up to relegation. Has there been a better celebration in Pride Park?    The only downside is that the season is now over. 

Love the different characters in our fanbase. It’s what makes every club unique.
 

I often see him around the east stand. I was really pleased to see someone a couple of people in wheelchairs on the pitch being part of the celebrations too