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A Night with the Rams this week

Srg

By Srg
in Derby County Forum

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I was the guy who asked about safe standing, in between getting annoyed by that guy who was a bit odd in the head shout out on the front row.

 

 

I was just trying to get the crowd going

 

 

 

and

sam rush said he would give me a tenner

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Animal is a Ram

Animal is a Ram

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A great evening, with two down to earth blokes who, while having the club at heart, have clearly got sound ideas in their heads. To hear such honesty and openness (within reason, obviously) is so refreshing, even more so in the business side of club management.

 

They started off by saying they wouldn't discuss the confidential stuff, be it business or personal (players wages/contract details).

 

On Mel Morris, they were very pleased to have him involved in Derby County. Noted he is well known to the club, given his history (director 2006-07), being a local lad, and welcoming of another serious investor, with some serious clout. Later, they went on to say that while the money he brings to the table will be used throughout the club, there will be a focus on spending on the pitch.

 

First question was inevitably about the squad and manager - to which Sam split.

 

Loanees - they had been fantastic, contributed much. On George Thorne, we are in talks with West Brom over a permanent deal, and he wants to join us. The other two, Wisdom and Bamford, are slightly more complex, the club will wait until Liverpool and Chelsea respectively release details of their 25 man (I believe) squads, and the result of this will determine Derby's next move.

 

Our players - the telling phrase was: "We have zero intention of breaking this squad up." The noise coming from the pair of them would suggest we aren't, or won't be, the selling club we seem to have gained a reputation for.

 

Management - Steve McClaren isn't going anywhere, he believes it to be long-term for him, he, Sam and John will be flying out to the USA "to plan" - I assumed this meant with the other investors.

 

Next came the question on Financial Fair Play

 

Sam said that we are comfortably playing by the FFP rules, and that he believes that there is a 50/50 split of those who are, and those who are not obeying the limits.  He is interested to see what happens to QPR, and the repercussions of their FFP results will be felt in January, believed to be a huge fine. Our wage bill currently stands at about £10-11m, with a high percentage of this going towards playing staff. He noted that this is not consistent across teams, there are a few (no names mentioned) where the percentage is leaning more towards off-pitch staff. 

John added that the FFP rules are "flawed", but didn't elaborate...

 

Then the academy was mentioned.

 

As it stands, we initially went to Category 2. The long term aim has always been to gain Category 1 status - and the club has recently undertaken a re-audit. This can be done once every three years, and the  club will hear the results of this audit some time in the middle of June. The objective is to get at least one or two academy graduates into the first team picture, in order to help divert some cash into other positions in the team.

 

The disabled Wembley tickets situation was mentioned. When the club delegated the sale of final tickets to SeeTickets, the club wanted to then pull the disabled sales to the Digonex ticket office on site. This meant that See had to literally pull ALL the disabled sections and send them to Derby. "Due to the sheer volume, See let us down". The club apologises.

 

As for those unfortunate souls who got to Wembley only to find their tickets blocked, the club again apolgised, but this was all on Wembley's shoulders. Apparently, some tickets needed to be reprinted, only for those reprints not to have their barcodes activated, and as such, could not be scanned. 

 

Then the questions about next seasons kits (already mentioned on previous posts, but I don't want to miss anything out :p)

 

Categorically, it is NOT KAPPA! However, the deal is yet to be finalised for the next one, or has not yet been authorised to be announced, and as such, John was very cagey about it. Umbro was not ruled out.. But there will be a formal announcement next week - keep your eyes peeled. Should be released for sale end of June/early July. Someone mentioned the possibilty of adding two stars to the shirt to commemorate our two championship wins. John said this had been asked before, but it would not happen as there wasn't enough support for it.

 

Preseason games, and the possibility of testimonials - OP mentioned Dave Langan's situation, Colin Bloomfield and a few others (I forget). John said it was something they were looking into, and the club is usually flooded with requests from charities and such. He quoted that £24,000 had been raised this season for DLRAA, and a cheque was on its way. The preseason games were mentioned later on, I think that the 4 already confirmed (Mickleover Sports [5mins from me!], Matlock, Nuneaton and Ilkeston) weren't big enough for some people - but Steve is looking to secure a big team at the iPro for the 2nd August, and Sam spoke about a training camp in Europe - which could then yield one or two away friendlies. Again, set to be announced when finalised, within the next couple of weeks. 

 

With regards to scouting (again, something already mentioned on here at length) - Chris Evans has Mo Camara as head of European scouting, with a focus on the UK for the rest. Our transfer targets will mostly be those from closer to home, maybe 1 or 2 from the continent, with Steve leaning more towards youth, especially with loans, and a couple of experienced players for good measure. Primarily looking at players with experience of THIS league. 

 

One question was about how Keogh and Buxton were. As with the rest of the team, and anyone associated with the club, they are all heartbroken. But that the real test, would be how well they bounced back. Sam also paid testament to the medical staff at the club in keeping the team as fit as they have, with very few muscle based injuries, the only real long term layoffs were Barker, Coutts, Russell, who were all "impact injuries" (SR). On the subject of Barker - it has been 2 years and 2 months since that horrific, "unique" injury - and he has made many trips to surgeons, doctors and specialists. Barker himself is "bullish" about the affair, and hopes to be back for one of the preseason games. Big supporter of the club, and he, and the rest of the team, acknowledge, and are extremely grateful for the support they receive from us the fans. 

 

"What will the club do to avoid 'doing a Watford'?"

Sam pointed to the following:

 

- Watford relied heavily on loans, and as a result lost a fair few of those players. We won't, as most of those involved this season are our own, and with confidence, will stay.

- Loss of manager. Again, something we are confident will not happen.

- Loss of parachute money/significant change in income. Not really applicable. 

- Both promoted teams made few changes to their respective squads from last season.

 

We as a club are looking at making strong relationships with the Champions League teams, to try and benefit from the "stockpiling" of youth talent that happens at your Chelsea's, Liverpool's etc., to gain more loans/potential transfers, such as Bamford and Wisdom. We want them, to want to send us players, to help develop, and noted that while both the aforementioned had the desired effect here, we have the confidence that we can find equal, if not better.

 

As for improvements to the ground:

 

- Fan park:  The club are looking at this, and talking to Delaware (external catering) to try and expand the fan park, but the key issue is space.

 

- iPro branding: No major changes. Working with the council to get the brown road signs changed.

 

- Ticketing: A new system is being implemented as this is typed, to help improve the ticket office. Season ticket holders will receive brand new cards, regardless. One feature mentioned will be print at home tickets, in an effort to avoid the Wembley situation all over again. The away membership feature was discussed, and while other methods have been considered, such as a points system, similar to that at Sheffield Wednesday, this was not feasible, and as such, the current method will stay - in order to help fans who, for one reason or another cannot buy a season ticket get to away games.

 

- Away games: beamback. As this mostly relies on permission from host club, this is unlikely for all but the biggest of games, where we sell out our allocation, as clubs don't want to lose the money generated by travelling fans, those who would instead of travelling to the ground, would simply go to the iPro. 

 

- Safe standing: While it was noted that the South Stand move was a great success, and had effectively gained us two wins against Forest and Brighton (SMc), the club felt that standing was at least 2-3 years away. Mostly due to the politics of the Hillsborough disaster (yes, again). Derby will continue to back it. 

 

 

When questioned on their own commitment to the club - they want to stay. Particular highlight of the night:

Sam Rush: "I knew that, when 4-1 down to Ipswich, upon hearing 'BACK THE BOARD' ringing around [tongue in cheek!], we would get massive support when we turned things around"

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wixman1884

wixman1884

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Thanks for the write ups. Hopefully Thorne will sign and the top teams will be throwing their best young talent at us after the success of thorne/wisdom/bamford's loans.

Any idea where they're visiting in the USA and if they're up for a pint? I'd also be more than happy to apply sun lotion to people's backs if they find themselves in southern california.

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