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Reflection

Wolfie20

By Wolfie20
in Derby County Forum

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50 minutes ago, Duracell said:

No need to apologise for that! This is the thread for considered opinions.

We really don't know the ins and outs of why Mel Morris went into the dressing room that night. I'm worried he didn't seize the opportunity to note it as a mistake or promise it won't happen again. It's concerning he doesn't seem to take it seriously.

I have another theory as to why he entered the dressing room though, and it's a combination of things he said to Owen Bradley and what I saw on the pitch that night. The Reading performance was typified for me when on the half way line, facing his own goal under little pressure, teed the ball up for himself and then hooked it high up into the air. The body language of the rest of the players seemed to say "wtf was that?"

There are rumours that the established player, the old guard, are really unhappy at the moment and I wonder if there were concerns emerging over a split dressing room, rather than a lost one. You have Keogh, Bryson, Buxton, Hendrick, Russell and Martin and only one of those is players is in the team regularly and playing to the best of his abilities, despite the fact all of them are fit. Then you have £6m Johnson seemingly getting a start no matter what and Nick Blackman walks straight into the team.

Just wonder whether Morris was fearing a faction between Clement and his new boys, and the Clough/McClaren old guard who aren't enjoying their football anymore. Morris told Owen Bradley that there was a "danger of finger-pointing in the dressing room", and he almost presented it like his hand was forced in going down there.

Still a stupid thing to do, but I think that's an odd thing to say unless he was aware of some disharmony in the dressing room. The fact the news was even leaked in the first place tells you something.

I still stick to my original post though, that the difference in aims for Clement and Morris started to become apparent as early as November. Morris told Bradley that as late as Sunday night, he was on the phone to Clement to see if there was any sign that they could agree on what the goals were.

November was when we were right in form and Clement was the flavour of the month with the media. I think this was when he really saw how big a promotion this season could be for him professionally this season. This was when squad rotation got into full swing, we tried strayed away from 4-3-3 on occasion, and when Hanson and Ssewankambo completely disappeared from the first-team picture.

That looks like a manager trying to find as many points as possible as quickly as possible, rather than trying to build something that lasts. Mel Morris lives in fear of a repeat of the 07/08 season, and what did Paul Clement demonstrate to show he had any thought for Derby County beyond this coming May?

I believe Mel Morris when he says that Clement strayed too far from the job he was asked to do. I don't think he's lying. I just think he needs to be more honest and frank about the mistakes he made - he was signing cheques for all these players, and obviously that sends out the message to EVERYBODY that promotion is the aim this season at any cost. He should never have entered the dressing room, and shouldn't again. And he made a mistake in appointing the wrong person (although that is shared with Sam Rush).

But I do share his long-term vision for Derby, and from everything I've seen this season, I really believe that Clement had strayed way too far from that vision. The cynical side of me thinks Clement just wanted to get us promoted this season so he could move on to something better - did we really expect last year's assistant at Real Madrid to be handed £25 million to add to an already talented second tier squad and not see us as a springboard? 

 

Great post again, I don't disagree with Mel's actions in getting rid of Clement, and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary I can see you paint a very persuasive picture of how it came about.

I was willing to accept the MM abridged version of events too, until I heard the full length interviews on RD and the BBC.

A little humility by Mel, accepting that mistakes have been made by both parties wouldn't have gone amiss.

I accept he has a vision of our future, and it sounds excellent on paper, but he could, and should have been much more gracious in yesterday's interviews, blame has to be shared between both parties, to kick a man when he has no means of answer doesn't seem very classy, not the Derby way at all.

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Posted
Posted

Why assume that Clement wanted promotion to further his career and not because

as manager he was aware that promotion is what the fans want? I remember in

interviews,when he was first appointed,he stated over and over again that he was

there to get us promoted this season.He kept on saying it right through that good

spell that took us to top. Not one person disagreed with him,no-one said that's not

the Derby Way,nobody moaned or complained.He was giving us what we wanted,

the football wasn't great,but because we had Hughes and Bryson out injured for

most of the season it was difficult to do much about that.Anyway the defence was

looking good,better than it had been for years.

Promotion looked on,with the Premier league set to have Billions to share with all

the clubs,we wanted in on that. Get better players and the good football would follow,

that's what thousands of us Derby fans wanted. Great,now our meglamaniac owner

decides to follow some pipe dream about using academy players dragged from local

schools and sunday parks teams,over a,what? 5 year plan?10 year plan?We have

had all these before,they have all failed. So we lose a good manager,we appoint a

caretaker whose day job is to nursemaid kids,and we lose out on £millions and

promotion. I'm sure the fans will be delighted, especially when smaller clubs

leapfrog over us and get into the Prem,leaving us behind.I hope we don't get

relegated,all hell will pay,and that will wipe the smirk off our owners face.

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