Day Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 Just a few tidbits that I can remember Albentosa, still rate him as a player although his style is probably better suited to the Premier League. Thinks he would be open to trying again with us. I'm unsure if he was talking about Albentosa but did I hear that he admitted the club didn't do enough for him to help settle, was paying for his own English lessons which the club should have been organising and paying for? Steve McClaren wasn't interested in foreign players, jokes about the Dutch accent. Still speaks highly of him being highly intelligent, reads the game well, they would have given him what he wanted to mould the team into his own but didn't feel like that trust worked both ways, Newcastle thing difficult to handle. John Vicars was sat in the background, didn't speak much but seemed a bit embarrassed by asking him to get back on Twitter and they ribbed him a little by calling him a twit. The MK Dons team was Mel's team, he had it written on a napkin and placed into Wassall's pocket which he later referred back on when asked about the game. Sense of humour required for this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G STAR RAM Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 2 minutes ago, Daveo said: Just a few tidbits that I can remember Albentosa, still rate him as a player although his style is probably better suited to the Premier League. Thinks he would be open to trying again with us. I'm unsure if he was talking about Albentosa but did I hear that he admitted the club didn't do enough for him to help settle, was paying for his own English lessons which the club should have been organising and paying for? Steve McClaren wasn't interested in foreign players, jokes about the Dutch accent. Still speaks highly of him being highly intelligent, reads the game well, they would have given him what he wanted to mould the team into his own but didn't feel like that trust worked both ways, Newcastle thing difficult to handle. John Vicars was sat in the background, didn't speak much but seemed a bit embarrassed by asking him to get back on Twitter and they ribbed him a little by calling him a twit. The MK Dons team was Mel's team, he had it written on a napkin and placed into Wassall's pocket which he later referred back on when asked about the game. Sense of humour required for this one. The first point was about Albentosa and Mascarell. Think he said Albentosa became a bit angry and bitter at not being in the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alph Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Was Raul angry about not being in the team or being ignored a bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G STAR RAM Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Just now, Alpha said: Was Raul angry about not being in the team or being ignored a bit? I think Mel said 'at the way he was being treated' and then said it was understandable with him not being in the team. (Wouldn't put my mortgage on that though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 G Star's post in Ram Talk just now reminded me. Buxton did his back in by Kwame Thomas falling on him. I almost cried, much is said about Buxton's strength and ability to take on anyone or anything, to be taken out by another player falling on him has ruined the whole superhero image for me now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alph Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Tbh, the flapjacks were distracting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammieib Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 1 hour ago, Daveo said: Just a few tidbits that I can remember Albentosa, still rate him as a player although his style is probably better suited to the Premier League. Thinks he would be open to trying again with us. I'm unsure if he was talking about Albentosa but did I hear that he admitted the club didn't do enough for him to help settle, was paying for his own English lessons which the club should have been organising and paying for? Steve McClaren wasn't interested in foreign players, jokes about the Dutch accent. Still speaks highly of him being highly intelligent, reads the game well, they would have given him what he wanted to mould the team into his own but didn't feel like that trust worked both ways, Newcastle thing difficult to handle. John Vicars was sat in the background, didn't speak much but seemed a bit embarrassed by asking him to get back on Twitter and they ribbed him a little by calling him a twit. The MK Dons team was Mel's team, he had it written on a napkin and placed into Wassall's pocket which he later referred back on when asked about the game. Sense of humour required for this one. You just know some people won't have a sense of humour on the last point. Prob end up in th papers now if you go with that lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 Should maybe add a disclaimer. A napkin was transferred to Wassall's pocket which had nothing written on but jokingly said here's the team for today. All in good humour and the napkin never left the table.....unless it was switched in his pocket that is! Might be worth adding Mel said he didn't want to hear the team before the game, was waiting like the rest of us to see what Wassall went with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 Going to put this out there at 6pm if anyone wants to get anything more out there in the next half hour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostyn6 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 (cont...) Mel explained the details of the Derby Way, and how it was more than just on-pitch performances, but a philosophy which he decided Paul Clement was not 'aligned' with. Clement had previously deviated from the plan, but realigned, then deviated again and couldn't/wouldn't realign. Now, Mel was a bit defensive here, and this is where he was reluctant to go into detail, and perhaps where my original posts on Saturday night got misinterpreted. Mel asked us our opinions on how we saw improvements, and how things have progressed. The reluctance was to state his opinion, perhaps out of respect to the players and the previous manager. The questions were about players improving, etc. the balance of the squad improving etc. By the end of this discussion, it was clear that Mel had made the decision for the right reasons. Mel asked us how many games would we expect a manager to go and watch opposition (for scouting purposes) and then revealed that Clement only went to watch Man United (before the FA cup game). He also said McClaren was similar in his methods. Both relied on reports of scouts, although the forum representatives suggested that perhaps McClaren only really concerned himself with Derby's plans. This led to the group concluding that Clement perhaps thought the Championship was beneath him, and wanted to be a PL manager more than a Derby manager. Mel just tilted his head and scoped the table. I then mentioned Mel entering the dressing room, and suggested it was undermining the manager, and Mel should communicate his concerns through the manager. Mel dismissed this notion and started to give a rather crude analogy, which I dismissed as "apples and oranges", which annoyed Mel, who then said I had a 'fixed' idea so there was no point in discussing it further! I thought at this stage that I'd really upset him, but he's made of thicker skin than that, and eventually, I apologised if I was rude, and he did go on to explain his thinking and why he went into the changing room after the Reading game. I still maintained that if he needs to do that, then he has the wrong manager in place, but Mel said that was a brutal point of view. Darren Wassall was hovering the other side of the room, whether he was briefed we were there or not, who knows? But eventually, Mel called him over and he pulled up a chair. Mel prompted him to give an idea of how training has been and the moods etc. Wassall almost predictably said all the right things, that you would expect, that's not to say they weren't true, but he spoke well. I asked him if he'd wanted the job, but worded it wrong and said something like "how did it happen? did you knock on Mel's door asking for the job? or did Mel come and ask you?", as my concern was if he'd taken the role on out of duty, or if he genuinely wanted to be Derby boss. Wassall went on to respond that he has that much on his plate in his current role, reeling off a load of numbers of teams, players, staff, parents etc he has to manage, that he'd never dream of asking for another job, but when he was asked, it was a privilege and honour and couldn't say no. There was a couple of gags where Mel passed Wassall a serviette and suggested it was the team for the MKDons match. Later when someone mentioned Bucko, Wassall pulled out the serviette and pretended to look for Bucko's name! I then asked Wassall who decided and why was there such a public announcement about Keogh being made captain again, given the burden last season, and I was preparing to go into a debate about the wheres and whyfors of selecting someone else, but Wassall literally stopped me in my tracks, which impressed me greatly. He explained, very assertively and assuredly, that Keogh since last season has been an example of how to react, conduct yourself, lead by example and perform, and it was Wassall's decision and he's convinced it's the right one. Keogh is almost guaranteed to start and it makes sense to give him the armband, he deserves it. Whilst I didn't agree with the sentiment, Wassall had a bit of that no-nonsense, self-assuredness that all good managers have. I was no match for his assertiveness at that stage, but he wasn't arrogant, condescending or anything bad, just matter of fact. We had a few jokes with Wassall, very good natured, and some anti-Forest stuff, especially about Des Walker joining just to annoy Forest. lol. Wassall then went off to prepare the team for match day. Mel was then beaming with a confident smile, and you could tell he was convinced that Wassall will get the plan back on track. The conversation regularly digressed to investment in the academy and the gym, and the way academy players would be inspired. It was interesting that the club has decided to do a comprehensive pre-season tour, where the academy will go WITH the senior squad to Austria this summer, and there will be 4 games per fixture, 2 first team games, supplemented with academy players, then u21s game supplemented by u18 players, and then u18 game. This was an intriguing strategy, in which they will assess and decide which academy players will be promoted to train with the first team next season. Throughout the day, Mel gave his opinions on a few academy players, and when Wassall was at the table, the suggestion was that Max Lowe, Jamie Hanson, Offrande Zanzala and possibly Mason Bennett (currently getting MOM awards at Burton) were good enough to be in the current first team squad. Wassall also had previously said that they could've loaned out every member of the u21s such is the high-regard for the players. Other topics that came up, Chris Evans left simply because he and Clement never got on. Not sure whether the later claim that Clement on say on all transfers whilst here led to that falling out. Evans is apparently a very "in your face" kind of character. The transfers are done in such a way by where Clement will ask for a type of player with certain attributes, then the scouts will compile a list of potentials, then Clement decided to either pursue or decline those on the list. Given that Clement and McClaren before him had such limited knowledge of the game at this level, it's perhaps the best way you can hope to get decent players! All of the academy players have big silly haircuts! Making them about 6ft 7! Sam Rush and his entourage walked in and all but John Vicars had a bit to say. I love Sam Rush, so I will let others summarise his comments, but he is still heavily involved thankfully. I wasn't very impressed with the PR guy, think his name was Steve Chessell or similar. He went on a proper PR spin, whilst going overboard in his compliments for those sitting nearby, all very unnecessary in my opinion. We were not there to buy anything, and his contribution alone made the whole things seem somewhat coordinated and staged. As a group of forum posters, I think we made quite an effort to take away from being a spoonfed Mel-fest, and I think we succeeded. All in all, Mel has the clubs best intentions at heart. He was right to remove Clement in my opinion. His vision is the right way. Only time will tell on Wassall, or anyone else for that matter. Mel has thick skin, he's aware that he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't, and this partially inspired his decisions to face the media instead of others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srg Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 A good time to let people know DCFC Fans is taking up the podcast mantle this week, with this all being discussed on there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 25 minutes ago, Daveo said: Going to put this out there at 6pm if anyone wants to get anything more out there in the next half hour I'm happy to contribute other bits in the thread later, but I am in Sheffield with a phone that needs some electrons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 Cheers Eddie. Just want to throw a quick apology out there for the way this as all been handled and it's not what the way I saw it going at all, the write ups are all over the place and in bits. It really is hard to reel everything off in one go without taking notes or recording the session. Last night travelling back I was being asked numerous times over Twitter and Facebook messages what went on, 3G was dropping every few minutes so I put the thread out which was later pulled hoping others would take it on and add a few write ups, I saw Mostyn had made a long post in another thread which I merged in without even reading and that's when **** hit the fan. Slightly pissed, flakey 3G, a forum kicking off and a missus wanting to talk me through having her photo taken with Keogh for the 5765th time and I have a broken bed story to throw in for those interested in made for a stressful journey home. If it came across as being unprofessional I'm sorry, truth is I'm not a professional, just another bloke trying to run a online community of a team that's....well look at the form table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicME85 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 You were that fired up from Mel's Breakfast that you Hulk Smashed some angry sex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostyn6 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 I think you worry too much @Daveo anyone who doubts your intentions after all this time, doesn't deserve an explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 3 minutes ago, RicME85 said: You were that fired up from Mel's Breakfast that you Hulk Smashed some angry sex Wish that was true. Had a new bed arriving, missus mum and dad were at ours waiting for it to be delivered, had the 10am to 2pm slot. I decided to smash the old bed up Friday day as we were staying in Derby that night. 2pm no bed, I'm there getting my head around 4-4-2 and now this, missus is going bonkers, I'm getting the blame, after ringing up it was a lost order whatever that means, now got another 30 day wait with a patched up bed. Crap story and way off topic but safe to say it ended up being a real duff day in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicME85 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Yeah, thats not as good Poor @Daveo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alph Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Was up from 4:30pm Friday until 9pm Saturday night. Saw we were getting grief for having breakfast so thought I'd leave the report and sleep Come on today, seen the meltdown and the fact people are stick kicking up a fuss over things that were first made clear last June. I'm thinking the forum needs a mental heath professional rather than a chat about breakfast. cuckoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostyn6 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Oh, I have just remembered that Wassall said recent stats have seen us move from 39th to 4th in English football for academy products making the first team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mafiabob Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 The only thing I want to know is... Did you all introduce yourselves by your handle on here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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