G-Ram Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 I think most people are glad of the reporting back from the people that went as it gives everybody reading an insight into the club that they wouldnt usually have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfie20 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 38 minutes ago, Cam the Ram said: Why not? When he's played, both under McClaren and the small amount of time he got under Clement, he did fine. He might not yet have the ability that Johnson and the others in centre mid have, but I'm certain he'd show a lot more passion and effort than they have in recent months. This constant reference to lack of effort and passion (particularly by some of the fools who get onto Radio Derby after a match) is total nonsense (with the exception of one player who I shall not name but if you've seen the last 8 matches you'll know who I'm referring to). Players who are totally devoid of confidence can often convey this impression - it's one of the effects of not being able to carry out what they are trying to achieve but I'm certain that lack of effort is not responsible for our current plight. Poor form from at least 4 of our major players resulting in a major drop in team morale and dare I say it, too many changes in formation has culminated in this recent slide. Can't see it turning round any time soon - there you are, nailed on win at Brentford next Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnigmaRam Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Well it's good to see he MM even bothers to give his time to talk to the fans and online communities. Nobody does everything everyone will agree with as we all have our own perceptions of a situation (dressing room). Thanks for sharing it was good to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuwtfly Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 One of you mentioned earlier that MM spoke a little bit about managers that were putting their names forward for the job, and were being turned away (one name being Nigel Pearson). When I heard the news about people being turned away it worried me as I wondered if by snubbing them we might be ruining any chance of getting them in the summer. Did MM talk much about the process of speaking to these managers? Was it just a "well we're not going to take on anyone till the summer so we'll get back to you then" or was it a firm "No thanks, DW is our man"? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozza Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 i really do recommend the experience , if it happens again and you get an invite , grab it with both hands !! (but take your own sausage and bacon ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam the Ram Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 3 minutes ago, Wolfie20 said: This constant reference to lack of effort and passion (particularly by some of the fools who get onto Radio Derby after a match) is total nonsense (with the exception of one player who I shall not name but if you've seen the last 8 matches you'll know who I'm referring to). Players who are totally devoid of confidence can often convey this impression - it's one of the effects of not being able to carry out what they are trying to achieve but I'm certain that lack of effort is not responsible for our current plight. Poor form from at least 4 of our major players resulting in a major drop in team morale and dare I say it, too many changes in formation has culminated in this recent slide. Can't see it turning round any time soon - there you are, nailed on win at Brentford next Saturday. Well they're one of the few teams who's form is nearly as bad as ours so we stand a chance .... but then again, so were Fulham and MK Dons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynny Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 59 minutes ago, EastHertsRam said: Nice one lads, I enjoyed reading that. Next time, somebody might like to suggest these, we've changed to them in our effort to shift a bit of timber, they're not bad and Boycie, they're gluten free. Mrs has just bought them, they are very tasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtains Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 3 hours ago, Mostyn6 said: (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. Good report Mostyn. Im still not happy regarding Mel going into the dressing room and he should apologize IMO for doing that or at least say he won't do it again in any other role than a celebration one . As for Wassall none of us really know how he will do as the manager and we as Rams fans have no alternative but to get behind him and we I'm sure will all get behind the Rams . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Sheriff Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Nice write up guys. I am obviously jealous but seems like you were able to ask him most the hot topics of late. respect to you Mostyn- i usually completely disagree with what you post and how direct you can be to a lot of users but it sounds like you didn't give mel an easy ride. It is always a worry when these meetings happen because i can imagine fans being starstruck and turn into yes men purely in fear they could anger the owner and get kicked out or whatever. Were any of the guys who went angry with the clement sacking? Even from reading all your write ups i still don't understand what we achieve by sacking clement right now with no permanent replacement scheduled until the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Ram Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 1 hour ago, curtains said: I couldn't care less he shouldn't enter the dressing room domain. I used to work for the chairman of a football club. He used to be very hands on and the rants he had at the manager were nothing short of disgusting. He owned the club, paid for everything, staked his fortune on it, rebuilt it from the bottom up, paid every member of staff and players, lost sleep and relationships over it. So of course would be entitled to say what he wanted to. Get over it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbob Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 1 hour ago, Srg said: Just so you know who was in attendance... Daveo, Eddie, Mostyn, Boycie, G Star Ram, Alpha, Ambitious, Mozza, Rammieb and myself. Oh bloody hell, no DEL again. You know how he got last time he didn't get invited to the love in. No wonder he's not been heard of since Friday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtains Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 1 minute ago, Ewe Ram said: I used to work for the chairman of a football club. He used to be very hands on and the rants he had at the manager were nothing short of disgusting. He owned the club, paid for everything, staked his fortune on it, rebuilt it from the bottom up, paid every member of staff and players, lost sleep and relationships over it. So of course would be entitled to say what he wanted to. Get over it Don't agree. The chairman appoints a manager to manage. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfie20 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Someone should have told Mel that he's wasting his time going into the dressing room and firing off rockets. Since the Reading game it's now 2 points from a possible 15! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 1 hour ago, Wolfie20 said: Is that a slip of the 'pen' or is Mel open to the idea of a manager as opposed to a coach? Take it no mention of ticket prices, particularly for the Man U game? Excellent read from all those attendees. It's the easiest thing in the world to pose a question, criticise or be a downright tw*t from the comfort of your armchair, totally different when the guy you're having a pop at is sat right in front of you - guess 80% of posters would be tongue-tied. It's quite a skill getting a meaningful response to an issue you feel passionate about without making the responder go into a wholly defensive mode. Thanks, one and all and to Mel for having the bottle to face a potentially critical bunch of nomarks! ? I am old-fashioned, and to me the two terms (Manager and Head Coach) are synonymous - unless I think about things, which is hard, being a senile old goat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 1 hour ago, rammieib said: Ticket prices for Man Utd was not bought up, nor was season ticket pricing or the renewal date to guarantee your seat. I think Mostyn and myself posed the toughest questions, Mostyn more aimed at football matters and myself more aimed at off the field. Mostyn may have been a tad aggressive on the changing room incident but that's passion coming through from a supporter and this was the only time I think Mel actually got annoyed on the day. We didn't bring up manager or head coach role. The person he said has full control on football matters. Final decision on ins and outs and final decision on the staff who work for him. I think MM simply gives a philosophy of playing attractive football and engage with the academy. Was incredibly proud of the fact we sit fourth in the country for brining academy players into the first team. (Stats come from the FA they said). True. I was the token happy clapper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarrowRam Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Well done daveo and everyone else who went to moor farm. Also a big thanks to mel morris letting inviting you all .Most of us would jump at the chance of a tour of the facilities and meeting mel and getting some in site into the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boycie Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Ok, I'm under pressure to tell my story. The Daily Mail want exclusive rights but I thought I'd share it on here as if they published it nobody would believe it. so, my day started at 8.30. I was ordered to pick up Heir Flick at 9.00am sharp at the Midland Hotel in Derby. Now I can hear people saying "midland hotel, Derby?" But I can assure you listening to Davros slag it off for what seemed like the whole journey made me think it's more budget than boudoir. anyway, enough of the hardness in the bed, we arrived at the Kings corner to be greeted by the mad proffesor and Mozzy. The rest soon arrived and on we went on our way. On reaching the security guard i said " ive got a back seat full of Taliban and we've got a meeting with Mel Morris". He told us we're to park. Mr Morris, met us at reception of the Accademy and we all introduced ourselves. We all gave our real names, until It was Alphas turn. We all coughed "Alpha" so Mel knew exactly were the toxic smell was coming from. As already mentioned, we walked through the corridor with the tv's and into a room where 2 players were being rubbed up the right way I assume. Then into the video analysts room. When they saw us they immediately turned the sky movies channel volume right down, which i thought was a nice touch. They showed us some stuff on a monitor that looked like something off match of the day. I noticed a flip chart with the assumed MK team on it. It had names (clever chaps) but also height and other information for each player. By heck, they really do go into some depth on the opposition. If only the previous manager did the same. naymind that, then it was time for the snap. This is what we've all been waiting for. Some had actually gone without breakfast prior to the impending banquet that was to behold us. (Some had also had breakfast at the hotel) anyrode, you already know about that shambles, but it's free so I don't want to sound ungrateful. Regards the meeting with Mel, I can only add that it seems Mels Step son has an hand in producing the videos on possible player accusations, I'm not sure what Mel's son from the first marriage does, but he must be very successful as he drives a McClaren super car. Now I have been before, so was familiar with the surroundings. I noticed there was a lot of young Accademy lads milling about, I assume they play matches on the weekend? One thing I did notice was that they all looked over to Mel as they walked through in a way that looked like they were trying to catch his eye and seemed to be a bit star strucked by him. I'm not saying this in a negative way at all, as Mel when possible liked to say hello to anyone who walked through by name. He even knew the guys name on the main gate. I got a feeling Mel was hands on last time, and it was no different this time really. He's passionate about the "Derby Way" and said untill people understand what he wants for the club and how he see's the football he thinks we should be producing getting produced he'll stay at the forefront taking some major limelight. His vision apparently is that players who don't fit into our philosophy won't want to come here, and also coaches who play the wrong style of football won't waste time in applying for future vacancies. In an ideal world Mels vision of our club can only end in a club we can be proud of. I truly believe it's his intention for us to be able to run ourselves and for him to take a back seat knowing he has built a legacy. But let's enjoy it when it comes, and I think it will come. The only thing I worry about is when Mel perhaps wants or needs to sell. But I've always said there's no point in worrying about something until it happens. Who knows, I'll probably be gone by then anyway? Did I say Daveo was a jammy git? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 45 minutes ago, Alpha said: This is why I didn't bother posting my experience. What's the ******* point. Just get called a yes man and "Mel's mate" Maybe we should have gone there, heard his side of the story, called him a liar and left. Do you honestly think we enjoyed the meeting so much that we're in his pocket while he sinks the club? Maybe we actually heard his side of the story and parts of it made sense? Most of it actually. Still a few bits we weren't hot on. Why bother telling some of you about the meeting when you won't budge from your views? Why you even opening the thread? Just get down Moor Farm and start protesting. So, we don't get to read your opinion on the day because you're annoyed at a few loud complaints? Go back through this thread and count up all the posters thanking people for their input and I'll think you'll find they heavily outweigh the posters complaining about cliques. Put your dummy back in and do your write up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 1 hour ago, curtains said: None of the players in the U21s are yet good enough to for Derbys 1st team full stop. Why do people keep banging on about it. Years to come maybe but not yet. They need to feel part of the set-up though - not by necessarily throwing them in the deep end in a sink-or-swip scenario. I don't think this has recently been totally the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Ram Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 8 minutes ago, curtains said: Don't agree. The chairman appoints a manager to manage. . And if that manager is not delivering the message that he has been briefed to pass on? Mel has made his vision clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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