Well Done Mel!

[NS]

1 hour ago, deanoakaram4life said:

"Take the highway" can't believe what I am hearing on here! We have the best owner in the division full stop! Local businessman with nothing but derby at heart! 

When we were on our purple patch earlier on in the season a lot of fans were on here saying Mel wants to "make a quick profit" due to the money offered for promotion. That certainly can't be said now. Mel's actions over the past month has only made me back him more, and Iam sure the privileged few who went to Moor farm will back me up.

The plan is long term. And I'm sure every fan would much rather prefer you "taking the highway" not Mel! 

Get behind your team! 

Jeez it's like an MM cult, what did they put in those sausages

[harryram]

6 hours ago, McLovin said:

Why do we need to wait till the summer?

Cus Mel says so. Stupid decision, we need a manager now 

[cannable]

I truly believe Morris' Own The Region project is potentially the best thing that'll happen to the club in many-a-year. It reminds me very much of West Brom's youth recruitment system - in which they fund youth teams around the West Midlands in return for first dibs on any promising young player. This - along with the plans to build a supposed academy fit to rival Europe's elite - could see us producing highly talented starlets on a regular basis. 

As for 'The Derby Way', people need to stop using it as a stick to beat Morris with. Read the theory behind it. In wanting to instill a club philosophy it should make everything so much easier. If all of the youth teams play the same way the transition up into the first team seamless. This is something many clubs do, Barcelona are famous for it. But this doesn't have to be something just clubs in the upper echelons implement. Think of how Swansea City play and then watch this goal from their Under-18s:  

This is something Southampton also do;

"Southampton focus on themselves, they play the same way whether they are playing Manchester United away or Hull City at home. They train that way, from the academy through to the first team. Formations are not discussed. Numbers are not used. It is about shape, structure not 4-3-3 or 4-5-1. Under Cortese, this is a slick operation where no detail is overlooked."

He's also spoken of wanting a club philosophy that managers and players can come in and transition seamlessly. Who fit the style of football that the club has implemented. This to me is where he's gotten things massively wrong. Did Clement fully understand the philosophy when he signed? When Weimann's joined us he said;

“Once I spoke to [Paul Clement] and heard what he wants to do with this club, it made the decision to join Derby even easier.”

Within a few months Clement was telling the Derby Telegraph (I can't find the exact quote) something along the lines of - Andi's struggled because he isn't really a wide-man. This to me suggests that upon arrival Clement had absolutely no idea what he wanted to do with the side.

Then comes the signing of Johnson. Again I can't find the exact quote but Morris stated something along the lines of - The day before deadline day we heard Bradley might be available, so we took the opportunity. Took the opportunity? To me this screams that we signed him for the sake of signing him, not because he fitted our system. Johnson himself stated that;

"I'd heard about Derby's interest the night before but had to report in for training at Norwich in the morning of deadline day. I had a word with the Norwich manager and said I would like to talk to Derby. Then me and my dad left at 9.30am and only got to Derby's training ground at 2.30pm, the traffic was really bad. I was worried we wouldn't make it."

So if Johnson had only heard of interest the night before and only made it into Derby three-and-a-half hours before the transfer deadline when would he and Clement have had time to discuss his role in the team, how we want to play football etcetera? I know Morris has a 'no-excuses' policy but he shouldn't have sanctioned deals for players when it was quite obvious we were signing players that just don't fit.

It seems to me that Morris has formed his idea of 'The Derby Way' by plucking ideas from other clubs that work and are proven to work. He's trying to implement them. He has a very clear vision of what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. Sadly, the one bit he's gotten wrong is the bit that's in the public eye, namely the first team. I really like what he's trying to do with us, I said years ago that I envy Southampton and Swansea and just wish we had a club philosophy. I think our recruitments been shocking, we've ruined the balance of the squad and wasted money. I said after our first three arrivals that I had a bad feeling about this season, it was clear we were spunking money and players that didn't fit. But because of what he wants to do with us long term I still feel as though Mel Morris could be one of the best things that ever happens to us but I too realise that if he doesn't learn lessons from this season things could go tits up big time. 

[Alph]

1 hour ago, NS said:

Jeez it's like an MM cult, what did they put in those sausages

Nothing because this chap didn't go.

Unlucky

[Alph]

1 hour ago, NS said:

We hadn't fallen away, we were 5 points off the top, we have fallen away now though.

 MM had a tantrum at the Reading game and fell out with Clement. Decided to sack him with no Plan B in place, he then puts up a smokescreen about the 'Derby Way' and Clement not being on board. Two managers sacked in less than a year, is this the kind of Chairman we want, it's not the way to attract a future good manager, so expect some mid-table Championship mediocrity, that will match MM's ambitions nicely.

You can find "The Derby Way" and all the same philosophy stuff written down and quoted on this very forum before the season started

[dcfcgodd]

Is Mel paying some of you guys to talk him up or something? 

[GboroRam]

54 minutes ago, Alpha said:

Nothing because this chap didn't go.

Unlucky

Thought there was no sausages?

[CornwallRam]

44 minutes ago, dcfcgodd said:

Is Mel paying some of you guys to talk him up or something? 

Not yet, but I'm not proud. If you're reading this Mel, a free season ticket renewal and I'll write nice things about you all day

[Cam the Ram]

2 hours ago, dcfcgodd said:

Is Mel paying some of you guys to talk him up or something? 

No, it's just that quite a few of us don't have the same sense of entitlement as a lot of others do. We don't demand instant success right now, instead we see the bigger picture. Mel has come in, invested millions into the squad, millions into the staff and millions into making this club even bigger and better in the future via academy and facility improvements.

Yes he's made a few mistakes and yes I disagree with some decisions he's made (mainly appointing Wassall for the rest of the season), but we're in a much better place now than we were before he arrived. We can look forward to signing pretty big name signings for this level, watching us win more often than we lose, improvements to facilities making us a more attractive club for players and staff and we can also look forward to hopefully welcoming some future stars into our academy with his new schemes.

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, Cam the Ram said:

No, it's just that quite a few of us don't have the same sense of entitlement as a lot of others do. We don't demand instant success right now, instead we see the bigger picture. Mel has come in, invested millions into the squad, millions into the staff and millions into making this club even bigger and better in the future via academy and facility improvements.

Yes he's made a few mistakes and yes I disagree with some decisions he's made (mainly appointing Wassall for the rest of the season), but we're in a much better place now than we were before he arrived. We can look forward to signing pretty big name signings for this level, watching us win more often than we lose, improvements to facilities making us a more attractive club for players and staff and we can also look forward to hopefully welcoming some future stars into our academy with his new schemes.

But....crucial crucial point is we are not currently seeking to employ an experienced, successful manager/coach.

I can pretty much guarantee Big Sam would have got us in top2 with £25m.

i would rather that, including his football, than the awful style and performances we have put in since Christmas. One Butterfield clearance off line last week from serious unhappiness. Watching us hang on against Blackburn was awful. Under Cox and Pickering we achieved little with all money spent. However....we were back then an attacking, entertaining team. We have very few shots. 

I appreciate mel's vision. His investment. BUT to not try and appoint a manager with experience by the end of this season is baffling, and plain wrong. I sense Mel expected PC to re-align himself to the "plan"  Any manager would do what he thought would win us promotion. Staying in Championship developing a "style" of play is wrong for many reasons

1) a lot of current players with 1,2 or 3 years championship experience will not play in Premier League (there were many good debates about who in our squad last season could play in premier league. Often consensus was three or four max) are these four players supposed to show the other seven new signings signed for an average of £5m+ how we have played against CHAMPIONSHIP level players...???

2) Premier league needs whole new way of playing and adapting. In championship we aim, and achieve at least 55% possession. In the Premier league this will be considerably lower, especially against the top teams. An experienced, driven manager will want to park the bus at at least 8 of the away games. This is currently not the Derby way.....

 

I conclude ......we need a new experienced Manager asap. Even if appointed until end of season.

I predict we won't get a new one until the summer. And we will forever think of this as the "what if we had an experienced manager" season.

and do we really think Sam Rush would have been allowed by us fans to appoint Wassell after firing Nigel? Why, two years on should we accept Wassell as being a sensible appointment? What did he learn in Academy years 6 and 7, which he had not learned in the first five years when Sam rightly over looked him?

and....as was insightfully posted by Ramnut on the morning of PC departure what was Wassell thinking by discussing our matches with Mel in public during games in directors box?  Does Rory Delap now fulfill this role? 

I would imagine, and hope not. 

[cannable]

31 minutes ago, igorlegend said:

Premier league needs whole new way of playing and adapting. In championship we aim, and achieve at least 55% possession. In the Premier league this will be considerably lower, especially against the top teams. An experienced, driven manager will want to park the bus at at least 8 of the away games. This is currently not the Derby way.....

No it doesn't. If you go up and are brave enough to stick to your guns and to try and carry on playing the same way then chances are you'll prosper. If you're averaging 500/600 passes a game in this division and it's working for you then chances are you'll be able to do the same in the slower paced Premier League. Swansea stuck to their laurels and finished a solitary goal for off of a top half finish in their first season up whilst keeping the majority of the starting XI that got them promoted, playing exactly the same way that not only got them out of The Championship but League One (In fact, they had five players from the League One days who would become regular top flight starters)! Hell, even Blackpool made a decent fist of it whilst still trying to attack despite the bulk of their regular starting XI making the step up. Luke Varney was their first choice left winger! LUKE VARNEY!

And do you really think that when a manager's got a side playing one way he's going to change that completely upon promotion? It's highly unlikely that the majority of the players could play any other way. Just look at us now! We've signed a few players that don't fit and we look completely disjointed! Could you imagine Hughes, Bryson, Martin or Ince playing in an Allardyce team? Seriously,could you? 

 

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, cannable said:

No it doesn't. If you go up and are brave enough to stick to your guns and to try and carry on playing the same way then chances are you'll prosper. If you're averaging 500/600 passes a game in this division and it's working for you then chances are you'll be able to do the same in the slower paced Premier League. Swansea stuck to their laurels and finished a solitary goal for off of a top half finish in their first season up whilst keeping the majority of the starting XI that got them promoted, playing exactly the same way that not only got them out of The Championship but League One (In fact, they had five players from the League One days who would become regular top flight starters)! Hell, even Blackpool made a decent fist of it whilst still trying to attack despite the bulk of their regular starting XI making the step up. Luke Varney was their first choice left winger! LUKE VARNEY!

And do you really think that when a manager's got a side playing one way he's going to change that completely upon promotion? It's highly unlikely that the majority of the players could play any other way. Just look at us now! We've signed a few players that don't fit and we look completely disjointed! Could you imagine Hughes, Bryson, Martin or Ince playing in an Allardyce team? Seriously,could you? 

 

My point is, that new players will play in any promoted team. This renders the fact we seem to think an extra season "practising" a way of playing will be beneficial. It won't be. Take Will.....he needs to be playing against the best. Not messing about against championship level teams. 

I name Big Sam as an example of a different approach that would get us out of the Championship. 

I personally do think a Manager would change the way of playing.....we will have loads less possession for a start. The better the opposition tales possession you have. Even Arsenal chase shadows against teams better than themselves like last week. You can't pass a ball 600 times if you don't have it. You won't get time to pass it about slowly at the back. Even WolvEs could press us into giving the ball away. Chelsea pressed us in packs at certain times in the cup match (leading to their first goal ) 

To anyone who thinks we are going to spend another 18months fine tuning a way of playing that we can use in the Premier League is going to be very very disappointed.  For a start recruitment will be hard in the Premier League. Compromises will have to be taken over whom we decide to recruit ...and yes we will recruit players who are not ideally suited to our way of playing.

the other fatal flaw we are making as a club is.......we can't even get close to a way of playing that entertains this season. Not even close. We were more entertaining when we were drawing against the  likes of Birmingham, away. We ran and ran and game as end to end.

Also...the comment and belief some people have that the premier league is slower than the championship is wrong. Factually wrong. 

[RamNut]

I don't really buy the argument that PC was anti "the plan".

i'm sure he wanted us to play good football - but winning football. He wanted us to control possession, keep the ball, and build from there. I don't believe he wanted promotion for his own short term agenda. 

PC made errors aplenty. But, we fell away not because of some tactical team programming error, but because key players just weren't good enough, and the january recruitment was well off target. if we appoint a rookie manager then we have to expect errors and allow him the opportunity to learn from his mistakes.

i'm sure if we had some gems coming through from the u21s he would have used them. Why wouldn't he? Those players were squeezed out not by PC, but by the volume of recruitment of more senior players - most of which was already planned before he had even arrived.

There should be collective responsibility for our successes and our failings. They all want to be on the front row of the fans forum when its going well. it can't all be PC's fault when it goes wrong.

if mel had said, we promised to give PC a full season; we guaranteed not to sack him;  and we're going to honour that commitment, then he would come out with some integrity and credit - even if the wheels did subsequently come off.

But he seems to have torpedoed his own mission and acted in haste. The most ridiculous comment was when he said he wasn't happy so had a meeting with PC and that two weeks later nothing had changed, so he sacked him. 

I'm not sure where we go from here. I can't really see any strong opinionated manager who can grasp this nettle actually getting along with Mel or being allowed to manage. DW - for all his obvious faults and self-parody - is possibly the only person who can work with Mel right now. 

but we're 5th not 15th.

who knows what yet might happen? 

[mike93rh]

Can't help but feel some people are overly critical of Mel because we see the likes of Forest, Leeds, Cardiff etc. and how they once held their owners in such high esteem, and don't want to end up where they are now with an absolute mad man in charge.

Mel wouldn't be where he is without thick skin however and so I'm sure he takes little notice. He's put in a hell of a lot of money and I doubt very much he's a forest fan in disguise - the decisions he makes are surely the ones he feels are right for the club, and I feel it's time we lose the air of negativity around the club and support the team here and now.. if he really was ruining this club then the fans would step in before its allowed to happen, I very much believe that. 

[Old Spalding Ram]

11 hours ago, NS said:

Agree, I'm so angry with MM and his 'Derby Way', this league was there for the taking. I bet Burnley. Hull and Boro can't believe their luck; the best team went and pressed the self-destruct button. Take the highway Mel.

Too true pal, I know just the type of bloke we're looking for.

What we need is one of them Middle Eastern type dynasties with loads of dosh to take over the club to boost their own international brand and then put one of their high powered executive lads in charge. We need a chairman who's not interested in minor details like paying bills or watching games, a chairman who will splash the cash and sod the consequences, a chairman who's got one of them Twitter account thingys to communicate with the fans, a chairman who can give the ground a lick of paint instead of all this academy drivel, get rid of these half fans, drop the average home attendance to just above 19,000 so that I don't have to queue up for me halftime Bovril, a chairman who splashes his name across the front of the shirts, and finally, a chairman who likes taking pot shots at defenceless animals with high powered rifles.

[Leanne]

14 hours ago, Andrew James said:

The challenge for Wassell as a manager is that the whole squad and him are all to familiar with each other. They now have to call him boss !! Everyone comes out and is PC with the cameras but they are all probably sniggering in their mansions and fast cars. 

That's just speculation do u know how there relationship works. No. I know that I would have more respect for someone that I knew and would want to work hard for them.

 At the end of the day the season isn't over till the last ball is kicked we are still in the top 5 and could be in the play offs. 

Football is unpredictable it would be a mircle if we won every game.  

[ritamony]

I am quite agree with this

[Ewe Ram]

This is more than tedious. There's a lot of posters who have joined just to have a pop at either the owner, manager or other forum members. 

Mardy mardy Derby 

[Gypsy Ram]

7 hours ago, mike93rh said:

 

Mel wouldn't be where he is without thick skin however and so I'm sure he takes little notice. 

Nah, I think he's winged a few times at what gets posted on this forum. 

[Guest]

9 hours ago, RamNut said:

I don't really buy the argument that PC was anti "the plan".

i'm sure he wanted us to play good football - but winning football. He wanted us to control possession, keep the ball, and build from there. I don't believe he wanted promotion for his own short term agenda. 

I agree....but, if a Chairman, not your immediate boss tells you that you are not following the plan anyone would be intimidated by that. Especially in football world where it is not easy to define a plan to play to in games. I sense and believe PC wanted to assert himself so whilst still trying to win games, no way was he going to be dictated to by a Chairman, and he "rebelled" by letting it be known he was manager and was determined to achieve promotion. (he may have wanted to play the derby way....but when a team is struggling foe a win they are bound to dig in and become less attractive )

I always recall that diet season in Prem under Jim Smith Robin VDL was dropped doe sometime. He was slow doe that level. Yet in the new year he came back for an FA cup tie at Gillingham and we adapted to having him in our team. He was a strong Bradley Johnson type player. Could drive a team forward through desire. I mention this as even during a season managers will adapt the way a team plays. To accommodate certain types of player. When we signed Bradley I did not for one minute think we would keep him if we got promoted. No time foe sentiment in football. So I am convinced we would sign 7 minimum new players for the Premier League at a coat of over £50m to have a chance of survival.