Who thinks our problems are down to Morris?

[Mostyn6]

37 minutes ago, sage said:

Laughable to suggest they weren't poor signings

Not sure I suggested they weren't. But poor signings are part and parcel of football at EVERY level, under EVERY manager. I won't resort to mentioning Nigel's poor signings, but they do exist.

As for Albentosa and Shotton, both were chronically mismanaged in my opinion, and that criticism lies firmly at McClaren's door. Shotton was treated like a side-ho! Used as last resort and easy to dump regardless of previous performance. Never loved, never encouraged (including fans) and never appreciated. IN spite of never making mistakes worse than any other player in the history of Derby County, he was already an outcast before he kicked a ball, similar to Nick Blackman. I'd like to think ethnicity has nothing to do with it. However, speak to Birmingham fans, and I work with plenty, they love him and laugh at us for not being able to see what a decent player we had, and virtually gifted them.

Albentosa on the other hand was left to fend for himself in a new country with unfamiliar culture, weather and communication, put into a team devoid of any confidence and unable to grasp what the hell was going on, he was bound to struggle. I feel the club quit on him. Gave up on the hard work and found it easier to just pretend he didn't exist.

Yes, history will show them both as poor signings, but that has more to do with the actions post-signing more than the fact they shouldn't have been signed.

[Day]

52 minutes ago, sage said:

Yes and Hendrick fetched £10.5m this summer, 

How did they do after Buxton got injured in the 2014/15 season? What happened to our league position? Laughable to suggest they weren't poor signings. 

 

Hendrick joined Derby in 2008, not really a Clough signing without trying to take credit away for bringing him through.

[Sparkle]

Our problems are in no way down to MM 

main problrms in no order

no adaqute cover at certain times in the playing staff

one dimensional football - no real plan B 

sheer bad luck

square pegs in round holes

poor research in player recruitment 

being close then totally ripping up and starting again 

[oldtimeram]

You could argue that some of these points are ones that Morris should have addressed in some of his appointments, e.g.

poor research in player recruitment? - This area is something he perhaps should have dealt with quicker? 

one dimensional football - no real plan B - Has he appointed wisely in his choice of Manager?

square pegs in round holes - as above....possibly argued he has not had the right people in place recruiting players or selecting the team?

 

Where is Rush nowadays.....gagged and bound in a corner?

[Bris Vegas]

Like many owners, Mel Morris had little football experience and placed too much trust in so-called professionals who aren't very good at their job.

The recruitment under his tenure has been absoloutely diobolical. I can't think of many other clubs in Championship history who have spent £30+ million on new players and become considerably worse.

Can you blame Mel for that? His heart was in the right place, but his head wasn't. He wanted to back the manager and add the final few pices to the jigsaw, but our recruitment team instead brought in a number of players who neither fit the system or fit in with the profile of the squad built by Nigel Clough and Steve McClaren.

The close-knit squad with that youthfulness attitude vanished and key partnerships were ruined. 

 

[MackworthRamIsGod]

2 hours ago, cannable said:

Did you miss the two seasons before he bought us?

One of the seasons you are referring too was actually funded by Mel, he hadn't bought us, but it was his money that paid for Thorne, Ince, Bent and Lingaard.

 

[eddie]

46 minutes ago, Sparkle said:

Our problems are in no way down to MM 

main problrms in no order

no adaqute cover at certain times in the playing staff

one dimensional football - no real plan B 

sheer bad luck

square pegs in round holes

poor research in player recruitment 

being close then totally ripping up and starting again 

You could argue that 3 near-misses using the 'Derby Way' template and hoping for a different outcome 4th time around without changing management and/or playing style would have satisfied Einstein's definition of insanity

[RoyMac5]

7 minutes ago, eddie said:

You could argue that 3 near-misses using the 'Derby Way' template and hoping for a different outcome 4th time around without changing management and/or playing style would have satisfied Einstein's definition of insanity

Yeah but Einstein was cr*p at football management.

[Angry Ram]

Well.. Mr Morris eh..

Came in and Thought it was going to be easy.. I applauded the appointment of Clement, why go for the same old names that keep appearing and never do anything.. Bring in a young coach with a great CV and contacts. Brilliant, happy with that.

My problem is that he has either been poorly advised or just to stubborn to listen to good advice. Recruitment, yes he bank rolled and I guess none of us were too unhappy with the signings made last summer. Next level? No reason to think otherwise..

Big statements from him about not wanting someone to tell him how to run his club.. Mistake!! Even if you think that in private, shut the fook up man.

Sacking Clement, a new coach with no experience, too quickly. What did Morris expect, no mistakes? Top of the league playing Barca football... Or Madrid in our case.  Probably not you would hope so why not percivere? Mistake? Possibly, we don't know what happens behind closed doors.

'The Derby Way'.. Probably taken out of context but a stupid statement to make.. The PR guy should have been sacked on the spot. Made the club a laughing stock, made himself a figure of ridicule.. Self inflicted own goal.. Well done.

The appointment of Wassell, still can't get my head around that... Did not like the inexperienced coach and then gives one the job... WTF.

Now the appointment of Pearson which seems to be a polar opposite of everything he has said before.. Okay, might be a good or bad appointment, time will tell. But from the outside we look all over the place, no plan, no strategy and that is his fault... Said all along, let Rush do the speaking, he is much better at it... Be a good chairman and stay in the back ground and direct from there. Forget the sound bites and spin as well.

Clement gets grief for some of the signings unfairly... Some were in place before he started.. 

How much influence does he have on team matters? We will never know.. Going into the changing room.. Mistake.

 

He has made some howlers..

I don't get this blind faith in him because he is local and supports Derby. What has that got to do with anything? Some hang onto that big time... 

Investment 10/10

Decisions 4/10

Master plan... Yet to see 0/10

 

[jono]

I have exactly zero criticism of Mel Morris.

What a fantastic job he has done as owner. Buying the club and spending lots of his own money improving its facilities and buying players. Ticket prices have been largely stable and we have had the usual ups and downs of a football club on the field. He has done this for personal pleasure,  and maybe as a businessman a wee gamble that we might get to the Premiership and thus get a return on his investment. If we don't then in money terms the only loser is Mel.

Players, managers, luck havent all worked out but that is football and Mel is in it with us as a supporter, only difference is he pays a bit more for his season ticket. PC and Steve ? .. Well Mel is a fan like us and how many of us wanted them to go or to stay ? Quite a mix of both I reckon. 

[LesterRam]

I blame Mm's for making me fat.

[AutoWindscreens]

Mel is proof that money can't buy success.

The foundations of our recent successes were laid down when we had much less money.

All his money, going back to the purchases of Bent and Ince, has done little to improve the team. And I bet some of the wage disparities in the squad that arise from recruiting expensively have only made things worse.

The only really successful buy has been Thorne (injuries aside). And even then it turned out that Eustace had been better all along!

MONEY HAS RUINED US!

Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

[Archie]

1 hour ago, Bris Vegas said:

Like many owners, Mel Morris had little football experience and placed too much trust in so-called professionals who aren't very good at their job.

The recruitment under his tenure has been absoloutely diobolical. I can't think of many other clubs in Championship history who have spent £30+ million on new players and become considerably worse.

Can you blame Mel for that? His heart was in the right place, but his head wasn't. He wanted to back the manager and add the final few pices to the jigsaw, but our recruitment team instead brought in a number of players who neither fit the system or fit in with the profile of the squad built by Nigel Clough and Steve McClaren.

The close-knit squad with that youthfulness attitude vanished and key partnerships were ruined. 

 

Spot on although I would have used a stronger adverb/adjective combination to describe our recruitment of players during his time. Excluding the recent signings I can't think of one that has added anything notable to the squad whatsoever and most (if not all) were signed on very high wages and long contracts. Heavens knows how much Bent, Ince, Blackman, Johnson etc. are on. 

[Sith Happens]

4 minutes ago, AutoWindscreens said:

Mel is proof that money can't buy success.

The foundations of our recent successes were laid down when we had much less money.

All his money, going back to the purchases of Bent and Ince, has done little to improve the team. And I bet some of the wage disparities in the squad that arise from recruiting expensively have only made things worse.

The only really successful buy has been Thorne (injuries aside). And even then it turned out that Eustace had been better all along!

MONEY HAS RUINED US!

Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

I appreciate its all about opinions, however in my opinion thorne is a far superior player to eustace. And i wouldnt say we are ruined yet, there are 39 games left this season.

Had we not had mels money last season i wonder how we would have got on? Baird et al had been purchsed before the money rolled in, with hughes and bryson out (and forsythe) what would we have done? who at left back? who taking hughes and bryson role in midfield? what about replacing ward, or maybe we assume he would have stayed but he was and is very injury prone.

No-one knows of course but i feel last season could have been a real stinker had we not spent some of mels money because of the injury problems.

[GenBr]

Personally I miss the three amigos. I think Mel should leave and get them back from prison or wherever the hell they are now.

Our player buying has been terrible of late, but I don't really think Mel can be blamed for that - he made the money available to buy the players in the first place - it was just badly spent by his subordinates. As for managers Mclaren was a great appointment at the time, Clement was a risk, but he wasn't exactly doing terrible at the time of sacking. I am also willing to give Pearson more time.

Anyone who wishes to get rid of Mel Morris should take a look down the A52 to our friends in Nottingham if they want to see a truly terrible owner. The money he has spent on facilities and the academy alone make him the best owner we have had in a very long time.

[cannable]

4 minutes ago, Paul71 said:

I appreciate its all about opinions, however in my opinion thorne is a far superior player to eustace. And i wouldnt say we are ruined yet, there are 39 games left this season.

Had we not had mels money last season i wonder how we would have got on? Baird et al had been purchsed before the money rolled in, with hughes and bryson out (and forsythe) what would we have done? who at left back? who taking hughes and bryson role in midfield? what about replacing ward, or maybe we assume he would have stayed but he was and is very injury prone.

No-one knows of course but i feel last season could have been a real stinker had we not spent some of mels money because of the injury problems.

We replaced Ward?! 

 

[Sith Happens]

Just now, cannable said:

We replaced Ward?! 

 

Well im classing ince as that replacement, and in fairness despite what people say he had a reasonable return last season.

[WhiteHorseRam]

11 minutes ago, AutoWindscreens said:

Mel is proof that money can't buy success.

The foundations of our recent successes were laid down when we had much less money.

All his money, going back to the purchases of Bent and Ince, has done little to improve the team. And I bet some of the wage disparities in the squad that arise from recruiting expensively have only made things worse.

The only really successful buy has been Thorne (injuries aside). And even then it turned out that Eustace had been better all along!

MONEY HAS RUINED US!

Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Too right. Using my crystal ball I can tell you what will happen from here on in.

We will go into free fall this season results-wise. MM will sack NP in January and appoint some bloke  who no one has ever heard of. We get relegated with just 23 pts.

MM loses interest over the summer and sells the club at a loss to a weak consortium whose money mainly comes from relining teabags and making hamster wheels. Fire sale of players beings over the summer.

We keep getting relegated until the club collapses as a business and Derby council compulsory purchase the ipro for more houses.

10 yrs from now what is left of the forum members are watching the team on a Sunday morning holding jack russells on bits of string.

Sorry I had to post this. Nothing to do with AutoWindscreens post just had to get it off my chest in response to so much negativity. MM has loads of cash and keeps spending it on the club, which he has always supported. What a rotter.

Also I had to restore the karmic balance as its me who keeps voting 10/10 for the team performance on the little surveys regardless.

I would google and paste the lyrics for 'The Sun will come out tomorrow' from Orphan Annie but I can't be arsed.

[Millenniumram]

I think it's extremely difficult for us to tell how much of the blame lies with MM- the only thing we really know is his intentions are in the right place. He's invested a huge amount into the club and we should be very grateful for that, improved facilities and big money playing staff have become the norm in football- gone are the days of us hanging in the shadows trying to be the 'good club', unfortunately with the money in the game now that's not very easy to pull off at all nowadays. MM has definately boosted our reputation within football, and brought us out of mediocrity back into the forefront of expectation in thus division- which is exactly what a club with our history should be in our decision.

The main issue which in the long term has troubled us imo is the recruitment. It's exactly who's at fault for the poor recruitment of players that don't fit a system or the ethos at the club which is up for debate. Is it MM for hiring the wrong people? Is it the managers for buying the wrong players off a list produced by the recruitment team, or for asking for the wrong sort of player? Or is it as simple as just the recruitment team being poor? Or maybe it was Sam rush hiring the wrong men and MM only provided the money, having nothing to do with the recruitment? It's all a matter of opinion but without knowing the ins and outs of what happens behind the scenes imo we can't lay the long term blame at anyone's door, as we simply don't have the evidence. The current failure of the team is of course in the short term due to tactical mishaps but Pearson and obscene decisions in the way we set up, but there were troubles long before him as well which he has inherited- all leading to our current state

[TheresOnlyWanChope]

Didn't realise Mel was playing up front . Thought Morris has invested a lot of money in Derby- academy, supported the managers etc. Maybe we should find a chairman with no money , de invest from all our facilities and  sell all the players replacing them with lower league low earners.