Mel Q&A with Marketing Derby

[TuffLuff]

Amazes me how fans can miss the point. He's talking from a business point of view, that he's talking at a marketing event is a bit of a clue! Personally I'm glad Hess be looking at this as I worried recent events were seemingly made from a fans perspective than business.

All he's saying is everyone needs to pull in the same direction again, that we need club unity. If we have that, we are a better option for new and current players help achieve goals. Fans definitely have a role in that, but so does the hierarchy of the club. If they are looking to address that, than some fans need to look in the mirror. It's about being a bit smarter than willing to knee jerk at every possibility. 

That he's talking at a marketing event is a bit of a clue!

[Papahet]

He wonders why expectations has risen, yet wasn't it Morris himself who said he wanted us to be a to be in the Prem by X time frame? 

check from 8:20 - 3 year plan & what not

[Mostyn6]

3 minutes ago, Papahet said:

3 year plan

and he's about 15months in.

[Uptherams]

I am disappointed in his comments about player purchases though. No one asked or expected him to splash all of that money on new recruits. Looking back now half of the money spent last season was wasted. That isn't on us fans. Doesn't matter if he foots the bill or the fans do...fans are not in charge of recruitment. This season has been different. If the reported figures are correct then we have made money this season so far in regards to transfers (small amount). 

No one has raised expectations. We expect to be able to qualify for the play offs. That isn't even that great an ask for a club like us. Yes it's nice to go up automatically and at times many people have held the view that we can. But when we miss out people don't lose their minds. Because there is always the play offs and the difference in points between missing out on auto and finishing 6th is quite big. So people expect that we should make 6th. 

If he doesn't want to spend so much money on players that no one expects him to or asked for then don't. Blood the youth, sign players on loan, aim for 6th. 

[Ilsonram12]

Fans pay there money and if it's dross as we've seen recently, in modern football booing is part and parcel to show displeasure at what is being produced

what fans shouldn't do is make threats to "behead the clown" that is a ridiculous comment and that fan should be named and banned

[WharfedaleRam]

'Managerial hiccups'

Under the circumstances, I feel MM and SR (who were, presumably involved in the shortlisting and appointment of our recent management failures) need to admit that either i) they didn't assess the calibre and competence of the candidates sufficiently well or ii) they just made poor decisions.....twice. If we have a plan, a set of expectations and goals (pardon the pun!) over the coming months and years, then this must, imo, be set out before we appoint a new, permanent manager. This is normal practice in large organisations and I suspect it's now essential at Derby. We are all, to a lesser or greater extent, culpable in terms of where we are as a club (from the booers to the stay-awayers, from the decision-makers to the players) but to be honest, there's not much wrong that can't be improved by a few decent results on the field and a good planning and team-building session among the management team.

[Ramarena]

46 minutes ago, Nuwtfly said:

That bit horrified me. What kind of sick f*ck would say something like that? There's being negative on twitter and then there's that. I hope they ban whoever it was for life. 

Sadly this is where these days. I'm sure that "person" would have the balls to say it to MM's face instead of hiding behind social media!

[Uptherams]

4 minutes ago, Papahet said:

He wonders why expectations has risen, yet wasn't it Morris himself who said he wanted us to be a to be in the Prem by X time frame? 

check from 8:20 - 3 year plan & what not

That went out the window when he sacked Clement. It made no sense to anyone then and makes even less sense now. He became known as the man with the plan. Contradicted the plan and sent mixed messages. The plan appears to everyone to have got dropped. People are confused. People are asking for clarity. He appears to be ready to release the new plan. It will settle people. But how long would that new plan last? The mistake was coming out with the original plan, when no one expected one. Now people won't be happy unless we sell our bad players for ridiculous sums, play as many youth players as possible, break our transfer record every season, achieve automatic promotion, stay up and then become a top half Prem club. 

[Papahet]

2 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

and he's about 15months in.

Watch the interview I have posted at 8;55.

"Three year plan starting from May last year (2014)"

 

[toddy]

6 minutes ago, Uptherams said:

That went out the window when he sacked Clement. It made no sense to anyone then and makes even less sense now. He became known as the man with the plan. Contradicted the plan and sent mixed messages. The plan appears to everyone to have got dropped. People are confused. People are asking for clarity. He appears to be ready to release the new plan. It will settle people. But how long would that new plan last? The mistake was coming out with the original plan, when no one expected one. Now people won't be happy unless we sell our bad players for ridiculous sums, play as many youth players as possible, break our transfer record every season, achieve automatic promotion, stay up and then become a top half Prem club. 

Is that plan A or plan B, or have we moved on to plan C already?

Did plan A start before Plan B or did we go straight to plan C?

When does the revolving door open?

[LeedsCityRam]

Seems to be a perception on here that Derby fans are particularly prone to boo or not support their team. From what I've seen watching football at other clubs, Derby fans are nowhere near the worst for being demanding/getting on their teams' back. I've seen West Ham, Leeds, Forest, Sheff Weds fans heap some pretty dark abuse at their own teams/particular players - far worse than I've ever seen at Derby.

Yes, we'll have some entitled idiots who think that we're too big for the division or that because we've spent a few quid, we deserve to go up as Champions. These are the gloryhunters who stain every club & soon disappear once times get tough for a sustained period. 

I don't support booing of players/teams but we need to keep things in perspective & think its unfair of Mel to suggest we might be getting a reputation for it.

[brady1993]

4 minutes ago, WharfedaleRam said:

'Managerial hiccups'

Under the circumstances, I feel MM and SR (who were, presumably involved in the shortlisting and appointment of our recent management failures) need to admit that either i) they didn't assess the calibre and competence of the candidates sufficiently well or ii) they just made poor decisions.....twice. If we have a plan, a set of expectations and goals (pardon the pun!) over the coming months and years, then this must, imo, be set out before we appoint a new, permanent manager. This is normal practice in large organisations and I suspect it's now essential at Derby. We are all, to a lesser or greater extent, culpable in terms of where we are as a club (from the booers to the stay-awayers, from the decision-makers to the players) but to be honest, there's not much wrong that can't be improved by a few decent results on the field and a good planning and team-building session among the management team.

I understood it with Clement. A  new Head Coach with an outstanding pedigree as a coach at big teams, probably said all the right things in the interviews regarding systems and style of play. Pearson is the one I don't get, he has always been and always will be a 'sit-back and counter with a 442' merchant. Questions about his tactical nous along with questions about his professionalism have always surrounded him.

[Mostyn6]

1 minute ago, LeedsCityRam said:

I've seen West Ham, Leeds, Forest, Sheff Weds fans heap some pretty dark abuse at their own teams/particular players 

yes, and what do we have in common with them over the years?

Failure!

You cannot behave like that AND expect success.

It's not rocket science, it's pretty basic and common sense for me.

To succeed, you need a feelgood factor. 

[Philmycock]

Interesting read. He's alright our Mel, just a bit misguided, he needs to recruit a proper football person as his right hand man, someone who knows the game, not just the ££££, he just seems to be getting bad advise on every signing/appointment. 

[Nuwtfly]

6 minutes ago, Uptherams said:

That went out the window when he sacked Clement. It made no sense to anyone then and makes even less sense now. He became known as the man with the plan. Contradicted the plan and sent mixed messages. The plan appears to everyone to have got dropped. People are confused. People are asking for clarity. He appears to be ready to release the new plan. It will settle people. But how long would that new plan last? The mistake was coming out with the original plan, when no one expected one. Now people won't be happy unless we sell our bad players for ridiculous sums, play as many youth players as possible, break our transfer record every season, achieve automatic promotion, stay up and then become a top half Prem club. 

That went out the window when he HIRED Clement. Mel wanted PC to stick to the structure that had been cemented under McClaren. He didn't. And showed no interest in it. 

[eddie]

57 minutes ago, Wolfie said:

Seeing as this was a marketing event, I hope someone told DCFC not to bother with the god-awful depressing facebook advent calendar this year.

It looked like it was zero fun to make and it was excruciating to watch.

Advent calendar - now there's a thought. 24 little sausages and a black pudding on Christmas Day.

[toddy]

5 minutes ago, LeedsCityRam said:

Seems to be a perception on here that Derby fans are particularly prone to boo or not support their team. From what I've seen watching football at other clubs, Derby fans are nowhere near the worst for being demanding/getting on their teams' back. I've seen West Ham, Leeds, Forest, Sheff Weds fans heap some pretty dark abuse at their own teams/particular players - far worse than I've ever seen at Derby.

Yes, we'll have some entitled idiots who think that we're too big for the division or that because we've spent a few quid, we deserve to go up as Champions. These are the gloryhunters who stain every club & soon disappear once times get tough for a sustained period. 

I don't support booing of players/teams but we need to keep things in perspective & think its unfair of Mel to suggest we might be getting a reputation for it.

Booing take place up and down the country in nearly all grounds, its nothing new its always been there, it even happens at Madrid home games.....

Never done it, don't agree with it..........

 But all this booing talk is the art of deflection..........

[LeedsCityRam]

2 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

yes, and what do we have in common with them over the years?

Failure!

You cannot behave like that AND expect success.

It's not rocket science, it's pretty basic and common sense for me.

To succeed, you need a feelgood factor. 

Really? I'd happily swap places with West Ham.

And my theory could be equally applied to fans of Man Utd, Chelsea et al - their fans behave appallingly to anyone not shaping up to their high standards (witness treatment of Moyes & Benitez respectively) but they clearly remain successful as clubs.

[europia]

9 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

yes, and what do we have in common with them over the years?

Failure!

You cannot behave like that AND expect success.

It's not rocket science, it's pretty basic and common sense for me.

To succeed, you need a feelgood factor. 

To be fair, Sam Rush recognised this when he set out to recruit McClaren. The general feeling at the time, was that Clough was presiding over long term mid table mediocrity. Steve lifted the gloom at the club for a while.

[Uptherams]

2 minutes ago, LeedsCityRam said:

Really? I'd happily swap places with West Ham.

And my theory could be equally applied to fans of Man Utd, Chelsea et al - their fans behave appallingly to anyone not shaping up to their high standards (witness treatment of Moyes & Benitez respectively) but they clearly remain successful as clubs.

I wouldn't. Especially West Ham. There are some things you can't put a price on. Our stadium being one of them. Fans are actually very basic in their needs and West Ham can't even address the most basic thanks to their new stadium, however great it may be, it lacks in the key area.