Tony Le Mesmer Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Under Pearson we played 9 league games, scored just 3 and conceded 9 and won only once - the late winner at Preston. On top of that I couldn't really confess to enjoying any of the games I watched ( all home games ). Worst of all, Pearson left the club with it occupying the final relegation place with just 6 points. Unthinkable really. Powell stepped in and steadied the ship remarkably well with an away win at Cardiff and an unlucky draw at Reading. I for one had already written the season off at this point and maybe thought we had a very outside chance of a play off spot at best but couldn't really see it. The side was in disarray and players were underperforming. Nobody knew what the real story was behind Pearson being ousted by Mel and nobody knew who the next manager would be. Mel then announces McClaren as the new manager. To take charge of the club for a second time. People often say it's a mistake to go back twice don't they? Steve took over and has amassed 12 points out of 6 games, we've scored 9 goals and conceded 3. Norwich City occupy the last play off spot currently and a win for the Rams on saturday and we'd be just a point behind them. On top of that, with the possible exception of parts of the Brentford game I have enjoyed every game i have seen ( all the home games ) and I feel I am getting good value now for my season ticket outlay. All this and Steve has yet to sign a player. I'm really just posting this to express how much I think immense credit must go to Mel Morris for being decisive, making light work of Pearson and bringing in McClaren. It was a big gamble, many fans weren't too bowled over with the re-appointment and although I don't want to tempt fate, it is a decision that looks like rescuing what looked a nightmare season in prospect. Further 'immense' credit also must go to McClaren here. He took over when the whole team was struggling for form, confidence and results and has turned this huge supertanker around instantly without any fuss. Results have arrived at last along with good football. It could quite easily have gone badly with no pick up in form and I'm sure it wouldn't have taken long for disquiet to surface calling Morris out for making a ridiculous mistake. The pressure on Derby as a club to do well given the large fanbase and budget is huge and so was the pressure on both Morris AND McClaren to get it right at such a delicate and testing period. As I said earlier, I'm not getting carried away as it's still early days but for now M&M have rekindled our flagging season from one of resignation to one of hope and now I can believe that anything is possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 spot on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Mel's my hero. Central heating on the concourse - luxury!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derby blood Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Yes I think both Mel for being very brave for appointing Mac as manager again, and Super Mac for getting us to play so well , and playing entertaining football again in such a short space of time is unbelievable, Really looking forward to seeing how far we can now go this season, and a win against Norwich, will just indicate, on how far we can go, I believe a top six finish is now possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Le Mesmer Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 I know my post was probably a bit sicky OTT positive but I just cannot believe the game of football sometimes. 6 games under McClaren and it looks a completely new side. How is it possible to turn it around so quickly with the exact same set of players AND playing well in the process?! I'll never understand football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimmu Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 4 hours ago, Tony Le Mesmer said: I know my post was probably a bit sicky OTT positive but I just cannot believe the game of football sometimes. 6 games under McClaren and it looks a completely new side. How is it possible to turn it around so quickly with the exact same set of players AND playing well in the process?! I'll never understand football. It's the myth of "takes time to gel" which has influence on our thinking. People should forget that crap, there ain't such thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostyn6 Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 7 hours ago, Tony Le Mesmer said: I know my post was probably a bit sicky OTT positive but I just cannot believe the game of football sometimes. 6 games under McClaren and it looks a completely new side. How is it possible to turn it around so quickly with the exact same set of players AND playing well in the process?! I'll never understand football. positive intent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozza Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Maybe Pearson was the key after all , the plan all along , maybe he was hired to rattle a few cages , kick a few backsides , make our under performers realise it ain't all beer and skittles . You've got to work to get anywhere near the Derby County first team . If you don't like the way i run this club , you know where the door is , or at the very least the type of manager i will hire .. Be Warned , players .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealhantsram Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Just goes to prove a manager only needs 6 games to prove themselves. If it ain't working, sacked em quick and get a new one in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Hobhead Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Powell deserves a lot of credit too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Le Mesmer Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 2 minutes ago, therealhantsram said: Just goes to prove a manager only needs 6 games to prove themselves. If it ain't working, sacked em quick and get a new one in. Doesn't always work though. I think the key thing is the quality of the playing staff. If they're crap then it doesn't matter who comes in. Take my old club York City. I'm the space of just 2 seasons they went from play offs to bottom of the NL. Nigel Worthington who the summer after play offs made a load of crackers signings on 2 year deals.None of which were good enough and every one of them now playing elsewhere but all in the National League and below. He left. Russ Wilcox took over and added similar dross. Vadaine Oliver who a year ago was wanted by Wigan now is at Notts County and scores about 1 in a hundred appearances. In fact the only decent player signed was James Berrett from Yeovil who is now flourishing at Grimsby. Wilcox was sacked and Jackie McNamara came in and just replaced ALL the first team with young inexperienced kids from below NL. York are now 5th bottom of the NL and in a relegation scrap. 3 managers in 2 seasons and not one able to arrest the decline. Wilcox got Ssausagehorpe promoted whilst Worthington had managed Northern Ireland. If you've got a team of rubbish though nothing can make them gel. Derby have a team of quality and all it needed was the right man. Get the wrong man and a team of quality can end up in trouble. The old 'too good to go down' phrase springs to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Le Mesmer Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 Also in the case of McClaren, with me not being a Derby supporter the first time he was here. I have seen in 6 games that he has the ability to get players playing and get results. The evidence is there. Therefore when a bad run of form is hit, which it inevitably will be, the fans have that security that they know McClaren is a capable manager because they've seen it with their own eyes and thus is given time and patience. When a new manager comes in to a club he really does have to hit the ground running otherwise fans have no basis on which to expect change and it can get messy with fans turning quicker than perhaps is reasonable. Pearson for example, without wanting to single him out. He came in and we were poor and looked bereft of ideas without any game plan whatsoever but just to keep it tight. At no point during his games managed here could you see improvements, even how improvements could be made or indeed what the man was even trying to attempt. As fans we want to be able to say we'd seen the odd game here and there that gave confidence that it was only a matter of time before things clicked. It was blind faith really with no actual evidence seen on the field of play that Pearson was making any progress. Ok so it was only 9 games or so but if I may go back to York City again and bore you all once more. When Nigel Worthington left the club appointed Russ Wilcox who had been harshly sacked by Ssausagehorpe after getting them into league 1 in his first managerial job. He went like 23 games unbeaten or something and despite that, many Scunny fans thought it was somewhat a freak run of results and a winning team just being told to go out there and play without any real input from Wilcox which I thought was harsh. Anyway, Wilcox took over at a struggling York side and results and performances that were seen under the last days of Worthington continued unchanged despite Wilcox bringing in quite a few signings, including one Deon Burton on loan for a couple of games where in his first away at Cheltenham, a game I was at, he cleverly set up another promising loanee in Diego de Girolamo to score the only goal of the game. That was a high point. There weren't any others. No matter what he tried, 3 at the back, 4-4-2 whatever and no matter who he brought in personnel wise. Results were poor and performances gave no indication that he was either competent or able to turn things around. There was no tangible evidence to go on other than blind faith that he would get it right. That blind faith went on far too long and he never did get it anywhere near right. For me, a manager deserves a lot more time and patience if signs are there of impending improvement or at least signs that you can see what a manager is trying to implement. When you get a Pearson or a Wilcox who comes in and things either don't change or even get worse week after week then it's difficult to have that faith as a fan. Wilcox just worked for a club who behind the scenes is rotten and the players he added to the ones already at Bootham Crescent were not league standard anymore. Pearson went against the grain and got some fabulously talented footballers to play like robots. In both cases though neither showed fans any evidence that indicated they were the right men for their respective jobs. McClaren has done so already within 6 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnieronalde Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Fair play on the turnaround. Steve certainly seems to have got the lads enjoying their football again. Importantly the table looks a lot better these days, was amazed to see the gap to the top 6 being so small. I might well have to revisit my thoughts on the Mac re-appointment, I'm not sure many could have come in and had the immediate impact he has. I thought there would be a hangover with certain players resenting him from his previous spell but it looks like he's never been away. happy days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostyn6 Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 12 minutes ago, ronnieronalde said: Fair play on the turnaround. Steve certainly seems to have got the lads enjoying their football again. Importantly the table looks a lot better these days, was amazed to see the gap to the top 6 being so small. I might well have to revisit my thoughts on the Mac re-appointment, I'm not sure many could have come in and had the immediate impact he has. I thought there would be a hangover with certain players resenting him from his previous spell but it looks like he's never been away. happy days. something something Ronnie's spoken something shurrup about Nigel Clough Ronnie! ...thought I'd get in before everyone else... hope you had a good birthday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsbottom Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Pearson's football = Gemma Collins sat in a Dacia Sandero , wearing a brown velvet tracksuit, chowing down on a KFC family bucket. Schteve's football = Margot Robbie spreadeagled on the front of an Aston Martin Vanquish, in a black lace Agent Provocateur teddy, sucking a Fruit Pastel ice pop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostyn6 Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 8 minutes ago, ramsbottom said: Pearson's football = Gemma Collins sat in a Dacia Sandero , wearing a brown velvet tracksuit, chowing down on a KFC family bucket. Schteve's football = Margot Robbie spreadeagled on the front of an Aston Martin Vanquish, in a black lace Agent Provocateur teddy, sucking a Fruit Pastel ice pop. any video footage? of either.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsbottom Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 20 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said: any video footage? of either.... I'm pretty sure there's plenty of footage of that fat cow gouging on something or an other. As for Ms Robbie, just watch The Wolf of Wall Street a lot like I do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Le Mesmer Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 39 minutes ago, ramsbottom said: Pearson's football = Gemma Collins sat in a Dacia Sandero , wearing a brown velvet tracksuit, chowing down on a KFC family bucket. Schteve's football = Margot Robbie spreadeagled on the front of an Aston Martin Vanquish, in a black lace Agent Provocateur teddy, sucking a Fruit Pastel ice pop. Definately Alan Partridge the second one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsbottom Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 17 minutes ago, Tony Le Mesmer said: Definately Alan Partridge the second one. No Partridge would prefer Jet from Gladiators on an MGB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Le Mesmer Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 1 hour ago, ramsbottom said: No Partridge would prefer Jet from Gladiators on an MGB at Yeovil aerodrome...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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