Spare a thought for Mel Morris

[Gypsy Ram]

8 hours ago, eddie said:

That seems to be an argument for never sacking the manager ever - because every change in playing staff has been directly attributable to the change in manager.

Mel Morris backed managers financially, yet he is to blame for wasting his money on players who were not as good as the ones they were brought in to replace?

Do 90% of the users of this forum think that too, or is that just down to your uncanny knowledge about football?

We still don't know if he backed the managers or the recruitment team on these wasters. But my money is that he backed the scouting team, as some of the players were signed before said mangers had even arrived at the club.

[Anon]

41 minutes ago, archied said:

Anybody with a brain knows that this group of players were in a totally false position under Pearson and were easily capable of far far more ? This was not a wornock/ Rotherham Lazarus revival that Mac pulled out of the hat , and anybody with a brain can see we then turned out piss poor performances in very winnable home games once we got ourselves into a good position

I made a point when McClaren was appointed of highlighting that he would need to maintain automatic promotion form of 2 points per game just to get us into the play offs. I made that point because I was absolutely convinced that what has transpired in the last week would happen. Derby fans refusing to acknowledge that the season was in all likelihood a bust, spouting the "false position"/"only 9 games" fallacies. 9 games is just slightly under a very significant 20% of the season. Part of me would've loved for Pearson to have stayed just to see how long people would've continued claiming we were in a false position. Maybe we could even have been falsely relegated?

[jono]

21 hours ago, uttoxram75 said:

Mel has had some horrendous luck. If Hughes and Bryson had not been wiped out for the season during that game at Bolton, Clement would not have panicked and spent over £10m on JB and BJ. Clement wanted finished articles to replace them rather than try academy or maybe a loan player. If Clement had to work with what he'd got he may well still be here. He tried to buy instant promotion - it rarely works like that.

Over the course of a season you need a coherent, closely-knit squad of players to pull each other through the bad times. Coupled with the Benty and Ince signings we maybe lost a bit of that.

I also believe Benty was a bad signing even though he has scored plenty of goals, we've rarely played well when he's been in the team. No way am i having a pop at him, he's an excellent pro but not able to hold the ball up.

None of this is Mel's fault. Its the unpredictability of football. Mel could have said no to PC's request to sign them both i guess, but once you hire a manager you have to be seen to back him. 

Pearson was Mel's fault. It was fairly common knowledge that NP was a volatile character, prone to violent outbursts. How was that ever going to work with Mel's own personality and presence? NP's poor signings (so far anyway!), and the loss of Hendrick and Martin, weakened the squad and the team spirit further. 

Pearson was going to rip up a squad that was geared up to play the 433 that had entertained us so much for large periods of the previous two years, so Mel probably deserves the blame for the ostrich.

One other factor with the PC and NP regimes to consider is the closing off of the route to the first team from the academy, or at least the perception of it, which again possibly damaged the club atmosphere.

Return of the Mac? looked a masterstroke for a couple of months but he can't bring himself to stick to the formation that has seen the best football since The Bald Eagle. Johnson (with Hanson as back up) to protect the back four instead of De Sart (not saying he's a bad player, just not quite strong enough defensively). Not Mel's fault, seems a weakness of Mac's that is difficult to explain.

Blame him for Pearson, i don't believe he's done much wrong other than that.

Hopefully, with Rowett, we've got a hybrid of Nigel Clough and Steve Mac who will get this squad pulling in the right direction, hard to beat yet with a goal threat going forward. 

Mel doesn't need sympathy, he just needs a bit of luck and to give Gary until the end of next season, no matter what.

 

Ace post 

I'll tell you what Uttoxeter .. We might argue the toss about politics in the pub but that is a first class analysis and right on the money in my book.

not sure I agree totally about Bent .. Think he was an option for the mythical plan B that was never actually discovered, up but being a top drawer goal poacher managed to hold his end up in one way or another.

As you say .. Let's back Gary and hope we get the luck of the bounce a bit more often which brings its own momentum 

[uttoxram75]

4 minutes ago, jono said:

Ace post 

I'll tell you what Uttoxeter .. We might argue the toss about politics in the pub but that is a first class analysis and right on the money in my book.

not sure I agree totally about Bent .. Think he was an option for the mythical plan B that was never actually discovered, up but being a top drawer goal poacher managed to hold his end up in one way or another.

As you say .. Let's back Gary and hope we get the luck of the bounce a bit more often which brings its own momentum 

No matter what is debated in the Pub politics threads we should always remember we are on this forum because we are Derby fans. If we sat in a pub we'd probably agree on 75% of the wider political issues, it always seems more polarised in print than it does in conversation!

On this forum,our political views are far less important than our support for DCFC.

[Day]

16 minutes ago, uttoxram75 said:

No matter what is debated in the Pub politics threads we should always remember we are on this forum because we are Derby fans. If we sat in a pub we'd probably agree on 75% of the wider political issues, it always seems more polarised in print than it does in conversation!

On this forum,our political views are far less important than our support for DCFC.

75% would also agree a Jaffa Cake is a biscuit 

[Angry Ram]

1 hour ago, GerryDaly said:

I don't want to argue over petty stuff like "spaces" between lines ... 

Without Mel I think DCFC would be in serious trouble. 

Crazy Chinese backers ? 

Uninterested Yanks ? 

What we got ? 

 

Mel Morris is manna from heaven for Derby County Football Club... We should rejoice this ... but all I see are jibes and negativity . .Sure he's made mistakes ...But his heart is in THE CLUB. ... and for this we should realise how lucky we are.  

Hallelujah brother.. rejoice in the Mel.

[CumbrianRam]

12 hours ago, Mafiabob said:

I do wonder all those backing Mel would be doing the same if GSE/Andy Appleby had got rid of the same amount of managers in the same space of time? 

Im guessing not..... at a hunch 

Problem with GSE, was that the manager was never under any pressure, NC was a safe as Wenger under Glick.

[rammieib]

On 16/03/2017 at 19:46, GerryDaly said:

Mel has been pumping his money in to DCFC . 

 

The whingers on here having a go at him ... it's embarrassing. 

 

PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR  MOUTH IS 

 

 

or just shut up. 

I do, I have a season ticket.

[ck-]

15 hours ago, Tombo said:

I don't always agree with him, and I reserve my right to express my distaste with his decisions when they irk me. But I think some people really think you can change chairmen like you can change managers or like you can get a new centre half.

It's not as simple as "if it's not working, change it all" when it comes to ownership. If you have instability with players and coaches, you get poor results on the pitch. If you have instability with owners, you get people not being paid and utter chaos as to who is running the place. Look at Portsmouth in their worst times if you don't believe me.

I'm telling you, if you hound Mel out (not that he's going to bow to that kind of pressure anyway), you'll regret it. He's doing a decent job. Maybe not perfect but he's put money in, and he's fully committed to this project for better or worse. He puts his money where his mouth is and puts his love-spuds on the barbecue by continuing to be a public face for the club.

He's willing, committed and relatively sensible compared to other nightmares of chairmen clubs have found themselves with.

Great post. I find it odd on here that there seems to be a polarisation of views that allows no middle ground. 

I like having Mel Morris as chairman. I like the fact that he's a Derby supporter so will sway some of the hard headed business decisions a little more in our favour. I like all the work behind the scenes building up a premier league infrastructure. And I like the fact that he isn't overwhelming the club with debt. 

But that doesn't mean I approve of all of his decisions. In particular, the turnover of managers is a damning indictment of the recruitment process.

Whilever the positives outweigh the negatives - and at the moment they do by some considerable way - let's wind down the vitriol.

[eddie]

13 hours ago, Gypsy Ram said:

We still don't know if he backed the managers or the recruitment team on these wasters. But my money is that he backed the scouting team, as some of the players were signed before said mangers had even arrived at the club.

Yes, that could be a possibility.

In the eyes of the less rational, that makes it a fact.

[GboroRam]

14 hours ago, David said:

75% would also agree a Jaffa Cake is a biscuit 

And 25% would be correct. 

[Day]

32 minutes ago, GboroRam said:

And 25% would be correct. 

You're wrong.

[bigbadbob]

18 minutes ago, David said:

You're wrong.

It's a cake

[lrm14]

3 hours ago, David said:

You're wrong.

It's a cake. They baked a giant one and produced it in court in order to get it classified as a cake. Something to do with tax reasons.

[Day]

1 minute ago, lrm14 said:

It's a cake. They baked a giant one and produced it in court in order to get it classified as a cake. Something to do with tax reasons.

It's the Gary Barlow biscuit

[cannable]

21 hours ago, David said:

Dreaming of Shaun Barker type fee players, they needed a board meeting to release funds to buy a pack of polos, after giving Jewell everything they had.

We would be the Ipswich of the Championship, the only excitement comes from guessing the away shirt colour watching Andy Garner age like a prune

 

GSE had us third? 

[Mafiabob]

17 hours ago, cannable said:

GSE had us third? 

Something something rewriting history..... 

Spot on, seems to be forgotten that.  

[Day]

How many years did that take? They even had one foot out the door, Glick gone, Brett Wilson nowhere to be seen, Appleby pottering around adjusting picture frames in the corridors.

Be in the Premier League in less time than GSE were here. 

 

[Sith Happens]

3 minutes ago, David said:

How many years did that take? They even had one foot out the door, Glick gone, Brett Wilson nowhere to be seen, Appleby pottering around adjusting picture frames in the corridors.

Be in the Premier League in less time than GSE were here. 

 

They purchased the club in 2008 at which point the club was in a mess and on its way out of the premier league.

So it took 5 full seasons to get us there, its not that bad considering the mess they had to clean up.

Mel has now been heavily involved for 3 seasons, owning the club for 2, it us looking highly unlikely we will be promoted this season, so it will be on to 4th or 3rd depending how you view it, and also consider Mel taking over a club in a far better place than when GSE did.

I am not a Mel basher, I think he will get it right eventually, but for me GSE did a fantastic Job with derby at a time no one else seemed to be jumping up and down to buy us and invest.

 

[Day]

29 minutes ago, Paul71 said:

They purchased the club in 2008 at which point the club was in a mess and on its way out of the premier league.

So it took 5 full seasons to get us there, its not that bad considering the mess they had to clean up.

Mel has now been heavily involved for 3 seasons, owning the club for 2, it us looking highly unlikely we will be promoted this season, so it will be on to 4th or 3rd depending how you view it, and also consider Mel taking over a club in a far better place than when GSE did.

I am not a Mel basher, I think he will get it right eventually, but for me GSE did a fantastic Job with derby at a time no one else seemed to be jumping up and down to buy us and invest.

 

So 5 seasons to get one play off chance, Mel 2 seasons, 1 play off chance.

How many summers under GSE did you genuinly think this is our year? I don't recall expectations being anywhere near the same or season ticket sales.

They did a clean job but that was complete a long time before using FFP as an excuse for their lack of ambition, part of it was their own mess with Jewell.

Don't get me wrong throwing millions at it isn't always the answer but people always ask what could have been with Clough had he been given money to spend, why wasn't he? Why was we wishing on a Shaun Barker type fee player. 

Attendances plummeted, they wanted out, McClaren came in to change that and away we went. Mel invested, deal agreed regardless of the Wembley outcome, struggled to get them to share his vision and kept their wallets securely locked then they went back to the US.

I won't look back on the GSE days as the good old days, as a football fan I want to see entertaining football and feel like this season could be ours, disagree with Mel's decisions that's fine but you can't argue the club has a new round ambition and this time next year.....