ilkleyram Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Farewell then 2016/17, ended with a thud off the pitch and a whimper on it. Not a season to warm the cockles of your heart when the fireside beckons. But, looking back, that’s how it is mostly. The truly exciting seasons come along only once in a while. For the majority of you on these pages I guess that it doesn’t matter too much. Your Rams watching stretches out way beyond the horizon. But for those of us just starting to think about relying upon the continuing good health of self and loved ones, for driving at night to remain safe and tickets to remain affordable on fixed incomes, another season gone is also another one nearer to the last live match ever watched, and then a reliance on Sky. It will come to you all, so think on when you moan about a lack of progress because you still have a long way to go. For some of us still harbouring a passion and hope for the top league and European nights, another one gone matters a great deal. Age though also gives back. We can remember world class players in black and white on wet Saturdays in a small East Midlands city; great European nights aren’t only on Youtube, they’re engrained on the backs of our retinas, because we were there. So we know how wonderful it would be to have them back, even given the mess that surrounds football at the highest level. Age also allows you some perspective. We are lucky. Really lucky in comparison to other clubs and other groups of fans – Blackpool, Leyton Orient, Charlton, Coventry anyone? I know there are some on here who don’t warm to him or his decisions. I’ve never met him so I have no idea whether Mel Morris is a good guy or not. But I do know that he’s made a bob or two through his own efforts and, like Lionel and Sam before him, he’s prepared to spend (some of) it on something he, and I, love with a passion. What’s not to like? He’s honest, English and a fan. He is a wealthier one of us. He watched the same players I watched, saw the same nights I saw and, like me, wants them back. He’s also decisive. Makes a decision and backs it. I’ve worked for people like that and it can be uncomfortable; from the outside decisions can appear to be puzzling unless they’re explained, and sometimes to do that is impossible. But I would rather have a benevolent dictator any day than someone dithering, trying to be all things to all men. Stay decisive Mel, communicate as much as you can and when the great nights and days come back, enjoy them because you’ll deserve it. I hate ex-players coming back that I used to like to watch playing – Dave, Toddy, McFarland even Gregory and McClaren and Powell – because the only certainty is that there will come a day when they have to go. And so it will happen one day with Gary Rowett. I like what I see and hear of him. He’s taken a club a bit at odds with itself and started to sort it out, started to make it feel a more comfortable place to play and watch. Results will be the measure in the end though and results mean players, playing in a system in which they fit and good enough to beat the opposition more often than not. Transfer windows don’t allow GR quite the same kind of flexibility that some of his predecessors had to move his squad around, so this summer will be a test of his negotiating skills and his decisiveness. It will also be a test of his ability to manage upwards, to manage the baying of the crowd and social media and a test of the depth of the owner’s pockets. If times get dark in 2017/18 fellow fans, bring back to mind that Sir Brian’s first season was not a rip roaring success. I can distinctly recall pressure for him to go; so it was too at the start with both Jim and Arthur. We may need some patience. And so may Mel. What GR appears to have without Sam Rush, is more freedom to operate than any Rams manager has had for some years. Presumably Vicars and Pearce will manage the off-field stuff vital to the smooth running of the club and GR will manage all the on-field stuff vital to the success of the club, answering directly to Mel. That’s a big responsibility and certainly a considerable test of his abilities that he wouldn’t be getting in most other clubs. Along the way he will sell and buy players that cause barely a shrug; others that will create 100+ pages on this forum alone. He will make inward and outward mistakes. If he and his team are good enough there will be fewer mistakes than successes. Let’s hope. And let’s hope that 2017/18 is a season for upward mobility in the table. I want that trophy, that proper football trophy, paraded around Pride Park this time next year, with the promise of glory and glorious European nights to come. But in truth I’d settle for skill, excitement and a play off place, even though they’re not good for my heart. Have a good summer fellow travellers. Enjoy the break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnero Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Great thread @ilkleyram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igorwasking Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Nicely done. I'm 43 and worry that time might be running out for me to see European nights too - but I do smoke 40 a day! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philmycock Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 42 minutes ago, Igorwasking said: Nicely done. I'm 43 and worry that time might be running out for me to see European nights too - but I do smoke 40 a day! ? Get vaping, it's the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyMac5 Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 11 minutes ago, philmycock said: Get vaping, it's the future! Go cold turkey, it's the only way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philmycock Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 8 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said: Go cold turkey, it's the only way! And miss out on all that lovely caramel butterscotch flavoured vapour, behave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comrade 86 Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Cracking good read @ilkleyram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archied Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 9 hours ago, Igorwasking said: Nicely done. I'm 43 and worry that time might be running out for me to see European nights too - but I do smoke 40 a day! ? Get a decent vape kit ( not the cheap e cigarettes ,tried them and was back on fags after ten minutes) ,,, don't mess around with fruit flavours and all that stuff ,it's like sucking an air freshener ,, get a good tobacco flavoured oil ,,,, I started smoking around ten years old ( 56 now) , was smoking 50 a day and as someone who gave up drinking 25 years ago ,,, bar health and cost I did not want to stop smoking ( don't want to stop vaping now and the odd really good cigar ) , ive gone from around £25 a day on cigarette s to about £10 a week on vape oil and totally unexpectedly I enjoy the vape better ,, trust me my friend it's the way to go ,,, like you I've seen us win titles ,be the best in the land and I want to see us back up there competing,,, hope mel and rowett are the combo to take us there ,but one things for sure ,mel will do what it takes to find that combo ,,, fair play to him , if Derby don't come first on your agenda then your out and mel don't give a shxt how harsh people think he is in his mission to get Derby back up there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkFruitsRam7 Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 2 minutes ago, archied said: Get a decent vape kit ( not the cheap e cigarettes ,tried them and was back on fags after ten minutes) ,,, don't mess around with fruit flavours and all that stuff ,it's like sucking an air freshener ,, get a good tobacco flavoured oil ,,,, I started smoking around ten years old ( 56 now) , was smoking 50 a day and as someone who gave up drinking 25 years ago ,,, bar health and cost I did not want to stop smoking ( don't want to stop vaping now and the odd really good cigar ) , ive gone from around £25 a day on cigarette s to about £10 a week on vape oil and totally unexpectedly I enjoy the vape better ,, trust me my friend it's the way to go ,,, like you I've seen us win titles ,be the best in the land and I want to see us back up there competing,,, hope mel and rowett are the combo to take us there ,but one things for sure ,mel will do what it takes to find that combo ,,, fair play to him , if Derby don't come first on your agenda then your out and mel don't give a shxt how harsh people think he is in his mission to get Derby back up there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyMac5 Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 1 hour ago, archied said: ....bar health and cost I did not want to stop smoking ( don't want to stop vaping now and the odd really good cigar ) , ive gone from around £25 a day on cigarette s to about £10 a week on vape oil and totally unexpectedly I enjoy the vape better ,,. I didn't want to quit smoking either and every now and then I still fancy one (after 18 years off them), but quitting smoking was THE best thing I've ever done. It can be done is all you need to know, I thought I couldn't and that was what was stopping me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archied Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 1 hour ago, BurtonRam7 said: Burton ram ,, I grew up in newhall ,, when a women went into labour there they didn't call the midwife they called the tattooist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnigmaRam Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 43 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said: I didn't want to quit smoking either and every now and then I still fancy one (after 18 years off them), but quitting smoking was THE best thing I've ever done. It can be done is all you need to know, I thought I couldn't and that was what was stopping me. Starting smoking was the worse thing I ever did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyMac5 Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 3 minutes ago, EnigmaRam said: Starting smoking was the worse thing I ever did True. But it was cool and trendy when we were young - you could still buy fags from street machines! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TelTheRam Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 I didn't want to quit smoking so I never started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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