Disillusionment

[brady1993]

Health warning: long melodramatic rant to follow.

Let me start by saying that I have been a derby fan for as long as I can remember, however due to being 24 I never really had a chance to see many good derby teams (I can just about remember seeing us in playing in the premiership in the late 90s early 00s). The first Derby side that I could say I truly loved was the 13/14 side. 

It was a side that played breathtaking football in a league where playing attractive football was shied away from for more 'pragmatic' football. It was a side built with a jumble of bargain buys and offcuts, sprinkled with a few special midfield talents in Hughes and Hendrick. A side where from 1 to 11 you could find technically gifted players all capable of recieving the ball in difficult situations and coming out on top. It was a side that was a joy to watch and one that I felt for the first time, as an adult derby fan, that I could be proud of. That  feeling continued all the way through 14/15, despite the end to that season I felt like all we needed was a couple more players to round out the squad and we could go onto to win the league. 

But somewhere since then and now we have become the complete antithesis of that 13/14 side. We have a squad full of highly paid, aging footballers who we bought for bloated fees for reasons that don't add up.  We have a side that has several severely technically deficient players that barely look like footballers. We have a side with no clear style of play and we've all but sold of our exciting midfield talents. And now it seems like we will shift course to become more pragmatic under Rowett.

To the see the degradation of that 13/14 side into what we have now through poor management and poor senior management has been painful to say the least. Particularly as it felt all too avoidable. The inevitable  sale of Hughes just feels like the straw that broke the camel's back for me and now I just feel completely disillusioned about Derby County.

Maybe this time next season it will all be forgotten but right now I'm not sure how much I care.

[Nuwtfly]

I'd hate to see what happens to you if we sell Ince too...

[brady1993]

2 minutes ago, Nuwtfly said:

I'd hate to see what happens to you if we sell Ince too...

Haha at this point I've already accepted that the will likely happen but also I never felt as attached to Ince as the players who made 13/14 side despite him being a top player  (can't explain why though).

[Curtains]

6 minutes ago, brady1993 said:

Haha at this point I've already accepted that the will likely happen but also I never felt as attached to Ince as the players who made 13/14 side despite him being a top player  (can't explain why though).

Deleted 

[kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong]

39 minutes ago, brady1993 said:

Health warning: long melodramatic rant to follow.

Let me start by saying that I have been a derby fan for as long as I can remember, however due to being 24 I never really had a chance to see many good derby teams (I can just about remember seeing us in playing in the premiership in the late 90s early 00s). The first Derby side that I could say I truly loved was the 13/14 side. 

It was a side that played breathtaking football in a league where playing attractive football was shied away from for more 'pragmatic' football. It was a side built with a jumble of bargain buys and offcuts, sprinkled with a few special midfield talents in Hughes and Hendrick. A side where from 1 to 11 you could find technically gifted players all capable of recieving the ball in difficult situations and coming out on top. It was a side that was a joy to watch and one that I felt for the first time, as an adult derby fan, that I could be proud of. That  feeling continued all the way through 14/15, despite the end to that season I felt like all we needed was a couple more players to round out the squad and we could go onto to win the league. 

But somewhere since then and now we have become the complete antithesis of that 13/14 side. We have a squad full of highly paid, aging footballers who we bought for bloated fees for reasons that don't add up.  We have a side that has several severely technically deficient players that barely look like footballers. We have a side with no clear style of play and we've all but sold of our exciting midfield talents. And now it seems like we will shift course to become more pragmatic under Rowett.

To the see the degradation of that 13/14 side into what we have now through poor management and poor senior management has been painful to say the least. Particularly as it felt all too avoidable. The inevitable  sale of Hughes just feels like the straw that broke the camel's back for me and now I just feel completely disillusioned about Derby County.

Maybe this time next season it will all be forgotten but right now I'm not sure how much I care.

I do know what you mean and I feel.very much the same,esp about 2013/14 but I'm hopeful that with the talent remaining Gary will be able to play a little less pragmatically than he has had to with Birmingham and Burton.....

The combo of russell,bryson and Martin still exites me and we may have a new decent winger in to replace ince too if he goes.

[ramsbottom]

I don't mind pragmatic football.  Mouriniho's first Chelsea team were pragmatic, but could play a bit as well.  There's nothing wrong with getting balls forward, into channels quickly.  I just don't want Wisdom playing a 50 yard diagonal to Russel's head...

[brady1993]

12 minutes ago, kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong said:

I do know what you mean and I feel.very much the same,esp about 2013/14 but I'm hopeful that with the talent remaining Gary will be able to play a little less pragmatically than he has had to with Birmingham and Burton.....

The combo of russell,bryson and Martin still exites me and we may have a new decent winger in to replace ince too if he goes.

That's my hope too but I just don't feel particularly hopeful too. 

[Day]

These are not dark days by any stretch of the imagination, I can reel off a whole list of managers, players and owners that we have seen walk through the door that would give you sleepless nights and genuine reasons to return your season tickets.

I've been wrestling with my thoughts on Hughes over the last 24hrs, I've come to terms about selling him, looking back I was in denial last season when we saw him in the bench. In my head diagnosing him with injury problems, fitness issues, anything but believe our boy wonder could be flying the nest. Truth is by the look of it he simply doesn't fit in Rowett's plans and that's ok, that's football.

Saying that I can't help but think back to when we first heard of The Derby Way, getting promoted the right way, winning with entertaining football, not get there at all costs even if it's ugly.

Enter Nigel Pearson.

Whilst it's easy with hindsight to question that appointment, Pearson would have heard the philosophy, signed off on it, handed in his bank details for his pay cheque and gone his own way. What followed was an absolute disaster, one of his first moves was to loan out our top goal scorer to a rival, a key part of the team that made us tick.

It's no surprise some fans are feeling a sense of deja vu about this, whilst there's an argument to be had who is our best player, there's no denying that Will Hughes is a talented player, to come out of our academy makes him feel that bit more special. 

Possibly biased, but can we not appreciate our own players anymore? For those mocking others who are upset, is it that hard to believe we have a player at the club we have become attached to, that had visions of Will Hughes in the Premier League wearing a Derby shirt and the captains armband?

Me, the fan with zero coaching badges and no managerial experience over than 18 months in a job on a video game would build my Derby Way team around Hughes. I think he's that good. 

Yes he had a poor season last year but write me a list of players that didn't, he was also coming back after a season out injured and into the Pearson war zone, hardly the best environment for any player to shine.

However Derby County as a team have failed on our primary goal, promotion. A lot of money has been put into yet we are still in the Championship, maybe it is time to try something new, maybe we need a bit of ugliness injected into the team to get us there. 

Can't say I'm jumping for joy at the prospect of Glenn Whelan taking Hughes parking space at Moor Farm but nor would I be at the prospect of another season in the Championship 18/19.

Hughes may have to be that sacrificial lamb to reach the Premier League, maybe the money isn't there to continue this slowly slowly catchy monkey approach that I struggle to believe was ever the case.

Sunderland being relegated with £90m in tv revenue and prize money, each season we fail 3 clubs are getting stronger. Yes football isn't all about money but do you want to see Derby compete at the top level again, against the best? I do.

The fee. 

Can't be arsed to go there, it will be undisclosed, I wouldn't see a penny of it so why should I lose any sleep over it. Others will and can, I almost did last night until I realised it's a pointless waste of time. 

Gary Rowett will be judged on one thing and one thing only, the league table. If he's got this horribly wrong he will be out the door, he knows this, his head be it.

I'm now looking for a new dream, if any Derby player wants to step up and take Hughes place in my heart I'll see you in August, I'll be on my sofa Friday night whilst you're up there sticking it to Sunderland. Make me ooh and arr and I'm yours until we sell you to bloody Watford and heartbroken once more.

Finally I wish young Will all the best, take your opportunity and prove me right, you're now on the biggest stage in the world, show them what you can do. I won't be watching you on MOTD though, I have to move on, it's for the best. ?

[ITSD]

A really excellent post. I'm pretty much in exactly the same position.

The excitement and optimism towards the end of that 13/14 season were incredible, but they've not really been back since.

[brady1993]

18 minutes ago, ramsbottom said:

I don't mind pragmatic football.  Mouriniho's first Chelsea team were pragmatic, but could play a bit as well.  There's nothing wrong with getting ball forward, into channels quickly.  I just don't want Wisdom playing a 50 yard diagonal to Russel's head...

This is not so much me complaining about pragmatic football  (thats an entirely different debate), it's more the dream of going up playing breathtaking football featuring truly gifted academy players has been well and truly shattered.

[Sexydadbod]

I agree completely, the 13/14 was brilliant to watch and well balanced, particularly the midfield. Having said that, are we overrating them slightly? I know Thorne wasn't in the team then but we got ripped to shreds on occasions and outfought , particularly in the 4-1 loss to Pearson's Leicester and in the defeat against Burnley. Likewise in the defeats away against QPR, Ipswich, Boro and the 3-3 draw against Brum. Think it's fair to say it was great to watch when it was on song but when it wasn't we got bullied at times.

We all remember the home game against Brighton in the play offs and rightly so because it was a brilliant atmosphere and occasion but I have to say watching back we were incredibly lucky in the first leg, especially Buxton who should have been sent off and the luck of the gods was clearly on our side that day with the Martin goal

[maxjam]

Wasn't it always going to be like this though?  We've overpaid on under-performing player and now have to cut the cloth accordingly.

We can debate who is to blame... McClaren, Clement, Pearson, Rush, Morris but its irrelevant we are where we are and have to get on with it.  

My only hope is that Mel Morris gives Gary Rowett long enough to build his own team, we're stuck with a mix of the previous 3 managers players atm and last season it was painfully obvious that they just don't gel as a group.  

If we sack Rowett in October after a rough run of results I really will despair, I said at the back end of last season that we need 3 transfer windows to sort this squad out given the large wages/long contracts of some of the players.  MM has to stick with his choice of manager now and let him see how 2-3 years minimum and build us a new squad capable of challenging (any sooner is a bonus).

 

[King Kevin]

1 hour ago, brady1993 said:

Health warning: long melodramatic rant to follow.

Let me start by saying that I have been a derby fan for as long as I can remember, however due to being 24 I never really had a chance to see many good derby teams (I can just about remember seeing us in playing in the premiership in the late 90s early 00s). The first Derby side that I could say I truly loved was the 13/14 side. 

It was a side that played breathtaking football in a league where playing attractive football was shied away from for more 'pragmatic' football. It was a side built with a jumble of bargain buys and offcuts, sprinkled with a few special midfield talents in Hughes and Hendrick. A side where from 1 to 11 you could find technically gifted players all capable of recieving the ball in difficult situations and coming out on top. It was a side that was a joy to watch and one that I felt for the first time, as an adult derby fan, that I could be proud of. That  feeling continued all the way through 14/15, despite the end to that season I felt like all we needed was a couple more players to round out the squad and we could go onto to win the league. 

But somewhere since then and now we have become the complete antithesis of that 13/14 side. We have a squad full of highly paid, aging footballers who we bought for bloated fees for reasons that don't add up.  We have a side that has several severely technically deficient players that barely look like footballers. We have a side with no clear style of play and we've all but sold of our exciting midfield talents. And now it seems like we will shift course to become more pragmatic under Rowett.

To the see the degradation of that 13/14 side into what we have now through poor management and poor senior management has been painful to say the least. Particularly as it felt all too avoidable. The inevitable  sale of Hughes just feels like the straw that broke the camel's back for me and now I just feel completely disillusioned about Derby County.

Maybe this time next season it will all be forgotten but right now I'm not sure how much I care.

Suck it up son ,apart from a few brief interludes I have seen 59 years of mediocrity we've sold far better players than Will in the past and I dare say we will in the future. You just need to enjoy going to the match with your mates have a pint and stuff the football ,it's worked for me 

[Mr Tibbs]

Is all fun and games eh. 

Hard not to feel like we're shooting ourselves in the foot once again after making major mistakes in the past couple of years. Not really sure how we've got any feet left to still keep shooting but here we are. 

[RoyMac5]

4 minutes ago, King Kevin said:

....we've sold far better players than Will in the past ...

Who? I've been watching for nigh on 50 years, we might have sold players in their prime or past their prime or never gonna have a prime, but I can't think of any that we've sold before their prime that have Wills talent? Huddlestone and Hendrick (hmmm no more youngsters starting with H please!) weren't a patch on the football delights of Will!

[Gladram]

19 minutes ago, David said:

These are not dark days by any stretch of the imagination, I can reel off a whole list of managers, players and owners that we have seen walk through the door that would give you sleepless nights and genuine reasons to return your season tickets.

I've been wrestling with my thoughts on Hughes over the last 24hrs, I've come to terms about selling him, looking back I was in denial last season when we saw him in the bench. In my head diagnosing him with injury problems, fitness issues, anything but believe our boy wonder could be flying the nest. Truth is by the look of it he simply doesn't fit in Rowett's plans and that's ok, that's football.

Saying that I can't help but think back to when we first heard of The Derby Way, getting promoted the right way, winning with entertaining football, not get there at all costs even if it's ugly.

Enter Nigel Pearson.

Whilst it's easy with hindsight to question that appointment, Pearson would have heard the philosophy, signed off on it, handed in his bank details for his pay cheque and gone his own way. What followed was an absolute disaster, one of his first moves was to loan out our top goal scorer to a rival, a key part of the team that made us tick.

It's no surprise some fans are feeling a sense of deja vu about this, whilst there's an argument to be had who is our best player, there's no denying that Will Hughes is a talented player, to come out of our academy makes him feel that bit more special. 

Possibly biased, but can we not appreciate our own players anymore? For those mocking others who are upset, is it that hard to believe we have a player at the club we have become attached to, that had visions of Will Hughes in the Premier League wearing a Derby shirt and the captains armband?

Me, the fan with zero coaching badges and no managerial experience over than 18 months in a job on a video game would build my Derby Way team around Hughes. I think he's that good. 

Yes he had a poor season last year but write me a list of players that didn't, he was also coming back after a season out injured and into the Pearson war zone, hardly the best environment for any player to shine.

However Derby County as a team have failed on our primary goal, promotion. A lot of money has been put into yet we are still in the Championship, maybe it is time to try something new, maybe we need a bit of ugliness injected into the team to get us there. 

Can't say I'm jumping for joy at the prospect of Glenn Whelan taking Hughes parking space at Moor Farm but nor would I be at the prospect of another season in the Championship 18/19.

Hughes may have to be that sacrificial lamb to reach the Premier League, maybe the money isn't there to continue this slowly slowly catchy monkey approach that I struggle to believe was ever the case.

Sunderland being relegated with £90m in tv revenue and prize money, each season we fail 3 clubs are getting stronger. Yes football isn't all about money but do you want to see Derby compete at the top level again, against the best? I do.

The fee. 

Can't be arsed to go there, it will be undisclosed, I wouldn't see a penny of it so why should I lose any sleep over it. Others will and can, I almost did last night until I realised it's a pointless waste of time. 

Gary Rowett will be judged on one thing and one thing only, the league table. If he's got this horribly wrong he will be out the door, he knows this, his head be it.

I'm now looking for a new dream, if any Derby player wants to step up and take Hughes place in my heart I'll see you in August, I'll be on my sofa Friday night whilst you're up there sticking it to Sunderland. Make me ooh and arr and I'm yours until we sell you to bloody Watford and heartbroken once more.

Finally I wish young Will all the best, take your opportunity and prove me right, you're now on the biggest stage in the world, show them what you can do. I won't be watching you on MOTD though, I have to move on, it's for the best. ?

Said similar in Wills transfer thread. My biggest disappointment is seeing how much we've gone backwards in the last few seasons and can't keep our best players. 

[ramsbottom]

24 minutes ago, brady1993 said:

This is not so much me complaining about pragmatic football  (thats an entirely different debate), it's more the dream of going up playing breathtaking football featuring truly gifted academy players has been well and truly shattered.

I can understand your annoyance.  But unless you're Real Madrid or Barcelona, or winning stuff, you're never going to hold onto promising youth products you actually want to keep.  I still have faith GR will be a success at this club.  I'm just hacked off about (the supposed) crap fee and the fact we didn't play hard ball...

[Charlie G]

1 hour ago, brady1993 said:

Health warning: long melodramatic rant to follow.

Let me start by saying that I have been a derby fan for as long as I can remember, however due to being 24 I never really had a chance to see many good derby teams (I can just about remember seeing us in playing in the premiership in the late 90s early 00s). The first Derby side that I could say I truly loved was the 13/14 side. 

It was a side that played breathtaking football in a league where playing attractive football was shied away from for more 'pragmatic' football. It was a side built with a jumble of bargain buys and offcuts, sprinkled with a few special midfield talents in Hughes and Hendrick. A side where from 1 to 11 you could find technically gifted players all capable of recieving the ball in difficult situations and coming out on top. It was a side that was a joy to watch and one that I felt for the first time, as an adult derby fan, that I could be proud of. That  feeling continued all the way through 14/15, despite the end to that season I felt like all we needed was a couple more players to round out the squad and we could go onto to win the league. 

But somewhere since then and now we have become the complete antithesis of that 13/14 side. We have a squad full of highly paid, aging footballers who we bought for bloated fees for reasons that don't add up.  We have a side that has several severely technically deficient players that barely look like footballers. We have a side with no clear style of play and we've all but sold of our exciting midfield talents. And now it seems like we will shift course to become more pragmatic under Rowett.

To the see the degradation of that 13/14 side into what we have now through poor management and poor senior management has been painful to say the least. Particularly as it felt all too avoidable. The inevitable  sale of Hughes just feels like the straw that broke the camel's back for me and now I just feel completely disillusioned about Derby County.

Maybe this time next season it will all be forgotten but right now I'm not sure how much I care.

Very well written and you'll find many who feel the same way. 

However that season nothing was expected and it was young men playing without fear who believed they could out score any opposition. Once the expectation was there it was never quite the same. Yes we was top at certain stages but for one reason or another that 13/14 side just couldn't get over the line. It's unfortunately football but how long do you wait? 

We now have a Manager who believes he can take this club back to the premiership. He has a reputation as one of the best young British managers around. 

We gave the 13/14 side 3 years support to get us over the line and they failed. Surely we can give GR a little time just to see what he brings to the table.

 

[Rample]

I've been disillusioned for years now.

I lived through the late 80s, watched the post-Maxwell fall, but I sat through the following years feeling relatively optimistic our time would come again.

Smith bought some great days before we again tailed off again, but through the dross that followed I again knew we'd still get back there again someday. Burley even made it fun again for a while.  

For me though it all ended under Davies, somehow I lost interest with us still challenging for promotion. Davies poisoned everything, then Jewell was a poor appointment, and as a Burton resident and follower I never had faith in Nigel from day 1.

McLaren pulled me back in for a while but as soon as that all collapsed I dropped back into low expectations. Since 2006 optimism has only been the occasional blip.

[WystonRam]

I will be disappointed to see Hughes leave, but Rowetts job is to get us up. If he does we can spend on better players when there.  If that means Billy style football I will take it, as long as Rowett can buy better for the Prem.