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My probably unpopular theory of Mel


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Maybe Mel and GR planned this together - after Stoke’s previous interest,GR says I want to go at the end of the season, tie me into a new contract with a hefty release clause, then we’ll both be happy!

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3 hours ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

I think Mel purchased Derby County as a business man first and fan second.

He bought Derby at a time we were on the up, all it took was a bit of investment and it was inevitable we were going up and with that would come a nice big windfall.

The first season he threw big money at it (but small in comparison to promotion windfall) with 'big' signings like Johnson, Shackell, Butterfield to complement Ince, Hughes, Thorne and Martin...how could we not succeed.

Along came Clement, Mac part 2, Pearson, Wassall and now Rowett. Rowett leaving I think rings huge alarm bells, claims of a good working relationship with Mel, his dream job at Derby, thrown away...why?

I honestly think Mel realises his initial investment has proven fruitless, promotion is now a distant dream and the business man is limiting his damage by selling any asset we have, almost a diluted Fawaz.

It really could have worked out for Mel and us fans, but I think what we are left with is an unravelling mess of a chairman trying to get his money back and a string of managers having to work under tight restrictions.

Or...I could be completely wrong, completely ungrateful of the great work Mel has done for the club and I know nothing.

 

The problem I have with this is that it seeks to explain how we got from the start of Mel’s tenure to now based on those two points only. It doesn’t really explain many of the things that got us here, namely the unnecessary implosion with McClaren (and the bitterness); the seven (eighth pending) manager in 3.5 seasons; the wild changes in direction; the cash splashes; the emotional outbursts, usually aimed at departing managers or Chief Executives or players in dressing rooms. 

Not trying to be unkind; I hear the passion in your words and, like many of us, you’re trying to make sense of it.

It’s actually the words and behaviour reserved for departing managers that convince me most. A businessman knows that you never waste time with the pointless vitriol. You don’t get caught up in demanding levels of loyalty. You don’t waste money trying to deprive a sacked employee of his entitlements. You don’t throw snide insults about their competence or honesty. You don’t rush into players’ change rooms. You don’t splash so much cash that you gamble future seasons’ prospects on a big play.

The list goes on.

Mel was a fan, first and foremost. I get that. And it’s absolutely fair to say: better that than an owner like Fawaz.

But Mel has shredded money at Derby. Businessmen make mistakes but rarely shred money and relationships like Mel has as owner of Derby unless it’s personal.

As to what’s happening now, I (as a persistent critic of his) almost feel sorry for him. He gambled on Rowett; I’ve long sensed that Rowett was Mel’s preferred manager of Derby, that he thought GR was the Derby man he’d long wanted as manager.

And I suspect GR might’ve thought that too.

But, whether Rowett realised that the period of financial constraints at Derby were longer and harder than he thought; whether his and Mel’s styles were clashing; whether Rowett realised in our poor runs that the loyalty he thought he would get wasn’t as deep as he thought it was; whether Mel wants out and Rowett knows it; or whether Stoke just came knocking at the right time; no-one knows

Whatever has happened, the club’s in a bad place. Mired in FFP, looking for a new manager yet again, still needing to deconstruct the old squad...there’s a bad period immediately ahead. 

Come on you Rams!

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7 minutes ago, EssendonRam said:

Whatever has happened, the club’s in a bad place. Mired in FFP, looking for a new manager yet again, still needing to deconstruct the old squad...there’s a bad period immediately ahead. 

Come on you dancing Rams! #COYR

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11 hours ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

I think Mel purchased Derby County as a business man first and fan second.

He bought Derby at a time we were on the up, all it took was a bit of investment and it was inevitable we were going up and with that would come a nice big windfall.

The first season he threw big money at it (but small in comparison to promotion windfall) with 'big' signings like Johnson, Shackell, Butterfield to complement Ince, Hughes, Thorne and Martin...how could we not succeed.

Along came Clement, Mac part 2, Pearson, Wassall and now Rowett. Rowett leaving I think rings huge alarm bells, claims of a good working relationship with Mel, his dream job at Derby, thrown away...why?

I honestly think Mel realises his initial investment has proven fruitless, promotion is now a distant dream and the business man is limiting his damage by selling any asset we have, almost a diluted Fawaz.

It really could have worked out for Mel and us fans, but I think what we are left with is an unravelling mess of a chairman trying to get his money back and a string of managers having to work under tight restrictions.

Or...I could be completely wrong, completely ungrateful of the great work Mel has done for the club and I know nothing.

 

Yes I think you are pretty spot on with your analysis. Rowett wasn't popular with all supporters, and even less so now. However he is no fool, and I imagine his decision to leave is more to do with the attitude DCFC ownership, than the attraction of Stoke City, who have merely assisted his exit strategy from a worsening situation at PP. 

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12 hours ago, Moist One said:

no, he has used to business acumen in his running of the club.

In his IT businesses, I doubt he got hands-on with the software coding, he paid experts to do it, whereas here, he's pretended to understand the footballing business with his decisions.

you mean like most fans

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Confused by the narrative that suggests that tightening of the purse strings shows the owner is losing love or cutting losses.

He has a finite fortune. Wouldn’t take long for a very rich man to turn into a not very rich man at all the rate we’ve been spending. Besides which, we have FFP to comply with.

Lots of mistakes from a lot of people have put us in this position. I’m not sure you can put it down to one thing.

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Thing is he DID Employ an expert in the football industry called Sam Rush. 

Obviously we don’t know what happened but clearly Mel feels he had his pants pulled down. If you began taking a back seat then someone ALLEGEDLY spent £7.5million of your money without authorisation, I think you’d start micromanaging everything! 

Mel has made mistakes and he’d admit that himself, but I think running a football club whilst being a fan of the team must be almost impossible. 

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He’s following his ego... wants to be top boss of his childhood football team... fans cheering his name. Makes the quick calls that reinforce that in the short term rather than sticking to a strategy. Hence why he impulsively sacks managers, wanders into the dressing room and sacks managers when form dips even though it’s part of a larger project.

Mel wants a yes man who can be scapegoated when it goes bad and will let him call his very mis informed decisions and take the credit when things go bad. Prepare yourself for Wassall because that’s what you will get.

He cannot be blamed for individual transfers as such but he can be blamed for the lack of strategy (he’s just as bad as Rowett saying one thing in the press and acting another... the derby way). The lack of strategy is how we have a bunch of square pegs in round holes signed on long contracts by managers who didn’t last a quarter of the contract length.

His ego stopped us appointing a true director of football who would give us this benefit. But to do that he would have to entrust this to someone else rather than using the club as his toy.

Incredibly successful investor and knowledgable in it, but managing a football club he is completely inept.

Mels put his money into Derby so whether fans like it or not he can do what he likes... I don’t believe his intentions were to ever make a profit... but has it been nothing short of a disaster for Derby County having Mel in charge... Yes and the sooner it ends the better!

 

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Just heard from a realiable source why GR left, I wouldn’t like to expand any further than that, other than putting 2+2 together as to why it’s posted on this thread.  

Probably complete rubbish hence why I wouldn’t like to expand, and could also be sour grapes on their part from something that happened in the past, however the point is that it’s happening to often for some of these stories not to be true, how much of a active interest he takes would be interesting to know. 

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23 hours ago, Moist One said:

no, he has used to business acumen in his running of the club.

In his IT businesses, I doubt he got hands-on with the software coding, he paid experts to do it, whereas here, he's pretended to understand the footballing business with his decisions.

the same footballing decisions which were made by Rush?

As an outsider it looked like since his tenure began we were firing managers left right and centre, but by his own admission, he was only at the club 1 day a week until sam rush left. Wherby he took a more hands on approach, if anything he stayed out of the football side of the business for the first couple of years.

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45 minutes ago, jagerbob said:

but by his own admission, he was only at the club 1 day a week until sam rush left

this is totally contradictory to what he admitted to about 12 members of this forum at Breakfast after HE sacked Clement.

He sacked McClaren. He sacked Clement. He put Wassall in place. He hired Redknapp. He hired Pearson. He sacked Pearson. He sacked McClaren again. He hired Rowett.

Also, he appointed his son and stepson at the club. He also admitted to making the move to sign Bradley Johnson admitting he had a small window of opportunity and decided to take it.

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54 minutes ago, AdamRam said:

Just heard from a realiable source why GR left, I wouldn’t like to expand any further than that, other than putting 2+2 together as to why it’s posted on this thread.  

Probably complete rubbish hence why I wouldn’t like to expand, and could also be sour grapes on their part from something that happened in the past, however the point is that it’s happening to often for some of these stories not to be true, how much of a active interest he takes would be interesting to know. 

So to paraphrase......

Your "reliable" source probably told you a load of rubbish and you're not going to tell us what it was anyway.

Thanks for the input ?

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1 hour ago, AdamRam said:

Just heard from a realiable source why GR left, I wouldn’t like to expand any further than that, other than putting 2+2 together as to why it’s posted on this thread. 

I could make up lots of why Rowett left theories, but Occams Razor suggests the obvious one: he's a money chasing chancer. He and others could easily see next season was going to be difficult - not exactly adored by the fans and a tightening of our budget - Stoke come sniffing, hallelujah lets run for it! Backed up by the fact he has previous for tarting himself about.

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15 minutes ago, Wolfie said:

So to paraphrase......

Your "reliable" source probably told you a load of rubbish and you're not going to tell us what it was anyway.

Thanks for the input ?

Pretty much yes, the only bit that could be verified was that they said GR had gone on his jollies now.  

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11 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

I could make up lots of why Rowett left theories, but Occams Razor suggests the obvious one: he's a money chasing chancer. He and others could easily see next season was going to be difficult - not exactly adored by the fans and a tightening of our budget - Stoke come sniffing, hallelujah lets run for it! Backed up by the fact he has previous for tarting himself about.

Of course GR left for other reasons, however I couldn’t give a toss what they are, he is yesterdays news, and as you did I was pleased that he left.

If I take out the overwhelming joy emotion out of the equation though and think rationally, we have had more managers under Mel than we have had for the previous how many years - yes GR is a money chaser, however it’s our club I’m worried about.

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23 hours ago, derbydaz22 said:

not many fans complained about most of his manager appointment ‘s at the time.

Really? I didn’t want Mac 1, Wassell/Redknapp, Pearson or Rowett. The only Mel appointment I remember thinking at the time would take us forward was Clement. 

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19 minutes ago, AdamRam said:

If I take out the overwhelming joy emotion out of the equation though and think rationally, we have had more managers under Mel than we have had for the previous how many years - yes GR is a money chaser, however it’s our club I’m worried about.

I think Mel has made mistakes and now is trying to make up for them - you can't erase the past, nor will it be forgotten. But he can start to put it right - the new manager will give us a clue as to whether he's getting there or not imo.

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8 minutes ago, Lambchop said:

Really? I didn’t want Mac 1, Wassell/Redknapp, Pearson or Rowett. The only Mel appointment I remember thinking at the time would take us forward was Clement. 

Most people thought Pearson would get us over the line me included and that was a disaster but apart from Mac 2 getting sacked I pretty much agree with Mel’s decision’s. He needs 2 get this one right though that’s for sure.

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5 minutes ago, derbydaz22 said:

He needs 2 get this one right though that’s for sure

Indeed he does. I was wrong about Mac 1, although my feelings about his appointment were probably more to do with sympathy for Nigel. I was also wrong about Clement, but all the rest looked like either sideways or backwards moves. I certainly didn’t think the squad needed ripping apart and the style completely changing á la Pearson and Rowett. 

Hopefully we will return to a technical, attacking style and stick with it. As others have said, consistency of approach is more important than manager retention. 

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46 minutes ago, Lambchop said:

Indeed he does. I was wrong about Mac 1, although my feelings about his appointment were probably more to do with sympathy for Nigel. I was also wrong about Clement, but all the rest looked like either sideways or backwards moves. I certainly didn’t think the squad needed ripping apart and the style completely changing á la Pearson and Rowett. 

Hopefully we will return to a technical, attacking style and stick with it. As others have said, consistency of approach is more important than manager retention. 

Totally agree

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