Have your views of Morris changed?

[nottingram]

11 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

Not have hired Pearson or Rowett because both were completely the opposite of what he said we wanted to do as a club.

Other than that absolutely nothing different. A lot of signings were poorly thought out but it should not be a chairman judging that.

Perhaps he should have overhauled the recruitment department following the Paul Clement fiasco.

Of post-Clement signings it’s only really Anya who has been a total flop isn’t it? Unless I’m missing someone really obvious?

I suppose Jozefzoon could easily be going that way as well

[RamNut]

I trust him slightly more than i did at the start. I  wasn't a fan of all the sackings and some strange appointments. Also he was closely allied to sam rush at the outset, and i never quite trusted old goatee. 

He has supported the club financially to an extraordinary degree but has also wasted so much money on poor recruitment.

He has developed the academy and we live in hope that these plans will eventually justify the annual cost. But its hard to tell. It wasn't so long ago that alefe santos, alban bunjaku, farrend rawson, zanzala, vernam and co were supposedly en route to becoming very good players. Where are they now?

he has tremendous passion but also comes over as a control freak, and a reactionary. I'm not sure that he trusts people. He seems to want them to be on board with his ideas, rather than the other way round. Those meetings were he talks endlessly and everyone else sits in silence or nods are very strange.

I do wish he could get the recruitment bit right. We seem to abandon all sense when we enter the transfer market, buying freebies and cheepos of dubious quality, or players with the wrong age profile, or both. It seems like any scouting is done in a darkened room with spotty kids watching wyscout videos. Or do we just peruse the lists of players with expiring contracts?  Its quite hard to think of many successful long term signings over the last few years, yet that is what will ultimately deliver success. 

It is a difficult job especially given the context of ffp compliance, and events have conspired against him at times. After the PP sale revelation just days after the last forum, i no longer regard those events as a very worthwhile opportunity for openness and truth. Not sure what the point of them is tbh. What did we learn at the last one - that frank was committed to Derby even if a certain London club came calling; that he couldn't remember the name of his reserve goalkeeper; and that we were closely managing our revenue and spend to stay the right side of ffp. Yeah right.

in the final analysis i think we like him more than we did, we all want the club to succeed, and he has our support. 

 

[G STAR RAM]

20 minutes ago, nottingram said:

Of post-Clement signings it’s only really Anya who has been a total flop isn’t it? Unless I’m missing someone really obvious?

I suppose Jozefzoon could easily be going that way as well

Yes fair point. 

I still think that we've consistently bought players for areas that didnt need strengthening and overlooked our weak areas.

[oldtimeram]

Is that down to Morris or the managers? 

I think he has to to share some of the blame for some of those duff signings too

[Dimmu]

13 hours ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

Trying to think of an owner who’s universally loved by the fans is quite hard to be fair. Andy Holt at Accrington? Not sure what Forest Green fans think of Dale Vince. Steve Gibson until the last year or two? 

Ben Robinson?

[RodleyRam]

Give me Mel over random foreign owners any day of the week. Football has lost much of it's soul and the money is just ridiculous. At least with Mel we have retained some of our local identity, growing emphasis on youth, decent football etc. 

We've had our fair share of embarrassing events under Mel but I think the intentions behind most decisions have been right. Can't knock the guy overall. The only thing missing has been promotion and that's not completely in his control.

[nottingram]

17 minutes ago, oldtimeram said:

Is that down to Morris or the managers? 

I think he has to to share some of the blame for some of those duff signings too

I think his policy of giving managers what they want so they have no excuses is admirable but ill-advised, because it gave Clement free reign to do as he pleased and clearly the club is still feeling the effects of this.

Ultimately I think all his mistakes were early on in his tenure. As with anything mistakes usually need to be made to be learned from, it is just a shame for him and also the club that those mistakes have been very costly and have stunted the development of the club.

To me, there are two people who have a lot to answer for for Derby’s current situation. Morris’ mistake was trusting them.

[oldtimeram]

What's the saying; 

A wise man learns from his own mistakes 

Other men learn by the mistakes of others 

But, a fool never learns. 

 

I hope Mel is the wise man 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

2 hours ago, Dimmu said:

Ben Robinson?

There’s quite a vocal ‘Clough-out’ brigade at the club now (mainly on social media I think) and Robinson gets dragged into that a bit. Still well respected by most though I think.

[thelovebelow]

What a legend this man is. 

Deserves massive respect, even more so after this afternoon. 

All hail Mel. 

[Pearl Ram]

I’m hailing man, I’m hailing. 

[ThePrisoner]

Ruthless. I wanna kiss his bald head from the passenger seat of his Tesla. 

[bimmerman]

Not all hero's wear capes.. 

.. But our Mel should ?

[Rev]

We were told this was a transitional season, little cash to spend, relying on youngsters and a long term plan, with promotion an added bonus but not the be all and end all, especially with the disruption caused by someone leaving.

First he gets Cocu, breaks the transfer record to sign the Polish Viera*, then tops it off by securing Wayne fookin Rooney, which btw is how I'll always refer to Wazza.

I used to think he was a sensible owner, who let himself be guided by more experienced football people in an attempt to grow organically, the rising tide of performance line being an example.

Thinking that was my mistake, not his.

He's abandoned those principles now, is allowing himself to be the driver of the club moving forward, and he's making a pretty good job of it, ably aided by slippery Steve.

The more I see and hear, the more impressed I get, hell I'll even back him now if he kicks down the dressing room door after a poor performance and puts the lot of them on the carpet!

 

*I will endeavour to call Bielik the Polish (different player) every time I post about him, until such time others are called the Ghanian Bielik etc etc.

 

 

 

[Gritstone Ram]

Early on I thought wtf are we doing? Who are we signing? Why are we signing these players?

Now I am thinking these are good signings. Shame we didn’t get that Clarke on a permanent he looks awesome and I loved his run down the wing.

[Andicis]

Mel is absolutely brilliant. Took all of his early criticisms on board, learned from them, and now I don't believe any owner in the Championship even comes close to him. He's passionate and clearly desperate to take us back to the Premier League. He's always backed his managers with money, and keeps building up the reputation of our club. 10 years ago we were playing with the likes of Connor Doyle and Theo Robinson, now we have Wayne Rooney and previously Ashley Cole. 

Can't give him enough credit for all of his work at Derby. Hope we get the promotion because Mel deserves it.

[minesahartington]

I think Mel has really evolved into the role. Always trusted his reasons and he has been let down rather than letting us down. Top bloke 

[Premier ram]

Mel Morris,  hes one of our own , thank you Mel for getting our wonderful club back on the map , under yours and Cocus guidance this club is heading one way and thats up , Premier League football is the least you deserve

[Mucker1884]

I bow to thee, Oh King of sheep.
 

 

[Animal is a Ram]

He has definitely improved - since Rowett appointment, think he's handled most things quite well.

I certainly understand @G STAR RAM's point about him being a bit too visible - but some would criticise the club for a lack of transparency else? Hard tightrope to walk, I guess. 

I said as soon as Lampard was appointed, that it was critical that the following appointment would follow on in such a way that the transition would be eased - and I think in Phillip Cocu he has managed that. All the players seem to mention preseason was how similar Cocu's philosophy was to Lampard's.