20/21 Pre-Signings Expectations

[MackworthRamIsGod]

10 minutes ago, Ellafella said:

I really think that @CBRammette. I don’t mean to be so bleak and pessimistic but I just think we are drifting and totally out of kilter. Can you even believe how poor our recruitment has been for several seasons now? They would clearly buy some magic beans off a gypsy on deadline day if left totally to their own devices. 

To be honest Ellafella, your expectations, based on the current squad, is far more realistic than anyone expecting top 6.

We currently have the weakest squad of players for a long time. Thankfully we have Bird, Sibley, Knight and Rooney and there could be other youngsters to compliment these, but with Martin leaving things look pretty bleak for me.

Recruitment is key to our season and our recruitment is rubbish at the best of times, add in a pandemic, looming EFL charge and financial crisis and things dont look great.

Prove us wrong Derby.

[CBRammette]

12 minutes ago, Ellafella said:

I really think that @CBRammette. I don’t mean to be so bleak and pessimistic but I just think we are drifting and totally out of kilter. Can you even believe how poor our recruitment has been for several seasons now? They would clearly buy some magic beans off a gypsy on deadline day if left totally to their own devices. 

Yes overall recruitment of managers initially and players has been the cause of most issues we currently have. If that had money had been spent well.......

[Ellafella]

39 minutes ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

To be honest Ellafella, your expectations, based on the current squad, is far more realistic than anyone expecting top 6.

We currently have the weakest squad of players for a long time. Thankfully we have Bird, Sibley, Knight and Rooney and there could be other youngsters to compliment these, but with Martin leaving things look pretty bleak for me.

Recruitment is key to our season and our recruitment is rubbish at the best of times, add in a pandemic, looming EFL charge and financial crisis and things dont look great.

Prove us wrong Derby.

I’m glad I’m not alone in the Bleak Club. 

[Ellafella]

40 minutes ago, CBRammette said:

Yes overall recruitment of managers initially and players has been the cause of most issues we currently have. If that had money had been spent well.......

I read somewhere {Twitter, I believe} that this is now the longest period we have spent outside of the top division. And it just feels that we have come out of a period of fertility and we have a barren period ahead. All that wasted money, and the squad that Nigel  Clough built now gone {Forsyth aside}. The Club’s heart now beats but dimly and unevenly, our heroes all but scattered and bloodied after too long a forlorn battle . . . 

[brady1993]

22 hours ago, RamNut said:

Our performances in the last 6 games showed that we are nowhere near good enough for top six. Second season could be An improvement but second season syndrome means some might equally find it more difficult.
 

Prior to any signings I see mid-table again. Cocu’s hands are tied by finances.

I’m not sure whether he has the answers, but we’ll see.

Feel this isn't a great assessment as it really overlooks a whole bunch of factors and puts too much stock into an abnormal run of fixtures (both in terms of opposition and how quickly the games came).

We finished 6 points off the playoffs at the end of the season but if you remove a couple of the crazy events that happened this season, a couple of the injuries/suspensions at key times or even if Bird and Sibley emerged earlier. It's not hard to imagine that 6 point gap disappearing. Honestly if we just had a fully fit Keogh that gap probably doesn't exist. 

Have we got room to improve ? Well obviously we have. But the truth is last season given every thing that happened we weren't that far off top 6.

Now obviously the squad has changed since then with Clarke and Martin being notable losses and Te Wierik coming in. So our squad is probably a touch worse as it stands and we do need to recruit if we want to be confident of top 6 but I don't think it takes a whole lot.

[LeedsCityRam]

3 hours ago, Ellafella said:

I read somewhere {Twitter, I believe} that this is now the longest period we have spent outside of the top division. And it just feels that we have come out of a period of fertility and we have a barren period ahead. All that wasted money, and the squad that Nigel  Clough built now gone {Forsyth aside}. The Club’s heart now beats but dimly and unevenly, our heroes all but scattered and bloodied after too long a forlorn battle . . . 

You're right that the club wasted the excellent foundation Clough built but I feel we've come through that ruinous period now & are looking at a brighter future.

A lot of the characteristics of Clough's last squad are now in evidence - the current squad is at its leanest since September 2013 & the majority of the squad are young, emerging talent i.e. they have scope to improve. Many of the current squad have played together at various youth levels so the inate understanding/cohesion that Clough's squad had, will already be there.

Biggest positive though is having a manager who is starting his second season with us. The lack of managerial continuity has been the main factor in holding us back since 2015 & I fully expect the squad to improve the longer they are around Cocu & his staff - practice makes perfect. I fully accept you're not a fan of Cocu or his style of football but he does have a previous track record of success & therefore there is a good chance of sustained success now that he has navigated a very difficult first season. With that in mind, I am expecting a top 6 finish in 2020/21 - subject to not having points deducted or a transfer embargo.

[IronRam 140.6]

On 08/08/2020 at 13:24, Van der MoodHoover said:

ANOTHER transition season??

Didn't we just do one of those?

Agreed.  Every season apart from 2 in the last 20 have been transition.  Even Billy's promotion season was a transition season somewhat. It came out of nowhere. A club like ours can't really have expectations looking up as we have never been consistent in the upper echelons of English football like the Prem Sky darlings. 

A more realistic expectation to have for a club our size is that we should NEVER fall below the 2nd tier. 

 

[r4derby]

If we make no more signings, other than Mike CB, I think our squad is mid-table again. We have a whole bunch of young players ready to make the step up and play more competitive football. Sadly, those players are also a couple of seasons away from being ready to play 30+ games and be difference makers at this level. Sibley will still prove to be inconsistent, as he was at the end of this season. Don't get me wrong, he was positive with the ball and exciting, but he also lost possession too often and showed he needs more game time to improve.

I would be looking to give game time to players for the future as much as possible (assuming they are good enough to hold their own now) Both full backs need regular games this season. Bogle and Lowe could become our full backs for next 10 years as a result. Bielik needs to get fit and playing when ready in Autumn in his preferred position. More games for Knight and Sibley. That, sprinkled with experienced players, should see us build on this seasons positives and have us looking up for the future. Also, get Marriott fit and firing, if that is possible.

However, I don't see us getting near the playoffs this season. Not enough quality in the attacking positions to consistently score goals as it stands.

[Ellafella]

1 hour ago, LeedsCityRam said:

You're right that the club wasted the excellent foundation Clough built but I feel we've come through that ruinous period now & are looking at a brighter future.

A lot of the characteristics of Clough's last squad are now in evidence - the current squad is at its leanest since September 2013 & the majority of the squad are young, emerging talent i.e. they have scope to improve. Many of the current squad have played together at various youth levels so the inate understanding/cohesion that Clough's squad had, will already be there.

Biggest positive though is having a manager who is starting his second season with us. The lack of managerial continuity has been the main factor in holding us back since 2015 & I fully expect the squad to improve the longer they are around Cocu & his staff - practice makes perfect. I fully accept you're not a fan of Cocu or his style of football but he does have a previous track record of success & therefore there is a good chance of sustained success now that he has navigated a very difficult first season. With that in mind, I am expecting a top 6 finish in 2020/21 - subject to not having points deducted or a transfer embargo.

A nice breezy summary with optimism but those caveats are the white elephant in the room which is like a grey cloud on the horizon. We may be in for another season of toil. 

[Jourdan]

I think we are in for a tough season as it stands.

If we were well placed, I could understand the optimism and would probably share the optimism for 5th or 6th.

But I think there is too much potentially going against us.

There is the continued threat of a points deduction or a transfer embargo.

There is the delicate financial situation - we seemingly have very little to spend and there is no sign of imminent investment to remedy that.

There is the need to sell to buy - we have to lose more key players on top of already losing Martin and Clarke before we can actually improve the existing squad.

There is the challenge of football in a post-pandemic setting - we have five weeks before our first game and yet another short and disjointed pre-season for Cocu and his staff to navigate.

There is the obvious lack of faith in the scouting and recruitment set-up - no-one is convinced that the key personnel behind the scenes will be on the ball and can get recruitment right.

There are question marks over important players at the club - think of Bielik, Holmes, Rooney and Marriott and we just don’t know if they will be fully fit and can stand up to the demands of a 46-game season.

We are asking a lot of inexperienced players in Bird and Sibley - they will be expected to play 35-40+ games and carry the team and I am not sure they are ready for that.

Our primary attacking threat will be Lawrence and Waghorn and I just don’t think that will be enough for a top six challenge.

Of course we know much can change between now and the autumn, but for me, the odds don’t look great at the moment.

[PodgeyRam]

Like everyone under the sun has said already, it depends on the outcome of the tribunal. 

A points deduction/transfer embargo and I'll be more than happy to finish next season in mid table. 

If we don't get those, we should be pushing for the top six - Cocu has said the same, that's his goal for next season too. 

What I would like to see more than anything else is the style of play we saw in fits and starts last season really become the norm. I imagine the youngsters will play an even bigger role and I'm excited to see what happens.