24/09/2019 The start of the decline.

[RammingStone66]

4 minutes ago, S8TY said:

Agree with this and think maybe there are a few other players who don't share our emotions regarding our club....we seem to have our fair share of rotten apples and I'm not sure we have the correct person in Mel to make some very important decisions that must be made NOW! I agree with another poster that if Mel was not a fan would we be so forgiving of his decisions....I feel for Mel because his intentions are good no doubt but we need a clear out ...starting with the coaches and get a proper manager in like Paul Cook who knows what hard work is all about ....has never had chance at a big club ......deserves a chance but not with current coaching team....we are in a mess and not sure we will get out of it if big bold decisions are not made soon.....sad times ?

I think your right, the issues in the dressing room seem to have been festering for a long while. Always felt like when we lost the play off final to QPR then gave everyone a nice pay rise and just expecting to get up the next year was the start of it. Lots of players an very comfy wages with an inflated ego from the year before. 

Also I think one thing this club has struggled with for years is replacing players. Every time we lose a key player it takes years to replace or we just fail totally. Haven't replaced Keogh (his replacement doesn't seem up to it) we never replaced Thorne when he was totally key for us at that time, Mascarell was the closest but was a loan and now it's Bielik but he got injured for a year.  We low-balled Darmstadt and failed to replace Chris Martin, then all the other options dissapear and we end up with CKR ?. Im sure there are many more to add to that.

We seem to find decent GKs as replacements but that's about it ?

[tinman]

It was the day football was postponed in this country. It killed our momentum and the break ended Rooney as a viable footballer. 

[Jayram]

23 minutes ago, LittleEatonRam said:

Spot on.

Cocu was hired on the basis that his was a long-term, 'heads down and do the hard work' project, only for Morris to jettison that in favour of buying some magic beans at the first opportunity. He just can't resist something shiny, can he? Cocu must have felt like he'd been mis-sold the job as soon as Rooney was mentioned. 

This celebrity worship, coupled with financial mismanagement, has been the signature of Morris's tenure at DCFC. What astounds me is the number of our fans who still regard him as some kind of brilliant deal maker because he finds loopholes to avoid punishments. "We've sold the ground to avoid FFP penalties. Mel's done it again - what a genius! Steve Gibson will be fuming!" Well Gibson is having the last laugh now. It's not genius when you keep having to pull rabbits out of hats to keep the authorities off your back. It's a sign that you've lost control and dug yourself a hole you're struggling to get out of.

I know you weren't Cocu's biggest fan and I get why. Some of the criticism directed his way is certainly valid. But for me we never got to see what it would really have been like under him because from day one he had to put up with a total circus that was the making of the Chairman.

Spot on with regards to Morris. I’ve never understood the fawning adulation for the man. In 5 years he has turned us from being a respected club with quality all over the pitch to despised relegation candidates robbing Peter to pay Paul in order to keep the FFP wolves from the door. 
He is a showboat chairman who loves the attention, sitting there with that smug grin next to the latest unnecessary celebrity manager. His hire and fire policy and his general shenanigans have debased us and I’m sick and tired of it. As for the whole academy thing he is meant to have invented, it was excellent before he arrived, hence the likes of Hughes, Hendrick etc so I’m not having it that he was the architect.

The whole club needs a reset from top to bottom and that includes Morris doing one as soon as the sale is complete. He is the worst owner/chairman this club has had in my lifetime of supporting the Rams, other than the convicted criminals from the early 2000’s. 

[Uptherams]

7 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

I'd rather have Keogh captain the side than "England's greatest ever goalscorer" - at least he cared about DCFC.

The whole incident was bad at all levels of the club.

 

The worst part of that ordeal is Lawrence and Bennett got a free pass, despite being the drivers. I didn't like the decision then. Either all 3 should have been terminated or none of them. 

[leroyoftherovers]

7 hours ago, Jourdan said:

6.8.2019 was the beginning for me.

A day after a hard-fought win versus Huddersfield and a positive start to Cocu’s reign, all of the talk should have been about a good performance and it being the springboard for a positive season.

Instead, yet another sideshow began.

The signing of Rooney was the start of the decline in my eyes. ‘PR FC, the team for me’ was the chant of the day.

As a club, it became clear that we were unequivocally more interested in ruffling feathers, having the EFL and other clubs ‘on strings’, and making headlines rather than quietly going about our business, making shrewd decisions and getting results on the pitch.

Ever since then, we have just lurched from one bad call to the next, culminating in the managerial committee being at the helm and the club staring League One in the face.

The culture at the club is totally wrong and change is needed and rapidly so.

 

7 hours ago, Jourdan said:

6.8.2019 was the beginning for me.

A day after a hard-fought win versus Huddersfield and a positive start to Cocu’s reign, all of the talk should have been about a good performance and it being the springboard for a positive season.

Instead, yet another sideshow began.

The signing of Rooney was the start of the decline in my eyes. ‘PR FC, the team for me’ was the chant of the day.

As a club, it became clear that we were unequivocally more interested in ruffling feathers, having the EFL and other clubs ‘on strings’, and making headlines rather than quietly going about our business, making shrewd decisions and getting results on the pitch.

Ever since then, we have just lurched from one bad call to the next, culminating in the managerial committee being at the helm and the club staring League One in the face.

The culture at the club is totally wrong and change is needed and rapidly so.

Agree with this Cocu seemed to me to be totally undermined by the whole Rooney signing.

[RadioactiveWaste]

5 minutes ago, Uptherams said:

The worst part of that ordeal is Lawrence and Bennett got a free pass, despite being the drivers. I didn't like the decision then. Either all 3 should have been terminated or none of them. 

Totally agree.

[sage]

I would suggest the start of the decline was the January 2015 transfer window and everything else has been put sticking plasters on the problems till we ran out of plasters.

 

[LittleEatonRam]

9 minutes ago, Jayram said:

Spot on with regards to Morris. I’ve never understood the fawning adulation for the man. In 5 years he has turned us from being a respected club with quality all over the pitch to despised relegation candidates robbing Peter to pay Paul in order to keep the FFP wolves from the door. 
He is a showboat chairman who loves the attention, sitting there with that smug grin next to the latest unnecessary celebrity manager. His hire and fire policy and his general shenanigans have debased us and I’m sick and tired of it. As for the whole academy thing he is meant to have invented, it was excellent before he arrived, hence the likes of Hughes, Hendrick etc so I’m not having it that he was the architect.

The whole club needs a reset from top to bottom and that includes Morris doing one as soon as the sale is complete. He is the worst owner/chairman this club has had in my lifetime of supporting the Rams, other than the convicted criminals from the early 2000’s. 

Absolutely. 

I know football fans always say they want someone who is a fan in charge of their club because the idea of someone who doesn't care as much sets them panicking, but the fan/owner is fraught with it's own dangers. Killing with kindness etc etc.

A popular phrase on this forum every time MM produces another PR stunt/financial illusion is "Where would we be without Mel?" Promoted, probably.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

35 minutes ago, sage said:

I would suggest the start of the decline was the January 2015 transfer window and everything else has been put sticking plasters on the problems till we ran out of plasters.

 

You definitely mean January 2015? While that window may have contributed to the total capitulation of that season, I'd argue the subsequent summer window was far more ruinous in the long term.

[IslandExile]

I think the problems we're now facing go well back beyond that night.

That night certainly did not help but you have to wonder what culture had been established at the club for it to even happen.

To me, the signing of Rooney was a major mistake. It undermined Cocu for one thing but turned the whole club into a media circus.

If it has attracted new owners/investment, then we have yet to see it BUT I would be very wary of an owner who bought into a club because of the presence of one former-legendary player.

Here's my take on the deep rooted problems, but the more I think about it, there is even more to it than I posted here.

https://dcfcfans.uk/topic/36174-deep-rooted-problems/

 

[sage]

11 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

You definitely mean January 2015? While that window may have contributed to the total capitulation of that season, I'd argue the subsequent summer window was far more ruinous in the long term.

I suggest you look at the word 'start'.

Even the journey of a thousand miles must start with a single step. 

[May Contain Nuts]

1 hour ago, Uptherams said:

The worst part of that ordeal is Lawrence and Bennett got a free pass, despite being the drivers. I didn't like the decision then. Either all 3 should have been terminated or none of them. 

 

We didn't want to sack Keogh, he gave us no bloody choice. The preferred option was that all three players stayed at the club.

If he'd had accepted the reduced contract he'd still be here now, and probably back in the team, but he refused to accept any responsibility (and still hasn't, publicly) for the position he found himself in.

I'd prefer not to have had to sack anyone - even though I can't stand Lawrence on the pitch, I think sacking him for actions which were a result of having big mental health issues following the death of his mum would be more heinous than sacking (read, being left with no real option but to sack) a player who's own stupidity made him completely useless to us for over a year, yet somehow still expected full pay, like an absolute rick.

 

...not that Richard Keogh is the man you look to when the chips are down anyway, even if he was playing now there's plenty of evidence from past performance to suggest that he'd have made little real difference, evidence that that in the heat of the moment, when other players are losing their heads and need a strong, authoritative voice on the pitch that Keogh is the first to panic and crumbles just as badly as the rest of them.

He's been part of some very effective defences, setting club records infact, but really seems to be a bit of a good time charlie, and has been part of many a defensive collapse in which he's looked no more the captain than anyone else on a ship of fools - summed up almost perfectly on the night of 24/09/2019

 

 

 

[Papahet]

September 2015 IMO

Morris pumping in millions left and right, was it really needed...? The clubs been a shambles off the pitch as much as it has on it TBF. It’s a circus. 
 

How much bad press have we had also since MM came in? No coincidence 

[Carl Sagan]

8 hours ago, sunnyhill60 said:

Mel has had as much success with managers as Henry VIII had with wives

A line of pure genius. I raise my tankard to you, sir! ?

[DarkFruitsRam7]

49 minutes ago, sage said:

I suggest you look at the word 'start'.

Even the journey of a thousand miles must start with a single step. 

In that case, I'd argue it started with Forsyth and Buxton pissing about with the ball near the Wembley corner flag in May 2014. Win that game and there would have been no need for a play-off collapse the following season.

[Dethorn]

9 hours ago, Rev said:

 

I suspect it undermined Cocu, who I'm pretty sure wasn't in favour of such action, and the players left behind lost a little bit of respect for him not being able to intervene.

A case of saving the pennies short term, and costing the club a lot more in the long run.

 

You have Based a lot on this suspicion I think.

I suspected at the time that Cocu was behind the decision to sack him.

I personally think he should have been sacked - Gross Negligence of his duties - let alone being a terrible influence on the younger players.

[Dethorn]

3 hours ago, Coneheadjohn said:

 

I do know we would be better with him leading us on the pitch.

 

He was good most of the time with two legs. I know we have been bad but to suggest we would have been better with him on one leg is taking criticism to the extreme surely. ?

[sage]

9 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

In that case, I'd argue it started with Forsyth and Buxton pissing about with the ball near the Wembley corner flag in May 2014. Win that game and there would have been no need for a play-off collapse the following season.

We didn't score in 90mins and who is to say we would have scored in the next 30 and then it's penalties.

I think the OP is talking about how the club is run, decisions made.