Mel Morris

[Jourdan]

For me, the best kind of owners are the ones who work quietly in the background and just get on with trying to move their club forward. No fuss, no drama, no pyrotechnics.

Ask the average Derby fan to pick Stephen Lansdown or Matthew Benham out in a crowd and I think 99% of them would struggle.

But ask the average fan of any other Championship club to identify Mel Morris and very few would struggle.

I think that’s quite telling.

[Gritty]

4 hours ago, Asheville Ram said:

So the consensus on here is the guy who rescued us from the awful American GSE conglomerate, invested £150 million of his own cash in the club and who until a few months ago was continuing to put in £3-4million a month to keep the club solvent should be pilloried and insulted mercilessly for the largesse he has shown, this to me is incredible.

Hardly anyone has shown any sympathy for him wiping out most of his personal fortune for trying to do the best for this football club on this forum, he blows £150million on the club, and the posters on here spend at the most £500/year on a season ticket, one 3,000th of the amount Mel has contributed, and yet feel they have the right to berate him wish him gone and worse.

I hope he does not read this forum because if I was him at this moment in time this is what I would do;

 As the biggest creditor with my loans I would call them in immediately and as they could not be paid I would put the club into administration, and start to liquidate the assets to repay those loans.

I would have a fire sale of the first team and academy players, I would sell the academy property and land and I would sell the stadium and land, I would also sell the club as a division one outfit with a place in that division, maybe Beckham would be interested.

In total for all that I would get far more than the £60million allegedly being offered by the mythical new bidder, I would have saved many millions and I would not have to put up anymore with the vitriol from the posters on here who think that going to a game occasionally gives them the right to obnoxiously denigrate my investment and my career and totally trash my character.

Rant over.

 

 

He meant well and was generous with his cash. Investment in moor farm and academy is great. 

But he made some extremely bad decisions which has left us materially worse off than when he arrived 

He basically gambled on spending his way to a promotion and it failed. We've lost our stadium, are constrained in spending due to ffp which is measured over 3 years, are bottom of the league, with an efl points deduction still possible, playing "direct football", managed by a managerial novice.

Is this "the Derby way"?

 

[G STAR RAM]

3 hours ago, U.M. said:

Factually incorrect.

They invested approx £7m per year.

Not in the same league as Mel, it's true - but significant nonetheless.  Certainly not nothing. 

Invested or loaned?

Will look it up tomorrow but pretty sure the GSE money was in the form of repayable loans.

The money MM has put in has been in the form of equity. 

[Tyler Durden]

When you've calmed down a bit after your rant you might want to consider if you were Mel Morris what things you could and should have done differently, hindsight being a wonderful gift. 

Making your pile out of video games is one thing, being the custodian of a football club clearly is an entirely different entity as am sure Morris will have learned to his detriment. 

Sadly his legacy will be leaving us nearer to League 1 than the promised land of the Premiership which was always his goal.

Success or failure? Will let you be the judge of that.

 

[sunnyhill60]

2 hours ago, Tyler Durden said:

When you've calmed down a bit after your rant you might want to consider if you were Mel Morris what things you could and should have done differently, hindsight being a wonderful gift. 

Making your pile out of video games is one thing, being the custodian of a football club clearly is an entirely different entity as am sure Morris will have learned to his detriment. 

Sadly his legacy will be leaving us nearer to League 1 than the promised land of the Premiership which was always his goal.

Success or failure? Will let you be the judge of that.

 

He seemed to have a penchant for sacking Mac.

Surreal that Mac is now Technical Director

[Charlie George]

6 hours ago, Jourdan said:

For me, the best kind of owners are the ones who work quietly in the background and just get on with trying to move their club forward. No fuss, no drama, no pyrotechnics.

Ask the average Derby fan to pick Stephen Lansdown or Matthew Benham out in a crowd and I think 99% of them would struggle.

But ask the average fan of any other Championship club to identify Mel Morris and very few would struggle.

I think that’s quite telling.

Absolutely.

Who remembers all the new signings being revealed and the mugshots of Melvyn in them.

[Chester40]

I prefer to judge someone by their intentions than how the cards fall. 

He invested large sums of money in his own club with the express intention of getting us back to the big time. 

He appointed managers mainly seen as good appointments, invested in the academy and maxed out his spending on players who were picked by other people. In hindsight he would probably do some things differently but to date it was always with the intention of giving us the best chance to succeed. 

Probably got sick of things always going wrong at the last minute and every decision seeming to have a kicker that made things worse. Just hope he gets the takeover right because if they are not what they seem he will ultimately be viewed very differently to how he deserves. 

[Spanish]

8 hours ago, BrainyRam said:

Normally I lurk rather than post on the forum but am compelled to say I completely agree with the sentiment of the original post. If he hadn't continued to finance us for the past few years we quite possibly wouldn't have a club at all. 

And possibly we would be in the prem, nobody knows

[ramsbottom]

12 hours ago, Asheville Ram said:

So the consensus on here is the guy who rescued us from the awful American GSE conglomerate, invested £150 million of his own cash in the club and who until a few months ago was continuing to put in £3-4million a month to keep the club solvent should be pilloried and insulted mercilessly for the largesse he has shown, this to me is incredible.

Hardly anyone has shown any sympathy for him wiping out most of his personal fortune for trying to do the best for this football club on this forum, he blows £150million on the club, and the posters on here spend at the most £500/year on a season ticket, one 3,000th of the amount Mel has contributed, and yet feel they have the right to berate him wish him gone and worse.

I hope he does not read this forum because if I was him at this moment in time this is what I would do;

 As the biggest creditor with my loans I would call them in immediately and as they could not be paid I would put the club into administration, and start to liquidate the assets to repay those loans.

I would have a fire sale of the first team and academy players, I would sell the academy property and land and I would sell the stadium and land, I would also sell the club as a division one outfit with a place in that division, maybe Beckham would be interested.

In total for all that I would get far more than the £60million allegedly being offered by the mythical new bidder, I would have saved many millions and I would not have to put up anymore with the vitriol from the posters on here who think that going to a game occasionally gives them the right to obnoxiously denigrate my investment and my career and totally trash my character.

Rant over.

 

 

Ah yes, those dastardly yanks, who learned from their mistakes and had us running a well maintained ship, that was virtually debt free, and over time, with sound recruitment, left us with a team that was a few astute signings away from taring the league a new poo-hole  Yep, they were properly poo weren’t they?!?!???!? 
 

Mel didn’t have to do it, he could’ve been what Mr Dell was, and simply stuck a chunk of change into the club, but no, he wanted to be numero uno, so on his head be it. 

For the record, I like him as a bloke, and his heart is in the right place, but nobody can deny that we’re royally funked right now, and a lot of the blame has to be place at his feet...

[Ted McMinn Football Genius]

So Mel is being blamed for us not reaching the promise land of the Premier League ??

My memory serves up several different scenarios in this debate..

1/ So it’s Mels fault for not selecting the free scoring Bryson against QPR at Wembley??!! and not Macs??!! ?

2/ Was it Mel and not Rowett that poo his pants and threw the game away in the second leg against Fulham??!!?

3/ And I’m guessing it was Mel and not Lampard who chose to play Mason (F-ing) Bennett upfront against Villa at Wembley??!!?

4/ Last but not least, it must have been Mel that got Lawrence, Keogh, Bennett, Buchanan etc etc to get in their cars whilst 3 sheets and drive on that fateful night!!!!???

Give over those who are pointing fingers at Mel, he did what he thought was right with the club and his investment, it just didn’t work out as we all wished. These things happen and it could have so easily turned out so much better.

Thanks for the time, effort and investment Mel, shame it didn’t pan out the way we had all hoped ????

 

[G STAR RAM]

41 minutes ago, ramsbottom said:

Ah yes, those dastardly yanks, who learned from their mistakes and had us running a well maintained ship, that was virtually debt free, and over time, with sound recruitment, left us with a team that was a few astute signings away from taring the league a new poo-hole  Yep, they were properly poo weren’t they?!?!???!? 
 

Mel didn’t have to do it, he could’ve been what Mr Dell was, and simply stuck a chunk of change into the club, but no, he wanted to be numero uno, so on his head be it. 

For the record, I like him as a bloke, and his heart is in the right place, but nobody can deny that we’re royally funked right now, and a lot of the blame has to be place at his feet...

We were not virtually debt free under GSE, we were £18m in debt and losing circa £9m per year from memory.

I dont recall the sound recruitment accolade being used much around that time either. As previously mentioned there was much unrest about us not spending money on players and NC only signing his old mates or players from Scotland.

You say we are royally funked right now do you mean on the playing side of things or financially?

[RamNut]

10 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

We were not virtually debt free under GSE, we were £18m in debt and losing circa £9m per year from memory.

I dont recall the sound recruitment accolade being used much around that time either. As previously mentioned there was much unrest about us not spending money on players and NC only signing his old mates or players from Scotland.

You say we are royally funked right now do you mean on the playing side of things or financially?

How does that compare now in your opinion?

[eccles the ram]

Mel is a Ram through and through. He stood  on the terraces,he's one of our own, he has put millions into this club. Millions! He has made mistakes,loads of them but who hasn't? He could have kept most of his money but decided to go for it for a club he truly loves.Football has changed radically over the years. Too much pressure on the owners for immediate success, too much pressure on players who have to win every game, too much pressure on us fans as well! Football isn't what I knew it forty odd years ago. Sky and agents have changed that forever. Mel should not be the focal point of our desperation. He has had a hand in it but he i truely believe he wants the best for our club. Players and managers, current and past, are equally to blame. Let's roll up our sleeves, concentrate on the tasks in hand, starting with Coventry tonight, and all start FULLY supporting on helping this great club of ours back up the frigging table! COYR

 

 

 

 

[G STAR RAM]

8 minutes ago, RamNut said:

How does that compare now in your opinion?

Well we were debt free at June 2018 from memory (will look later).

We know there has been a loan taken out (secured against Moor Farm), no idea how much that is for and obviously this is due to exceptional circumstances that are beyond MMs control.

If I was going to take a guess at annual losses Id say £15m @Ghost of Cloughmay have a better estimate than me.

[Spanish]

39 minutes ago, Ted McMinn Football Genius said:

So Mel is being blamed for us not reaching the promise land of the Premier League ??

My memory serves up several different scenarios in this debate..

1/ So it’s Mels fault for not selecting the free scoring Bryson against QPR at Wembley??!! and not Macs??!! ?

2/ Was it Mel and not Rowett that poo his pants and threw the game away in the second leg against Fulham??!!?

3/ And I’m guessing it was Mel and not Lampard who chose to play Mason (F-ing) Bennett upfront against Villa at Wembley??!!?

4/ Last but not least, it must have been Mel that got Lawrence, Keogh, Bennett, Buchanan etc etc to get in their cars whilst 3 sheets and drive on that fateful night!!!!???

Give over those who are pointing fingers at Mel, he did what he thought was right with the club and his investment, it just didn’t work out as we all wished. These things happen and it could have so easily turned out so much better.

Thanks for the time, effort and investment Mel, shame it didn’t pan out the way we had all hoped ????

 

No, well at least for me.  His legacy will be;

the club having to sell the ground

the squad management meaning we spent more than we could afford and we sold them for a balloon and a bag of sweets meaning we have a poor squad

we are bottom of L2 and deservedly so

we are awaiting a potential points deduction as a consequence of needing an accounting wheeze to cope with the overspending.

I just hope he's got a deal that will get us out of this hole and if he has my view will be softened. 

In the near and now we are in a mess on and off the pitch. Shame it didn't pan out but there is no-one else to blame. 

 

[Ted McMinn Football Genius]

3 minutes ago, Spanish said:

No, well at least for me.  His legacy will be;

the club having to sell the ground

the squad management meaning we spent more than we could afford and we sold them for a balloon and a bag of sweets meaning we have a poor squad

we are bottom of L2 and deservedly so

we are awaiting a potential points deduction as a consequence of needing an accounting wheeze to cope with the overspending.

I just hope he's got a deal that will get us out of this hole and if he has my view will be softened. 

In the near and now we are in a mess on and off the pitch. Shame it didn't pan out but there is no-one else to blame. 

 

WOW, who’s rained on your parade this morning ???

[i-Ram]

43 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

We were not virtually debt free under GSE, we were £18m in debt and losing circa £9m per year from memory.

I dont recall the sound recruitment accolade being used much around that time either. As previously mentioned there was much unrest about us not spending money on players and NC only signing his old mates or players from Scotland.

You say we are royally funked right now do you mean on the playing side of things or financially?

Not saying you are wrong, but I have some vague memory of only a £3m debt to the Co-op Bank.

19 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Well we were debt free at June 2018 from memory (will look later).

We know there has been a loan taken out (secured against Moor Farm), no idea how much that is for and obviously this is due to exceptional circumstances that are beyond MMs control.

If I was going to take a guess at annual losses Id say £15m @Ghost of Cloughmay have a better estimate than me.

The current MSD loan which is also secured against the stadium (albeit not a club asset now) I understood to have repaid an earlier Gabay loan, which was taken out before COVID hit income. Mel I think was struggling, or not wanting, to put more cash into the business well before COVID came along and hit him another blow. Again not 100% certain on that, but someone who studies the Accounts more closely might have more of a clue. That said I still don’t think we haven’t filed any Accounts for a long while.

[BramcoteRam84]

It’s assessments of his tenure like that make me baffled as to why anyone would want to buy a football club. You get absolutely no thanks despite sinking £150m of your personal fortune to try and be competitive in a vastly unfair playing field further restricted by FFP. 
 

Ryan Conway has written a great piece in the Athletic today and I think he nails it. Mel has definitely made mistakes (I’ve been extremely critical of him in the past) but fundamentally he is a good guy who wants to help people generally and wanted to help his beloved football club. In my view he should be commended for that and no one will be more upset than him that it hasn’t worked out.

The academy will be his legacy.

[i-Ram]

1 minute ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

It’s assessments of his tenure like that make me baffled as to why anyone would want to buy a football club. You get absolutely no thanks despite sinking £150m of your personal fortune to try and be competitive in a vastly unfair playing field further restricted by FFP. 

Ryan Conway has written a great piece in the Athletic today and I think he nails it. Mel has definitely made mistakes (I’ve been extremely critical of him in the past) but fundamentally he is a good guy who wants to help people generally and wanted to help his beloved football club. In my view he should be commended for that and no one will be more upset than him that it hasn’t worked out.

The academy will be his legacy.

All fair points, but it is difficult to justify the need for a Cat 1 Academy if our first team are playing League 1 football next season. Still personally can’t see that happening, but that is the direction of travel he is leaving us with after inheriting a squad that should have gone up to the Premier.

[Spanish]

15 minutes ago, Ted McMinn Football Genius said:

WOW, who’s rained on your parade this morning ???

sorry ? been saying it for some time though.