El DerbyCo

[RadioactiveWaste]

26 minutes ago, Ellafella said:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11696/12270933/erik-alonso-exclusive-prospective-new-Derby-owner-wants-to-restore-clubs-history-and-insists-he-has-the-wealth

I'm sure I remember listening to a podcast (can't remember which one but had the finacial journo who knew about the Sheik stuff) and the discussion about shakie's backer dropping out and Alonso coming in was very much "Alonso is a rich man but not football club owner rich so he must have backers he's fronting probably far east"

Still, we'll see.

[kevinhectoring]

33 minutes ago, Ellafella said:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11696/12269676/Derby-takeover-ex-real-madrid-president-ramon-calderon-helped-advise-erik-alonso

Definitely needs to learn how to pronounce Derby. Odd that he speaks English as much like an Indonesian as a Spaniard. Shades of Joey Barton. Hopefully he’ll be saying ay up me duck in no time 

Edited April 10, 2021 by kevinhectoring

[LazloW]

What will be will be. Whether it’s a new manager, new signing or new owner, we can speculate, worry, wail and gnash our teeth as much as we want, but we won’t know whether it turns out good, bad or indifferent until we see what transpires.

Its quite understandable why there is some concern as we’ve had some dodgy owners in the past and we’ve seen what has happened elsewhere. However, I do tend to think some of the comments on here and elsewhere are a bit like people are just trying to make sure they can say ‘I told you so’ when/if it goes wrong and look clever. 

The only thing I’m particularly feeling at the moment is sadness that Mel is selling up. Football has ups and downs and I don’t really blame Mel for where we are. He’s backed his managers, he’s backed people he trusted to run the club, he has hired managers who should’ve done better than they did. Everything he’s done, and invested, has been with the best of intentions. The only thing I think he got really wrong was sacking SMC twice. But even then, I always work on the basis that nobody sets out to make errors, so I don’t hold it against him. 

I’m sure whatever happens, it will be interesting.

[Arsene Titman]

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/erik-alonso-Derby-county-transfers-5283828

This bloke certainly knows how to talk the talk. Let us hope the BSometer doesn’t go off the scale.

[Ellafella]

13 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

Definitely needs to learn how to pronounce Derby. Odd that he speaks English as much like an Indonesian as a Spaniard. Shades of Joey Barton. Hopefully he’ll be saying ay up me duck* in no time 

If you see Erik in the Pride Park environs just say, * “Ay hasto mi pato”. 

[Orphanram]

I’m fairly ambivalent about this. The realist in me says it’s likely to be similar to the last few years. Some up’s up’s maybe a few more downs. Optimistically I see it might be a bit of a roller coaster. One thing that is certain is that everything that happens over the next few years (and probably forevermore) will be overdramatised. When I was younger I remember blowing these off field events completely out of proportion. When you take a step back you realise they’re actually the rule and not the exception at our club. This over reaction is amplified in present day by the internet and we are currently going through a phase of indignant outrage in society about virtually everything. Just sit back and experience the ride. 

[ariotofmyown]

36 minutes ago, Gritstone Ram said:

But wait on, we need to find something negative to say. People could get happy, any sort of excitement or optimism needs to be snuffed out at the earliest opportunity. How dare anyone believe this could be a good move. We must all live like Flagellants.

I find this argument that people are just being negative a bit crazy.

Everyone knows multiple examples of dodgy owners coming in and ruining clubs. Everyone laughs at the pathetic fit and proper person test by the League and knows it is pointless. 

With this new prospective owner, there are a few red/amber flags already. Struggling to see any clear positives yet. We all hope it turns out to be great, but nothing much suggests this yet.

When it was clear the Amigos were crooks, it was easy to ignore because Burley has us playing well. All we've got now is the buying players for 20 million quote. Surely no one is excited by that.

[jono]

23 hours ago, GboroRam said:

Do you mean do we trust Mel's intentions, or do we trust his judgement? I don't think many people think Mel hasn't done everything he's done with the best of intentions. But it's fair to say we aren't where we wanted to be - and although I think Mel did nothing anyone particularly objected to, I can see that criticism levelled at him because he ultimately stands and fails by his decisions. I'd be honest and say I supported most of them, so it's churlish of me to say he's made bad choices. At the time they seemed like good ones (although the sale of the stadium didn't sit right, without knowing the ins and outs of finances and the agreements I couldn't really say if it was a stroke of genius or a hugely worrying situation we'd been engineered into).

I think more than anything it shows the nature of football is broken financially. Even those people criticising Mel for wasting money on ultimately buying playing staff that haven't been good enough collectively are saying we need a clear out and to spend vast amounts of money to replace them, which will just mean we're doubling down on the mistakes they're saying we've already made. Some of those people would later criticise that spending as reckless if it didn't ultimately work out and result in promotion.

It's like spending a thousand pounds on scratch cards, and being disappointed when you only win £50. Some people would say you were stupid for spending a thousand, but say you need to spend another thousand if you want to win the jackpot. And criticise you for buying duff scratchcards if it failed again and again and again.

There's no guarantees in football. There's no guarantee this guy isn't out to load the club up with loads of debt and high-tail it into the sunset. I think we've been very lucky to have Mel prepared to spend his money - plenty of owners are less keen to spend their own money on the club and are happy to leave the it in trouble later. My concern is I can't really see why Mel has done it other than he's a fan and it was his dream to see his club prosper. That won't be the case for many future owners. It's a difficult business to make money in, but a business filled with chancers ready to rob you at any opportunity.

As you say, none of completely understand Mels motives. I’d guess they are very human. A bit of a gamble, got the club at a reasonable price and a chance of the Prem at that time .. chance being the operative word. Then add in he is a fan without doubt. I think my defence of him is based on the fact that he stuck with it as long as he was able and ploughed money in even when the gamble hadn’t payed off. Decent, honest, professional. 

I’d be very interested to see how many clubs have been “successful” in the last 10 years .. by this I mean who a) reached the prem and thus guaranteed themselves a pay day and subsequent parachute payments (I.e. financial security and effective freedom from FFP ) or b) established themselves in the prem. There aren’t that many. Burnley Leicester, and then the hand full of yo-yo clubs. Any others I have forgotten ? Then the abject failures like Sunderland. Bottom line is we have been par for the course, ebbed and flowed with the tide. 

[ariotofmyown]

18 minutes ago, LazloW said:

Its quite understandable why there is some concern as we’ve had some dodgy owners in the past and we’ve seen what has happened elsewhere. However, I do tend to think some of the comments on here and elsewhere are a bit like people are just trying to make sure they can say ‘I told you so’ when/if it goes wrong and look clever. 

Not sure why you think that. People taking their time to post on here clearly care about the club and, as you say yourself, there is understandable concern.

Strange you think this people just want to look clever if it goes pear shaped. I'm sure there are better ways to achieve this than raising legitimate concerns about this very opaque situation.

[Curtains]

6 minutes ago, ariotofmyown said:

I find this argument that people are just being negative a bit crazy.

Everyone knows multiple examples of dodgy owners coming in and ruining clubs. Everyone laughs at the pathetic fit and proper person test by the League and knows it is pointless. 

With this new prospective owner, there are a few red/amber flags already. Struggling to see any clear positives yet. We all hope it turns out to be great, but nothing much suggests this yet.

When it was clear the Amigos were crooks, it was easy to ignore because Burley has us playing well. All we've got now is the buying players for 20 million quote. Surely no one is excited by that.

You can be sceptical of course you can but at the end of the day what do you want to happen ! 

[Warwick Ram]

Personally I am sceptical of Mel’s judgement. Surely it is his judgement that has taken us from being certainties for promotion to fighting relegation with big financial problems.

Yes, I know CoVID has had an impact but it wasn’t CoVID making us sell the ground to his sister company to avoid FFP.

I actually think Mel wants out now at any cost. He doesn’t care who buys it he just wants the money.

On reflection he made some bad choices with managers and it has cost us.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Warwick Ram

[Ghost of Clough]

27 minutes ago, jono said:

As you say, none of completely understand Mels motives. I’d guess they are very human. A bit of a gamble, got the club at a reasonable price and a chance of the Prem at that time .. chance being the operative word. Then add in he is a fan without doubt. I think my defence of him is based on the fact that he stuck with it as long as he was able and ploughed money in even when the gamble hadn’t payed off. Decent, honest, professional. 

I’d be very interested to see how many clubs have been “successful” in the last 10 years .. by this I mean who a) reached the prem and thus guaranteed themselves a pay day and subsequent parachute payments (I.e. financial security and effective freedom from FFP ) or b) established themselves in the prem. There aren’t that many. Burnley Leicester, and then the hand full of yo-yo clubs. Any others I have forgotten ? Then the abject failures like Sunderland. Bottom line is we have been par for the course, ebbed and flowed with the tide. 

Southampton, West Ham, Palace, Brighton. Can we include Wolves and Newcaslte yet? You'd expect Villa and Leeds to join this group in time.

Norwich, Fulham, Watford, West Brom are all at least yo-yo clubs too.

[DCFC1388]

I know the EFL get rightly ridiculed regards the owners fit & proper test but it is worth pointing out that Trevor Birch took over Jan this year and from what I have read he seems to be someone who actually knows what he is doing and will actually enforce this fit & proper test properly. Also, I believe he is the guy behind the new deal the EFL got for help with Covid which the previous director seemed to make a right balls up of.

Edited April 10, 2021 by DCFC1388

[RadioactiveWaste]

6 minutes ago, Warwick Ram said:

Personally I am sceptical of Mel’s judgement. Surely it is his judgement that has taken us from being certainties for promotion to fighting relegation with big financial problems.

Yes, I know CoVID has had an impact but it wasn’t CoVID making us sell the ground to his sister company to avoid FFP.

I actually think Mel wants out now at any cost. He doesn’t care who buys it he just wants the money.

On reflection he made some bad choices with managers and it has cost us.

I'm inclined to agree. Especially if he has health concerns and no longer the free cash to backroll the club's losses.

I do feel a bit for Mel, it could've all been so different. The risks he took didn't pay off. I also personnally think we had the Rowett and Lampard seasons on "borrowed time" hence the crashdown of this season. With hindsight, some slow rebuilding after Dazwaz n 'Arry failed in the play offs was probably the right thing to do.

[JarodyDCFC]

Erik Alonso is at pride park today, just posted on his Instagram. 

[Tamworthram]

14 minutes ago, Warwick Ram said:

Personally I am sceptical of Mel’s judgement. Surely it is his judgement that has taken us from being certainties for promotion to fighting relegation with big financial problems.

Yes, I know CoVID has had an impact but it wasn’t CoVID making us sell the ground to his sister company to avoid FFP.

I actually think Mel wants out now at any cost. He doesn’t care who buys it he just wants the money.

On reflection he made some bad choices with managers and it has cost us.

We’ve never been certainties for promotion. 

[DCFC1388]

Well Alonso is at the gane today, already in the stadium

[Donnyram]

9 hours ago, Needlesh said:

I'm a tired middle aged man. I don't have reserves of rage to bring to bear on topics around what might go wrong, or what should have been done. I'm sad that Mel is walking away, sad for us and for him, that the effort in sweat and treasure he's put in to getting us promoted never worked out. Blame him if you want, but few of us could or would have done better. He deserved to sit in the executive box at Old Trafford and The Emirates and watch our team mix it with the best again. I'll always respect him and wish him well.

The new guy is a clean slate, a fresh start. We have a new season over the horizon and if we can just win a couple more games and stay up, positives in the academy and the managers office and hope for the future.

Good luck to him, and I hope the takeover and the relegation battle conclude successfully in this next couple of weeks.

Up the Rams. It's all about the hope.

 

 

Cracking post, sums up my own views perfectly (and I’m a tired middle aged man as well) ? ??

[DarkFruitsRam7]

17 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Southampton, West Ham, Palace, Brighton. Can we include Wolves and Newcaslte yet? You'd expect Villa and Leeds to join this group in time.

Norwich, Fulham, Watford, West Brom are all at least yo-yo clubs too.

The idea that it's harder for promoted clubs to compete in the Premier League these days is a bit of a myth. I heard a stat on a podcast the other day which suggested that very little has changed from 20 years ago in terms of promoted clubs surviving.

Granted, there's a difference between surviving and attempting to break into the 'Bix Six'. But I'd be interested in knowing if it really is as unattainable as people make out. I think people sometimes say things to fit their narrative of "football isn't what it used to be".

Now, the one thing that would make it almost impossible to compete with the best would be the European Super League. Duck that poo.

Edited April 10, 2021 by DarkFruitsRam7

[Gaspode]

1 hour ago, Rammy03 said:

That's our job

It really, really isn't......