EFL Verdict

[richinspain]

It's plainly obvious that the squad in it's current state will be relegated on points by Christmas, but that same squad with perhaps 3 players in the right positions and quality should be more than enough to be mid table. Add in the return of a hopefully fully functioning Bielik and we'll be more than safe in my opinion. Injuries with such a small squad would be a problem though.

[Malty]

15 minutes ago, richinspain said:

It's plainly obvious that the squad in it's current state will be relegated on points by Christmas, but that same squad with perhaps 3 players in the right positions and quality should be more than enough to be mid table. Add in the return of a hopefully fully functioning Bielik and we'll be more than safe in my opinion. Injuries with such a small squad would be a problem though.

With Derby’s recruitment the problem is we actually need 8 or 9 new players to achieve the 3 players good enough to fill those positions. The rest will be jozefsoons or Blackmans or anyas or Ibes (mark 2).

 

[GB SPORTS]

11 hours ago, i-Ram said:

Well, now I know I am right. Hope all good with you Angie x.  Max Bird will be some player over the next few years. Handled correctly he could be just as good as Michael Carrick, or players of similar ilk. Not sure he will ever be a Nivea poster boy though.

If Milner can?

[Tamworthram]

38 minutes ago, richinspain said:

It's plainly obvious that the squad in it's current state will be relegated on points by Christmas, but that same squad with perhaps 3 players in the right positions and quality should be more than enough to be mid table. Add in the return of a hopefully fully functioning Bielik and we'll be more than safe in my opinion. Injuries with such a small squad would be a problem though.

I think that is nonsense. Yes, you would imagine with the current squad (although I’m sure we’d all be stunned if there weren’t at least a couple of incoming loans) the team is very likely to struggle, be amongst the favourites for relegation and quite possibly finish bottom but, I doubt we’d be relegated by Christmas (unless we had a massive points deduction of course) and it certainly isn’t “plainly obvious”. If the squad is that poor, I can’t see how the addition the addition of just 3 players would turn us from relegation certs so early in the season to being comfortably mid table.

[Oldben]

I think the difficulty is only partly the efl transfer embargo.

The other issue is the level of competition in the championship.

The efl allows unfairness by not speaking out about teams demoted from the Premier league being given massive parachute payments over several years and almost guaranteing that those are the teams promoted the next year after demotion.

Then the payments continue for 3 years after a teams demoted making those teams to strong as well.

Then you have all the teams that have any amount of transfer budget to spend.

Even when Derby get new owners, under financial fair play rules, they will only be allowed to spend a certain amount on players.

3 new signings would not be enough to change the team, it would require at least 5 new players. Mind you if the goal is promotion, then even more players of decent quality are needed.

I

 

 

[richinspain]

8 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

I think that is nonsense. Yes, you would imagine with the current squad (although I’m sure we’d all be stunned if there weren’t at least a couple of incoming loans) the team is very likely to struggle, be amongst the favourites for relegation and quite possibly finish bottom but, I doubt we’d be relegated by Christmas (unless we had a massive points deduction of course) and it certainly isn’t “plainly obvious”. If the squad is that poor, I can’t see how the addition the addition of just 3 players would turn us from relegation certs so early in the season to being comfortably mid table.

Ok, I've exaggerated with by Christmas ?. What I wanted to say more than anything is the number of players we have rather than the quality. I'm talking about experienced or academy players who may be good enough. We are very thin on the ground (and in the air at the back) but I think that with the right players coming in we should be ok.

[Igor Igor Whats the Score?]

The transfer embargo is the best thing to happen to us. Its an absolute blessing in that we have proved previously we cannot get expensive transfers right. So much money wasted on ridiculous transfer fees and wages with too many examples to list. Im happy to go after CKR type signings of no fee, a fair wage together with ability and great attitude. Bring it on. Its going to be the making of us.

[Woodley Ram]

16 hours ago, Barney1991 said:

In the written reasons I noticed Pearce mentioned after revising the accounts and had shown the idc them done. Apologies if I’m wrong with what I put and feel free to correct me. Could we now be checking them over and they could be submitted within the next week to be checked over by the efl. I see I. His interview they are now working together with that issue. So hopefully within 2 weeks the interested parties will know where it is at and a deal can be finally agreed 

I would have thought that they would have run the revised figures as soon as we were found guilty, I doubt we would have waited for the penalty. That would give them more chance to examine them so the EFL cannot pick them to bits as they will no doubt try. They will always wait until the last day to submit them   

[angieram]

5 minutes ago, Igor Igor Whats the Score? said:

The transfer embargo is the best thing to happen to us. Its an absolute blessing in that we have proved previously we cannot get expensive transfers right. So much money wasted on ridiculous transfer fees and wages with too many examples to list. Im happy to go after CKR type signings of no fee, a fair wage together with ability and great attitude. Bring it on. Its going to be the making of us.

While there is no guarantee of that, I admire the sentiment. 

You have an appropriate username!

[BucksRam]

Not sure of this guy's reliability so apologies but I thought this was an interesting thread, especially the reference to our being in discussion with a dozen or so players.  Could all be oblox I guess

 

[Indy]

4 minutes ago, BucksRam said:

Not sure of this guy's reliability so apologies but I thought this was an interesting thread, especially the reference to our being in discussion with a dozen or so players.  Could all be oblox I guess

 

I was going to ask the forum what people thought about this guys credibility. He says a lot of things that I’m liking - which is an obvious red flag!

[BucksRam]

7 minutes ago, Indy said:

I was going to ask the forum what people thought about this guys credibility. He says a lot of things that I’m liking - which is an obvious red flag!

My thoughts exactly.  Hence how I opened my OP. Looked at a few of his tweets and he seems to do his homework but like you say, could be too good to be true. 

[BramcoteRam84]

My take on the Pearce interview is that it’s some Clarity and Communication from the club on the current situation, while it was never going to provide all answers everyone has been craving for at least something. The positives I took from it:

We are looking to rebuild bridges with the EFL and other member clubs - this is vital and I’m pleased we’re taking the conciliatory approach. Whether EFL are right or wrong (and I think they are wrong and their treatment of us has been despicable) they are the governing body, they will get their way and they are royally screwing us over. We’ve defended our position to the end and have been justified in doing so, now is the time to work with them and move on.

Players have all be paid including wage deferrals being refunded to them. All that speculation about Mel withdrawing funding and plunging us into admin has been unfounded  - the only time he missed a payment was when he expected a takeover to go through. 

People can now shut up about Henry Gabay, the only external debt we have is to MSD 

The strong relationship with Rooney and the fact he is informed on everything and in support. I don’t think Wayne is necessarily the right man (although I’m prepared to back him and want him to succeed) but if he walks away it indicates there are problems.

Clearly they can’t reveal takeover stuff but it’s positive discussions are progressing.

The only negative is the squad position, and yes that’s important. As it stands with what we have it would be a struggle to survive as we simply don’t have the depth of squad. However it’s a long summer and this can be addressed, and with a vastly reduced wage bill we have an opportunity to build and shape a squad. 

The biggest issue for this club right now is not getting the takeover sorted. It’s July 19th announcements happening  and a return full capacity stadiums and venues again. This will provide much needed revenue as we can get our commercial operation up and running. If we even get 60-75% of our normal revenues it will get us towards break even and reduce what Mel has to put in. This will enable us to at least be able to field a squad to compete in the league and avoid relegation. If the takeover then happens with wriggle room due to the reduced wages and hopefully that £30m extra FFP profit we might be able to invest more to compete at the sharp end of the league again. 
 

Next few months and possibly next season will be tough but I genuinely think this is the start point of something positive, and we need positivity around the club again if only to shut up some of the doomsters who post on here 

[Indy]

3 minutes ago, BucksRam said:

My thoughts exactly.  Hence how I opened my OP. Looked at a few of his tweets and he seems to do his homework but like you say, could be too good to be true. 

[RoyMac5]

2 hours ago, TexasRam said:

It’s exactly the same quote, we both copied and pasted it from the same source ?.
Unless we get a change of ownership (which our track record with that is not the best!) he believes the current squad is enough to operate with.
Also the statement  “during this period we have been able to function and produce a squad”  that squad stayed up in the last day of the season and only because Wednesday were deducted points. They have made this mess and unless we get brought out and they leave the club, we’ll be relegated by Christmas. 

What is has said  is clearly delusional, take your rose tinted glasses off Roy. 

Errr no not really, you edited your version to make it have a different meaning.

Why is it delusional, 7 weeks (?) from the transfer window shutting to say what he did?! Why are you panicking?

[Gone]

4 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Errr no not really, you edited your version to make it have a different meaning.

Why is it delusional, 7 weeks (?) from the transfer window shutting to say what he did?! Why are you panicking?

It’s delusional to think the current squad is enough to operate with. We are 2 weeks away from our 1st friendly, a time when you should be preparing your squad for the up and coming season, getting them fit, developing your tactics and planning your systems.
In 4 weeks we start the season and have 5 leagues games between then  and the window shutting. That’s 15 points to play for, the current squad has no CB’s and one CF, it’s absolutely delusional to think that’s good enough to operate in the championship. 
I’m not panicking, I’m sad at what has become of our club in the hands of the current ownership team. 

[duncanjwitham]

1 hour ago, Tamworthram said:

I think that is nonsense. Yes, you would imagine with the current squad (although I’m sure we’d all be stunned if there weren’t at least a couple of incoming loans) the team is very likely to struggle, be amongst the favourites for relegation and quite possibly finish bottom but, I doubt we’d be relegated by Christmas (unless we had a massive points deduction of course) and it certainly isn’t “plainly obvious”. If the squad is that poor, I can’t see how the addition the addition of just 3 players would turn us from relegation certs so early in the season to being comfortably mid table.

The weird thing is, going into last season, I thought we were a striker short of being a very good squad.  We'd kicked on under Cocu from when Rooney arrived, we'd addressed most of the major needs in the squad (with Matt Clarke back, Jozwiak and Marshall), we'd sold an asset but replaced him for a fraction of the cost (Byrne for Bogle) and so on.  Obviously things didn't pan out that way. 

This season, if you look at who we've lost compared to last season, it's only really Matt Clarke (who was excellent again) and Waghorn (who was poor for most of the season).  We've lost quite a few warm bodies - Gregory scored a few, Roberts showed the odd flash, bits and bobs from Menghi etc.  But bar Clarke, is there anyone that we've lost that will *really* be missed?

Obviously we're not in a good position at all, but there's plenty of reasons to think it can be turned around.  We desperately need a striker and 2 central defenders, but beyond that, the first XI isn't too bad.  Marshall/Roos, Byrne, Shinnie, Lawrence and CKR are still decent championship players. Jozwiak has had a decent Euros and should hopefully either be more settled and kick on, or be sold for a decent amount.  We should hopefully have Bielik for more of the season than last. Lawrence missed a lot of games last season too, he was missed. Knight, Bird, Buchanan have all got another year of championship football under their belts. Sibley started to establish himself back in the team towards the end of the season. McDonald, Ebosele, Watson etc have started to get first team football.  It's reasonable to think we can get 3 or 4 loans in relatively easily. With Rooney's name and a guarantee of first team football, I suspect we'll have a fair few top-end prem youngsters here.  And given the state of the transfer market, there are going to be a lot of players around on free transfers, so we can pick up a bunch more experienced warm bodies, if we need to.  

I'm not trying to gloss over the state of the squad, but it's not an unfixable problem.

[RammingStone66]

6 minutes ago, TexasRam said:

It’s delusional to think the current squad is enough to operate with. We are 2 weeks away from our 1st friendly, a time when you should be preparing your squad for the up and coming season, getting them fit, developing your tactics and planning your systems.
In 4 weeks we start the season and have 5 leagues games between then  and the window shutting. That’s 15 points to play for, the current squad has no CB’s and one CF, it’s absolutely delusional to think that’s good enough to operate in the championship. 
I’m not panicking, I’m sad at what has become of our club in the hands of the current ownership team. 

Got to agree, and from the way Pearce put it, it sounded to me like potentially no or very limited incomings until a takeover is completed. His line about "talented youngsters" sounded like signposting the fact many of them are going to have to play this year especially if no takeover is completed and they are hoping to god that they all step up.  I hope I'm totally wrong and they have multiple talented free agent players lined up ready to go and even with out a take over many of them will be signed, I just don't see it.

[Big Bad Bob]

1 hour ago, Igor Igor Whats the Score? said:

The transfer embargo is the best thing to happen to us. Its an absolute blessing in that we have proved previously we cannot get expensive transfers right. So much money wasted on ridiculous transfer fees and wages with too many examples to list. Im happy to go after CKR type signings of no fee, a fair wage together with ability and great attitude. Bring it on. Its going to be the making of us.

Erm, won't that potentially lead to desperate last minute signings that others don't want on inflated wages as is often the case with late transfer window signings?

[RoyMac5]

46 minutes ago, TexasRam said:

It’s delusional to think the current squad is enough to operate with. We are 2 weeks away from our 1st friendly, a time when you should be preparing your squad for the up and coming season, getting them fit, developing your tactics and planning your systems.
In 4 weeks we start the season and have 5 leagues games between then  and the window shutting. That’s 15 points to play for, the current squad has no CB’s and one CF, it’s absolutely delusional to think that’s good enough to operate in the championship. 
I’m not panicking, I’m sad at what has become of our club in the hands of the current ownership team. 

 

So maybe it's saying to other clubs - you don't hold the upper hand in player negotiations. We're not rushing into signings, we're not overpaying and we're not panicking!

Edited July 6, 2021 by RoyMac5