Rate Mels tenure from 1 to 10

[Zag zig]

Mel should be judged surely on results during his tenure and he’s left a bad legacy, but I also think he’s fallen foul of picking a scrap from very early on with the EFL he couldn’t win.

Half his problems were trying to compete against a stacked deck, which does nothing for long term members of the EFL, that are trying to achieve promotion against ex premiership sides coming down with bloated coffers. So it’s not all Mel’s fault.

Yet Mel was too desperate for success and failed. Whether it was appointing and trusting the wrong managers, the Sam Rush days, allowing others to spend transfer funds recklessly of whatever, the buck still stops with Mel.

That he’s led us into administration within a relatively few years of taking us over, a side remember that was on the cusp of challenging for the Premiership, is now his epitaph on his tenure.

Personally I feel he’s let down a lot of people, who could possibly suffer for this in many ways. So he doesn’t even score 1 for me. Shame on him for that in my mind.

[BramcoteRam84]

4 minutes ago, Dan_Ram said:

Do you know what, it’s a really difficult decision for me. We are looking at this with those hindsight goggles on but there was such a ridiculous amount of bad luck and I agreed with a lot of the decisions at the time.

- Nigel Pearson appointment. He built the team that Leicester won the league with but he tried to change our style of play too soon and the players couldn’t handle it + there was some racism issue with his son.

- Clement. One of the highest regarded coaches in Europe, came to us from Madrid. Percentages say that should have worked. 

- Mac. Did well for us every time he was here, sabotaged us when Newcastle showed interest.

- Lampard. Massively raised the profile of the club and some of the players we could attract through him - look at where they are now. On the flip side all pf his permanent signings were terrible and but for a weird team selection at Wembley and the obvious should I stay/go period, could have been the one to get us to the promised land. 

I am also not buying this theory that the buck stops with him on transfers. You don’t expect the owner to say yes/no to spending money based on the quality of a player. They don’t know enough about the technical side of the game. If a manager tells you this player is the missing link to get us to the prem but by the way mr Blackman will cost X million, that is the fault of the coach not the owner.

Joinersgate. Albentosa getting home sick. The unexplainable disappearance of ability from players like Anya, Butterfield, Marriott, etc who (forget the fees) were all good players before coming to Derby.
 

I don’t want to be the voice of reason because I’m as angry as everyone else and of course there is the flip side of the argument with some extremely poor commercial decisions, but I do find myself feeling for Mel. I honestly believe every decision he has made has been in the best interest of the club, it just hasn’t worked out for him. And unfortunately now he has to fall on his sword. But it doesn’t make me hate the man… 

 

p.s I don’t expect people to read this in full, but emotions are running high at the moment and it made me feel better getting it off my chest.

All valid points - if he stood behind it and continued to back the club while it became break even and sustainable. He chose not to!!! He gambled (no one asked him to) and if you do that then as custodian you have to stand behind it!! Otherwise run us like GSE and put in the bear minimum. 

There is absolutely no defence of Mel now!

[Albert]

Honestly, the worst we've ever had. We're in a financial hole, and are down on assets, the club being in its weakest ever position. He gambled on the Premier League, but did so with the club's future, not his. It's also hard to be angry at the EFL when this is the ultimate outcome, and the entire point of all the rules and regulations is to help prevent these moments. 

I should add that, to be fair, I've never really been much of a fan of him, and felt that his tenure has been a chaotic mess from top to bottom, best seen through how we've dealt with managers.

Let's hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel to all of this. Ultimately, I think Mel has indeed gotten us out of the Championship, and for a long time. The issue was the direction. 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Albert
Added paragraphs

[Tyler Durden]

15 minutes ago, Pearl Ram said:

I’m giving Mel 10 out of 10. And tonight Matthew I’m going to be CharlotteRam. ?

That cheered me up. A bit. 

[Adslegend]

For a time I was gutted that he was trying/ reported to sell. This was all sold on the EFL being the bad guys though, that he'd done things right and seemed to do the best by the club. With the last season or so in mind though, and the recent news, he can't be regarded as a good owner or even an average owner. When he was first interested, we were on a upwards trajectory. A very promising squad with a great coach and likely not a huge amount of expenses. From that we've wasted money and thrown it away on players which we arguably didn't need. We've bought high and sold low for a decent number of signings.

 

He rates very low on this scale. He tries to call himself a fan on the club statement. So many people scrape by to try and go to these matches yet he's worth as many millions as he is and he's willing to put the club in this position. I'm not saying that he's obligated to spend his last penny to keep us afloat but he did buy the club with the knowledge that it could go wrong- It ultimately did go wrong because of his decisions. 

I think we're well rid.

[mwram1973]

-21

[RadioactiveWaste]

13/14 - GSE's building finally bears fruit and we ahave a young competetive exciting team. Me goes "oh hello"

14/15 - A second go is derailed by injuries. Mel takes sole ownership. McLaren is sacked for disloyalty.

15/16 - An awful lot of Mel's money is burned on an unsuccessful attempt to get to the prem.

16/17 - Hendrick is sold against manager's wishes. Vydra and Anya come in to little effect. Peason is sacked very quickly. McLaren does a resuce job but is also sacked because ol Sankie has a charming smile.

17/18 - Tom ince and Will Huges are sold. Rowett does on a more limited budget reach the play offs. Derby fans see that rarest of phenominoms, a defense that knows what it's doing, for a season. Chairman Mel tells ol Snakie there's no money left. Before.......selling Vydra...and....

18/19 - sells himself Pride Park for substancially more than anyone previously thought it was worth. Then spends the money he paid himself on hiring Frank Lampard, loaning three very good prspects and signing some "not very good value" players for a last role of the dice.

19/20 - the need to be more rational flickers for a moment, Cocu is signed on a long term deal to bring through youth and start building towards sustainable sucess. moments before he also announces, "I've also signed Wayen Rooney on a really fancy sponsorship deal and promised him he gets to be mananger next" by the way, all the budget is in Wayne Rooney's wages. EFL "Issues" start to hover around.

20/21 - It's bad. Cocu is Sacked. It's still bad. We stay up on the last day. Thanks to a goal at Cardiff.

21/22 - into Admin.

Well, ultimatly, it's been a ride. Ultimatly, it's ended in disaster. If that were all there was to it, it'd be sad, but we'd all live with it.

BUT

This has not just been a ride.

This has been a story of ego, mismanagment, utter idiocy, poor decisions, and ultimatly, the fact that all this is a result of decisions Mel Morris has taken.

On a 1-10 scale it gets 1.

What is most rage inducing is that, with even a tiny bit of sense it couldve not worked out and ended as a 6-7 for trying and failing, it wasn't boring, but it did not need to end in disaster. Even now, as look down the barrel, it's decisions taken by Mel that have robbed us even of a chance to get something sorted.

OK 1 is too generous.

 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

If I stood in a pile of vomit, then stood in a piece of fresh dog poo, then topped it off by glueing it together standing in a bit of chewing gum. 

Just below that out of 10.

I would also like to add the shoe would wind up in a set of drawers at the EFL, preferably on a very hot day as there poo housing has made the problem worse. 

[desirelines]

He will not be able to show his face in Derby ever again after this. Off to the Caribbean and never return you charlatan. 

[Ram1988]

0.01

 

[Anon]

3 hours ago, Dan_Ram said:

I am also not buying this theory that the buck stops with him on transfers. You don’t expect the owner to say yes/no to spending money based on the quality of a player. They don’t know enough about the technical side of the game. If a manager tells you this player is the missing link to get us to the prem but by the way mr Blackman will cost X million, that is the fault of the coach not the owner.

If all owners behaved like this then almost every club would be in administration. Football managers are not known for their financial acumen and will always push to spend more. At some point a sensible owner has to say no for the sake of the club. Billy Davies would've happily bankrupted Forest if Doughty hadn't reined in his spending.

[RamsFan10]

Why isn't 0 an option.

Its the only answer for an owner who's brought a club to the brink of extinction.

 

[IlsonDerby]

Can’t believe this is even a question. It’s a 0 and that’s being polite. 
 

I was foolish enough to think that someone who had accrued wealth of half a billion big ones in a tough business world knew what he was doing. I didn’t worry as much as I should about big spending because I thought - more business savvy person than me is signing on the dotted line for these we must be fine.

 

Taken us all for mugs and I genuinely hope it’s got to a point where he’s no longer a millionaire because in the real world that is what happens to people who make appalling decisions with their finances. 

[Charlie George]

Always about Melvyn's ego vanity projects.Take it from me the majority of chairman in the EFL thought he was an arrogant clown.

Worst owner ever so minus points from me. Let's hope he's run out of town.

[Angry Ram]

[eccles the ram]

Had a restless night last night. Very angry initially. I want some sort of explaination from Mel personally to all DCFC fans as to how we got in this mess. Yes Covid caused us to lose a lot of money but what about other clubs, they are not in our situation,YET!! Feels like you see  your best mate of 50 years get run down and seriously hurt by a driver that you recognise. That driver then gets off scot free! I hope some good comes out of this absolute nightmare scenario but it will take time. Enjoy your retirement Mr Morris with what you have left. I will still be on the terraces on a rainy Tuesday night cheering the lads on whatever league we are in. Me and thousands more. I haven't had your money and i dont begrudge you of it, but you have systematically disengaged most, not all fans from you. I know I am a true Derby fan but, hand on heart, can you still say the same? 

[Rampage]

My problem is simple. I agreed with the decisions made and thought that all of the managers were good signings. Should have beaten QPR, Hull and we played the wrong team against Villa. So many players were less good at Derby than I expected. In the end Mel splashed his cash big time and it did not work out. It has happened before and will happen again. Would have been. Could have been but probably not too much of should have been. Until last 18 months 6/10. Last 18 months, I will wait for revelations of what actually went on. Ultimately, a sort of apparent shambles. COYR

[Tamworthram]

9 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

They should write a book or make a film about his tenure, it's been that bad.

Considering where we were when Mel came in, our posiiton now after spending some £70 million on players is truly astounding.

They’re just waiting for the happy ending as AFC Derby County (established 2021) storm up the football pyramid. ?

[TheTinMan]

You can give him some credit for his intentions to get the club promoted and showing some ambition for the club.

I do believe he is a fan and I also think he naively for a successful businessman forgot about the luck element that comes with running a business let alone a football club. We've been somewhat unlucky but I'm talking about missing out on promotion not covid here.

If we'd got promoted we'd rightly or wrongly have got away with this (EFL sanctions, spending way above our means etc) on so many levels and that in a nutshell is what is wrong with the Premier League, parachute payments etc... 

Getting that out the way the managerial turnover/recruitment has been a joke throughout including the current manager. The player recruitment has been hit and miss at best but 75% miss. His communication with the clubs own fans for the past couple of years has been very poor. 

Ultimately his intentions are somewhat irrelevant as the consequences are so dire. 

[Jayram]

To put this into context, even a bunch of convicted criminal fraudsters left our football club in a better state than Mel Morris has. I don’t need a scale of 1-10 to know that he is the worst owner Derby County Football Club has ever had in its history.