Rate Mels tenure from 1 to 10

[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.

Just to lighten the mood a little, what would be the cast for such a film? Best and worst.

[LeedsCityRam]

9 hours ago, Gritstone Ram said:

I have had one of the best nights of my life at Leeds in the play offs.

For that I am abstaining. I will never forget that night for as long as I live. Just like Man U away ok now isn’t good but we’ve had a ride and at the end it wasn’t our money.

Fair play for posting an opinion against the grain but do take issue with it. I was in the away end at Elland Road that night too but frankly if administration was the ultimate cost of sticking it to Leeds & swaggering around the Championship for 5 years, then it was very poor deal indeed.

At least when Leeds blew up & ended up in League One, they'd got to Champions League semi finals & threatened a title push. Our 'glory' was one playoff final appearance (under Mel) & a couple of decent cup results under Lampard. Thats even below our historical average in terms of performance.

Awful thing is Mel's cash (spent wisely) allied to the 13/14 squad was an amazing oportunity to not only go up but stay up & make a positive impact in the Prem. Heartbreaking really.

[Warwick Ram]

Mel Morris is not a Derby County fan. He is an ego centric money hungry business man. I still believe he saw the huge gains if we got promoted to the Premier League and he gambled.

You then look at the whole TV deal thing, which was all about more money. Why if the deal was so bad didn’t he have unilateral backing from all of the other chairman. He did it to get himself more money.

He has essentially gambled with the club’s future and lost.

Why doesn’t he do the decent thing and hold a proper meeting with the fans where everything can be disclosed.

[Sheff Ram]

9 hours ago, Zag zig said:

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.

You've saved me typing my thoughts out so thank you. Yup, you've summed it up for me as well. 

With football you get remembered for where you finished and Mel has led us to the rim of the abys. The fact he has throw significant amounts of cash at the club to achieve much less than others with less resource means he has to go down as one of the worst chairman in the History of our beloved club.

[jimtastic56]

One of the most annoying parts of the debacle is that for the last 2 years is 50% of us saw it coming . The other 50% insisted on ridiculing us. We should have protested more as a group before it got to this.

[Anag Ram]

33 minutes ago, Warwick Ram said:

Mel Morris is not a Derby County fan. He is an ego centric money hungry business man. I still believe he saw the huge gains if we got promoted to the Premier League and he gambled.

You then look at the whole TV deal thing, which was all about more money. Why if the deal was so bad didn’t he have unilateral backing from all of the other chairman. He did it to get himself more money.

He has essentially gambled with the club’s future and lost.

Why doesn’t he do the decent thing and hold a proper meeting with the fans where everything can be disclosed.

It may be that MM has done wrong by us but shouldn’t we listen to what he has to say on the matter before we make damning judgment?

It may be that administration is the only course available to us. He might have something in mind to help us. We don’t know how the conversations have gone or what the long term plans are.

So you’re right in seeking open discussion.

[Duracell]

10 hours ago, Gritstone Ram said:

I have had one of the best nights of my life at Leeds in the play offs.

For that I am abstaining. I will never forget that night for as long as I live. Just like Man U away ok now isn’t good but we’ve had a ride and at the end it wasn’t our money.

70 million quid is a lot of money for one game that in end didn’t actually count for anything.

[Gritstone Ram]

I have abstained from giving a score not given him 10 out of 10. 
 

[Pearl Ram]

27 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

It may be that MM has done wrong by us but shouldn’t we listen to what he has to say on the matter before we make damning judgment?

It may be that administration is the only course available to us. He might have something in mind to help us. We don’t know how the conversations have gone or what the long term plans are.

So you’re right in seeking open discussion.

I’m surprised you think there may be any truth to anything he had to say Anag, you only have to read the statement the club put out last night absolving Morris for any blame for where we are this morning. But fair play, giving him the benefit of the doubt is your prerogative so I have to respect that.

Myself, I think his action are beyond treacherous, he has deceived a lot of people and the more I think about it the easier it becomes to see why Gibson wanted to take him down. Unfortunately the fans are the collateral damage in all this and it’s (mostly) us that are sickened this morning. 

UTR.

[oldtimeram]

Zero 

The man should hang his head in shame

 

 

[oldtimeram]

11 hours ago, DanS1992 said:

ZERO

I despise the man. I wish he never set foot near the club. He should never be welcomed back, ever. One of our own? He will never be in my eyes.

Agree.  Despicable man 

[G STAR RAM]

Ok, I will be the one that tries to give a considered answer.

3 out of 10 for me.

A trip to Wembley (only the 4th in my 36 years of watching the Rams).

2 other appearances in the play offs.

Attracted the likes of Lampard, Cole and Rooney to the club (yes I'm aware this also played a part in our downfall).

Invested heavily in the academy, which could potentially now be our saviour.

Obviously the flip side massively outweighs the above and I cannot for the life of me understand how he thought he could lie to the fanbase and get away with it, basically he treated us like mugs.

Whether the latest move is down to his financial situation, his ill health or if he just got bored I don't think we will ever know.

I'd have him on about a par with Maxwell but still can't compare him to the 3 Amigos who actually came to Derby with the intention of fleecing us.

[Raich Carter]

1 hour ago, jimtastic56 said:

One of the most annoying parts of the debacle is that for the last 2 years is 50% of us saw it coming . The other 50% insisted on ridiculing us. We should have protested more as a group before it got to this.

Ah, the good old ‘told you so’! ?

[oldtimeram]

1 hour ago, jimtastic56 said:

One of the most annoying parts of the debacle is that for the last 2 years is 50% of us saw it coming . The other 50% insisted on ridiculing us. We should have protested more as a group before it got to this.

I could see what sort of man and owner he was years ago and I was often slated on here for airing my views about him.  Seems like most others have now joined my way of thinking about the disgusting way he has conducted himself since he took over.  I hope I never hear of him again.  The man should never be allowed anywhere near the club again.

Shame on you Morris 

[GangwayD]

11 hours 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.

Absolutely nailed it for me and exactly how I'm feeling.  

Some of the signings we've made that have completely flopped and cost us absolutely millions doesn't just fall on his shoulders.  Easy for me to say but I didn't agree with many of the signings we made, nor managerial choices.  

Feeling quite down this morning.

Cheers

Gangway D from the terrace 

[Gritstone Ram]

1 hour ago, jimtastic56 said:

One of the most annoying parts of the debacle is that for the last 2 years is 50% of us saw it coming . The other 50% insisted on ridiculing us. We should have protested more as a group before it got to this.

Well half had to be right one way or the other. It’s simple maths.

[Rammy03]

For the most part we've been a good football team under Mel Morris. We've had some great games and very memorable moments on the field. And it's slightly unlucky that we haven't reached the premier League in that time. We've been so close.

But he's run the club into the ground whilst doing it. He's gambled the future of our club. That is simply unacceptable. 

Has to be a 1/10.

[Retro_RAM]

2 and that's generous mainly from Frank Lampard and now Wayne Rooney being with us and he brought a bit of footballing "Hollywood" to us, whether people wanted this this or not it certainly helped our international appeal which can only be a good thing and of course that Leeds win.

That said, even in the early days of his tenure you heard about him going in to the dressing room at half time ranting at the players which is not an owners place or job!

Overpaid on numerous (average) players, was it all Sam Rush? Did he see something that we're seeing now? 

Bottom line is regardless of Covid and EFL (every club in the country had to deal with Covid) and I wonder if he wasn't going around like Barry Big baalocks the EFL or Gibson wouldn't feel the need to put him and by extension US in our place...

At heart we're a proud historic club with players, staff and fans all taking pride in being associated with Derby County and I HATE that some of that has been lost now due to Mel and his wheeling and dealing loophole rubbish.

Edited September 18, 2021 by Retro_RAM

[sage]

8

[Yani P]

The fact that he let his manager and players find out by watching sky sports just goes to show what he thinks of this club..he is no fan of Derby County FC this was his vanity project..