The young players from the academy who are coming into the first team..

[Boycie]

Who do we thank ultimately?

awks.

[ilkleyram]

Mel for funding the academy over several years and encouraging its development; Darren Wassall and team for developing the players; Wayne, and other managers, for picking them and thereby encouraging the development 

[Red_ram]

Their parents for… well, you know.
 

Still awks.

[Philmycock]

4 minutes ago, ilkleyram said:

Mel for funding the academy over several years and encouraging its development; Darren Wassall and team for developing the players; Wayne, and other managers, for picking them and thereby encouraging the development 

Easy to fund when you're not paying your taxes I suppose

[LeedsCityRam]

2 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Who do we thank ultimately?

awks.

The irony of course being he didn't appoint a manager to specifically bring young players through until he'd decided to sell the club & we were already well on our way to implosion (Cocu post 2019 playoff final). Unusually for his reign the right strategy but poor timing & execution. 

I'd prefer to give credit to Darren Wassall, Pat Lyons & everyone at the Academy. None of the young players have looked out their depth when they've stepped up & thats testament to hard work done behind the scenes.

[GenBr]

Its actually a stroke of genius by Mel. It doesnt matter if we have a fire sale on the first team when we can just play the youths. They can double as ball boys as well to save cash

[MackworthRamIsGod]

The EFL, in a weird kind of way.

If it wasn't for them Mel would be still making Stella signings like Butterfield and Blackman like the fans wanted.

[Asanovic70]

Plange was signed after a successful trial period following his exit from Arsenal. I suppose we've lost players from our Academy (Kaide Gordon)/had them poached & in turn we pick up players released from elsewhere if they are deemed good enough. Arsenal thought Plange didn't have a long-term future with them but still had a bright future in the game. So I suppose the credit here ought to be given to the coaching staff/Academy who recognized he had enough talent to do well for us & was worth being givem another chance. Credit may also go to the manager who pushed the EFL to allow him to play.

You can give Morris credit for investing in the Academy but criticize for not utilizing it enough or as part of some joined up thinking/strategy. It still doesn't excuse the money wasted on Anya etc/elsewhere which is where the real damage lies. 

I always think an Academy is worth investing in, we may have to scale things back if further cuts are made & that will be a blow. An Academy can pay for itself. We've had to depend on it out of necessity this season.

[EtoileSportiveDeDerby]

The vision, Mel. The direction, Wassal. The execution, the coaches.

[Boycie]

May I say that Mel wanted a pathway for the academy for a long time. Probably prior to Lampard.  I can take the hates by the way.

[uttoxram75]

39 minutes ago, Boycie said:

May I say that Mel wanted a pathway for the academy for a long time. Probably prior to Lampard.  I can take the hates by the way.

[vonwright]

4 hours ago, Boycie said:

Who do we thank ultimately?

awks.

I'd wait and see how many we have to sell or let go for far less than they are worth. It might well be that it is fans of rival clubs who end up grateful for what Morris has done at Derby. 

[StantonRam]

IMO in recent years by far the best aspect of being a Rams fan has been the way that 'the kids' have emerged and done sterling work for us.  Had more faith been shown in them earlier under previous managers then we wouldn't have spent silly money that we didn't really have on expensive but average bench sitters, bankrupting ourselves in the process.  Now we find ourselves in precisely the situation we have been dreading all these years, heading for League 1 with a team mostly consisting of young &/or local &/or untried talent.

And you know what?  It might actually be the best thing that's ever happened to us.  OK we might lose a couple of the best young players (Knight won't want to play in League 1 as he is already an international) but there always seem to be more coming through.  And this current crop will run through walls for Wazza because he gave them a chance.

So we should give thanks to those who made this possible, get behind the kids at every opportunity and let them know that we believe in them 100%.  We are fortunate to be able to watch such a talented and hard working bunch.  This is how football should be, primarily a means for local talent to find an outlet and connect with and contribute to their home town team.

And once the new ownership is in place their first act should be to commit to continuing to invest in the Academy.  In the long run it will save us millions. 

[NottsRam77]

9 hours ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

The EFL, in a weird kind of way.

If it wasn't for them Mel would be still making Stella signings like Butterfield and Blackman like the fans wanted.

Not sure any fan would have chosen stella signings if they were itk that these signings were putting the clubs future in jepody

as fans we had to assume that mel “one of own” morris or indeed anyone who was a fan and owner would never have done something so reckless as to put his own club from a boy into admin and possible liquidation by spending money we didnt have

 

 

 

 

[BramcoteRam84]

Another example of the confusing management (mismanagement) of this club in recent years. Right strategy with the academy but completely undone by the chaotic way he’s run the first team, burning millions signing rubbish instead of intelligent buying to supplement academy players. Then as the academy is starting to deliver he walks away, pulls all funding and we now risk losing all our academy products for a song. If we don’t get the ownership sorted and we need to sell players to finish the season then we would do well to get £5m for Buchanan Bird Knight combined. Managed correctly with a sales negotiating team like Notts Forest  have that would be £15-20m. Furthermore we could lose all our other promising kids for zilch given we can’t offer them contracts. Therefore what is the point.

Hope we can get things sorted and keep as many of this group as possible as if we can, still think there is an exciting future that can come out of this.

[ariotofmyown]

7 hours ago, Boycie said:

May I say that Mel wanted a pathway for the academy for a long time. Probably prior to Lampard.  I can take the hates by the way.

One of the Mels wanted his managers to play many more academy players. He was clearly unhappy with them when they wouldn't pick them. Promoting the kids was clearly a requirement in getting the job.

The other Mel though kept funding the purchases of average, overpriced "experienced" players, that usually ended up useless and worthless.

We regularly cite Butterfield and Johnson as these type of bad signings, but they were actually ok compared to Blackman, Anya and Malone. Why the hell didn't this Mel learn from these 2 expensive initial mistakes rather than just keep repeating them until we were broke?

[CornwallRam]

If sustainability relies on promotion, and playing a team half full of academy graduates has got us to 19th in tables, is it definitely the correct strategy?

[BramcoteRam84]

1 minute ago, CornwallRam said:

If sustainability relies on promotion, and playing a team half full of academy graduates has got us to 19th in tables, is it definitely the correct strategy?

Yes other clubs such as Southampton have proven it to work. Problem is it takes time. It’s only now it’s starting to look good but could all be for nothing given the situation the club is in. If we kept everyone we could have a team in 5 years time 50-60% academy graduates competing towards the top of the championship. If not then we sell on for big fees and re-invest in the team allowing us to remain competitive. The talent is there. But it needs to be supplemented by intelligent buying. If Bird Knight had been around when Hendrick and Hughes were here we wouldn’t have wasted £20m on Butterfield and Johnson in transfer fees and wages. And I think we would’ve got promoted. The talent is coming through now but the rest of the team is weak due to the predicament Mel has put us in and we could lose them all for nothing. That doesn’t mean the strategy is wrong.

[Ghost of Clough]

16 minutes ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

Yes other clubs such as Southampton have proven it to work. Problem is it takes time. It’s only now it’s starting to look good but could all be for nothing given the situation the club is in. If we kept everyone we could have a team in 5 years time 50-60% academy graduates competing towards the top of the championship. If not then we sell on for big fees and re-invest in the team allowing us to remain competitive. The talent is there. But it needs to be supplemented by intelligent buying. If Bird Knight had been around when Hendrick and Hughes were here we wouldn’t have wasted £20m on Butterfield and Johnson in transfer fees and wages. And I think we would’ve got promoted. The talent is coming through now but the rest of the team is weak due to the predicament Mel has put us in and we could lose them all for nothing. That doesn’t mean the strategy is wrong.

We had the academy players to fill in as squad players but weren't used - Lowe, Hanson, Elsnik, Guy, Vernam, Riis Jacobsen just to name a few. All could have filled in more than they did.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Ghost of Clough

[BramcoteRam84]

38 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

We had the academy players to fill in as squad players but weren't used - Lowe, Hanson, Elsnik, Guy, Vernam, Riis Jacobsen just to name a few. All could have filled in more than they did.

They could but of those only Lowe was probably good enough. The lads we’re seeing now are all better than those names, Lowe and possibly Riis Jacobsen aside.