The big reset.

[Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster]

Strangely, now we've been saved by St. David of Clowes, I'm really pleased, in the bigger picture, that we are now in Division 1.

Back to old school football. Back to being a big fish in a small pond. 

We tried, under Mel to turn up at the casino that was the Championship with a big F off stack of chips to intimidate other players at the table. Spent fast and loose - and lost.

We needed a total reset and we got one. I can't lie, it's hurt. Being threatened with extinction was a very real prospect.

Now we've cleared the football cache and cookies, we're back to a fresh start.

I'm still haunted by the memory of all that money we wazzed up the wall. Even the least of the excesses was Anya. £4m and and £20k a week over 4 years, ergo £8m over 4 years. There were 4 or 5 others that cost £10m+ in transfer fees and salaries over 4 year contracts.

£60m minimum wazzed up the wall on 5 or 6 players, not to mention our merry go round of managers that resulted in the amount of debt that threatened our very existence. Covid didn't help, but the aforementioned was the real problem.

Certain individuals that had Mel's ear and were administrators at our club were also abusing their parallel self-interests as agents to sell us pup after pup.

Now we're back to football reality. It's amazing what team we've managed to piece together on frees and modest wages.

Loving our new reality. We can attract decent players at this level, where if we spend within our means, which is significantly above most of our competitors, we can perform well at this level. 

If we continue in this manner, we can grow organically.

What's not to love? A fantastic academy that should finance our rebirth. 30,000+ crowds, that again should finance our rebirth and perversely the EFL reining us back to a financial plan that we absolutely NEEDED. Didn't want, but definitely needed.

Oh and being rescued by the 'quiet man of football' - DC.

What a time to be alive! I'm falling back in love with football again.

The only way is up...

[Rampant]

Brilliant post

[jcidaho]

1 hour ago, Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster said:

We tried, under Mel to turn up at the casino that was the Championship with a big F off stack of chips to intimidate other players at the table. Spent fast and loose - and lost.

This. Tried to rock up to the table giving it all that, but in reality we had our pants down.

Edited August 4, 2022 by jcidaho

[Toadbelly]

Bravo. ?

[Dimmu]

Marvellous post!

I can't agree with two last sentences though.

No, I'm not falling in love with football again and no, up is not the only way.

Damn, I'm miserable. ?

[Tamworthram]

8 hours ago, Dave Mackay Ate My Hamster said:

Strangely, now we've been saved by St. David of Clowes, I'm really pleased, in the bigger picture, that we are now in Division 1.

Back to old school football. Back to being a big fish in a small pond. 

We tried, under Mel to turn up at the casino that was the Championship with a big F off stack of chips to intimidate other players at the table. Spent fast and loose - and lost.

We needed a total reset and we got one. I can't lie, it's hurt. Being threatened with extinction was a very real prospect.

Now we've cleared the football cache and cookies, we're back to a fresh start.

I'm still haunted by the memory of all that money we wazzed up the wall. Even the least of the excesses was Anya. £4m and and £20k a week over 4 years, ergo £8m over 4 years. There were 4 or 5 others that cost £10m+ in transfer fees and salaries over 4 year contracts.

£60m minimum wazzed up the wall on 5 or 6 players, not to mention our merry go round of managers that resulted in the amount of debt that threatened our very existence. Covid didn't help, but the aforementioned was the real problem.

Certain individuals that had Mel's ear and were administrators at our club were also abusing their parallel self-interests as agents to sell us pup after pup.

Now we're back to football reality. It's amazing what team we've managed to piece together on frees and modest wages.

Loving our new reality. We can attract decent players at this level, where if we spend within our means, which is significantly above most of our competitors, we can perform well at this level. 

If we continue in this manner, we can grow organically.

What's not to love? A fantastic academy that should finance our rebirth. 30,000+ crowds, that again should finance our rebirth and perversely the EFL reining us back to a financial plan that we absolutely NEEDED. Didn't want, but definitely needed.

Oh and being rescued by the 'quiet man of football' - DC.

What a time to be alive! I'm falling back in love with football again.

The only way is up...

Good post but stop calling it “division 1”. It’s league 1 (Sorry to be such pedant) and all will be good provided we’re not still in it in say 5 years time. 

[Reggie Greenwood]

6 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Good post but stop calling it “division 1”. It’s league 1 (Sorry to be such pedant) and all will be good provided we’re not still in it in say 5 years time. 

It’s still Division 3 to us oldies ?

Edited August 5, 2022 by Reggie Greenwood

[Tamworthram]

12 minutes ago, Reggie Greenwood said:

It’s still Division 3 to us oldies ?

Division 3 North? ?

Edited August 5, 2022 by Tamworthram

[Reggie Greenwood]

Just now, Tamworthram said:

Division 3 North?

Not quite that old ?

[Chester40]

Agreed...we didn't know what relegation would mean. But now I'm coming to terms with it rather than just saying 'as long as we have a team'.

If we had clung on in the Championship we would be competing with a few clubs of equal size as well as plenty of clubs with finances distorted by parachute payments. 

In League 1 we don't need to 'overstretch' to compete unnaturally, we can just flex our natural strength and recruit players that everyone else is looking at enviously. 

We aren't too big for the League, but we are big enough to be able to throw our weight around. We can have a great season, seeing new grounds and building momentum, instead of scrabbling round near the bottom of the Championship.  I'm happy thinking the wages we can afford wouldn't have recruited better players at that level but at League 1 standard we now have a team to be really proud of.

[Geriatram]

18 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Division 3 North? ?

For me as a 13 year old the Div 3 north seasons were some of the best times as a Rams fan, Ray Straw a 36 goal scoring Centre forward, Martin Mcdonnell still one of my all time favourite players, he was an ex paratrooper and if he fell to the ground he would do a parachute roll. I remember that team with a fondness matched only by the championship winning teams. I am looking forward to Saturday after noon football again this season, my interest was beginning to wain with all the midweek games I didn't attend. I have a feeling we will have a very good League 1 season, Champions maybe. But no 36 goal scorer. UPTR.  

[Mr. P]

I quite like the fact that we're on a wage cap. You know you're getting players that just want to be here, instead of the Instagram footballers that do a little dance when they do a 1 yard tap in for 80k a week. 

[cosmic]

3 minutes ago, Mr. P said:

I quite like the fact that we're on a wage cap. You know you're getting players that just want to be here, instead of the Instagram footballers that do a little dance when they do a 1 yard tap in for 80k a week. 

It feels really good knowing we're not getting ourselves in trouble financially again. Don't have to worry, just enjoy the football. Certainly reinforces the idea of a wage cap for all leagues.

[Ellafella]

14 minutes ago, Geriatram said:

For me as a 13 year old the Div 3 north seasons were some of the best times as a Rams fan, Ray Straw a 36 goal scoring Centre forward, Martin Mcdonnell still one of my all time favourite players, he was an ex paratrooper and if he fell to the ground he would do a parachute roll. I remember that team with a fondness matched only by the championship winning teams. I am looking forward to Saturday after noon football again this season, my interest was beginning to wain with all the midweek games I didn't attend. I have a feeling we will have a very good League 1 season, Champions maybe. But no 36 goal scorer. UPTR.  

...just love that vision. Imagine the commentators "...Ohh, Mcdonnell crashes to the deck after a terrible lunging tack...no, wait he's straight back up again and the ref waves play on..."

[Ellafella]

17 minutes ago, Geriatram said:

For me as a 13 year old the Div 3 north seasons were some of the best times as a Rams fan, Ray Straw a 36 goal scoring Centre forward, Martin Mcdonnell still one of my all time favourite players, he was an ex paratrooper and if he fell to the ground he would do a parachute roll. I remember that team with a fondness matched only by the championship winning teams. I am looking forward to Saturday after noon football again this season, my interest was beginning to wain with all the midweek games I didn't attend. I have a feeling we will have a very good League 1 season, Champions maybe. But no 36 goal scorer. UPTR.  

"...mmm, jumpers for goal posts, marvellous, isn't it?". 

[BucksRam]

Great post*. Genuinely excited about the rest of the season.  LR is building, on paper for now anyway, a very strong squad: players who WANT to play for Derby, not their bank balance.  Those like Byrne, who I really liked btw need not apply. 

*still not quite in love with football when you have the PL and their huge finances, parachute payments and the likes of Barca still buying players for £100s millions but with debts of £1.2bn. We nearly folded for £50m.  It's still a broken sport. 

[Jayram]

From a personal point of view its very telling that I've felt more engaged with the club recently than at any time in the last 8 years or so. I've bought a season ticket for the first time in years, renewed my away membership and even signed up for the programme subscription. I feel energised by what the future may hold - we have a brilliant owner, a decent squad and we're playing in a new league with many new grounds to go to. I can't wait to see how the season pans out.