David Clowes Interview

[Caerphilly Ram]

I know @Carnero shared this in the admin thread but I felt it needed it’s own thread in case some people avoid the admin thread, ya know cause of all the trauma. There’s a very good interview with David Clowes given to Marketing Derby which reveals a bit more about the man, the takeover and the plans for the future;

Full version in the digital magazine here;

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/8867b12b48.html
 

and an abridged version on this link;

https://www.marketingderby.co.uk/news/the-reluctant-hero-who-brought-rams-back-from-the-brink/

Well worth a read and credit to Carnero for the original share 🐏 

[ImARam2]

I have just read the full article and if the Derby fans cannot appreciate what David Clowes has done, not only saving the club from oblivion but to restore the club's reputation with the EFL and other club's, then they don't deserve to be called Derby County supporters.

His integrity, passion, honesty and optimism for the club is unbounded and we should all thank him and his management team for saving the club.

To be within a matter of days, if not hours, of the club going out of existence, and to put together a business plan; a management team with the same attributes and inspirations, along with a set of young and aging players to compete for the play-off places, is nothing short of a miracle.

If we don't get promotion this season, the future of Derby County F.C. is in very safe hands and if, as David Clowes mentions, it might take 5 years, so be it, we have a club and team to support.

Thank you David Clowes and 'Long Live Derby County Football Club'

[Kathcairns]

38 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

I know @Carnero shared this in the admin thread but I felt it needed it’s own thread in case some people avoid the admin thread, ya know cause of all the trauma. There’s a very good interview with David Clowes given to Marketing Derby which reveals a bit more about the man, the takeover and the plans for the future;

Full version in the digital magazine here;

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/8867b12b48.html
 

and an abridged version on this link;

https://www.marketingderby.co.uk/news/the-reluctant-hero-who-brought-rams-back-from-the-brink/

Well worth a read and credit to Carnero for the original share 🐏 

To think at 7 he wanted to be Charlie George and now he owns our club. What a top bloke, a sensible owner and one who loves The Rams, one of our own.

[Day]

54 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

people avoid the admin thread, ya know cause of all the trauma.

I’m one of those so thanks for sharing this again here 👍

[Mucker1884]

30 minutes ago, Kathcairns said:

To think at 7 he wanted to be Charlie George and now he owns our club. What a top bloke, a sensible owner and one who loves The Rams, one of our own.

To be fair, he's hardly unique.

There was a time I wanted to be Paul Emson, and I now own at least 6 Derby shirts, a sombrero, and effectively part-own a whole seat inside the stadium!
👀

 

[Pikeyram]

To think we were 7 days from going under makes me shudder....and now some fans are moaning that we are "only" 5th in league 1 after having 5 players in July.

I'm so grateful we have a club at all, let alone a competitive one in safe hands for once.

Thank you again Mr Clowes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by Pikeyram
Mis spelt

[Kathcairns]

37 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

To be fair, he's hardly unique.

There was a time I wanted to be Paul Emson, and I now own at least 6 Derby shirts, a sombrero, and effectively part-own a whole seat inside the stadium!
👀

 

You dont own the club though😉

[Rev]

After you've read the full version, keep scrolling and read the article on the work the Derby County Community Trust do. 

We've much to be proud of, but these people really are the heartbeat of a community club.

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

Great interview. We are very lucky.

 

[Ramarena]

2 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

I know @Carnero shared this in the admin thread but I felt it needed it’s own thread in case some people avoid the admin thread, ya know cause of all the trauma. There’s a very good interview with David Clowes given to Marketing Derby which reveals a bit more about the man, the takeover and the plans for the future;

Full version in the digital magazine here;

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/8867b12b48.html
 

and an abridged version on this link;

https://www.marketingderby.co.uk/news/the-reluctant-hero-who-brought-rams-back-from-the-brink/

Well worth a read and credit to Carnero for the original share 🐏 

WE'RE NOT IN ADMIN!!!!!! 😀

 

[Asanovic70]

As a fan, I'm impatient to have success but it's an enlightening interview such as the section where Mr Clowes actually states that he's been surprised by the success Warne has had so far. Now the interview may have been conducted before the excellent run came to an end with 3L on the road, but it does seem to indicate that the new owner expected us to mount a real challenge next season & has realistic expectations.

He also mentions about getting us back in the Champ'ship & established in five seasons, so hopefully promotion within two, maybe three seasons and then consolidating perhaps like Coventry, Sunderland & Sheff United as relatively big sides who have fallen down the divisions or been blighted by mismanagement (Coventry in particular).

I think we can use the likes of Brentford as a model. I worked in Hounslow twenty years ago when Bees United (ABeeC), I think, actually won a seat on the local council & were a club whose future was under threat & ended up putting pressure on the local council to become more supportive at a time when the club occupied a very low profile. There's been steady progress but especially in the last decade when you think how they missed out promotion on the final day to Doncaster (2012-13). A decade where they have been promoted twice & featured in two play-off campaigns in the Championship, built a new stadium and have now spent two seasons in the PL.

Brentford fans perhaps had lower expectations, and maybe that is what we need to do, temper our expectations. As Mr Clowes puts it, 'there has been more bad than good over the last thirty years and there hasn't been a lot of success...' but he praises the fans were continually sticking by the club, and it's  been a constant theme during his ownership, how much value he places on the club's support. He cannot do it alone.

It was also interesting to read early in the interview how it appears Mr Clowes has been asked a couple of years before to get involved in owing a football club & you wonder if he had been approached before by Mel Morris, but the situation at the club (its complicated finances) & the responsibility of owing it deterred him until his hand was ultimately forced by Kirchner.

It is immensely frustrating to see us where we are, but consoling, too, that we have an owner now who has a long-term vision and a proven record in his own business field, so that he can replicate, in time, something similar at Derby.

[FlyBritishMidland]

Really good article.  Interesting comment about Stephen Pearce about how he’s being allowed to get on with his job and he’s very good at it.

[Mucker1884]

4 minutes ago, Asanovic70 said:

... I think we can use the likes of Brentford as a model. I worked in Hounslow twenty years ago when Bees United (ABeeC), I think, actually won a seat on the local council & were a club whose future was under threat & ended up putting pressure on the local council to become more supportive at a time when the club occupied a very low profile. There's been steady progress but especially in the last decade when you think how they missed out promotion on the final day to Doncaster (2012-13). A decade where they have been promoted twice & featured in two play-off campaigns in the Championship, built a new stadium and have now spent two seasons in the PL.

Brentford fans perhaps had lower expectations, and maybe that is what we need to do, temper our expectations...

 

With all due respect, I suspect both clubs need at least another twenty consecutive years at our respective current levels before that changes!  
We have higher expectations than them for good reason.  We've pretty much been a top 30 club for almost 140 years, including two stints as the best of the best!   

[Ramarena]

So glad he bailed us out after Kirchner and it's great to have a down to earth owner who seems keen to do things the right way.

As has been already mentioned, where we are today, compared to we were in the summer is remarkable!

[TomTom92]

52 minutes ago, FlyBritishMidland said:

Really good article.  Interesting comment about Stephen Pearce about how he’s being allowed to get on with his job and he’s very good at it.

Seen a quote similar to that said before, might be paranoia but seems to suggest that Mel had him down as the scapegoat.

[Asanovic70]

16 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

With all due respect, I suspect both clubs need at least another twenty consecutive years at our respective current levels before that changes!  
We have higher expectations than them for good reason.  We've pretty much been a top 30 club for almost 140 years, including two stints as the best of the best!   

I get your point, but then that gets into the argument about it is what you are achieving in the present which matters & not basking in past glories. The divisions are littered with clubs with illustrious histories.

It is frustrating to be where we are, but at least Derby under Mr Clowes have put a brake on things so that we didn't end up like Coventry, Bolton & Portsmouth in L2.

There are plenty of so called 'lesser' sides who have outstripped us in terms of achievement, from the likes of Swansea winning a trophy (EFL Cup) to Wigan (FA Cup), both also having a sustained spell in the PL.

I think we've got to start justifying this so-called 'top billing' by acting like a professionally well-run club. Tempering expectations also means offering the club owner etc some patience and latitude to make mistakes as well as the time to put in the right infrastructure. Patience was in supply at the likes of Brentford & Swansea.

We've have 30 years of relative disappointment & underachievement, so what's another ten to get it right?

Of course, I expect to be dead by the time we achieve it but you can't have everything.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Asanovic70

[MarsdenRam]

16 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

We have higher expectations than them for good reason.  We've pretty much been a top 30 club for almost 140 years, including two stints as the best of the best!   

Success comes from hard work, tenacity, vision and guile.  Being seen as a 'big club' in our circumstances seems to be as much of a hinderance as an advantage. The weight of expectation on players and managerial staff must be nigh on unbearable.

[IlsonDerby]

On 22/03/2023 at 17:42, Caerphilly Ram said:

I know @Carnero shared this in the admin thread but I felt it needed it’s own thread in case some people avoid the admin thread, ya know cause of all the trauma. There’s a very good interview with David Clowes given to Marketing Derby which reveals a bit more about the man, the takeover and the plans for the future;

Full version in the digital magazine here;

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/8867b12b48.html
 

and an abridged version on this link;

https://www.marketingderby.co.uk/news/the-reluctant-hero-who-brought-rams-back-from-the-brink/

Well worth a read and credit to Carnero for the original share 🐏 

Jesus reading that has floored me. 
Choked up again. Brought back all those memories of sitting in my car on the drive crying after the deal had been announced and we’d been saved. Pure relief.