Early Realistic Aspirations for 24/25

[Rich3478]

40 minutes ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

You mentioned that Clowes intimated that he had a championship investor, when was that said?

Did I? 

[On the Ram Page]

8 hours ago, RoyMac5 said:

So you're saying the manager isn't good enough, because I didn't say that in my post.

You have been saying the manager isn’t good enough for the last 18 months. Have you changed your mind, or just being mischievous and looking for arguments?

[MackworthRamIsGod]

8 hours ago, Rich3478 said:

Did I? 

Sorry Rich, I quoted the wrong person.

[MackworthRamIsGod]

On 18/05/2024 at 17:29, DE56Ram said:

We’ve got to be ambitious 

every Derby team that ever got promoted was in the past. 
it’s a good place to be a positive mind set.

With an owner that is ambitious and wants success because he’s a fan, and because he’s intimated that there is a Championship investor lined up, I think we will surprise a few.

it all depends on the quality of the signings and how they integrate and settle-in to the squad/area/expectations

im betting on Derby strengthening with top end Championship additions. 
 

I think we’ll do very well indeed, without knowing who these additions will be but since I’m expecting some high quality, I’m going for a top six finish. We’re on an upward curve, the crap is firmly pushed behind us. COYR 😃

When was it intimated that clowes had a championship investor lined up? Was this at a forum?

[Tamworthram]

50 minutes ago, On the Ram Page said:

You have been saying the manager isn’t good enough for the last 18 months. Have you changed your mind, or just being mischievous and looking for arguments?

Maybe @RoyMac5 is just getting his/her ducks lined up early ready to call for Warne to be sacked if we’re not in contention for top six 😀

[Leeds Ram]

Coventry should be our model, not Ipswich. They haven't spent a fortune, have a decent if unsexy manager and came up from league 1. In their first season, they finished 16th then 12th then 5th then 9th with an FA Cup semi-final achieved as well. It is possible to be successful in the championship without spending a ton of money but it requires an ethos, properly planned management and consistency.  For my money anywhere between 12th and 18th is a solid achievement. Any lower than that and depending on the budget then questions should be asked. Anything higher than 12th and it's an extremely good season but I'm not expecting it. 

[RoyMac5]

3 hours ago, On the Ram Page said:

You have been saying the manager isn’t good enough for the last 18 months. Have you changed your mind, or just being mischievous and looking for arguments?

 

2 hours ago, Tamworthram said:

Maybe @RoyMac5 is just getting his/her ducks lined up early ready to call for Warne to be sacked if we’re not in contention for top six 😀

"Why can't we expect a good run at top 6? We'll have a good budget and will be an 'attractive' and ambitious club, with a 'successful' manager wanting to prove himself..."

The thread is 'early realistic aspirations' okay. So why we shouldn't we aspire to be challenging for top 6 this coming Championship season. You can take that how you like. 👍

 

[Tamworthram]

34 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

 

"Why can't we expect a good run at top 6? We'll have a good budget and will be an 'attractive' and ambitious club, with a 'successful' manager wanting to prove himself..."

The thread is 'early realistic aspirations' okay. So why we shouldn't we aspire to be challenging for top 6 this coming Championship season. You can take that how you like. 👍

 

OK, so let's dissect your rationale:

1) "We'll have a good budget" - None of us know what our budget will be but I would imagine it's not going to be particularly close to a top 6 budget. There will be 4 teams with parachute payments, some clubs kitty will be boosted by players they are able to sell, some seem to have owners more willing to splash the cash and, whilst our attendances (and therefore gate revenue) may be amongst the best, it won't be significantly bigger than a number of clubs.

2) "We'll be an "attractive" club" - By this I assume you're suggesting good players will be tempted to sign for the club. This may well be the case but, I'm pretty sure for most players and their agents, money has the loudest voice.

3) "We'll be an ambitious club" - I doubt very much we'll be unique in this respect. There will be several I reckon that fancy their chances at making the play offs.

4) "A club with a "successful"  manager" - Wow, this is a bit rich coming from you. I don't think anyone would doubt that PW's success has only been proven at league 1 level to date. He has no successful track record at Championship level but many of us reckons he deserves a chance.

5) "A manager wanting to prove himself" - I would imagine every permanent manager (if there is such a thing) wants to prove themselves.

You're right, the thread is about aspirations and top 6 should be the goal BUT you said "why can't we expect a good run at top 6". There is a difference between aspirations and expectations.

For me, the aspiration is to be up there having a good go at the top 6 but my expectation is much lower.

I know I added a smiley face to my original response but the cynic in me can't help but think that if we're not close to the top 6 by Christmas (or earlier) you'll be calling for his head on the basis that we should "expect" to be in contention for the play off places.

 

[RoyMac5]

18 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

...You're right, the thread is about aspirations and top 6 should be the goal BUT you said "why can't we expect a good run at top 6". There is a difference between aspirations and expectations.

For me, the aspiration is to be up there having a good go at the top 6 but my expectation is much lower.

I know I added a smiley face to my original response but the cynic in me can't help but think that if we're not close to the top 6 by Christmas (or earlier) you'll be calling for his head on the basis that we should "expect" to be in contention for the play off places.

 

Yes I know.  It was a quick turn of phrase in a thread about aspirations.

Forget it. 

 

Edited May 20 by RoyMac5

[Foreveram]

38 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

OK, so let's dissect your rationale:

1) "We'll have a good budget" - None of us know what our budget will be but I would imagine it's not going to be particularly close to a top 6 budget. There will be 4 teams with parachute payments, some clubs kitty will be boosted by players they are able to sell, some seem to have owners more willing to splash the cash and, whilst our attendances (and therefore gate revenue) may be amongst the best, it won't be significantly bigger than a number of clubs.

2) "We'll be an "attractive" club" - By this I assume you're suggesting good players will be tempted to sign for the club. This may well be the case but, I'm pretty sure for most players and their agents, money has the loudest voice.

3) "We'll be an ambitious club" - I doubt very much we'll be unique in this respect. There will be several I reckon that fancy their chances at making the play offs.

4) "A club with a "successful"  manager" - Wow, this is a bit rich coming from you. I don't think anyone would doubt that PW's success has only been proven at league 1 level to date. He has no successful track record at Championship level but many of us reckons he deserves a chance.

5) "A manager wanting to prove himself" - I would imagine every permanent manager (if there is such a thing) wants to prove themselves.

You're right, the thread is about aspirations and top 6 should be the goal BUT you said "why can't we expect a good run at top 6". There is a difference between aspirations and expectations.

For me, the aspiration is to be up there having a good go at the top 6 but my expectation is much lower.

I know I added a smiley face to my original response but the cynic in me can't help but think that if we're not close to the top 6 by Christmas (or earlier) you'll be calling for his head on the basis that we should "expect" to be in contention for the play off places.

 

Everything l would have said if I could be bothered 😂

[Day]

Survival. Build from there. That’s being realistic.

Whilst we have spent a long time in the Championship before, that was then, this is now. 

We’ve had 2 seasons out, a squad built on scraps under restrictions and now a newly promoted side where we need to build a new midfield and attack.

If anyone is seriously looking at top 6, not sure what to say, it’s ok looking at Ipswich but back to back promotions are not the norm, they have done incredibly well under totally different circumstances. A team has been built under no restrictions over a period of time.

To bring Warne into this, for me he stays unless we’re struggling in the bottom 3 and a gap is starting to build. If we’re finishing games with 20% possession, 1 shot on target and winning games 1-0 putting us mid table, I would take that all day long to get a Championship season under the belt and reassess the situation next summer.

So yeah, staying in the Championship is all that matters.

[kevinhectoring]

On 18/05/2024 at 08:52, Anag Ram said:

… Ebosele, Lawrence and Dobbin who could ghost past defenders

Ghost? Festy used to hurtle past defenders like a raging bull on fast forward 

Edited May 20 by kevinhectoring

[Bob The Badger]

On 18/05/2024 at 03:06, Leicester Ram said:

Exactly this.

Generate an atmosphere at Pride Park, have some good results and performances that fans can get behind. You want to see us sell more season tickets for 25/26 than for 24/25.

I think avoiding relegation is too low of a bar to set, we need be comfortably mid table and look more like we’re pushing ourselves into the top six than keeping our heads above water.

Play better football and win over the fanbase.

Warne has such a task on his hand to get results and improve the product on the pitch. Last season was my first in about a decade without a season ticket, i sat in the east stand for the final game and shocked how many people around me were moaning about the manager/football/players *as we got promoted in front of their very eyes*

If he’s going to stay the long course here, which everyone should be hoping for as you always want your current manager to be the one who’s capable of taking you to the Premier League, he needs to not only step up to the championship but show signs that we can play good football in the Championship.

Anyone talking about pushing for promotion needs a reality check, we’re probably going to have to sign over 10 players to compete in the Championship next season and if we don’t it will be because we have the likes of Collins and Hourihane still at the club.

A lot of change coming, you can’t expect a promotion push immediately, Ipswich are a huge, huge outlier who have one of the best young managers in the country and spent approx 10 million in League One before they came up.

Thanks, you saved me from typing. 100% this.

[SSD]

Bottom half finish. Don't mind being set piece merchants next season, if it meant survival. Not inspecting the quality of football to improve, it will more than likely go the other way. 

As much as I want nice pretty football, we're going to very pragmatic in certain games. I can't see us passing it around teams, we'd get picked off. Some pace in midfield and upfront will give us counter attacking options, that'll be the direction I'd opt for this coming season.

[tomsdubs]

Not being in a relegation fight will be a big achievement, we got out of L1 with a load of frees and whoever we could get under embargo. Find the the comparisons to Ipswich honestly baffling, think some people are in for a shock if they are expecting us to be at the top end. Big window for Warne, I imagine we'll be dipping in to the Prem loan market 2 or 3 times. Probably need 6 or 7 decent permanent signings.

[Nuwtfly]

2 hours ago, Leeds Ram said:

Coventry should be our model, not Ipswich. They haven't spent a fortune, have a decent if unsexy manager and came up from league 1. In their first season, they finished 16th then 12th then 5th then 9th with an FA Cup semi-final achieved as well. It is possible to be successful in the championship without spending a ton of money but it requires an ethos, properly planned management and consistency.  For my money anywhere between 12th and 18th is a solid achievement. Any lower than that and depending on the budget then questions should be asked. Anything higher than 12th and it's an extremely good season but I'm not expecting it. 

Well said!

Particularly agree with the last sentence. If we end the season in mid-table then Warne will have probably earned himself a new contract.

Obviously I think it would be best to temper our expectations until the end of the transfer window, though.

[Jourdan]

The Championship is a crazy league. I think the only aspiration you can have is to be the best you can be and see where that takes you. There are 23 other clubs who will be fighting tooth and nail so nothing is really a given, for better or worse.

We could be relegation candidates, we could be mid table, we could be top half and we could even be top six.

It’s difficult to predict and difficult to gauge as there are always teams that perform better or worse than their squads / managers / budgets suggest.

Do we expect to compete with Luton, Burnley, Sheff Utd, WBA, Norwich, Hull and Coventry? Probably not, but could we? Possibly. Do we expect to do better than Oxford? Probably, but could we not? Possibly too.

I don’t see the point in getting wrapped up in expectations. We want to see Warne, Thomas, Hale and Clowes with a plan and working well together and doing their absolute best. Surely that’s all we can really expect? Where that takes us remains anyone’s guess.

[Jortat]

Mid table is my aspiration for the season . Anything above that would be amazing and anything below is also acceptable as long as we keep in the division 🐏

[BramcoteRam84]

The bookies have us 20-1 to win the league and 11/4 for top 6. About 11th alongside the likes of Stoke. Too short to warrant a bet IMO. 

Realistically - relegation would be complete failure. 16th to 21st is a reasonable expectation, pretty similar to the Wendies and Plymouth this season.

Top half would be an excellent season and play offs would be miraculous. 
 

@Leeds Ram summed it up, Coventry should be the model we follow. Very similar situation being promoted after major collapse and having to build without much investment. Luton had a way of playing and a unique momentum that catapulted them forwards, and we just don’t have the budget to do what Ipswich did (although they only had a top half budget and massively overachieved)

Only way I could see this changing is if we had major investment or a take over in the summer. 

[CBX1985]

11 minutes ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

The bookies have us 20-1 to win the league and 11/4 for top 6. About 11th alongside the likes of Stoke. Too short to warrant a bet IMO. 

Realistically - relegation would be complete failure. 16th to 21st is a reasonable expectation, pretty similar to the Wendies and Plymouth this season.

Top half would be an excellent season and play offs would be miraculous. 
 

@Leeds Ram summed it up, Coventry should be the model we follow. Very similar situation being promoted after major collapse and having to build without much investment. Luton had a way of playing and a unique momentum that catapulted them forwards, and we just don’t have the budget to do what Ipswich did (although they only had a top half budget and massively overachieved)

Only way I could see this changing is if we had major investment or a take over in the summer. 

Takeovers and major investment can work against you: see Birmingham.  Well run clubs, like Brentford and Brighton, are the way forward.  You don't need billions, you just need good business sense and stability.

I think we need a survival year (2024/25), followed by a push on year (higher mid table) followed by a promotion chase.  We need to get them ducks in a row, and then kick on.