Falling out of love with the club?

[Alph]

It says something when we get Millwall and Barnsley away in a week and no one here really ever thought of 6 points.

Forget promotion, i just want to see Derby finish midtable but playing with a style that makes me want to go to Reading on a Tuesday night in November.

I know that can come across as "i want, i want", but i'm not asking for Barcelona control of a game. Just the Derby that Nigel Clough created last season. Sure, the good patch was a bit brief, but from Leeds up to the point where we went into 442 survival mode i actually enjoyed watching us. I was dissapointed that after Leeds on the opening day we got poor results, but we were looking like a developing ambitious young side.

Anyone who said "this pretty football doesn't matter if you don't get results" i disagreed with. We'd be better off now if we continued down that path.

I know people got on Bris Vegas back earlier in the season when he was dissapointed with the performances despite winning. I always agreed with him. Just thought he may of been a bit more conservative how he came out with it. I knew that those performances weren't going to keep reaping rewards. It was almost Billy Davies all over again.

[ariotofmyown]

MTFU the lot of yer 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':huh:' />

We have lost to Reading and Southampton, games which neutrals and the bookies expected us to lose.

We have a young team and ***** like this happens. the best thing we as fans can do is turn up next Thursday and get behind the team. Leicester are the opposite of us, they've defaulted on their debts and ended up with a sugar daddy. So fookin what? They'll never have the support we have.

People nowadays want everything done for them, sometimes you have to want it enough to fight for it yourself.

Are you prepared to turn up at Pride Park on Thursday and do what ever you can to inspire the team to beat Leicester. OK, it may be an inconvenience to actually raise your arse out of your seat long enough to cheer on your football team but It might just be worth it.

Don't ever under estimate how much you can inspire the team, try it, you never know what may happen.

Or fook off and support which ever Manchester club happens to be richer.

DCFC is for life.

Quality

[adamD]

we had a good run in December and all this talk wasn't on here at all now we've hit a bad run its everywhere

remember DCFC is for life

not just for Christmas*

*no pun intended...screw it pun intended living life on the edge

[AndyB]

DenbyRam I think you're after the wrong man. You said Clough has spent £3m but he's had to get rid of players worth a whole lot more. I think if he had a decent budget had could work wonders most of his signings have been positive. RotherhamRam well said as usual I find myself agreeing with you.

[RamAbroad]

Hi guys, I've only just joined the forum, I would like to say this thread had made very interesting reading indeed. The fact that you are all posting passionate comments suggests to me that none of you will ever fall out of love with the club, but as was mentioned before, the completely unambitious way that we are being run.

I am a fairly young Derby fan, I'm 25 now, and started supporting the team around about the 97/98 season. So for me the biggest ups, have been a couple of top 10 finishes under Jim Smith in the Prem. I was also probably a little too young to fully appreciate this as well, being 10 or 11 at the time. But the football we see today is a world away from the entertainment of Biano and Eranio that we used to enjoy, I remember us having the longest unbeaten home record in the Prem that season!

Since then I've had to endure, pretty much season after season of *****, barring the play-off finish under Burley when we generally were an exciting Championship team to watch.

I've moved away from the area a good few years ago to study, and I currently live in France studying, but listen to every game on Radio Derby and always go when I can, my last attempt being the postponed Forest match, having shelled out on flights, and train tickets on the morning of the game, ( I was not pleased with the late announcement).

This aside, my uncle had had a season ticket at Derby for donkeys years, he gave his up this season. His reasoning was this,

Negative football, negative tactics, a team that is happy to try and defend and nick the odd goal here and there at home. He honestly said the football is absolutely awful to watch, and I have to say I agree from what I've seen on the tele.

We are laboured in possession, there is no pace about our play, we are physically quite a weak team, we never seem to pepper keepers with shots, midfielder's never carry the ball forward with any purpose, It's all sideways and yet more sideways football, so boring!

I challenge anyone who says our back four is magnificent, just look at the amount of goals we have shipped this season! The distribution from the back is terrible, It is almost inevitably always long hopeful balls. Robinson up front in my opinion is absolute rubbish. I've never seen him win a flick on, he gives the ball away almost more than he retains it, he can't hold the ball up and I've seen strikers playing sunday league with far superior first touches.

Despite having little money to play with, this is still Clough's team, these are his tactics and these are his players, surely the blame for this complete lack of progress needs to lie at Clough's door?

I completely understand that the team is in dire need of investment, perhaps if the board had seen a little more progress on the pitch under Clough, then maybe they would have been willing to give him a bit more money to spend this season?

I'd love to hear fan's thoughts on Clough, is he really the man for the job? I have to say I'm pretty tired of hearing the same old excuses at every post match interview. Even with limited resources surely he has had long enough to establish some kind of pattern to our play, off ball movement etc, I often wonder what is going on in training, cuz the football just seems to get worse and worse.

I love my club, and will be loyal until the day I die, but it does seem the spirit is being sucked out of us at the moment.

[trooper]

Is it falling out of love with the club or falling out of love with the game in general???

Last season I did every game home n away used all my holidays from work to attend

This season I've done 2 away games and every home and to be honest I hardly miss the away games!

Will continue to do the home games as my boy comes with me ( though he asked if we could go home after 60min v reading as he was bored south east corner we sit) And he normally enjoys

Sky for me have ruined football in general by ploughing money into the "big" clubs whilst the smaller ones are left even further behind

Teams such as Pompey, rangers, Plymouth - Chelsea forest Leicester n man city soon all struggling due to pushing there boats too far into the water when they can't financially afford it without owners ploughing cash into it

Players being greedy- yaya toure for example £220k A WEEK.. Behave will u there needs to be a cap on wages and soon!!

Every club in the English pyramid should be given the same limit on wages per week wether its Hartlepool or man city, say 500k a week for example if Hartlepool can't afford it then that's fine man city can but aren't allowed to go over it, least then teams like Newcastle, villa, everton can live a little closer to the uniteds and city's n Chelsea's

It would just help bring the top few divisions a little closer together in my opinion and would poss bring the rooneys Terry's and Ashley Coles a bit closer to earth instead on on nearly 10 mil a year!!

And because of this fans are the one losing out Pompey for example, it's not there fans fault and now the team they love have a uncertain future cos of idiotic boards

Darlington within hours of going bust cos sum divvy decided they needed a 20,000 sweater stadium they could not afford!!

So I blame sky and greed for the game in me losing love for the game in general!

It's not just derby fans it's nationwide!

[PBW Ram]

I sent this to Andy Appleby an hour ago-no response yet! Very close in sentiment to first poster

Hi Andy

I am sure you don't need me to spell out to you how close you are to a tipping point in Rams support. I am old enough to have seen off numerous Derby County boards in the past so can tell when the tide has finally turned. You have to wake up and smell the coffee. You have to speculate to accumulate. Its quite simple. Your assets are on the pitch and in the stand; without those 2 key ingredients your myriad of other investment opportunities and income streams within DCFC PLC are pointless and worthless when season after season the fan base continues to dwindle in the face of ever more, endless cost cutting, higher ticket prices and in the main crap football. I am sure someone as clever and succesful as you cleraly undertsands this but I really dont get what you are doing here? It's the law of diminishing returns with zero sustainability as we are rapidly turning into a Coventry (go to the Ricoh Arena one match day and see what Pride Park will be like very soon a souless, sanatorium to drab mediocrity) Any decent emerging playes will get snapped up and leave to go to a club with more ambition and stated purpose. We have become a pointless, ambitionless, worthless club of nonentities. This is Derby County we are talking about, its rich histrory and heritage; you have managed to destroy the last vestiges of credibility and hope I and many others ever had in this once great and brilliant club and all its tradition. Its not that I am desperate to get back in the Prem as I hate that league and is so uncompetitive, just that we have become a useless, drab, boring football team with no buzz, no excitement, no ambition, no plan, no clear purpose, no obvious tactics off the pitch and certainly none on it. What's the point of a healthy balance sheet if the fans are leaving in droves, the team becoming a laughing stock? I really like Nigel and so want him to do well but feel he is also part of the problem as he is so negative in formation, seems to be tactically inept and is just be a yes man to you guys. Your model is not self-sustaining but is clearly self-serving for the investors-I don't actually think you have ambition beyond trying to maintain a steady state, a steady cash return. You really dont get the football culture here do you even after 3 years plus? I am not asking for a lot of investment, just more transparency; small amounts of cash can go a long way. The fans don't believe anymore, in your rhetoric, spin, bullshit-call it what you want- but worst of all they no longer believe in the team, the manager, the players, the point. You have killed of any hope, any ambition, any buzz. Thats the tipping point.

You wont be here come Christmas 2012 mark my words. Next season the average gate will have dipped below 20,000 easily. You will either have been hounded out of town with your ten gallon hats on or you would have sold up which is what I feel you may be working towards anyway. I will happily forward this back over to you when it comes to pass.

Good riddance and regards

For the record - I've sent Andy Appleby 8 - 10 emails in the last 3 years and he's replied to them all within a reasonable time. Even the semi critical ones.

[JoetheRam]

Is it falling out of love with the club or falling out of love with the game in general???

Both.

The general rubbishness of the game is a major factor - The "Big 4", SKY, massive amounts of hype surrounding every game for no good reason, football tourists and I guess an over-exposure to football - you can watch a game pretty much every hour of the day if you sold your soul to Murdoch, and even on normal TV there's a massive amount of coverage, that's without mentioning the written press and the interweb. Familiarity breeds contempt.

Then there's the over-inflated ticket prices, certain instances of clubs, police and stewards treating every fan as though he's a criminal, the prima-donna's on the pitch and the cowboys in the boardrooms of clubs up and down the land.

Then there's certain things which irritate me hugely specifically at Derby:

The announcer is an idiot, the kids reading the teamsheets out in a pitch hitherto inaudible to human ears, goal music, Pride Park, having a picture of a 1997 Toyota Carina on the side of Pride Park, having a Starbucks in Pride Park, Pride Park being in the middle of nowhere, the lack of ambition the board and Clough both seem to possess, a manager who values hard work and running around above skill, technique and flair, Tom Glicks spin, the away fans having the best part of the ground, the lack of 16-24 year olds in our support, our club not really having an identity of it's own, our awful support home and away... I could go on.

Sometimes in these situations, when you're not enjoying it and it no longer feels "right" it's best to take yourself out of it, else it'll just bring you down and you'll annoy a whole lot of people with your moaning who don't deserve to have their Saturday's ruined. That's what i'm doing anyway.

[StaffsRam]

Falling out of love with the club? No

That's why having a decent history is important. Event through the dark times, or, as at the moment, the less-than-stellar times, we've always got something to look back on.

When people bang on about us reminiscing over the past, yeah, that's because we can. We have a history to be proud of, and we have memories that see us through the dark times.

I feel sorry for Leicester fans and the like - never won anything of merit, and all's they get to look back on is a couple of micky mouse cup wins. Stoke - even worse than that - biggest day in their history was losing an FA Cup final.

Our club's fortunes are more up and down than WBA's premier league status. Can't see that changing anytime soon, but it does mean that eventually we'll come good again.

[WilkoRam]

Some of us have good memories to look back on and we cling to them in the hope that good times will come again. Unfortunately younger fans have nothing to look back on, I fear we will lose a new breed of supporters due to the general apathy surrounding the whole club.

[Asanovic]

Falling out of love with the club? No

That's why having a decent history is important. Event through the dark times, or, as at the moment, the less-than-stellar times, we've always got something to look back on.

When people bang on about us reminiscing over the past, yeah, that's because we can. We have a history to be proud of, and we have memories that see us through the dark times.

I feel sorry for Leicester fans and the like - never won anything of merit, and all's they get to look back on is a couple of micky mouse cup wins. Stoke - even worse than that - biggest day in their history was losing an FA Cup final.

Our club's fortunes are more up and down than WBA's premier league status. Can't see that changing anytime soon, but it does mean that eventually we'll come good again.

Agree completely.

[Jayram]

The saddest thing about supporting a club like Derby is the knowledge that, even if we actually had a board with ambition and a manager with ability, even with our magnificent support, we will never again be the Champions of England. The best we could ever hope for is Premiership survival and a crack at one of the cups, and that is only if millions gets poured into the club.

I can remember following Derby in the early 80's and being obessed with them, owning both home and away kits, having posters & stickers on the wall and hundreds of Rams programmes under my bed. I remember feeling a real tingle of excitement every Saturday, even though we were not very good and were playing the likes of Grimsby & Rotherham in Division 2. I know a lot of it was youthful enthusiasm but football was different then - it was less predictable and just more competitive, even in the First Division.

I think football is dying on its feet without knowing it to be honest. I love the Rams and I am proud of our history, but my enthusiasm for the game has declined dramatically over the years, and I can take or leave it if I'm honest. I rarely watch any Prem stuff on Sky and if the likes of Man Utd/City/Cheski etc pissed off into a Euro Super League it wouldn't bother me one bit. I hate the way they have destroyed the sport and denied others the chance, through having more money than the rest, of achieving the kind of glory we once did.

[curb]

The saddest thing about supporting a club like Derby is the knowledge that, even if we actually had a board with ambition and a manager with ability, even with our magnificent support, we will never again be the Champions of England. The best we could ever hope for is Premiership survival and a crack at one of the cups, and that is only if millions gets poured into the club.

I can remember following Derby in the early 80's and being obessed with them, owning both home and away kits, having posters & stickers on the wall and hundreds of Rams programmes under my bed. I remember feeling a real tingle of excitement every Saturday, even though we were not very good and were playing the likes of Grimsby & Rotherham in Division 2. I know a lot of it was youthful enthusiasm but football was different then - it was less predictable and just more competitive, even in the First Division.

I think football is dying on its feet without knowing it to be honest. I love the Rams and I am proud of our history, but my enthusiasm for the game has declined dramatically over the years, and I can take or leave it if I'm honest. I rarely watch any Prem stuff on Sky and if the likes of Man Utd/City/Cheski etc pissed off into a Euro Super League it wouldn't bother me one bit. I hate the way they have destroyed the sport and denied others the chance, through having more money than the rest, of achieving the kind of glory we once did.

It's not just Derby fans though, if you look at fans of other clubs that have had some success in the past, Euro nights, cup wins, or just spells where they've competed at the top at some point, clubs like Wednesday, Norwich, West Ham, Ipswich, Wolves etc etc (yes even Forest), there's a whole generation of fans out there accross the whole country who have never, and are never likely to compete for leagues, cups or the European Cup (let's face it the Europa League isn't worth a toss). Add to that the tin pot no fan clubs like Wigan who are hanging in the Prem only because they get more TV money than proper clubs.

The Pompey situation compounds it even more, because it's even less likely that a club our size will go out on a limb to win a trophy, and gives owners and managers a ready made excuse for serving up mediocrity.

[uttoxram75]

Agree with the last two posts.

The Evertons and Villas have no chance of ever winning the Prem let alone us.

[RebelScum]

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