13 wins/Play Off chances PTII merged.

[curb]

Our interpretation of 'a long way' must be different then.

[PBW Ram]

From 14th 2 seasons ago, to currently 12th.

Where will we finish?

Somewhere between 18th and 10th.

I'd be having another look at the table if i were you curb.

peterborough are in 18th with 44 points.

Are you saying they could make up 11 points at this stage of the season to over take us?

[uttoxram75]

Just in case...........................

[url=http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/]http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

[url=http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/WEMPTI/london-wembley-stadium]http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/WEMPTI/london-wembley-stadium

although, I may stay more central, nearer to St.Pancras p'raps................ 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

[ariotofmyown]

Don't want to be drawn into an argument and this is an observation.

I personally do not want to go up even through play-offs. I would however like to be in or around the playoffs for the young inexperienced players to take confidence into next season. I may be branded as being crazy, or wearing rose tinted glasses. I am taking a lot of positives out of this season, the young players gaining valuable experience and imrpoving, players like Barker, Brayford, Green, Steve Davies, Bailey missing for 3months+ in the season due to injuries but find ourselves not in a relegation battle like previous seasons when big players out injured, the squad plays together and is developing all the time. Also as the squad is seen by few or many as being weak and poorly led (not my views) the fact we are so close is nice to see as there are still 24pts to play for. This kinds of disprove the theory that squad is not good enough as this league is notorious for teams to suffer when weak or low in confidence. The manager and staff can hold heads up as they have now completely stripped the team and building back up whilst showing massive improvement on last season.

Blackpool went up with 70pts through the play off stage why can we not do the same and Blackpool was written off up to the last game of that season for playoffs why write us off when still possible?

I can see us possibly getting 5 wins Bristol City, Boro (although this will be tight as they are up and down like us on their day and we off pace they will beat us), Ipswich, Peterbrough, Portsmouth. We may get a result at Leeds be it a draw or win. No chance against Cardiff there (lol) as they always do us over.

I would be happy with 60+ points. Shows positive steps. Also the emphasis of moving players out is now changing as the main money earners have now left and players will be coming in.

That's a great post. The crazy thing is that you may be branded as crazy for such reasonable remarks. I'd say you were one of the most optimistic posters on here and still you are far from someone who thinks everything is brilliant. On the positive to negative spectrum, the extreme of opinion is much more skewed towards the bad. The views on this board range from the 'wildy' positive: a season of steady improvement coupled with decent cost cutting, to the negative-the worst season in ten years making me fall out of love with Derby and football and life.

There are good things and bad things with this season. A modestly paid, young squad, finishing close to the playoffs isn't the worse situation to be in. An often tight defence and a spirit that has rarely seen us throw games away at the end of matches is definitely something to build on. There is obviously cause for concern/complaint that we haven't spent more money, but to me, it's inevitable that no first team players will leave the club this summer (except for maybe Green and only others if decent money comes in) and we will improve futher with 2-3 good additions. For the good life is out there somewhere. So stay on my arm you little charmer.

[ariotofmyown]

Our record over two games against any of the top 'teams' shows where exactly we are.. Midtable.. Here is our record against the other top 11..

Southampton (L 4-0) (D 1-1) (agg. 5-1)

Reading (D 2-2) (L 1-0) (agg. 2-3)

West Ham (L 3-1) (W 2-1) (agg. 4-3)

Brighton (L 2-0) (L 1-0) (agg. 3-0)

Birmingham (W 2-1) (D 2-2) (agg. 4-3)

M'Boro (L 2-0) (???) (agg. 2-0)***

Leicester City (L 4-0) (L 1-0) (agg. 5-0)

Blackpool (W 1-0) (W 2-1) (agg. 3-1)

Hull City (L 2-0) (W 1-0) (agg. 2-1)

Leeds Utd (W 1-0) (???) (agg. 1-0)***

Cardiff City (L 3-0) (???) (agg. 3-0)***

So we've played 19 W 6 D 3 L 10 GD -16

We've collected 21 points from 19 games against other teams in the top half with a goal difference of a whopping -16.. It just shows that we've been competitive and we've won games against the lower end teams, but when it comes to playing top teams our lack of quality has ultimately let us down.. The games we've won against the top lot have been scrappy hard fought wins but we've been beaten comfortably a few times hence our -16 GD.. This is nothing to do with a couple of key suspensions, injuries, lack of a striker, we're lacking abit of quality all over the board IMO..

So imagine this lot against better quality in the PL.. We'd get destroyed

It would be interesting if you repeated the above exercise for the other teams in the top 11. I'm guessing that most of the teams below 3rd would have a very similar points tally against the other top teams. I also imagine that most of those teams would also think they were missing the required quality to get promoted or to do any good in the Premiership. I think Southampton and Reading fans would be well happy, so would Brighton fans, although tempered a bit by their drop down the league after an amazing start. We aren't a great team, but neither are most of the rest of this league. The foundations of a good team are being built up the old fashioned way, it's just that you kids, with your twitter and the facebook want everything yesterday.

[ariotofmyown]

Just in case...........................

[url=http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/]http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

[url=http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/WEMPTI/london-wembley-stadium]http://www.premierin...wembley-stadium

although, I may stay more central, nearer to St.Pancras p'raps................ 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

booked my train ticket already. whoever it was who found those club wembley tickets last time that included beer and food, can you send me the link again ta!

[networker1884]

In case some of you dont read the whole 7 pages of the 13 wins thread.

I'm going to put this out there. Not because I think we will make it - but because I think we still can.

I wouldnt care if we scraped 6th place on a gnats chuff.

We've got 7 games to go and we've got 5 points to make up.

In our last 7 games this was the gap to 6th place.

P39 - gap 5 points

P38 - gap 8 points

P37 - gap 7 points

P36 - gap 8 points

P35 - gap 11 points

P34 - gap 9 points

P33 - gap 12 points.

In other words in our last 7 games we've made up [size=6]7 points [/size]on the 6th placed club.

I dont care if we dont make it, I dont care if I look like a tit saying it. I'm going to get excited at least until saturday!!!

5 points in 7 games? pffft... Tell me mam, me mam......

I'm made up, we're doing well and we have a real possibility of the play-offs. Yes, you'll get destroyed on here for being optimistic. And people will try and give you a lesson on disappointment and how it's 'impossible' for us to get promoted and you need to calm down. Well they've said the same all season, and they won't believe it till it happens. And if it does happen, then they'll be all doom and gloom about how we'll fail next season. They think they know what they're talking about, think they can predict the future...they can't do either. So yeah... Tell me mam, me mam......

[curb]

I'd be having another look at the table if i were you curb.

peterborough are in 18th with 44 points.

Are you saying they could make up 11 points at this stage of the season to over take us?

If we go on another bender, which is more likely than us winning 5 out of 7.

[blackNwhites]

"The Rams are going up, the Rams are going up, and now you're gonna believe us, and now you're gonna believe us, and now you're gonna believe usssss, the Rams are going up"!

[danthebeast]

I'd love to see us make it, even though we are nowhere near ready for the big time. But I just can't see it, Top ten is what I was hoping for at the start of the season (being realistic) and if we hit that target then great.Stll, here's hoping we can win a few more between now and the end of the season, 7th would be perfect for me!

[ariotofmyown]

"The Rams are going up, the Rams are going up, and now you're gonna believe us, and now you're gonna believe us, and now you're gonna believe usssss, the Rams are going up"!

Who does everyone want first match next season? A home game against the likes of Villa or Albion would be a decent local match with a good chance of 3 points, but an opening day trip to one of the Manchester clubs would be fun and give us a slight chance of catching them cold.

[ramblur]

Intersting, very interesting. I personally think it all comes down to the depth of the squad. If we play to the top of our game with our first team we could finish 5th or 6th. Realistically injuries will show up our lack of depth. Cloughy may be able to pull something out of the bag with an emergency loan or two but not too convinced we will be strong enough. You can see clearly why the management say we are two or three good players short.

FFP is being banded about as the main reason we are getting our wage bill down and the club in a break even at worst situation. I believe and hope that to be the case and that it's not just an excuse for minimal investment from the board. I am looking forward to Steve Nicholson's piece in the telegraph soon all about FFP and how it affects DCFC. He has done an interview with Tom Glick about the subject.

Watch this space!

We've had our past differences,but at least you do concede a certain possibility (even if you don't believe it will materialise).All I do is try to alert fans to possibilities (that may sometimes be unpalatable).For my part,I strongly suspect that FFP is being used to mask a lack of (intended) inward investment,and I've thought this for some time.However,as I've said in the past,if they make reasonable attempts to fund the quality players we need,then they're back in the good books-absolutely no problem at all.

Even if they manage to fund such players (somehow) without inward investment,then again no problems as they would have managed something I didn't think was possible.Of course,if it involved the sale/s of certain key player/s I may moderate my enthusiasm.

At the end of the day,we all want basically the same thing and this is sometimes probably lost in the heat of the 'battle'.

[curb]

Makes you wonder though, what could have been if we hadn't have disrupted the midfield completely, sending us on a run of 6 games with only 2 points, just to give a kid from Tottenham some game time.

5 more points from those games and I would be saying it was possible now.

It's almost as if we didn't want to raise the expectations too much.

[blackNwhites]

Who does everyone want first match next season? A home game against the likes of Villa or Albion would be a decent local match with a good chance of 3 points, but an opening day trip to one of the Manchester clubs would be fun and give us a slight chance of catching them cold.

I'd take a Villa on the first day but watch it be Bristol City.

[Bris Vegas]

I'm going to put this out there. Not because I think we will make it - but because I think we still can.

I wouldnt care if we scraped 6th place on a gnats chuff.

We've got 7 games to go and we've got 5 points to make up.

In our last 7 games this was the gap to 6th place.

P39 - gap 5 points

P38 - gap 8 points

P37 - gap 7 points

P36 - gap 8 points

P35 - gap 11 points

P34 - gap 9 points

P33 - gap 12 points.

In other words in our last 7 games we've made up [size=6]7 points [/size]on the 6th placed club.

I dont care if we dont make it, I dont care if I look like a tit saying it. I'm going to get excited at least until saturday!!!

5 points in 7 games? pffft...

People may disagree with you saying it, but it's not as far-fetched as some of the comments I've seen on here.. Who cares if you look a tit, it's your opinon and people should debate with your opinion..

Of it though, I still think it's too far forward for us..

We may have gained 7 points on 6th place, but we're in a very good run and they're out of form.. Still IMO there is no way that the teams above us (about 5 of them) won't win at least 3 out of the last 7.. That leaves us with having to win 5.. I don't even see us winning 5.

The last 7 games we've won 4 drawn 2 lost 1.. 6th place side Birmingham have only played 6 during that time and a few other too due to our game against Forest.. You also have to take into account that 4 of the 7 games were at home, and other than Blackpool, we've beaten Donny, Forest and Palace.. In fact they could be our 'bonus points' as such given that we beat them all (bar Palace) earlier in the season aswell..

If we are going to make the playoffs.. The games against Cardiff (A) Leeds Utd (A) and Boro (H) are so crucial.. They're effectively '6 pointers' lose to any of them and closing in on a 4 point gap could change to a 7 point gap and game over.

[blackNwhites]

People may disagree with you saying it, but it's not as far-fetched as some of the comments I've seen on here.. Who cares if you look a tit, it's your opinon and people should debate with your opinion..

Of it though, I still think it's too far forward for us..

We may have gained 7 points on 6th place, but we're in a very good run and they're out of form.. Still IMO there is no way that the teams above us (about 5 of them) won't win at least 3 out of the last 7.. That leaves us with having to win 5.. I don't even see us winning 5.

The last 7 games we've won 4 drawn 2 lost 1.. 6th place side Birmingham have only played 6 during that time and a few other too due to our game against Forest.. You also have to take into account that 4 of the 7 games were at home, and other than Blackpool, we've beaten Donny, Forest and Palace.. In fact they could be our 'bonus points' as such given that we beat them all (bar Palace) earlier in the season aswell..

If we are going to make the playoffs.. The games against Cardiff (A) Leeds Utd (A) and Boro (H) are so crucial.. They're effectively '6 pointers' lose to any of them and closing in on a 4 point gap could change to a 7 point gap and game over.

You make it sound even more exciting. Derby in a bit of end of season excitement.

[ramblur]

Apologies for going way off thread in my last post.For some reason I missed this thread whilst I was away and I came to part of a post I particularly wanted to reply to.So immersed in the reply, I didn't realise it had nothing whatsoever to do with the actual thread.

[GboroRam]

Apologies for going way off thread in my last post.For some reason I missed this thread whilst I was away and I came to part of a post I particularly wanted to reply to.So immersed in the reply, I didn't realise it had nothing whatsoever to do with the actual thread.

When did this board ever stay on topic? 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

[ramblur]

When did this board ever stay on topic? 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Which board are you talking about? 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

[blackNwhites]

Manish Bashir and Stan Collymore reckon we've got the easiest run in.