The fear of taking Derby's record might be sufficient motivation to get the players really fired up for matches in April and May. But between now and then, I wouldn't be surprised if we regularly walk away from matches feeling (rightly or wrongly) that the players haven't been giving it their all.
Do you think they are bothered about that record? I think it more likely that if they regularly look like they can’t be bothered then their future careers could be affected would be a much bigger motivator. Very few of these players are going to get a chance at the PL again, unless it is with us if we come straight back and probably give them all new 5 year deals because they performed in the Champ. The only teams who may give them a chance are teams like us who have just been promoted. If there is sufficient evidence of them just giving up after 6 months then I think that would put off future teams from signing them.
Right now, no, probably not bothered in the slightest. But as the weeks and months go by, the noise around the record will get louder and louder (unless we get up to 12 points). And I think they would become very bothered, if it's mentioned at every turn.
I think a straight talking with doors closed in the dressing room along the lines of: ‘Already your personal ratings are on the wane with any PL team, more performances like Saturday and here’s the rub, you will all be anonymous and probably off the radar for an even wider audience. Why? Because good teams don’t pay for losers and players who deliberately deny their faithful fans the satisfaction of a performance worthy of their money!! So, your choice. And by the way don’t think you have a automatic place in this club in whatever division we end up in’
Yeah that really annoyed me at the time. Even more annoying was the amount of fans who managed to convince themselves that he was genuinely the problem for Ralph's poor form.
A couple of performances like the Brentford match would almost put them all in breach of contract I would think.
I really doubt the players are that arsed about the record at all really. It won't stick with them for too long and they'll still get opportunities at other clubs. Not prem ones of course but then getting 12 points won't change that. When people think about the worst ever premier league team they don't think about Robbie Savage and whoever the **** else* played for them that season, they think of Derby County Football Club. It's us as a club the record will stick with rather than the players. *Point proven
Guess who they beat in the playoffs on their way to promotion to being the worst team? Coming full circle
Even funnier if they don’t get promoted. Joe Rothwell has been one of their best players apparently so if they do go up they are even more ****ed than us. Probably won’t be playing suicide ball which is why we will break the record though
Similar to our last relegation when the longer the season went on the more of a genius Selles was. Until he'd actually been in charge for a few games.
Unfortunately it is the quality in the squad. There is a far bigger gulf now between championship and Premier league and the 3 promoted clubs are most likely to go back down. The Brentfords, Fulham, Bournemouth, Forests, Brightons and Villas are so much better and more consistent these days. Good management, well run and quality players. We occasionally pull a decent result out of the bag like Brighton and Fulham away and we need more of that grit to save more embarrassment. We should be fighting again for promotion this time next year and must learn our lessons from this disastrous campaign
I`m retired now, but if the general opinion was that I was no good at my job, I`d have been utterly humiliated. I could always accommodate colleagues who perhaps lacked skill or knowledge, so long as they gave 100% and wanted to learn and improve. This shower seem to have lost any pride or fight. Maybe I`m morose, but I think of things like this - lets say we live for around 30,000 days - by the time Saints play again, some Saints fans somewhere will have died. Maybe their final memory of Saints was that $hitshow on Saturday. These tossers of players should maybe think about that when they`re driving their Aston Martins back home to Winchester.
Kelvin was, by accounts I’ve heard, a pretty toxic character by the time he was removed and anyone close to the first team picture at Saints back then could corroborate that. Liked to play both sides between staff and players, being pally with the players and getting stuck into Ralph when he was out of earshot He slipped up enough that word got back to Semmens and Ralph. Loved his commitment to us as a player but his professionalism for coaching was not there, unfortunately, nor was the level of his coaching experience appropriate for a PL club. Which is why he didn’t get a job until a certain local non-league club needed a manager
I’d forgotten this. The chapter of Eric Black getting blamed for everything when Puel was here was so, so bizarre Random side note but Eric now runs his own carpentry and furniture company, and makes the furniture himself. Man of many talents
This is a total disaster. The majority of the players will want to move on (good riddance any many cases) and our only hope of replacing them is with up and coming talent from the lower leagues. Our credibility as a club has been destroyed by SR. I don't think we will have the spending power or the attraction that we did last season. To me, it's looking like 3 seasons in the championship to rebuild. But the big question is, who is going to do it? SR don't have a clue as the previous 3 years clearly prove!
