Watching Derby vs Hull

[Kilburn]

Apparently Kneecap cracked a joke in the changing room recently about how it was written in the stars that they'll play Brighton in the final and OBZ will score a last minute winner again.......great for team morale......it's the way he tells 'em

'When he talks, you listen. He demands that respect."

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‘He made a joke at one of the awards dos a few weeks ago,’ said striker Johnny Russell. ‘He just said it was written in the stars for us to get to the final, play Brighton and then if Zamora comes on he’d score. It was pretty funny but still a bit close to the bone, a little bit raw. It didn’t go down well.’

Russell played in that game which left Derby devastated. But he is determined to make amends, beginning with the first leg of the play-off semi-final against Hull at home today.

The Scotland international praised Redknapp’s influence in supporting head coach Darren Wassall.

‘Darren is the gaffer but Harry has been brilliant,’ said Russell. ‘He’s experienced it. He just pulls you aside and gives you a little confidence boost, a pat on the back, and tells you what you’re doing well, what he thinks you could try.

'When he talks, you listen. He demands that respect.

'He comes in the changing room during games and chats to you, gives you instructions from where he sees it up in the stands.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...a-s-winner-against-Rams-2014-final-hurts.html

 

[KooPeeArr]

The Revenue stream gets less and our problems thereby greater with "protracted time". Unless our Owners are giving up they have to be making some investment in the quality players we need to have a decent chance of returning to the PL after next season.

There are about 60 professional teams in the league that don't have to get promoted to the PL to survive. I think restructuring so that we're one of them is better than another gamble (when we're clearly not good at it) that may or may not work. That we end up worse off even when we have gone up says that it's more crucial that we don't throw money at another wild punt.

 

[YorkshireHoopster]

What money? Why on earth would Fernandes and Mittal put in any more when £250m has left them worse off than when they started? And when they still may have an FFP fine to pay. Of course if they are reluctant to dip into their own pockets for this we'll be out with the collecting buckets again.

Perhaps that what Hertfordshire meant. Perhaps he's chipping in the first million.

 

[qprted]

unfortunately spending money wont guarantee promotion ,you need to be a manager who can see a bargain
someone like gerry francis and those managers are not going to come to our broken down team our only hope is to
wait for holloway to finish his one year at sky and see if he will take over but dont hold your breath

 

[Hertfordshire Qpr]

Perhaps that what Hertfordshire meant. Perhaps he's chipping in the first million.

Laugh it off fella, we are so far behind its unreal. Try taking those glasses off once in a while.

 

[cor blymie]

I hope Paul Clements is having a laugh. I am

from quite a reliable source Beth, but Clement didn't get the boot over football matters

 

[sb_73]

I'm sure an educated man like yourself knows the answer to that.

But just to reaffirm my point, sometimes you have to speculate to accumulate. 180 million for promoted teams this year, for a club that's supposedly skint that's not an amount to be sniffed at.

Being financially prudent or, in our case, being skin flints, we aren't going anywhere fast with that approach and the finances will only get worse as a result of lingering in the championship.

What would you rather?

The Revenue stream gets less and our problems thereby greater with "protracted time". Unless our Owners are giving up they have to be making some investment in the quality players we need to have a decent chance of returning to the PL after next season.

So, people who have lost in excess of a quarter of a billion pounds for worse than nothing in return should buy us two new squads, one to get promoted and one to stay promoted, knowing that when they tried the latter before it failed twice. I would rather we had a club which didn't rely on this voodoo business model, even if that means a few seasons of stock taking. And I hate championship football.

All the evidence says that the owners have turned off the tap. I would imagine that a negative result on FFP would give Tone the opportunity to say "I've done my best, time to go" and I have not seen any noticeable input from Clan Mittal for years. The only reason for them to hang on in is Old Oak Common, and which of us would put a fiver on that happening?

They must have realised by now that they will never get a return out of QPR. They are very rich people, perhaps they don't need to get their cash back, let alone an income, but surely they want to get some fun out of this experience and I can't see much of that dealing with some of the players, agents and managers they have had to, to say nothing of the fans.

The longer the current austerity goes on, the less important who owns the club becomes. I don't blame them for what they have done, especially in the early years, I would have doubtless got carried away in the same position.

 

[Kilburn]

from quite a reliable source Beth, but Clement didn't get the boot over football matters

So was this all about doing things "the Derby way", whatever that is?

Mel Morris certainly has egg all over his face after such a lame, pathetic, embarrassing home playoff performance.

I wonder how we might have made out last season with a "dream manager" like Paul Clement at the helm?

Derby County Football Club is saddened to announce that Paul Clement will leave his post with immediate effect.

The Head Coach, who joined the club in June last year, has been relieved of his duties and is replaced by Academy Director and former Rams defender Darren Wassall until the end of the season.

Chairman Mel Morris said: “We are grateful for the contribution Paul has made to the football club but the time is right to make a change.

“When Paul joined us last year we worked with him to develop a plan for the club which we asked him to embrace.

“It was clear in this plan, which was briefed to supporters, players, sponsors and all our stakeholders last summer that promotion this season was not the primary target. The priorities were building on the Derby way and style of football enjoyed in the past two seasons; adding depth and strength to our playing squad; and, developing and improving player and team performance.

“Sadly, on these measurements, we have not made enough progress and that is why we have decided to part company with Paul.

“I firmly believe that we have one of the very best first team squads in this league. Our players are highly talented professionals who are more than capable of winning games at this level and beyond.

“I want to record our thanks to Paul for his efforts in leading the team through the first 30 games of this season and in achieving a top six position at this point. We wish him every success in his future career.”

Chief Executive Sam Rush, confirmed that Wassall, 47, will take training tomorrow in his new role.

He said: “We are in the fortunate position to have somebody as capable as Darren at our football club and he will be leading the coaching staff with immediate effect.

“Our focus is to get the team back on track, delivering the style of football and performance we know they are capable of. I know our fans will give Darren, the coaching staff and the team their full support.”

http://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/article/paul-clement-to-leave-derby-county-2946021.aspx

In the statement announcing Clement’s departure, Morris claimed that it wasn’t poor results that had been the deciding factor, but rather not enough progress had been made on “building on the Derby way and style of football enjoyed in the past two seasons; adding depth and strength to our playing squad; and, developing and improving player and team performance”. The “way” of Derby or any other club is one of those ephemeral concepts which nobody has ever really quite managed to nail, but in fairness to Morris this isn’t something that he has just discovered and is wheeling out as an excuse.

In that BBC interview he said: “I separate out measuring Paul based on the number of points we achieve, and what I look at is the performance and the improvement in the squad. If the squad is improving, the value of the squad rises, the cost to move on is less … It is about constant improvement. If we don’t achieve it this year then I think we have a much better feel on what we’d like to do next year. But I think the key point to me is all about this performance.”

Whether you believe that or not is one for debate, but while it’s rather doubtful that Morris would’ve worried too much about performance had Derby scrapped out a few ugly wins recently, his position seems to have been that a bad run of results were fine, as long as he could see that Clement could correct it. Of course the question now becomes whether seven games, or indeed the seven months since Clement’s first game, is really enough time to properly judge whether he was the man to bring that performance and improvement.

“We’ve got high hopes for Paul, so we’ll support him,” Morris told the BBC. “Therefore that ability to look beyond this season is critical to what he does.” With that long-term aim seemingly quite clear, what exactly has happened since that interview, other than this current poor run of form? It’s tricky to come to any conclusion other than this was a panic measure based on the cost of the squad and the looming spectre of the past two seasons, when Derby were the best team in the division before respectively being mugged in the play-off final by QPR and collapsing after February.

Clement was not perfect. The football he played was not always attractive and he seemed to have a slightly skittish approach to team selection, a little unsure of the best way to use this large group of players purchased for him. But even then, these faults could either serve as an argument for keeping Clement or for getting rid of him: his defenders might say he needed more time to work all that out, his critics could note that managers have to know much quicker these days, and that sort of time simply isn’t realistic anymore.

Particularly for a club in a hurry, as Derby are. Morris’s promise not to dismiss Clement was nice to hear at the time and his words spoke to a long-term plan, but it fell firmly into the who-are-you-trying-to-kid camp: a club in the Championship does not spend £25m on players and remain content with a solid 8th-place finish, ready to build for next season, no matter how much the pretty football is in keeping with the club’s “way”.

Still, what makes this especially curious is Clement’s replacement, the academy director Darren Wassall. Wassall is said to be a fine coach but has no experience of being a manager, and is now given the significant task of improving this squad and playing attractive football (if you believe the club) and/or winning promotion (if you believe logic).

The club maintain that Wassall will be in charge for the rest of the season, but one should have large pinches of salt at the ready for that promise. David Moyes was at their game against Fulham at the weekend, but if Rowett can be persuaded away from Birmingham, given the enormously impressive job he has done there, then Clement’s dismissal might eventually go down as a ruthless but pragmatic decision.

Rowett and Clement live on the same street, and there might be some awkward moments ahead at summer barbecues.

The question that keeps popping up, though, is what exactly did Derby and Morris expect when they appointed Clement? He was a novice manager, despite his strong coaching background with Chelsea, Paris St-Germain and Real Madrid, so he was going to make mistakes, and one would logically think he would therefore need more time to learn from those mistakes. His appointment was a gamble, but to bail out at this point makes Derby look as though they haven’t really seen whether that gamble has succeeded.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/09/derby-county-paul-clement-gamble-sacked

 

[qprbeth]

from quite a reliable source Beth, but Clement didn't get the boot over football matters

Obviously because getting rid of him did absolutely nothing...
And today's performance was a tad embarrassing.

Still a very odd decision.

Perhaps he wasn't our dream manager

 

[YorkshireHoopster]

Laugh it off fella, we are so far behind its unreal. Try taking those glasses off once in a while.

You're right of course. The money is right there in front of my nose. Could you just help a miserable blind old git like me and tell me where it is?

 

[Sooperhoop]

Anyone who thinks we will get into the playoffs next year without spending some serious money is frankly deluded.

Spot-on, we are light years off even the play-offs. Remember, in football terms we are now shopping in Poundland. None of the signings we have made in the past year give me any remote confidence that we will be challenging for anything other than staying above the relegation zone...

 

[YorkshireHoopster]

Spot-on, we are light years off even the play-offs. Remember, in football terms we are now shopping in Poundland. None of the signings we have made in the past year give me any remote confidence that we will be challenging for anything other than staying above the relegation zone...

That may well be so. But you don't treat a recovering alcoholic whose liver has packed in by persuading him to have one last massive binge before going tee total. I'll repeat the question. Where's the money if our owners haven't got it any longer?

 

[qprbeth]

Spot-on, we are light years off even the play-offs. Remember, in football terms we are now shopping in Poundland. None of the signings we have made in the past year give me any remote confidence that we will be challenging for anything other than staying above the relegation zone...

Disagree a little bit Sooper....in the last season we have made 4 good signings (admittedly 2 are in the same position though)
Ingrams/Smithies are definately good enough
Hall , although faded towards the end of the season is also a high level championship player (especially with an old head next to him)
Chery too has the makings, of being a star
(I rate Polter at this level too, in a defined holding playing off role but suspect he cannot go higher)

We have a couple I cannot decide on yet...Luongo, Robinson, Petrasso, El-K, Conor, Cole

And a few I am disappointed in (Gladwin mainly)

But obviously we have too many gaps to be a force next season, unless JFH/SLF are very savvy and lucky in the market...and a few of the "undecided" come good.
I have said before...we need a DCM and a captain before anything else....we have been discarding captains for years now (Derry, Barton, Clint, Ale was never a captain but he was a big influence) ...the last one has gone...we have no natural leaders...that has to be remedied first..and it is difficult to bring in a captain without disturbing the squad.

That will be a masterstroke if they pull it off

 

[Sooperhoop]

That may well be so. But you don't treat a recovering alcoholic whose liver has packed in by persuading him to have one last massive binge before going tee total. I'll repeat the question. Where's the money if our owners haven't got it any longer?

I'm not advocating a spending binge, merely pointing out the position we are in will make us like many fallen PL teams, also-rans for the foreseeable future. We also have the FFP fiasco to be settled and a possible transfer embargo which would really leave us struggling to stay in the Championship with the current squad.

We're really between a rock and a hard place at present...

 

[Sooperhoop]

Disagree a little bit Sooper....in the last season we have made 4 good signings (admittedly 2 are in the same position though)
Ingrams/Smithies are definately good enough
Hall , although faded towards the end of the season is also a high level championship player (especially with an old head next to him)
Chery too has the makings, of being a star
(I rate Polter at this level too, in a defined holding playing off role but suspect he cannot go higher)

We have a couple I cannot decide on yet...Luongo, Robinson, Petrasso, El-K, Conor, Cole

And a few I am disappointed in (Gladwin mainly)

But obviously we have too many gaps to be a force next season, unless JFH/SLF are very savvy and lucky in the market...and a few of the "undecided" come good.
I have said before...we need a DCM and a captain before anything else....we have been discarding captains for years now (Derry, Barton, Clint, Ale was never a captain but he was a big influence) ...the last one has gone...we have no natural leaders...that has to be remedied first..and it is difficult to bring in a captain without disturbing the squad.

That will be a masterstroke if they pull it off

The 'leadership' of the team is one of the most worrying aspects of our team, I don't see one in what we have at present and hope we can find a couple of experienced Championship players, one a central defender and one a central midfielder who could fill these roles as 'leaders' on the pitch.

It will be interesting to see who is available in the close season, even if such players are towards the 30 year old mark as long as they have the drive and commitment they would benefit our squad greatly, sometimes that can be the catalyst for others around them...

 

[YorkshireHoopster]

I'm not advocating a spending binge, merely pointing out the position we are in will make us like many fallen PL teams, also-rans for the foreseeable future. We also have the FFP fiasco to be settled and a possible transfer embargo which would really leave us struggling to stay in the Championship with the current squad.

We're really between a rock and a hard place at present...

I agree with that. There are some though who seem to think we should be opening the cheque book in order to buy another shot at the Premier League 'before it's too late. Perhaps one of them would like to answer my question?