Jesus is coming...

[ellafella]

It appears Derby are looking to bring in yet another Spaniard..Jesus Garcia Tena?
Another defender plying his trade in Scotland so he ticks all the Rams boxes!

Apparently, it's nailed on...

{come on OTR, get me coat}

[ellafella]

So if there is any grain of truth in this, we will have:

Keogh
Albentosa
Buxton
Shotton
Whitbread
Barker (back in training)
Jesus

Do we need another central defender? If another were to come in then my guess would be that someone is about to be sold. Which wouldn't make sense since all except Barker have signed new contracts.

Whitbread, never fit, gone at the nd of the season, Shotton more of a right back really. A bit of competition for Keogh might not be a bad thing and its not all about THIS season, a club has to have one eye on the future.[/quote]

Spot on Swale. Every i is being dotted and every t crossed. Great planning by the Club and very likely Sam Rush and John Vicars having every angle covered. They listen to the fans too. We are very lucky to have a Club that is going forwards. Just the matter of promotion to ensure and as we know that is never straightforward bu

[Manofpride]

All the Spanish love a good cross

Grant don't!

[DE23]

surely somebody must be on the way out from defence and being told they have no future here...

[Toggles]

surely somebody must be on the way out from defence and being told they have no future here...

If we are to get another defender we really need to sell someone, our squad will be groaning.

I really think we should sit tight with what we have now. The togetherness of the squad, our tightknittedness (great word there!) has got us so far. Let's not risk that now. Even if we think some wouldn't cope with the Prem should we make it, wholesale changes now can't be a good thing? Apart from possible morale issues it could cause, have we got time for 4,5,6 players to settle into the team, and even country for that matter?

[D_D]

surely somebody must be on the way out from defence and being told they have no future here...

If we are to get another defender we really need to sell someone, our squad will be groaning.

I really think we should sit tight with what we have now. The togetherness of the squad, our tightknittedness (great word there!) has got us so far. Let's not risk that now. Even if we think some wouldn't cope with the Prem should we make it, wholesale changes now can't be a good thing? Apart from possible morale issues it could cause, have we got time for 4,5,6 players to settle into the team, and even country for that matter?[/quote]

Like you Toggles, I think togetherness and tight-knittedness are important in our promotion bid. That said, I think this sort of addition could have its positives.

Firstly, we've got Calero, Mascarell and Albentosa in the squad, all spanish. Clough (both sr. and jr.)

[thederbyram]

surely somebody must be on the way out from defence and being told they have no future here...

If we are to get another defender we really need to sell someone, our squad will be groaning.

I really think we should sit tight with what we have now. The togetherness of the squad, our tightknittedness (great word there!) has got us so far. Let's not risk that now. Even if we think some wouldn't cope with the Prem should we make it, wholesale changes now can't be a good thing? Apart from possible morale issues it could cause, have we got time for 4,5,6 players to settle into the team, and even country for that matter?[/quote]

The opposite view to this is that it gives the players 6/7 months to settle in so that we wouldn't be making too many wholesale changes in the event of possible promotion. You'd have that problem at any point really - unsettling the balance.

[Toggles]

surely somebody must be on the way out from defence and being told they have no future here...

If we are to get another defender we really need to sell someone, our squad will be groaning.

I really think we should sit tight with what we have now. The togetherness of the squad, our tightknittedness (great word there!) has got us so far. Let's not risk that now. Even if we think some wouldn't cope with the Prem should we make it, wholesale changes now can't be a good thing? Apart from possible morale issues it could cause, have we got time for 4,5,6 players to settle into the team, and even country for that matter?[/quote]

Like you Toggles, I think togetherness and tight-knittedness are important in our promotion bid. That said, I think this sort of addition could have its positives.

Firstly, we've got Calero, Mascarell and Albentosa in the squa

[Toggles]

surely somebody must be on the way out from defence and being told they have no future here...

If we are to get another defender we really need to sell someone, our squad will be groaning.

I really think we should sit tight with what we have now. The togetherness of the squad, our tightknittedness (great word there!) has got us so far. Let's not risk that now. Even if we think some wouldn't cope with the Prem should we make it, wholesale changes now can't be a good thing? Apart from possible morale issues it could cause, have we got time for 4,5,6 players to settle into the team, and even country for that matter?[/quote]

The opposite view to this is that it gives the players 6/7 months to settle in so that we wouldn't be making too many wholesale changes in the event of possible promotion. You'd have that problem at any point really - un

[wristslasher_909]

I doubt that McClaren will tinker too much with the current set-up, why would he? It's served us well so far this season, so I believe he will continue in a very similar vein. I don't think we'll see wholesale changes in the second half of the season. Bent and Warnock give us experienced cover and competition.

We need an extra wide forward / winger to replace Ibe.

I don't expect Albentosa to go straight into the team.

What we appear to be doing is building up a great squad for next season; the Spanish lads all have fantastic reputations and we now seem to be building a team underneath the first team. A very Dutch way of doing things.