What single issue are we ACTUALLY bothered about?

[Geoff Parkstone]

Away at Charlton last year I think. But I'm not sure how relevant that is....

[ramAnag]

Away at Charlton last year I think. But I'm not sure how relevant that is....

Are you not? I think it’s maybe that making facile comments attempting to belittle an opinion about something central to why people are on here doesn’t carry much credence when you only attend one game every twelve months.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Ok, if you say so. I guess you don't give any credence to MA's opinions either as he watches most games on TV. There we go, we can only be real fans if we go to the games

[ramAnag]

Ok, if you say so. I guess you don't give any credence to MA's opinions either as he watches most games on TV. There we go, we can only be real fans if we go to the games

I think you’ll find that MA goes to a great many more matches than one a season or, seeing as you can’t remember, one every other season, but the point really is...why just make slightly snide and silly responses to an issue which should be of importance to us all?
Much as you might, for whatever (wrong) reason, wish to portray me as a ‘doom monger’ who thinks the sky’s about to fall in, the questions are...what actually, if anything, bothers you about where DCFC currently are and is there any evidence we’ve made progress since last September?

[swaledale]

Nice to be in agreement about Brexit, Swale...as we invariably are.

Not sure how you can ‘take issue with the lack of progress’ though.
Yes...last season’s expectations may have been ‘inflated’ by our near miss last season but...here’s some facts.
1. We got rid of an interim manager with a 58.3% win ratio and replaced him with a manager with a 42.5% win ratio.
2. We brought in a manager who has never kept a promoted side in the Championship to replace a manager who, having inherited a struggling Hull side last season, kept them up at a level above us...no small achievement imo.
3. We lost our 20+ goals a season talisman who had just been voted player of the season to a smaller/poorer club. I’m not entirely sure why.
4. We haven’t, in comparison with last summer, been as proactive or effective in building a squad for this season...yet!

So...I’m not writing Warne off and I accept that some fans have unrealistic expectations...but in what way have we made progress over the last eleven months and, more especially, over the last three months?

I wasn't mentioning Brexit, thats on another thread and I'm sticking to football on this one! I agreed with some of the points you made.

let me respond to the points made by you.

1 and 2. I get it that with hindsight you think Rosenior should have been left in charge - whether you'd have the same opinion if he had and we'd finished mid table or hadn't and Hull had been relegated is something we will never know. You have contradicted your assertion in previous posts that Rosenior was removed due to results, by pointing out that actually the results weren't that shabby. You can make an assumption based on his performance at Hull, but you can't say whether we would have done better if he was left in charge, so for me thats just ifs and maybe's.

However, the real facts at the time the decision was made are. We replaced an interim manager who had no previous management experience with a manager with experience of managing in this league and of getting promotion out of this league. Whilst the decision seemed a tad harsh, in basic footballing terms it was a sound football based decision not to risk a "rookie" manager and go for experience with an expectation that in the medium term it would pay off. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but one can't really criticise the strategy behind the decision at the time it was made.

3. You must be the only person who doesn't understand why McGoldrick wanted to play for maybe his last season at the club where he started his career. Really not sure why you believe there is anything more than it was his personal choice.

4. Not really sure how the acquisition of 7 players, especially in the key defence areas CB and WB isn't being proactive in building the squad, bearing in mind that we still have a number of the players acquired last year and these were the key positions we needed to recruit to. Yes we still need a striker, yes we have lost Knight so need a replacement, so another 2 or 3 players are required, but we were still recruiting up until the end of the transfer window last season, good quality loans should become available from now on.

The reality is though, that Derby can only recruit from the players available which they can afford within the budget, I'd view it as a plus that we are not just acquiring players to fill places. After all nobody predicted McGoldrick or some of the others would be as good as they turned out to be, I'm truly puzzled why you don't rate the players recruited so far, they may turn out to be better, they may not but in comparison to last year, we have the same level of knowledge and will just have to wait and see.

What do you class as progress? We needed to recruit full/wing backs, wide players who could cross a ball and score a few goals, we have done that. We needed to recruit centre backs to replace those outgoing, we ahve done that. We needed a good back up keeper, we have done that. We needed to recruit a Striker, we have done that and his record compares favourably with McGoldrick when he was recruited.

How is that not progress? Yes more recruitment is required, 2 or 3 players there is still time for that.

Now as to whether this team will perform? Well we won't know the answer until a few games in.

[ramAnag]

Probably time to just agree to disagree but we’re both stubborn so...

Not just hindsight. I always felt that Rosenior was harshly treated given all the effort he’d put in to ensuring we had a competitive team to start (and as things transpired, finish) last season. Tbh I never entirely fell for the Rooney thing...always thought Rosenior had more influence than he was given credit for but that is, yet another, thing we’ll never know.

I completely understand the reasons McGoldrick gave. Just not sure I believe them. He’d had his most productive season ever (I think), been fully recognised by the fans, and will (I’m fairly certain) be playing for less now than he received last season. Maybe he’s just one of those wonderful, altruistic people who saw this as his last chance to play for his boyhood side...or maybe there’s something else going on. Either way, it’s left us with a big hole to fill.

The acquisition of seven players is ‘proactive’. But when we’ve ‘lost’ at least seven it doesn’t reflect progress compared with the same time last year. At best we are just back to where we were and four particularly influential players (McGoldrick, Davies, Roberts and Knight) have gone.

I agree completely with your comments about financial reality. Surely though we must be in a better position now than we were when we, more or less, signed a whole new side in summer ‘22.

What do I ‘class as progress’? Us having a better side with more strength in depth than we had last season and us addressing the shortcomings of last season’s squad. At the moment I don’t think that’s happened, in fact with the loss of McGoldrick, Knight and a leader I fear we’re weaker.

Hopefully it can, as you’ve always suggested, be sorted by the acquisition of three more players before the window slams shut until January. Makes you realise how much harder it is to manage these days without the ability to make autumnal signings in the manner of Arthur Cox (Dean Saunders) and Jim Smith (Stimac) but it is what it is. Hoping for a vast improvement today and those three signings you’ve mentioned arriving very quickly.

[SithHappens]

The Jim Smith one is a good one, I always think when we have a bad start (and I don't think 1 game in is enough to consider it a bad one) then look at Smiths 1st Season. Awful start to the season which turned around after Stimac signed. I would suspect today with higher expectations and no transfers between windows then Smith wouldn't have seen Christmas in charge.

[MadAmster]

Every promotion DCFC has had and even the 1972 and 1965 title wins saw us claim our 2nd League win in the 8th game (twice), in the 7th game (1975) and all the others came in the 6th game. Go back to the 11/12 season, we won our opening 4 League games yet finished 12th, 11 points off the playoff places. It's marathon, not a sprint and Losing the opener is not a disaster.

Even the Dogs of the Red kind started with 7 straight defeats 2 years ago yet still managed to go up... We will need to wait and see where we are after a dozen games before looking to commit hara kiri.

[SithHappens]

Well said MA, I was starting to worry the season had been reduced to a single game.

[MadAmster]

Well said MA, I was starting to worry the season had been reduced to a single game.

Coucou mon canard. Dunt wurry Sith me owd, most on "social media" are certain it was and still is.