Case Dismissed!

Yes! After a long wait charges against the club have been dismissed! We can now breathe a huge sigh of relief, though if we believed what Mel Morris had consistently stated from the start, we would have been confident of the outcome!

Fans from rival clubs are up in arms and making a lot of false claims in their attacks on the panel and its decision.

There has been much sniping and jealousy from fans of other clubs ever since when Frank Lampard was boss! Ashley Cole signing attracted some snipes!

Wayne Rooney signing really got others rattled and various claims being made that we were avoiding his wages being included in the accounts because he is registered as a coach! Wrong! coaches wages are included!

Next we get 32 Red are paying him and it's third party ownership which is against the rules! Wrong again! He's a club asset! 32 Red do sponsor the club very generously, but what Derby County do with the money is their business.

Now we have the warriors of the keyboard and smartphones whinging about us getting off with it and Sheffield Wednesday not!

Sheffield Wednesday weren't charged with regard to the sale of their ground, it was because they included it in the wrong financial year!

If full capacity crowds aren't allowed to return sooner rather than later, and that looks very doubtful at the moment, a lot of clubs will be struggling to make ends meet! The transfer window will be much quieter and maybe teams will have to start playing more home grown talent! Thankfully Derby have a glut of talented youngsters coming through!

Dave Marshall

 The first signing of the transfer window is goalkeeper David Marshall signed for a nominal fee from Wigan Athletic!

Marshall should prove to be a very good signing, he's very experienced at this level and rated as one of the divisions better keepers.

After starting his career at Celtic, he has played for Norwich, Cardiff, Hull and Wigan of course. He is also a Scotland international.

During the run in last season he kept ten clean sheets, but he is also well known for playing an absolute blinder many years ago against Barcelona of all teams.

Securing a new goalkeeper was high on theist of priorities and I believe Marshall will prove to be a good bit of business.

Most of the early feed back has been positive and Hull City and Wigan fans have been amongst those to praise Marshall.

Most of us like to check out new signings on YouTube. I've posted a link, but don't just watch the clips, look at the comments! 

https://youtu.be/hXx2U9XSHnM

What Lies Ahead?

 So here we are, entering another pre-season wondering what lies ahead for Derby County!

It's been very quiet on the transfer front with only the confirmed signing of Mike Te Weirik to report. We have known about his incoming since January and nothing else has happened apart from players who have left the club.

Chris Martin and Tom Huddlestone have departed after failing to agree to new contracts and Martin especially leaves a gap in the squad.

Fans haven't been slow to voice their opinions on the lack of signings, but theres different circumstances to consider this time around. First of all the Coronavirus has impacted heavily on the clubs income! In excess of five million pounds has been lost!

Secondly for the second year in a row we are left in limbo! Last season was the down out departure of Frank Lampard which left Philip Cocu with little time to prepare for the season and this time around it's awaiting to see if we are going to start the season with a minus points total! The independent panel are certainly taking their time to reach a judgement on the alleged P & S breaches.

There certainly are a few areas in the team that need addressing. Goalkeeper must be a priority! Last season neither Kelle Roos or loanee Ben Hamer looked good enough to start. In my opinion I'd go for experience should we manage to acquire a new shotstopper and play young Henrich Ravas in the cup games.

Another centre back wouldn't go amiss either. Andre Wisdom played well in that position and we have the signing of te Weirik as well, but Curtis Davies doesn't appear to suit the playing it out from the back style of play that we have. Krystian Bielik can play there, but I'd suggest his best position is in front on the back four, also he isn't likely to be back before October.

A good wide man I'd imagine would be on the shopping list as apart from Florian Jozefzoon we don't have any natural wingers around the first team. Tom Lawrence and Martyn Waghorn are not wingers.

We will also wanting another striker due to Chris Martin's departure. I think we will miss Martin! I feel he was greatly under appreciated by a certain section of the fans.

So even if Cocu has a shopping list of preferred buys, its going to be difficult to sign some players should we start on minus points.

The Left Back position needs sorting! In my opinion Craig Forsyth is still the best number three at the club. Max Lowe is now 21 and needs to make the position his! Scott Malone appears to have fallen down the pecking order and Lee Buchanan is now emerging to challenge the mew experienced players ahead of him.

Last season was a great one for youngsters breaking through into the first team. Max Bird, Jason Knight and of course Louie Sibley had very good campaigns. I believe the likes of Jahmal Hector-Ingram and Jordan Brown will become a regular sight on the subs bench in the months ahead. Morgan Whittaker and a few others could well join them.

Jayden Bogle completed his second season as a starter and injury stopped him making further progress. He has though caught the eye of other clubs and I believe he could be a prime candidate to be sacrificed for big money to give the boss more money to spend. Andre Wisdom is good in that position and Festy Ebosele looks like he won't be waiting too long to step up with the seniors.

There's a lot of different permutations and once this EFL charge is sorted then perhaps Cocu can get on with doing his job! It's dragged on for long enough!