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!

Planning Ahead

With The Rams now out of the Play Off chase, Phillip Cocu can start making moves and start to implement his plans in the transfer market!

Centre Half Mike Te Wierik has already been added to the squad, but there a other needs as we look ahead to the 202/21 season.

Top of the list will be a goalkeeper. Neither Kelle Roos nor Ben Hamer who is on loan from Huddersfield are a long term solution. Both have made costly errors and a safe pair of hands is needed! I would suggest that two goalkeepers wouldn't go amiss! The back up has to be good enough to take over when the first choice is injured.

Morgan Fox the former Sheffield Wednesday Left Back has been rumoured to be on Derby's radar and already people have been asking why we would need another player in that position. Well the fact is Craig Forsyth has had some off games since the return though he has done tremendously well coming back from a third ACL injury. Max Lowe still hasn't made the position his and Scott Malone would appear to have dropped down the pecking order.

A winger will surely be on the list of needs. Florian Jozefzoon has failed to impress again and could be heading for the exit door.

Uo front Chris Martin has yet to sign a new contract though I believe he will, but Jack Marriott has struggled with injuries and failed to make much of an impact. Another striker is desirable!

Og the youngsters that have made it through from the Under 18/23 teams Max Bird, Louie Sibley and Jason Knight look to have made valid claims to be part of the first team squad when we restart.

Morgan Whittaker is highly rated, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him loaned out to gain some experience. 

The EFL charge of us exceeding P&S limits is unlikely to be concluded before this season ends and if Mel Morris's claims are correct I see us avoiding a points deduction. If the decision goes against us and we start on minus points that will obviously have an effect on which players will sign for us.

Fingers crossed all will end well.

New Contract for Martin?

Earlier this season many Rams fans were discussing about whether Chris Martin should be given a chance to win a place back in the Derby County side.

Some fans were in favour whilst others weren't and some of the negative comments were quite derogatory to say the very least! This for a man who has been our best striker many times.

Martin originally arrived on loan when Nigel Clough was in the managerial hot seat and played thirteen games scoring a couple of goals. His performances were steady but not spectacular.

Martin became a full transfer prior to the commencement of the 2013/14 season and it he was signed on a free transfer from Norwich City. I for one really didn't know what to expect from him, but in those days we usually bought from the bargain basement. 

To say his first full season was good would be massively understating it! In fifty one official appearances he managed to rack up twenty five goals! He had started well under Clough and when Steve McClaren took over, he flourished! Not only did Martin come up with the goals but he also had a hand in setting up players for many more! He got noticed for his hold up play and he showed he could also take a pretty mean free kick too!

the following season he grabbed twenty one goals in forty two games and the year after fifteen in forty nine games. Obviously these figures include cop games and play offs.

After McClaren and then Paul Clement had come and gone, Nigel Pearson took the reins and we entered a period with some of the worst football I've ever seen by Derby County sides. Pearson signed Matej Vydra who I'm convinced would thrive playing off Martin like he did with Troy Deeney at Watford, but Pearson let Martin go out on loan!

Vydra struggled in the loan striker role and wasn't a success til the next season when he played alongside David Nugent, but Martin had started well at Fulham.

There's many figures banded about and some suggest a hefty loan fee was paid by the Cottagers for Martin's services. He seemed happy and settled and then things changed!

Fulham had been given an option to buy Martin at the end of the loan spell. I believe they would have bought him too had it not been for one thing! Steve McClaren was starting a second spell in charge of The Rams! He didn't waste any time in stating that he wanted Chris Martin back at Pride Park!

Obviously this didn't go down too well with the Fulham hierarchy who dug their heels in and kept Martin for the remainder of the season despite McClaren persuading him to extend his Derby contract! Not the greatest lesson of diplomacy!

McClaren was dismissed for a second time before he got the chance to use a returning Martin and Martin himself was frozen out of the first team squad for two seasons.

Two unproductive loan spells at Reading and Hull City followed and his goals return was very low! Now whether it was because those sides weren't playing him in his familiar role or the fact he was fighting colitis I don't know! Its a horrible disease and would certainly have a bearing on his physical output.

Philip Cocu gave Martin a chance this season to stake a claim for a team place and he has grabbed the chance! He's not going to score twenty goals but he is beginning to look more like the Chris Martin the Derby fans love. He has scored late goals against both Leeds and Forest which will always go down well and he's proving himself to be an asset to the club again.

Being out of contract when this season finally ends leaved us all wondering what will the next episode bring. I'm hopeful that something can be sorted out by the club and the player that means he will still be a Derby County player next season.

In my opinion this free transfer has been one of our best pieces of business in the last fifteen years!

Martin to the Rescue

In what one can only describe as a dull East Midlands Derby, we somehow managed to do a smash and grab for a point in time added on!

Despite dominating possession, we really didn't test our rivals for the majority of the game. Their football isn't very pretty, but it is effective. It's got a touch of the Billy Davies style about it. 

This was probably one of our worst performances of the season. Sure enough our passes in the main were finding white shirts, but when you are forced to pass back to the goalkeeper whilst in the opponents half, questions must be asked. 

Forest will be kicking themselves. They created chances only to see them squandered. Lolley scored a good goal to put them ahead, but I'm of the opinion that Hamer could have done better. 

It was the final third where we seem to have been stuck for ideas. Once we got into their half, they had 7 or 8 players back to block our crosses. They were then a threat on the counter attack.

Chris Martin has never previously scored against Forest which is quite remarkable looking at his record for us overall. He was there though when their keeper flapped right at the death to touch the ball over the line.

It's a bit of a head scratcher that we were so poor yesterday as earlier in the season when we weren't playing well, we were unfortunate to lose at their place.

Martyn Waghorn will now be missing for three games after receiving a red card for a foul on Yates. Lawrence and Wisdom both likely to be missing on Wednesday night at The Hawthorns. Lawrence definitely will be missing as he serves the last game of a three match ban. 

Cocu's options are reduced, but it would just be the Derby way to go and win there!

Its that time again!

Derby continued their winning run with a fine 0-1 victory at Deepdale and now sit in seventh place just one point outside the play off zone!

However, it now time to get to the main event o0f the week! The third East Midlands Derby of the year! Following two losses 3-0 in the League Cup and 1-0 in the league, Philip Cocu and the team will be eager to stop our red rivals from completing a hat trick of victories in one season.

To be fair the league match at The City Ground was a tight affair that could have gone either way and it was a defensive error that gifted them a winning goal.

Full credit to the new regime acrid the A52 they have turned the club around and seem to have at long last found a good manager in Sabri Lamouchi.

I would Arte their current team as the best they have had in twenty years. We will have to be on the top of our game!

Key players to watch out for are Ben Watson in midfield who we will have to keep quiet, Joe Lolley who has been a bargain signing and of course Lewis Grabban. Grabban scores a lot of goals from close range, but the point is that he is there to knock them in.

They are strong in taking chances, very good on the counter attack and also at set pieces. Their only real weaknesses are they are often caught offside and they aren't the most dominant in the air.

This is a game where studying footage of their past games will be vital for Cocu and ensuring he sets up to exploit any weaknesses he can spot!

I would probably go with a similar line up to the game at Preston. Hopefully we can see a similar sort of performance!