Paninistickers

One of the hundreds, if not thousands of crimes on the Kp charge sheet,.is the failure to market ourselves to the US. No friendlies, no strategic signings, the only thing I can recall is filbert fox being one of the PL mascots at those NBC fanzone gimmicks (and that was the PL organising it, god forbid Whelan or commercial team doing something proactive) Any yank through business or holiday these last few years I've spoken to....to a man, they know us. They all love the story. There will be yank investment that sees an opportunity as our brand is so much bigger than half our support give ourselves credit for; preferring the 'lickle ol' league one lesta' narrative

I tried yesterday to outline some kind of statistics or science behind what level he should be playing, rather than an arbitrary 'he's a league 1, 2 or national League level' I asked AI to look at his alumni. Calvin Bassey is the only one (apart from LT) who 'made it'. There's a couple (admiral muskawe?) who seem to be at league 2 level. Two have forged careers overseas - the leagues mentioned were in Thailand and a minor US League below the MLS. Two or three play in the national league. Others have dropped out altogether as there's no trace I've thought for a while, there's a very real chance LT hasn't got a level. His destiny was to be one one of those that drop out of the game. But a freak injury crisis under Rodgers, no crowds in COVID (making games feel like practice games) and Jonny Evans (who could talk me through a game) stumbled LT to 20+ pl appearances and he's been played on the back of that PL reputation ever since.

The curious thing is every opposition manager targets him.. multiple teams last season were ouvert in switching play to his side, despite more obvious options to attack down our right. If every opposition manager knows how useless he is, why do multiple of our own managers all play him? Why can't they see what all fans, all commentators and all opposition analysts and managers see? Edit; I'm reasonably sure today Notts County purposely left him as our out ball, which is why he was so involved first half

Enjoyed watching Derby lose. A staggeringly, era defining level of bad last season. We did double over them FFS. And a hammering to boot. Big hulking lumbering set of jobbing players

Largely agree. We have better options available already than Cullen, Bob and Thomas. IMO McCarthy too. And there were patches we looked really easy on the eye.

Howell had got presence. Some swagger about him. It was immediately obvious. I already like him

How can professional coaches not see this?

Six years and counting we've had to watch this lad, totally out of his depth and look pleadingly for his default out ball - a panicked chop and then reverse pass inside to Evans / Cags / Vestergaard. / Souttar. The only respite was a season woth Enzo who all but banned him from the club after one training session. Three more years of this misery

Thomas and Bob. A disgrace

That's possibly the best case scenario; that Bdcr and Thomas are hooked iff and there's a dramatic, visible,.instant improvement and we get out of jail.

It's actually spoiling my evening. The thought of him starting. Which he will. That soul destroying feeling as the team gets announced to see us, yet again, shoot ourselves in the foot with him, and Thomas in the XI.

Well, KP have to sell the club. It's a non negotiable. They can't afford to run it anymore.. They'll either sell at a respectable price, or sell for peanuts (and probs agree a triggered performance payment) or, it goes bust and they get absolutely nothing.. Not selling is not an option..

'Under my stewardship for the previous owner i made a net deficit of around 400m quid, however, in return for that investment, I guided the club from the top 8 of European football to the club's lowest ever position in its history - which means we now sell off the next generation of players (who we've spent around 13 years developing) to pay loan interest'

MacFarlane only had to be appalling to be a net improvement for the team. And somebody, anybody!, needs only to weigh over 5 stone and able to cleanly kick a football to upgrade on Bob

'Project Lineup'

It helped them locally but not nationally. The 1970s public recall the FA Cup finals more than league title winners; Sunderland v Leeds, Chelsea v Leeds, man u, Liverpool, Ipswich, Southampton, West Ham, arsenal...and in the second half of the 70s, the league cup (as it was ITV's big love football event). Villa, Man City Forest.... so if we'd won in 1969, it would've transformed us. Derby's two title wins were barely seen on TV.....whereas, in contrast, Coventry's 1987 cup win was a huge story at the time

Much as I'm enjoying Derby's misery, I'm always amazed that they've had four local businessmen over the years to dig them out and pump millions in. After Bob Maxwell (who himself shovelled loads of mirror pensioners money in) they had Lionel Pickering then Peter Gatsby (twice) Mel Morris and now David Clowes. Remarkable really that they've found four local men in 35 years to pump hundreds of millions in.

I'm in a very very small minority that thinks he's pretty decent (at least at championship level) and that he's never 'had a run' There have been several occasions he's put in a motm performance, picked for the next game, failed to replicate the performance and then dropped. Any player needs a grace period to ride some bumps and find some consistency.. His fitness, speed and tenacity are worth something in a well coached team..we've just not been well coached for years. Like Faes, largely due to a flamboyant haircut, the fans instantly draw all sorts of conclusions about their personality (arrogance) . I honestly think if both sported a Luke Thomas cut, both would've had an easier ride.

For what though? We don't even play him.

Just gotta hope that Bob and Thomas are so unbelievably bad, that even professional managers, coaches and analysts who devote their life to the sport can see it....and not just us mug punters supporters.

Bob fckn Reid and Thomas. It's just a never ending fever dream.

Without Whelan's pussy footing around respecting thai culture and making sure no sponsor got within a square mile of his holiness, I wonder if the the current CEO will empower the commercial director to actually, like, be commercial and sell things.

The better part of me would never wish ill on the amateur players we've made millionaires of; Ward, Thomas, Bdcr. But it's never them that get their knees destroyed in friendlies, is it? Always someone pivotal.. You could plough a combine harvester at 90mph through Luke Thomas's leg and somehow we have the sheer bad luck that he's be unscathed and available for selection within 24 hours

I feel a bit like that Irish journalist fella - David Walsh? - who spent his career calling out Lance Armstrong. He just knew. Tbf, I have no issue that Bob seems a nice enough guy. It's never personal.

Sorry mate, that has to be challenged. I've watched him forensically. On the rare times he touches the ball it's a lottery whether it's a scuff, stubbed toe,.air shot,.miskick,.under hit pass or a (superficially decent) flick round the corner (which I think is a reflex, survivalist 'get rid of it in a way I look professional' manoeuvre he's developed) Of course, like any recreational player he can sometimes kick a ball with relative grace. He clipped in a decent goal at Norwich and calmly finished at Derby. But technically, i mean on a real, granular technical level, most 5 a side pub players can kick a ball like those.two goals were kicked. Both were kind of stroked home - which is more to do with timing than technicality.