a fair, balanced and nuanced article. you've highlighted most of my current gripes; how to solve them another matter.

Atmosphere is poor. Weirdly, I can't understand why attendances are not great given the results and how we were doing earlier in the year. Heck, we're still having a better year than I thought we would. The style of play under Rowett is kind of analogous to how the crowd are. Whilst we're in control we're ok; if we go behind, have to chase a game, or have an off day, we're very poor indeed. Goals conceded are met with silence - it should be the opposite. Players having an off day are met with a chorus of moans and expectations that are not fulfilled are articulated very vocally. To call us supporters some days is stretching the definition, and it infuriates me. I'm not a happy clapper, but we all want the same things and being a whiney bee-atch about it won't do anyone any favours.

I agree with your point about last contract players, but I think GR has been desperate to try and inject some wisdom, game management, and experience into the team. younger ones cost a lot more than we have, so we've gone a bit older. that's fair, and to be honest without most of the older heads things would be a whole lot worse. which leads me to the annoyance that underpins most of our collective anguish:

scouting. it's shocking. when NC's brother doing it part time can pick a player with largely the required ability / potential, temperament, and attitude, how can our supposed elite team of player recruitment specialists keep getting it wrong? it's pathetic is what it is, and it will undermine everything good about what the declared strategy for progress is.

I think that's a long enough rant for now

Good piece 666 - I agree with a lot of it.

The style of football is not attractive, that is why crowds are down. Massive gaps in the North Stand - which I assume means that less families are attending.

I have not watched any U23 matches, so I don't know if those lads are good enough. I guess that if they're never selected - they're not.
Jamie Hanson in the CM role against Cardiff does not exactly light my fire.

When Rowett was appointed he will have looked at the list of contracted players and the wages they were being paid, and placed asterisks against many names. These are players I would like to move out, he would have said. Only Hughes and Ince raised cash, others we have had to beg teams to take on and even then only with us paying a lot of their wages. Players like Johnson and Anya have remained and having not found takers he has decided he might as well try to get a bit of use out of them. This has all slowed down the changes he wanted to make. In many interviews earlier in the season he spoke of a lack of athleticism in the side and it has been surprising that nothing much has been done about this yet. Having been very impressive in the way he set us up a short time ago there are now doubts about the direction of travel.

Summer now looks very important. When I hear his interviews he says pretty much the same things as I think when watching in terms of the areas we are lacking. My worry is that few of the players we want to leave will raise much to fund incomings of high quality, but I suppose that of the positions most lacking - a decent left back and a more energetic midfielder - generally these can be acquired without huge outlay. Quality elsewhere might be possible with loans and I would like us to get Palmer for next season for one. I think there are solid foundations and despite our recent run we are by and large a difficult team to beat. If the starting squad next season isn't that much different to what we have now I would be very concerned but I don't expect that to be the case. Rowett very much in for me, review again at end of next season..

I'm not suggesting we roll the dice again, Vidals, merely putting a case that he hasn't, for a plethora of reasons, made any great strides apart from increasing the average age of the match day squad and then apparently having the temerity to bemoan athleticism levels.

He talks a good improvement, I just don't see any evidence of it yet. We may scrape the play offs this term but we're nowhere near ready for a Premier League season and are getting farther from that by investing in older players. We're in the play offs now but can we stay there..? I doubt it.

I envisage another 10-12 points between now and the end of the season, and that wouldn't give us the usual number required. I see wins at Sunderland, Burton, and Barnsley, draw at Bolton, and nothing from Villa, Boro, Wolves, Preston, or Cardiff. I'm sure one or two of those will be different but not to the extent that we'll stay top six: we'll be around 7 points better off than last season and finish 8th or 9th.

I think you all trying to quantity a preserved problem. In my opinion there isn’t one. I’ve said before we’re just on the wrong side of some key decisions and a run of luck that isn’t going our way. Huddz should never have gone on Sunday which now leaves us short for Cardiff. Just the latest in a long string of poor officiating. Rowett is now expected to rip it up and start again but if he has any sense he’ll persevere with what was working because he has faith that it will come good again.
I’m happy with him and he showed a bit of passion against the dogs which is fine by me.

Swings and roundabouts though, Rameses, and we've benefited from some fine margins during our decent spell. I don't believe there is either a conspiracy against us or that any club is in a false position at this stage of the season. We are where we are on merit, as shall we be in May.

This article highlights exactly what I find most disappointing about you 666.

You spend 36 games doing nothing useful and then come up with an excellent article in which you have summarised exactly how I feel.

I guess I saw the style of play for what it is earlier than some, hence my current moniker. We are a team of grinders and not much flair. Grinding out results makes for poor games and that leads to poor crowds. It also means we will seldom win "at a canter" and instead find that the fine margins we enjoyed in victory before Xmas can very easily turn against us in defeat.
There is still plenty of game time this season but I fear that the legs of our Dads Army of players have run out of energy.

comment by 666 ⚽️ #team666 (U11795)
posted 1 hour, 40 minutes ago

I envisage another 10-12 points between now and the end of the season, and that wouldn't give us the usual number required. I see wins at Sunderland, Burton, and Barnsley, draw at Bolton, and nothing from Villa, Boro, Wolves, Preston, or Cardiff. I'm sure one or two of those will be different but not to the extent that we'll stay top six: we'll be around 7 points better off than last season and finish 8th or 9th.
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Big call expecting us to lose 5 of the last 9 having only lost 7 in 37 so far this season and 9 in 46 under Rowett's charge...

Maybe Marco but then we are looking at playing the teams currently in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 9th. It doesn't get much harder than that!

In the previous matches this season against those 5 teams we won three, drew one and lost one.

I watched the Fans Forum last night and, 'in reality', it left me feeling a bit flat about our prospects. I got the distinct impression that the 'austerity' being imposed by our adherence to FFP has led us down a bit of a cul-de-sac. It might have been my reading of it, but expectations for next season were distinctly played down, with Mel asking the audience to effectively 'stick with us, we're doing the best we can.'
There are very few available to bring in from the u23s this season, apart from the less experienced ones, as around 11 of them have been sent out on loan. I can only think that this is a filtering process and we will end up with a shortlist of younger players who can come into the side next year. Timi Elsnik is the outstanding candidate at the moment and I expect Luke Thomas to get a run out as sub in the next few weeks to see how he fits in.
I think my biggest concern is Gary's composure at the moment. His frustration is really showing and may be transmitting to the players, when they really need a cool head to turn to when the home crowd turns nasty.
Good thread, 666, and not an easy one to answer, but Fridge and Vidal have gone a good way towards it.

I do hope I'm being pessimistic when, in reality, we do better than 10-12 points from the run-in but form, injuries, and luck seem to be working against us. We keep waiting to turn the corner but we're running out of matches to do it in, and our form is distinctly 'relegation" rather than 'promotion'.

Mel Morris made a great point last night about academy players being given a chance at Derby. Now when Hendrick and Hughes broke in we were a mid to lower table team. Rowett being near the top and the far greater expectation of the Derby fans...(since Clough left and McClaren took us to Wembley...which has given us a new breed of fan...far more knowledgeable on the game since Clough was here...amazing that)..then Rowett has to decide whether he bloods youth in crucial games or go with more experienced players. What do you do?

I think Luke Thomas is a real talent. Hes my new son. Id love to see him here and there in the first team. Doesn't make it right tho. The hindsight brigade are always lying in wait for Rowett. I'm amazed at the stick hes getting.

Good thread 666, has someone put Novichok on your pastie?

I for one am happy with GR being our man. ‘The reality is’ I agree with almost everything he says. He’s young and hungry too. Who else would anyone prefer??

From last night’s forum one thing I didn’t particularly agree with, however, was his point about we try and get the ball forward to the advanced players ASAP rather than sideways, backwards etc…
I don’t see this. He also made the point about fans occasionally not being behind the team and it affects them. IT’S A TWO-WAY THING: Give us something to get excited about. There are still far too many games where we create very few actual chances – particularly on target.
The other notable point for me was the average price they glean for every seat throughout the season is £12. The total revenue of ALL ticket revenue throughout 1 season (inc STH’s, everything) would pay for 1.5 times the salary of our top earner. Not inc. the purchase of that player, wages only!

Anyway, Gary Rowett we’ve got

Good article this and some very good responses

A really good and thoughtful article 666. Very well done. good wishes from your new friend on ja606, I agree with most of what you say.

Agree Backo.

Just hope taking us to 2nd so quickly hasn't unrealistically raised expectations.

Not sure it was the getting to 2nd that was the issue. It was the going from 2nd to 5th so quickly bit that caused the alarm..........

Great thread and responses by the way 666. Thank goodness we are spared from those blasted Comment Merchants.......

I thought we played at least as well against Forest as we did in the home game, maybe better. Results make all the difference to how we interpret the performance, good or bad. When the so-so football stops being effective then rightly it is questioned.

Is Rowett’s basic philosophy likely to succeed with a bit of tweaking? I would say yes. Despite one or two soft goals in the last few weeks you would have to say that the all-pervading air of vulnerability about the team has gone this season. With Vydra’s goals having dried up our lack of creativity has been shown up though. You might expect the occasional goal to come from a strong run from a full-back, from a winger skinning his marker and feeding in the centre-forward for a tap in, or from a midfielder breaking beyond. We don’t score these types of goal. Rowett talks of the need for bravery in the final third and he’s right, but some of the players maybe just aren’t of a brave enough disposition. If you look at Cardiff, another well-organised side, they have players whose first thought when they get it is to run at the defence as hard as they can. That worries defences far more than stopping to survey the options and passing it back again. With the strong spine we need wider players who aren’t afraid to take the bull by the horns on occasions. It’ll give us more chances of scoring and it’ll get the fans out of their seats a bit more.

Hindsight is wonderful, expectations are unrealistic, match threads are brilliant!

Each year we start of with believing that sustainability and progress are the order and we are not looking for the Holy Grail of promotion.

The bang! We fnck it up by over-achieving and then we all get excited. Then realism and reality (same thing?) kick in and we're left bemused, cross, bereft and wanting to lash out.

We don't know the real Derby. Oh yes, we debate and argue and get nasty but what do we really want? Rebuilding? Top 6? Top 2? Attractive football and losing? Staid football but winning 1-0?

I dunno, you don't either 'cos we can't predict the future and whatever is served up, we invariably end up disappointed.

Cracking article btw

And then, topically, View takes us into the realms of philosophy with Hawkingesque dexterity

comment by 🏁AnglianRam 🏁 (U17428)
posted 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
And then, topically, View takes us into the realms of philosophy with Hawkingesque dexterity
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I completely agree: Viewy IS as dexterous as Prof. Hawking.