Are you back on that SA photo 666/Iwas?

Yes; it's my new suffix.

Oh, I hadnt spotted that. Nice that I've given you the last 2 suffixes (is that spelt right) that you've used, you old playground bully you!

It's a great photo, although what you typed into a search engine to find it I don't even want to consider.

I just typed in "fat b4stard derby born south african fans who have just had babies". Google is a remarkable thing!

The trouble with Billy is you have to employ his large family.

No thanks to Billy, he turned us into a laughing stock when we went up. He wasted plenty of money on Clod and Ernie to mention two.

I even agree with 666, give me Nigel any day. Not Paul or Phil though.

A well balanced Woody post is worth of serious response. No, I would not have Davie back at Derby at any price. Why? because he was totally responsible, single handedly for Derby getting a record low number of Premiership points. I am ashamed of our performance and cannot forget the disgrace of it.

I have been over the ground before as to why he was to blame. I won't go over it again except to say that it was Billy's total self-centredness and his me! me! me! attitude that stopped us assembling even a half decent side for the new standard of football we were supposed to be playing,

No thank-you to Billy under any circumstances. He wasted a golden opportunity when he dot us promoted even though we were never the 3rd best team in the Championship.

Apologies for a sticky keyboard,

Ramdini. I think you put that very well
Bit worried about the sticky keyboard though. Have you been visiting "those" sites again.  

You know you wish you had Harry. Although he tends to try and stay at the big clubs

Blockhead. Harry is a great character but 2 promotions and 1 cup in 31 years does not make him a great manager. In fact I'd be worried if I was you because it's a long time since he got anyone promoted.

comment by Peeder et digiti pingues (U1684)
posted 12 minutes ago
Blockhead. Harry is a great character but 2 promotions and 1 cup in 31 years does not make him a great manager. In fact I'd be worried if I was you because it's a long time since he got anyone promoted.
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Yeh but he is certainly a top manager for the championship level

Why do you not put "Nottingham Forest" in the team choices when you write articles?

That way, you can keep off the Derby board.

Tblock Harry is past it. Any decent manager would be top of the league with that squad.

comment by caniggiaforforest (U6917)
posted 22 minutes ago
Tblock Harry is past it. Any decent manager would be top of the league with that squad.
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No this squad isnt as strong as the one warnock got us up with

Funny how Old 'Arry leaves a financial mess at every club he has been at.....

Good grief Ramdini, he took you from bottom half strugglers needing a PFA loan to pay wages to the EPL. How many fans at this level talk about going up even if they come straight back down to sort finances out? He is not singlehandedly responsible for your points total either. He got more of the points than Jewell, in less than half the season. Plus PJ had the full January window.

You've developed an almost personal dislike of him and it often cloud your judgement and ability to look at things rationally

Anyway, sticky keys. I hope that's food or drink related

This "he took you from bottom half strugglers needing a PFA loan to pay wages to the EPL " business Jack- you make it sound as though he single-handedly turned the club's finances around and took the same squad to the Premiership.

The ownership changed and money was invested. That's how the players' wages were paid. Davies was given a fair bit of money to spend on new players - a million pounds on Steve Howard for example. Significant money was also spent on the likes of Bywater, Leacock, Fagan, Teale, McEvely, Mears, Pearson, David Jones and Jon Macken as well as some loan fees. So the idea that Davies somehow rescued the club from a financial mess is complete nonsense - that was due to Gadsby and the other investors.

That isn't to say that Davies did not exceed expectations that season, but the improvement in the financial situation had nothing at all to do with him and he spent a great deal of money in the course of getting into the play-offs, a lot of it unwisely and in the shape of ordinary players just to bolster the squad, players who were nowhere near Premiership quality.

He did well to get Derby up, but at the same time he bought a lot of deadwood which significantly hampered the club subsequently

He took you from struggling at the bottom to promotion to the EPL, and fairly quickly at that. Do you think that by any means his spending was more than promotion brought in?

Every manager leaves dead wood, we still have some on our books from yours

As you know Jack, the money that is supposed to land in your lap from promotion isn't quite delivered that way. The sizeable squad that got promoted all had automatic wage increases and many were on lengthy contracts. New players were brought in and there was expense in transfer fees and also on long contracts with no relegation clauses which meant the following year's wage bill was higher than could be afforded. The backroom staff also increased significantly.

Certainly the succeeding years left Derby in a far worse position financially than if they hadn't been promoted in the first place. More of this was attributable to Jewell than to Davies but Davies carries a proportion of the blame, if blame is the right word to use.

^^^
Vidal, that is an honest assessment of what happened which makes a change from the irrational hatred and blame towards Davies that some fans still harbour. Yes he made some very poor signings and he has to take some responsibility for what happened. The players he bought before you went up were solid Championship players, Howard for example was very effective. But I doubt Davies thought you were going to go up that year and was buying a squad to complete in that division. He clearly made mistskes with the players he bought once you were promoted with the likes of Claude Davies. Earnshaw and Miller were very poor but with better servive from midfield might have done better.

I can understand if fans' hatred is poorly down to his behaviour on the pitch at Wembley and the things he said. It was odd but clearly there were things going on behind the scenes.

How many of Billy's dead wood were left after transfer window closed back in Championship window. Earnie was transferred to us

Earnshaw I wouldn't really class as dead wood really - at the time he was a decent finisher in the Championship. I agree with caniggia that at the start of the season there wasn't a thought of promotion and the team was designed to be solid. The signings in January, when Derby looked nailed on for automatic, were very poor though and with no view to what would be required in the Premiership. These players - Pearson, Teale, McEveley, etc, proved very difficult to shift from the club and weren't really up to Championship level never mind the top flight. The other players signed once promoted like dear Claude also were financial millstones, as were those signed by Jewell like Savage.

It isn't the transfer dealings that generate dislike - that's simply football - but the stuff away from that which began on the pitch at Wembley when he said he didn't know if he would till be in charge at the start of the following season. That sort of childish manipulation of the situation via the press was one of his hallmarks at Derby. He wanted to put pressure on the board to give Preston whatever was required in compensation for David Kelly, but to do it in such a fashion was in the opinion of most Derby fans pathetic, as were the increasingly combative public statements about the board as the Premiership season went on, again unnecessary and, it seemed at the time, done with the sole objective of making his position untenable and getting him the sack so that he would escape much of the blame for the inevitable relegation.

Maybe Forest fans don't remember the sort of things he was saying in the media at that time. I think there is a genuine bafflement amongst some Forest fans at the level of antipathy directed Davies' way by many Derby fans, and this is the main reason. It isn't to do with the signings or the football but the way he conducted himself once we got promoted.