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I'm about to go on holiday for three weeks. The entry below, QPR away, will be the last until around the 20th October when normal service will resume. There will also be a book of last seasons Journals that should be available early November.

September 28th

QPR were pre-season favourites to win the league with some bookies. We completely nailed them yesterday. This was due in no small part to our new found passion and desire that has been missing for as long as I can remember. Both managers commented about the Rams continually winning the second ball and it was ironic that the QPR DJ played Duffy's "Mercy" ("I'm begging you for Mercy") on the final whistle. Four particular examples stood out:

• Paul Connelly's goal-line block when Blackstock had an open goal. Last year, or even last month, the striker would have tapped it home and the full-back would have shrugged "it was an open goal from two yards- what could I do?". "Defend like your life depends on it" is the answer.

• Miles Addison had two 50-50's with QPR's giant Jamaican defender Damien Stewart and completely (and legally) destroyed him both times. Stewart didn't know what had hit him and was sent spiralling towards the nearby BBC studio's for his own version of Strictly Come Limping.

• Tito Villa should wear a headband every week. After getting kicked in the face, he looked like a South American freedom fighter and duly waged guerrilla warfare on the QPR defence; culminating in him forcing the corner for his goal. He still hasn't scored with his feet though.

• Despite not being in the matchday 16 once this season, Mile Sterjovski was at the front of the queue for congratulating the players and clapping the fans. Decked out in Rams polo shirt and trackie bottoms, you'd have thought he had scored the winner. (this may have something to do with the large Aussie community in Shepherds Bush. Perhaps Mile didn't want to disappoint his fan club). 

Sheffield United wasn't a false dawn and things are finally looking up. Could we be top 6 when I return from holiday?

September 26th

Now the working week is over I can focus on the QPR trip. Who's bringing what for the train? What to eat and where? Who's going to the game and who isn't? The Jackal is apparently "masterminding" the drinks for the train- I'll be well disappointed if he just turns up with a few cans of beer after that build up.

There'll be six of us on the train tomorrow, no doubt with a couple of drinks. Over the summer, I was on the other side of the fence so to speak. On the train to Leicester, sober and with my wife. Elsewhere on the train was a group of lads (returning from a stag do). We heard a bit of a commotion and tuned round to see one of the party, who wasn't particularly petite, being pushed into the overhead luggage rack by his fun-boy mates. To make matters worse, he was only wearing an over-the-shoulder "Borat" bright green thong. Not a pretty site. To be fair, it was all harmless but I suppose the moral of the story is "please show consideration for other passengers".

I've got a long haul flight on Sunday with two legs of seven hours each. All with a 16 month heavyweight champion on tow. Remind me of this if you see me in Shepherds Bush tomorrow.  

September 24th

According to the BBC, one of the reasons given by QPR for the ticket rise was "to provide a better standard of entertainment for home and away fans". The rationale being that QPR will be able to sign more, better quality players. Is it possible to simultaneously entertain the home and away fans? Using the same logic, did Portsmouth fans feel thoroughly entertained after being drubbed 6-0 by Robinho and the gang at Man City? Or did Doncaster fans feel ripped of by the poor quality of entertainment at Pride Park in August? Towards the end of last season, maybe the ticket office should have been saying "it's pretty shocking in there to be honest mate, just give us a fiver". Sometimes, the logic of business just doesn't work in football.

September 23rd

It looks like Pearo has decided to stick around for a while. Not only is he back in the first team but Simon saw him walking around Derby with the ultimate symbol of domestic stability- a Henry The Hoover. Surely on a footballers money you'd get a Dyson?

September 21st

One of the Observers political columnists (Nick Cohen) wrote this week about a journalist, Sally Murrer, who was arrested after a swoop by eight detectives on her home. The Police had bugged her contacts, seized her address book, laptop, mobile, bank statements etc. whilst another team did the same at her office. She was banged up over night before being hauled into a cell and strip searched for a second interrogation. You may think that the link with football is going to be the Moggi scandal at Juventus but it couldn't be further away.

Sally Murrer works for the Milton Keynes Citizen and is being charged with "aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office" which relates to allegedly getting insider knowledge from a contact in the Police (a Policeman is also being charged). Now for the football/ Derby connection...

The Crown Prosecution Service's first accusation revolves around a story about Izale McLeod. He was arrested after a brawl at a party, Murrer's contacts told her that the police were not pressing charges and the story ran complete with some football vernacular from the MK Dons Assistant Manager- "It is a great boost for the lad". Hardly scoop of the century. No wonder the Derby Telegraph like to play it safe.

September 18th

Things aren't improving for Stan Ternent up at Huddersfield. After their latest defeat he came out with the ultimate abdication of responsibility "it's not my fault, it's the players fault". Not what the chairman wants to hear I'm sure. I remember Bryan Robson saying something similar last year- let's hope Stan doesn't meet the same fate.

The QPR ticket row has hit the press today- QPR are trying to charge us £40. Simon's friend in Basle had a book of three Champions League tickets last week- Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon and Shaktar Donestk. The total cost was less than £60. 

September 17th

Chris has become a bit suspicious of the local media of late. The Monday night moan-in on Radio Derby began with the hosts comparing The Rams' situation to that of the national team; said how we were just waiting for a catalyst and it had arrived with Addison; and how great it is to have a home-grown player leading the renaissance. Exactly the same as Chris' Times column in exactly the same order. There's only so much to say about the Rams so there's always going to be similarities but this follows on from the Telegraph using a filler on ex-Ram goalscorers the day after the Journals did (complete with David Jones added out of sequence after Danny Graham and Marco Reich at the end- I'd forgotten him) and Neil Hallam referring to players in the "Departure Lounge".

In next weeks Telegraph- "Have a punt with Gerald Mortimer" and "Steve Nicholson gets wrecked in London before the QPR game".

On the subject of QPR, the match is only 10 days away and there are still no tickets available (QPR's fault I believe). Even the R's website doesn't offer the chance to buy any. We booked the train to London a couple of months ago but the rumour is that tickets are £40 each. There is definitely a spilt vote on whether to go to the game or not at that price. As the Jackal said on seeing QPR chairman Flavio Briatore- suntanned, open necked shirt, hairy chest and shades- on Sky Sports - "there's no way I'm giving him forty quid". (Obviously the day out in London isn't in doubt).

September 15th

"Red or black, red or black, red or black......awww shite!" Have A Punt With Pearo!   "How ya daein? When yous goat a squad a fifty players, ye cannae play them all. Ah'm sayin' yous'll see Santa before ya see some o these radges, so ah'm offerin' some odds. Yous wanna bet?"   Which of the following players will start a match for The Rams before Christmas? Steven Davies, Robbie Savage, Liam Dickinson, Mile Sterjovski, Andrejs Pereplotkins, Reuben Zadkovich, Andy Todd, We'll start with ya mon Steve Davies. He wis right in tha mix at tha star o' tha season but ah think he'll need snookers ta git back in noo (ya git tha pun likes?) Pearo's odds- 4/1  What kin ya say aboot Rab Savage? Ah didnae dislike tha guy but ya cannae deny that things jist turn ta shite when he's aroond. Now yours truly is back, Rab's even fairther doon tha pecking order. Pearo's odds- 10/1 Big Dick's been bangin' 'em in recently. The gaffer asked Stan for him back bit wis told- "git tae fuck or I'll ram yer heed intae the dug-oot again". Pearo's odds- 12/1 Bruce Sterjovski's been a bit busy recently- flyin' aroond tha world with yon Socceroo's and modellin' tha glow stick away kit. He jist hasnae had time ta play for tha Rams. We've goat more right wingers than yon Tories noo, so didnae hold yer breath. Pearo's odds- 16/1 When ah heard we'd signed Perry Plotkins, ah thought it wis yon postman from Trumpton town. He didnae look too bad at the start o' season bit ah think there'll be ice on tha pitch before we see Candido Costa-ski again. Pearo's odds 20/1 "Ruby, Ruby RUBY, RUBY...der, der der, der, da, der...where tha fuck are ye?..der, der der, der, da, der".Ah havenae seen this felly since he went tae China an ah didnae think yous will be seing 'im soon either. Pearo's odds- 50/1 Finally An-day Tood. Nae Chance. Pearo's odds- 100/1 (please note - none of these bets are available to the best of my knowledge and Pearo has not advised on them)

September 14th

Like all good things, all bad things must also come to an end. So thank god that yesterday we finally won a league match. I can sympathise with Jagger to some extent, that all the records were becoming an albatross around the neck of the club- although the sympathy only goes so far- he had far more chance to do something about it than you or me. The problem was that any debate about Jewell could always be dominated by stats. It reminds me of two academics debating Communism in the USSR. The opponent always answered "yes but what about the 20 million killed?" until the other finally said "stop going on about the 20 million!" The point is, you can't.

Now we can move forward and evaluate new players and the system within the context of winning a game; and stop every match preview dredging up the next unwanted record (when did we last win away in the league by the way?- no, let's move on). The Observer even saw it fit to take us on one last trip down misery lane, by listing all 36 winless matches- thanks.

September 11th

After the 0-5 home defeat by Wigan, Hull fans may be wondering about the whereabouts of new signing George Boateng. Boateng starred in the opening day victory against Fulham but hasn't been seen since. They needn't worry though, he's alive and well according to a BBC review of a recent Stevie Wonder gig:

"Then things took a turn for the bizarre with an appearance by Hull City footballer George Boateng. He presented Wonder with a statue of Arthur Wharton, the UK's first black professional footballer, and in return the singer added his voice to the campaign for Wharton to be more widely recognised."

Needless to say the Hull Fan At Work wasn't too impressed. I'm sure Boateng wasn't missing training or anything but injured players on a jolly is a bit like seeing someone off-work-sick out shopping isn't it?

September 10th

Last Sundays Observer had an article about the Baseball Ground On the subject of the famous pitch it said "...a notorious mudheap. Players complained about the pitch constantly; the mud was dense and sulphurous, rich with decades of industrial waste, and grass died fast"

It's a good job nobody carried out a risk assessment on doing a slide tackle with an open wound, through sulphuric industrial waste. The ground would have been closed in no time. Fortunately, no-one had thought of Health and Safety in the 70's: men operated industrial machines with bare hands- with a fag in one of them; women in high heels stood on swivel chairs to reach heavy files on top of cupboards; and The Rams won the League Championship twice

If you're an ex-player whose body parts have started turning green and dropping off, contact your local No-Win No-Fee solicitor today.

September 8th

Our Utrecht page is now up and running with an introduction on the main site.

On the subject of European football, Simon enjoyed an enlightening trip to Basle during the Euro Championships and befriended some F.C. Basle fans whilst over there. It makes you realise what a raw deal we get supporting the Rams (or almost any English team really). Take for example, a few weeks ago in August. Derby were scrapping it out against Lincoln whilst Basle were seeing off Portuguese side Guimaraes in the Champions League qualifiers. We were rewarded with a trip to Preston; Basle were drawn in a group with trips to Lisbon and Barcelona. Match tickets are cheaper and a trans-continental rail trip is never far away (e.g. Hamburg away last year). If all goes well for Basle this season- they'll do it all again next year. If all goes well for us- we'll end up in a division where no promoted club has a cat in hell's chance of anything above fourth or fifth from bottom. You're obliged to nearly bankrupt yourself on new players and face a potential battering every week. Even higher ticket prices and no prospect of Europe. Good Times! 

An F.C. Basle view of Sterjovski is hopefully on the way.

September 7th

When Phil Brown was sacked by the Rams, he couldn't buy a days a work. One job he was close to getting was that of Bournemouth manager. I would imagine it wasn't exactly the dream gig for northern Phil but a salary nonetheless. He was pipped by Kevin Bond, partly due to the ex-Pompey assistants relationship with Bournemouth sympathiser 'Arry Rednapp and the promise of a few  good loanee's. A few of 'Arry's young reserves arrived and - I'm making an assumption here- didn't set League 1 on fire.

We're all well aware of what happened to Phil Brown but what about Bournemouth? Last week Kevin Bond was sacked. He taken them into the fourth division and they began the season with a 17 point deduction due to their chaotic finances. They are currently second to bottom on -14 points. In retrospect, probably not best appointment.

September 4th

I see the Daily Mail are at it again with a story today about Savage's car. Click Here to see the article. A lad at work emailed me the link and my first reaction was- he's chosen black and white again which means he's not leaving any time soon. A few seconds later it occurred to me- if you've just spent £186,000 on a car, a couple of grand for a re-spray isn't going to break the bank is it?

September 3rd

The marketing men have really got their work cut out after the start to the season we've had. How to put a spin on two home defeats in two? The official website proclaims that we are at least top of the league when it comes to crowds in the Championship. "What a load of rubbish, we've only played two games" you might think...but wait. The table reveals our average home gate to be a full 10,000 higher than Forest. What a great stat!

September 1st

A truly shocking site at the Hull v. Wigan match on Saturday- no, not the Hull defending but Phil Brown's 'tache. Brown looked like he was auditioning for a part in spoof cop show Beef 'n Onion, or even as an extra in Jagger's next homemade film.

I asked the Hull Fan At Work today and apparently it's all in a good cause. Raising awareness of testicular cancer after Hull reserve 'keeper Matt Duke had a scare.

Duke has had an odd career. He signed for Hull for £20,000 from Burton Albion in 2004 when Hull were in League 1. Despite playing only 8 games in 4 years for the Tigers he has ridden in the slipstream of Hull's success to become a Premier League no.2.  

August 31st

At least one Rams player scored yesterday- Liam Dickinson scored a glorious overhead kick for Huddersfield. Unfortunately for Stan Ternent, Huddersfield went on to lose 2-1 at Millwall. Watching "The Championship" this morning, a few other ex-Rams appeared: Matt Oakley scored for Leicester; Danny Graham bagged a hat-trick for Carlisle; and Marco Reich nearly burst the net for Walsall. By far the most popular ex-Ram this weekend must be Kenny Miller who scored a brace in the Auld Firm match. As documented in the Journals last May, Rangers fans were chanting against him before he'd even signed- I wonder what his popularity rating was today?

August 28th

According to the Daily Mail website, the captaincy for Tuesdays match at Preston was drawn out a hat! Interestingly there are no quotes in the story so it looks as though the Daily Mail mole has been busy again. Click here if you want to read the article.

August 27th

"I picked the wrong team, so I'm as much to blame but I'll sort it out, it's my job to do just that. I'll make changes."

Jagger after Saturdays match? No, this was our old pal Stan Ternent after Huddersfield's 1-3 home defeat at the weekend. Come on Stan we've just lent you a £750k striker, sort it out!

August 26th

There seems to be a few unfamiliar terms creeping into the marketing and PR of the club. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for them in the...

Ramspace Anglo American Dictionary Consolidated- When a mate at work registered to buy a ticket online, he nearly jumped out his skin when the reply said he had been consolidated. Don't worry, it's not a military term or a technique used at Guantanamo Bay- it appears to mean that registration has been accepted or confirmed. Stadium Tailgate Area- according to the official website, the location of a pre-match beach party. I assume the tailgate area is the place formerly known as the "concourse" or more traditionally "down the back".

August 24th

This time last year, almost to the day, we were sitting outside the same pub, drinking the same beer preparing for what we thought would be the Rams first win of the season- Birmingham at home. What followed was complete disappointment with a an extra dash of pessimism for the season. The only difference yesterday was that Simon wasn't wearing flip-flops. One of our conversations in the pub was- when was the last time the Rams won at home on a Saturday? We thought it was probably Cardiff at home in the promotion season. I've just checked and it was. March 17th 2007. To put it into perspective, my son who is now happily walking around, has never seen his dad come home happy on a Saturday. Come to think of it, he probably thinks I've got some crappy part time job where I leave the house and return a few hours later in a bad mood.

I'm doing the Times column again this week so I'll write about the game then but it would suffice to say that the mood isn't good. Last night I was settling down for a bit of Reading/ Leeds festival coverage when my phone rang. The Observer wanted a comment about the match as the Derby fan who had offered was now refusing to answer his phone!

August 21st

This time last year, we signed Kenny Miller and were being linked with Henri Camara. Simon pointed out that if we signed Camara, we'd have the complete Wolves strike force that bombed in the Premier League during the 2003/4 season (finishing bottom with a mere 33 points). On that note, I see that Sunderland are tying up a deal for Djibril Cisse after the earlier capture of El Hadj Diouf.

I thought that the two played together at Liverpool but a quick check reveals that Cisse entered the revolving door as Diouf exited. Diouf scored none in 33 games during 2003/4 and was followed by the relatively prolific Cisse, scorer of 5 in 25 the following season. Roy Keane is currently lining up Andriy Voronin for the 2011/2 season.

August 20th

According to Adam Pearson in today's' Telegraph, we've still got £100,000 "to find next week" for the Eddie Lewis deal (he's talking about the fee's for Feilhaber and Lewis). This definitely raises a couple of questions. 1) How much did we pay for Lewis? I thought it was somewhere between £250-300,000 but after an alleged £30,000,000 promotion windfall (not to mention an advance on the £12m parachute payment), would we really need a years credit on that kind of fee or was it much higher? 2) Without wanting to add to the finances debate, how did we go from the "£60m - richest game in football" to having to find £100k within a year (bearing in mind we didn't sign Shevchenko?) 3) Why don't you ask Savage for a years credit on his months wages? (Not meant as a dig at Savage but just how little £100k is in football these days).

Pearson didn't mince his words on Feilhaber: “Unfortunately, the Benny Feilhaber deal for this football club has been a disaster.” Ouch!

Did you notice that for their latest publicity stunt, Paddy Power are paying out on Stoke to be relegated after Stoke lost at Bolton on Saturday? This is apparently going to cost them around £30k- far less than an advertising campaign in the national press I would imagine. As a self-proclaimed "Silver Lining" offer Paddy are giving Stoke season ticket holders a "no-strings" £50 free bet.

August 18th

Steve McClaren has taken plenty of stick over the years for his attempts at handling the media. According to the Observer, his attempts at charming the Dutch press before the FC Twente v. Arsenal match included adopting a bizarre Dutch accent to explain "We're not jusht, what you call, underdogs, but masshive underdogs".

Elsewhere in the media, I hear that Ian Taylor was on Channel 5 commenting on Villa's UEFA Cup game. (See Journals August 11th). Now wonder Garry Barry's tedious transfer saga drags on, surely taking a slice of £18m should take priority? (Barry and Taylor share the same agent).

August 17th

A few weeks ago the Hull Fan At Work had an award to collect and turned up smartly dressed, "grey trousers, brown shoes- it's the Phil Brown look" was his comment. In reply I asked if that's what you do after turning 40- forget replica shirts and dress in homage to the manager.

Last season Paul Jewell dressed almost exclusively in 90's hooligan chic- mostly Ralph Lauren jumpers and shirts. Results were poor but his clobber would have done his credibility no harm at all with gentlemen of a certain lifestyle. But what the hell was Jagger wearing yesterday? A high sleeved t-shirt with what looked to be a lycra bodysuit underneath, coupled with tight trackie bottoms. He looked like an extra from a bad 80's sci-fi show. Please don't let this look catch on with blokes in their forties.

August 14th

Those of you that didn't see the paper copy of the Evening Telegraph today would probably have missed the "Rams' Money Men Unveiled" story on the front page, where GSE revealed four of the investors behind the takeover. Don't get too excited though, there were no retired members of the mujahadeen or Third World despots- it was four American businessmen who were all heads of various investment companies.

So we are owned by a company who represent investors, who are themselves investing on behalf of others. Those investing at that level are also likely to be representing even smaller investors. Where does it all end? It no doubt goes down a huge pyramid until- if you've got an ISA or Pension, you've probably got some sort of stake in The Rams. If The Rams win the Champions League, investment bonds across the world rocket and the credit crunch will be all over! If that's not enough to mobilise our global fan base then nothing is.

August 13th

Thank God we've finally got a win of sorts, if not only to give Jagger some respite in his press conferences. He's said a few times about being "as bored of saying as you are of hearing it" and I noticed after Saturday he used a new tactic of throwing a few stats in. First off he quoted Hull and West Brom's respective starts to last season before adding that we had 135 points to play for and could afford to drop 42. Fair comments but it says something about his optimism for the Donny match that he had them ready to trip off the tongue.

The second example was a few selective match facts from the Donny game: apparently "we hit exactly the same amount of passed as Doncaster" (completed passes is the more common measure), "had 51% of possession" (not at all impressive for home favourites in my view) and finally "got in their box 53 times against their 15" (a quick check reveals shots on target to be equal).

It all smacks of saying "come on, we didn't get hammered by Doncaster". At least you can get good odds on us to beat Bristol City; which I'm fully confident of us doing now we know where the net is.

August 11th

According to my mum, Ian Taylor was the co-commentator on Radio Derby at the weekend. This ties in well to a story from Saturday's Daily Mirror that reads "Gareth Barry's acrimonious on/off move to Liverpool has cost Villa favourite Ian Taylor his column in the club programme". Apparently "Taylor...was axed as he works for Barry's agent Alex Black". Someone told me that Gary Rowett was doing this season so Taylor's agent must have been a bit sharp to get this lined up at short notice. I can just imagine Barry and Benitez twiddling their thumbs, with Wegner on hold, whilst the agent is haggling over free sandwiches with Radio Derby.

Also in Saturdays Mirror was a pointless survey by a Sales firm about Most Hated Football teams. Predictably Leeds were top, predictably followed by Man Ure and Chelsea. Bizarrely, Wolves came fourth. The only person I know with a pathological hatred of Wolves is Rockin' Bob but I never realised he was so in tune with the zeitgeist. If Level 42 storm the charts again I'll know he's definitely got his finger on the pulse of the nation.

August 10th

What a complete and utter let down yesterday was. Defeated by a team who were two divisions beneath us last season and have actually lost players rather than gained them. Most of you would have seen the match but some of you wouldn't, so here's a few questions raised by yesterday:

Why sign two new full backs if they aren't going to improve the first team? The left back slot is the most puzzling, according to Jewell we tried to sign Jordan Stewart in January as well. If all we want is a Championship reserve left back we might as well have kept Mo Camara. If Stewart and Connolly are signed to play- get them in.

The Robbie Savage situation has been a disaster. Fair enough Jewell didn't play him against Utrecht or Mansfield but leaving him out of the the low key games (including Hull behind closed doors) seems completely counter-productive. When Savage was thrown in yesterday he was evidently not up to speed. The fans slated him, Savage's confidence and desire will take a hit and the midfield is still a problem. Not the best bit of management.

Pearson and Jewell have often said that we've been building for next season from as early as January last year and have a massive head start over Reading and Birmingham who didn't discover their fate until the last day. This being the case, how come Pereplotkins was pitched in after an hours mediocre display last week?

In fact did we learn anything from the Utrecht game? My analysis to my brother was: neither Pereplotkins nor Kazmierczak are ready yet; we still concede easy goals (McEveley implicated in both); the midfield is basically not right; we didn't have a shot in the second half. We sent out exactly the same team yesterday and exactly the same things happened.

Finally, a big concern at the moment is the style of football. We are still not creating anything with our best chance yesterday being when a defensive howler let Hulse in. We didn't up the tempo at all at 0-1 and there was no pressure or bombardment of the Doncaster goal. Again, too reminiscent of last season for comfort. The tactic seems to be head height passes to the wing at the moment and I can't see that keeping us entertained for long.

On the bright side, first day results have proved to be meaningless in the past and certainly when we've had a good season, the first match has been poor. In fact, looking at the season following our last relegation, beating Reading 3-0 on the first day proved to be completely misleading and left us thinking everything would be fine for months after. At least now we know we need to sort things out.

Another bright spot was the £2 a pint offer before the match. After saying last week that I wouldn't be in the ground before 5 to 3 very often, I was outside at 13.29 shouting "come on, I know you're in there" to the bar staff. Well, slight exaggeration but at least I saved a couple of quid. 

August 7th

Neil Hallam starts his new Telegraph column by saying how he'd started out at the Telegraph: "Rams coverage in the Telegraph in those days was limited to Wilf Shaw’s match reports plus brief stories about groin strains and the fact that manager Harry Storer was contemplating team changes." Well Neil, nothing much has changed in 50 years so fire away!

I wondered whether his column be like his previous Trader effort where he basically had free rein and said what he liked, or whether it would be more in the Telegraph style- avoid controversy and keep it simple. After reading his first column (click here for that) I'm non the wiser really, just as I thought a revelation coming, the column ends with questions that any fan could raise.

August 5th

Text from my brother on holiday:

"My new Ipswich mate is a Simonesque student of goalkeeping. Reckons Bywater doesn't punch his weight in the box and can't get down to his right at all. Claims Town fans refer to him as toiletwater and not surprised Magilton looked elsewhere"

I do feel sorry for Bywater being let down by Spurs at the last second. It seemed an odd signing but why do the medical and everything if you're not sure? The link with Spurs won't do him any harm though and no doubt someone else will step in.

August 3rd

I went to the Utrecht game on Saturday; it was nice to see the Rams score twice in less than a month but despite all the new signings, I was left feeling that there's a lot more work to be done. I don't usually analyse the team on the Journals but I'll go stick my neck out and say that the midfield needs sorting out pronto!

World food inflation has also hit Pride Park; the new "Meal Deals" included a soft drink and fries at £3.50; and Cheeseburger, fries and soft drink £6.40. I presume pies must be available somewhere but not on any of the displays with the menu taking a definite American twist (hot dogs, burgers etc). Beer is also up with a pint of lager costing £3.30 (I think it was £3 last year but I drink bitter so I'm not sure). I knew inflation was creeping up but didn't know it was at 10%. It's fair to say, I won't be in the ground before 5 to 3 very often.

Simon got a free ticket for Saturdays match. Like thousands of us, he received his season ticket last Saturday in a cheap unmarked envelope (my £435 purchase was in the junk mail pile for a couple of hours until I got round to sorting it out.) Unlike most of us, Simon received two tickets. Instead of going straight on ebay, he rang the club to let them know and was told that he should send it back immediately by recorded delivery! After politely asking why he should go to the Post Office and fork out for their mistake, a compromise was reached with a prime West Stand ticket- he didn't get a Meal Deal thrown in though.    

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