January 31st
Text from Burnley match:
"Last time I saw John McGreal he had hair like
fozzie bear now Roy Castle"
January 29th
Rumour has it that scientists studying the
adverse health effects of living in Glasgow want to examine Bob
Malcolm after rumours that he is younger than Seth, Jacko and
Boets proved to be true.
Januay 28th
Sounds like Gregory's up to his old tricks again:
"Matt Rose's agent is unhappy at reports the
defender's contract with QPR was terminated because of injury
problems. The 31-year-old is now a free agent after he fell out of
favour under Loftus Road boss John Gregory. Tim Bailey said: "Matt's
contract was terminated by mutual consent after negotiation with
John Gregory. Matt
is now fit and has been for a while and has no history of being
injury prone""
Echo's of the Carbonari and O'Neil situations.
January 27th
There's a piece about our neighbours in this
morning's Independent, a typical "can you remember Forest
readers?....oh come on you must do!" article that you get around F.A.
Cup time. Jon McGovern chips in with a few words of wisdom, for
example that Forest fans are trying to get their head around being
seen as underdogs as they prepare to meet Chelsea. Surely they've
had plenty of practice at this by now or were those pub teams they
sent to Pride Park in recent years seen as favourites?
He then talks about their lofty league position
(translation: scrapping it out with Scunthorpe, Oldham and Yeovil)
and the reaching the F.A. Cup fourth round before proudly
proclaiming " [the fans] can look at a game like this as a treat,
like finding there is caviar on the menu as well as fillet steak". I
think a bar of chocolate and a bag of crisps might be a more apt
analogy
John.
Talking about the F.A. Cup, finding someone to go
to today's match with was like trying to fill a double decker for a
midweek Carlisle trip. Here's just one example of what I'm up
against: "Changed mind not going now. Got some clobber to buy with
Jackal's 10% off Scenario card!". Let's hope the competition starts to regain
credibility now Wembley is back.
January 24th
Some crazy logic by Phil Brown; he doesn't want
to pay a fee for Adam Bolder as "..it's
worth bearing in mind that he went to Derby for £90,000 seven years
ago". It wasn't a hire purchase Phil.
Hull are now closing in on
Kolo Toure after Phil Brown reminded Wegner that he only paid a few
hundred grand for him about 5 years ago.
January 22nd
First day back at work completed, still 57 unread
emails, 2 copies of the NME from my neighbour, the Rams top of the
league and a front door knackered by the weather.
A few bits and pieces from the trip...
News story from the Times of India on the plane
there: "The Bangalore police have foiled a plot to attack the city
airport [our destination]...the Police found an AK-47 assault rifle,
300 rounds of ammunition, four Ak-47 magazines, SIM cards, a
satellite phone". Fortunately, it was game over for the chap with a
computer game style haul of weaponry before we arrived. (I don't
mean he was executed, it was just a pun).
One of the books I read whilst away was
Maradona's autobiography. To be honest it's not something I would
have chosen but got it for Christmas so thought I'd make the effort.
Having read it, I'd fully recommend it to anyone. Maradona's translated prose is equally bizarre and hilarious with
him pulling no punches whatsoever. The excerpt below is just one
example but a great one.
(Maradona has just replaced Passerella as the
Argentina captain at Mexico '86, this has lead to a division between
the players. Maradona then decides to crucify Passerella at a team
meeting in order to win over the squad by announcing Passeralla's
affair with a players wife...)
"That's when all hell broke loose. That's when
Passerrella got diarrhoea...when the truth is that we were all
pissing out our arses. He left without playing a single game in the
tournament".
Strangely, there is quite an appetite for rock
heritage in Bangalore. One particular afternoon I was in a pub
and the VJ put a Status Quo DVD on. I began telling my drinking
partner about how I'd been out over Christmas and a mate the wrong
side of 30 had put a denim jacket on and with his over grown
highlights had unwittingly become Rick Parfitt. The look of "..and
what's wrong with that" suggests that the Quo are still, quite
literally, Rockin' All Over The World (an obvious punchline but how
could I not?).
On the subject of Denim, I got a haircut, shave
and head massage for about a quid, including a splash of the
legendary aftershave! I was ordered to wash it off within a minute
of coming home.
Other bits:
If you want to up the ante from Kingfisher, try
Knock-Out, the strength of Tenants Super but tastes like beer...and
does exactly what it says on the tin.
Indi-pop is not the same as Indie pop.
A chap told me he was growing his hair to get
corn rows "like Ali G". I'm lost for a punchline here.
January 5th
I'm going to India for a couple of weeks. I doubt
I'll be able to update so see you soon...
January 3rd
Is it time the Derby Telegraph website updated
their links page?
Top 3 player sites:
January 2nd
Text received from the 5th Test in Sydney
Simon: I've seen 2 fucking Forest shirts in the
ground already.
Me: If it's any consolation, they lost 5-0 to
Oldham yesterday and are now third.
Simon: Mega.
December 30th
As Chelsea seem to be having a blip, has the
"Special One" title relocated to the East Midlands?
"I am very proud of the legacy I left at my
previous club Preston, because it was a ready-made team who were
always going to compete this season. For Derby to be up there too,
after just six months here, is nothing short of remarkable."
Big Up Yerself Billy ! Oh, you have done.
Credit to Simmo though, looking at how Palace and
Leeds have fared (after losing in the play-off's along with Preston)
it shows that it's not a simple case of just carrying on, especially
considering Preston lost a third of their team (Mawene- long term
injured, O'Neil- retired injury, Mears and Davis sold) plus all the
backroom staff.
December 30th
2 text messages received today within 10 seconds
of each other:
"Ht nil nil poor" followed by "0-0 awful".
(Unfortunately (or fortunately some might say) I
was in London so missed the Plymouth game.)
Seemingly of more interest was the sartorial
trend which has become an epidemic since Santa's visit to Derby:
"Today's crowd was 19,000 stripey scarves.
Actually 19,001 but mine was out of sight"
The sender of the above text pointed out at the
Wolves game that his scarf was actually Paul Smith. Not that
it matters. But it is Paul Smith. Don't forget.
December 27th
Text received after Wolves game:
"Thought Marc Vivien Foe was dead until he scored
the first goal today!"
Is this what's meant by ghosting in at the
back post?
Sod's law that the first time I make a prediction
of victory (December 13th entry) we go and lose. Rest assured
readers I shan't do it again.
December 25th
Christmas in Derby!
Happy Christmas readers.
December 24th
A trivia question for future years-
Q. Which Rams player joined the exclusive club of
scoring the winning goal against Forest but has never kicked a ball
in Rams colours? A. Theo Streete who scored the winning goal for
Doncaster yesterday against the Red Dogs.
(Apologies if I've got my facts slightly wrong;
my understanding is that Steete is at the end of a 3 month loan
spell. He is due to be released by us and will sign for Doncaster
and I thought this will happen at the end of the year but it may
have happened in the last week.)
December 22nd
Loyal readers may recall Les Reed's novel
approach to scouting mentioned in the Journals a few weeks ago (a
reminder- his son finding players on his Playstation). Well, I can't
help thinking that this could be behind Charlton's £3m bid for two
non-international Hibs midfielders this week. Just think about it
Les, if you sign them, you'll have Hibs' midfield. Hibs are
currently sixth in the Scottish Prem behind Kilmarnock and 2 points
ahead of Falkirk. Even if they have got high marks for shooting and
tackling on the Playstation- they might not keep you up.
I was also interested to note that the bid was
via email. Maybe his son got a bit carried away and decided to seal
the deal as well. Rumours that Andy Reid is going on ebay in January
were unconfirmed at the time of writing.
December 19th
I see Ian Holloways at it again with his crazy
quotes. His latest was "McKenna went down like that Elton John song-
Candle In The Wind" after the soft penalty at Preston.
I was trying to think of a similar joke for
Plymouths promotion hopes but couldn't think of any songs called
"knackered lift".
December 16th
Comment overheard at the Palace game from an
obviously hard to please Rams fan:
"Jon Stead makes Steve Howard look good"
Careful what you wish for, I'm sure Noel Whelan
is still available.
December 16th
Almost an embarrassing statistic- Forest's gate
at home to Orient was only a few hundred short of ours against
Palace despite our winning streak and Premiership proximity. What's
going on? I don't know what Forest charge but I know the egg chasers
charged a tenner yesterday- and had over 30,000 against Barnsley. We
charged a walk-up price of over £30 for an average ticket and
unfortunately people are voting with their feet. I was talking about
the disappointing crowd to the Jackal as we passed the time during
the second half and the prospect of an increase if/when we get
promoted. His comment of "can you imagine us versus Bolton?" needs
to be on the marketing men's whiteboard and Powerpoint before Easter
if we're going to start filling the ground.
At least we have a flag to cover some of the
empty seats now. Maybe I got the wrong end of the stick but I was
expecting an massive Italian style "pass over the head" job.
December 13th
A Hull fan at work commented that Iain Dowie
should become the Hull manager and sort out the mess he
inadvertently created when he left Palace. Peter Taylor left Hull to
replace him and their problems began. This made me think about the
whole merry-go-round in the summer and how Charlton wanted to talk
to Parkinson and if they had appointed him, it could have saved Hull
and Palace getting dragged down as well (although Dowie may have
left anyway).
So why was I thinking about Hull and Palace
instead of what I was having for dinner? Don't forget that Charlton
also spoke to Billy Davies, we wanted to speak to Parkinson and were
also heavily linked with Dowie. It was Charlton's talks with Davies
which eventually soured his relationship with Preston and made him
available for talks with us at a stage when we already had a
shortlist. Whether you believe in fate or just a bit of luck,
there's no doubt there has been some big winners and losers since
the summer; the winners being: Derby County, George Williams,
Colchester Utd and Les Reed. The losers in no particular order:
Simon Jordon, Hull City, Phil Parkinson and Charlton Athletic.
So when you sip your mulled wine after the boxing
day win over Wolves, raise a toast to Charlton: "Ere's what you
could have won!"
December 13th
Great put down from the Arctic Monkeys Alex
Turner in response to a moronic journalist at the Mercury Prize
press conference:
Journo: Why do you think you won?
Turner: Because we had the best record. Why do
you think we won? Because of brown envelopes?
December 12th
Have you seen Billy Davies manager of the month
trophy? A silver Coca-Cola bottle. Something to instantly lower the
tone of any trophy cabinet, fire place or T.V. Rumours that
Billy is about to resign to take up full time 5 a-side at Willows
for a better trophy are unconfirmed.
December 12th
According to Steve Nicholson in the DET, Billy
Davies has banned baseball caps from the training ground. Good on
yer Billy, as The Libertines once sang: "There's fewer more
distressing sights than that of an Englishman in a baseball cap".
(From the aptly named Time for Heroes).
December 10th
I think whoever decides the odds at bet365 must
be a Forest fan, sitting there saying "Derby are rubbish, 'course
they won't keep winning". Even our winning sequence (which included
especially generous odds to beat Luton and Leicester) doesn't seem
to have changed their minds. The Leeds game was the ultimate though-
third top versus third bottom. In their wisdom, the boffins at
bet365 made the Rams 2/1 outsiders. Thanks very much (hic!).
(Other gamblers and/or optimists amongst you may
recall that the same bookie offered 66/1 on Derby in the summer,
which was duly pounced on by the Ramspace crew).
December 9th
There's been a lot of talk in recent years that
football's obsession with money will only lead to greed, corruption
and an uncompetitive league dominated by a small handful of clubs.
The obvious side effect of this is that the lifeblood of the game-
the fans- will slowly but surely drift away. Serie A has been
heading this way for a number of years; here's a selection of Serie
A attendances on September 17th: Ascoli vs. Messina 7,045, Empoli
vs. Chievo 3,504, Livorno vs. Fiorentina 10,964 Udinese vs. Torino
14,555. Admittedly Inter, Milan and Roma weren't playing but this
looks like the Scottish Premier to me.
December 5th
How's this for a u-turn by Phil Brown talking
about the Hull situation where he is in temporary charge after Phil
Parkinson's sacking. He starts by saying "I
do want to return to management but unfortunately not in these
circumstances, I came to the club to help Phil survive in his job."
So I think he's made his feelings quite clear there; he wouldn't
possibly consider working for the scum who sent his friend to the
scaffold after only six months, especially after suffering a similar
fate himself a year ago at a similarly early stage of a long term
job. Even Billy Davies has said such sackings are "nothing short of
outrageous".
But wait!
Just as we admire Phil's ethical stance, he adds "Of course I remain
open-minded. It would be an opportunity for anyone in or out of
football to be able to come to a great football club,". I suppose
it's easier to have morals when you've got a job.
December 3rd
I saw an interesting piece on Billy Davies in the
Daily Mail yesterday (I found a discarded copy on a train before you
ask) which revealed a different side to the one we see in press
conferences. He was talking about a £5,000 editing suite he has in
his house to compile highlights of matches. In his words "..cutting,
pasting, fast-forwarding, sorting the slow motion, putting in
music..". It then goes a bit You've Been Framed- "...I've got some
funnies. There are some super out-takes...if someone gets nutmugged...the
whole of the squad are laughing. Marc Edworthy was guilty of the
worst dive I've ever seen at Plymouth. I managed to show it in seven
or eight takes and the banter is top class".
Now for a bit of a moan: I've heard or read three
or four times in the past week or so that Derby have been fighting
relegation for 6 of the last 7 seasons. I'm not sure if this is a
statistic Billy has come across or whether spin doctors are at work
again. The first thing worth noting is that three of those seasons
were in the Premiership so it's hardly a Brighton or Rotherham
situation. To spin it back completely- 18 months ago we finished
fourth in the table and we are now amongst the biggest net spenders
in the division. We have also acquired one of the best managers in
the Championship who has reached the play-off's in the past two
years with a fraction of our resources. Surely a top 6 finish isn't
too much to ask?
December 1st
Pablo Mills was up in court this week charged
with burglary and criminal damage (the first charge was dropped). It's
ironic that, in my opinion, one thing lacking from Pablo's game was
a level of aggression that, for a chap of his build, could have
taken him to another level. In this day and age there's always the
chance that a sports psychologist can redress his sane/mental
on-pitch/off-pitch balance. Sadly this wasn't the case in Gary
Charles' day.
December 1st
Norwich manager Peter Grant has announced that
he'd like to sign Lee Camp on a permanent basis. Grant's first
action as Norwich manager was to sign another 'keeper (Ashdown from
Portsmouth) and relegate Camp to no.3. Finally, almost three months
after joining on loan, Camp made his debut this week due to an
injury to Paul Gallacher (Ashdown has since returned). I somehow get
the feeling we might not get the £2m we were hoping for this time
last year.
October to November Journals
August to September Journals
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