Post Match Thoughts – Donny Away

Last night I went to watch the Rams batter Donny and I’m still buzzing. For those who didn’t go, make no mistake, the scoreline was a travesty and 4-1 or 5-2 would have been a much fairer reflection. Herewith my thoughts:-

Palace Post Match Thoughts

Regardless of the circumstances and the opposition, it was fantastic to see Derby properly smash someone up for the first time in ages. It was even nicer to go home without feeling completely depressed and questioning everything from team selection to why Greggs aren’t allowed to open on matchdays when there’s such a serious pastry shortage in the stadium. 

Here’s some thoughts on Saturdays football fiesta.

Deadline Day Prelude

Twas the night before deadline day and all the fans moan,
Nothing has happened, not even a loan.

As far as I can see this is what could happen tomorrow :-

Hulse to QPR
Bueno in from Valladolid
Le Fondre in from Rotherham
Davies in from Notts
Wood in from WBA

Can’t wait to see how it pans out.

Rams high earners directed to the exit?

Amongst the general coverage around the release of JayMac and Teale (check Transfer Talk for full obituary), one quote stood out massively for me.    

During the normal speech around reducing the wage bill whilst improving the squad, Clough stated that Barker, Anderson and Bucko combined still earn less than Alby was taking home. On the basis that Barker was virtually a £1m signing and Anderson was coming off a Premier League contract (agreed he probably wasn’t flush with offers at the time, but still…) it gives you an idea of how much some of the recent signings have been earning and perhaps puts some of the fan unfriendly “cut the wage bill” message into context.

If the wages of these players are so out of kilter with the rest of the squad and our new found financial prudence, then the spotlight is going to turn pretty quickly to Rob Hulse and, in particular, Kris Commons.

Most Rams fans have had the discussion as to whether they’d keep hold of the pair and there’s no doubt both are class performers at Championship level. In the case of Commons, you could argue there’s no better player in his position (getting him on the pitch is obviously a different matter).   

Both are coming into the last year of their contracts and are saleable assets. However both are very much in the now or never category for obtaining a fee of any significance.  Based on the ‘Alby’ analogy, we can also safely assume that these two are by some distance the highest earners at the club.

With the Rams desperate for mobility and pace up front, with Chris Porter a ready-made replacement for Hulse and Cywka a ready-made replacement for Commons, I think we should stop discussing ‘if’ these two will leave and concentrate of debating where we can attribute any incoming funds and spare wages budget.