Restless Natives

After another week of disappointment and frustration for Rams fans, there is no question that patience is being stretched to the max by the current state of affairs at DCFC.

The difference in mood & general feeling around the club between the end of this Ipswich game and the corresponding away game couldn’t be further apart. Whilst we’ve had many really good and really bad seasons, I don’t think I can recall one falling quite so spectacularly off the edge of the cliff as this one.  

So who’s to blame? Based on the general consensus, as far as I can see, most of the fury is being blamed on GSE and their perceived lack of investment in our team. Clearly there’s always going to be fingers pointed at the manager (who would have been sacked weeks ago at any other club), but it seems most people feel it’s not Nigel’s fault we don’t have a striker. The fact that Forest and Leicester are clearly “having a go” and getting results merely compounds the ill feeling.

Tom & Andy throw on a disguise as they inadvertently run into the roadrider on the way to Portsmouth.

Here’s what I think. In terms of Clough, I’m glad he’s still our manager. Whilst he sometimes annoys me with some of his team selections, late substitutions and his stubborn streak, he can clearly pick a player (Ben Davies already looks a good signing to me) and he works to a long term plan rather than making impetuous decisions which come back to haunt you. It’s irrelevant to me who is Dad is, but I think it’s a good thing he understands the club and what it means. 

In terms of GSE, I’ve read enough books on the Transfer market and football finance to know that what they are doing on a base level is correct. Unless you have untold funds, if you throw £10m at a Championship club, you either get promoted or you go into administration and subsequently league1. We’ve been very close to that twice. However whilst financial prudency is never going to be great box office, you can offset it with the odd calculated gamble.

What I have a major issue with GSE with is that it would appear Tom Glick can’t close a door never mind a £1m signing. Davies and Brayford are both good buys but could have been at Derby a year earlier than they arrived if we had pressed a bit harder initially. It seems that every transfer negotiation we undertake goes at glacial pace and involves “a dance” for the sake of £150k. This is fine if you are talking a difference of £1m or maybe if no-one else is involved, but sometimes you just need to pay the price to get what you want.

The Conor Sammon fiasco is a case in point. How did it take us from Sunday to 18.30 Monday to (according to reports) go from £425k to £600k? Wigan should never have had a sniff, yet come Tuesday we miss a golden chance to batter a poor side and Sammon sits in the stand at Wigan.  Likewise how does Luke Moore (not everyone’s cup of tea, but clearly Nigel’s) go from being in the bag on a season loan to signing a permanent 2 year deal with Swansea?   

Outside of the commercial elements, Commons has obviously played us and we had no choice but to move him on. But why on earth have we let Leicester string us along for weeks for Waghorn? Where’s the plan B? Clearly in business you have to have a bit of mutual integrity, but this is also football and things can change in an instant.

Obviously, there’s nothing that can be done for the Pompey game, but the window re-opens on Monday leaving 5 days to get some reinforcements for Leicester.

So come on Tom, let’s get aggressive and get some striker deals done (give Frank Fielding a shout whilst you’re at it)! Failure to do so and a thumping off Leicester on Live TV will take some coming back from.  

C Spaceram