Ramballs

It would be unfair of me to give a full opinion of the draw at Blackpool when I wasn’t there. I’m quite happy with the result because every point away from home is valuable but it’s the game on Saturday that will tell us if it was a decent point or not. There are a lot of fans around the messageboards who still appear to need 24hr suicide watch despite is picking up four points from the possible nine.

I’ve been browsing some of the messageboards and I’d like to share some of the more considered write-ups from yesterdays game.

First off, Milton_Keynes Ram from popside.com shared their post-match thoughts. MKR knows football and I think if you want a decent report of the rams performance, head over to popside.com and read MKRs comments after each match.

A clean sheet is always welcome but god that was a boring and crap game of football. In patches on Saturday at Scunthorpe we played better than we did last night, but the difference was a lot more solid against what was admittedly a very very poor Blackpool team who will probably struggle all season.

The first ten minutes we looked the more controlled and composed team and look to me like we would assert control and dominate the game but a few almost casual moments at the back, players trying to do too much on the ball, or no conviction when passing itl got the crowd into it for them and seemed to give their players the boost they needed and after that we never seemed in total control.

Addison and Buxton in particular looked more solid than at the weekend…..though given the type of forward Buxton was up against I’m not surprised. Moxey and Connolly on numerous occassions played their entire attack onside when they should be able to look across the line or/and take the lead from the centre backs and a better attack would have taken advantage. Savage too played them onside a few times when tracking back. To me I think the individual awareness of a number of players in these instances was poor, couple with poor communication from Addison/Buxton almost caused us problems that should never have occurred.

Green was missed tonight. Pearson started reasonably well in the first 5-10 minutes but rapidly faded out of the game and Savage never really took control of the midfield. Croft was exceptionally poor and should have been dragged off plenty earlier whilst Teale seemed frightened to take the full back on either side on. For the majority of the game Teale was up against Eardley the ex-Oldham right back we were linked with over the summer - looked a very good player albeit the first time I’d seen him.

Commons started well but then drifted more and more out of the game as it went on; surprised reading Clough’s comments about him post-match whilst Hulse was clearly not match fit. Although only on briefly Varney probably contributed more in the time he was on the pitch than in any other game for us besides the second half of his debut at Burnley last season.

Whilst we had problems with the offside rule whilst defending the amount of times Croft, teale and Hulse managed to get themselves offside at innocuous times was criminal.

Very poor and flat atmosphere from the travelling fans although the home fans made up for it. Did well to keep the noise in the ground given one temporary uncovered stand and one half built one. Never intimidating as some grounds can be but full marks for getting behind their team.

Finally if the rumours were to be believed about us being in for Charlie Adam over the summer I’m glad they weren’t true. Rotten rotten footballer.
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Over on the DET forums, ratpackramwrote:

Bywater 6 - nothing to do , one save in second half , dodgy ball control nearly let in their forward

Connolly 6 - poor first half , improved a lot in the second

Moxey 9 - outstanding , class class class , great buy

Addison 8 - never gave them a sniff

Buxton 9 - won every header, small but so is cannavaro, another great buy

Croft 5 - unfit , poor crossing, might do better if he lost a few pounds

Teale 6 - tried but no end product

Savage 6 - did what he does , kept it simple

Pearson 7 - just shaded Sav, had a
bit more going forward

Commons 8 - involved in anything we created which was not a lot to be fair but has our x factor

Hulse 7 - no service , kept battling away trying to flick ball on to himself as no one gambled for the flick on

Might get slaughtered for this but I was impressed with Varney when he came on for Hulse
what about playing him in home games alongside Hulse with Commons on the left linking with Moxey , push Teale on the right , get Croft on a diet and bring Barker in for Connolly.

Another point is in the bag as The Rams drew with Blackpool in a no score draw at Bloomfield road. That makes it four points from a possible nine which is a decent return for the first three games.

Defensive frailties have been the biggest worry for Derby as six goals conceded in the first week of the season demonstrates. Nigel Clough stuck with the back four from the weekends game with Scunthorpe and his faith was repaid as the lads provided the seasons first clean sheet.

Kris Commons partnered Rob Hulse up front as Clough opted for a 4-4-2 formation. Both strikers made the starting eleven for the first time of this campaign but neither were successful in their attempts to get a goal.

I don’t think this was a game for the purists as the quality appeared to be lacking in both sides. Whilst the performance may not have been the best, a point away from home is always welcome.

Read the official match report here

DCFC Fans Matchday Discussion Board
Derby Evening Telegraph Match Report

The Rams have today captured their main summer target in Shaun Barker.

Barker joins from Blackpool on a three year deal and he revealed that Nigel Clough was a massive factor when deciding to join the rams over local rivals Nottingham Forest.

The chase for Barker has been going on for a number of weeks with the Rams reportedly having two bids turned down before the tangerines finally accepted the deal. Barker said “I remember coming to Pride Park and their was 30,000 people there and I wished that maybe I could play for a club like that and luckily I am going to be able to this season.

Amazingly, Barker has missed only a handful of games in the past four seasons, a statistic that is quite staggering given how many injuries the Derby fans have been witness to in the past season alone.

While the fee is officially undisclosed, the Derby Evening Telegraph is reporting a figure of around £900,000 has been paid.

If you want to see Barker in action, you can catch him in action against Chesterfield this Saturday.

Check out a profile of the Rams latest signing here.

The latest rumour regarding Derby Countys transfer activity sees the club being linked with a move for Rangers midfielder Charlie Adam.

The 23 year old midfielder spent the second half of last season on loan at Blackpool and the seasiders are believed to have had a bid of £500,000 accepted by the Scottish champions.

The Rams are looking to strengthen their midfield as the recent trial of Mark Fotheringham showed but Nigel Clough is determined to only sign players that will improve the squad. Charlie Adam could well be that man. He impressed during his loan spell with Blackpool last season and has two Scottish caps to his name. Since Walter Smith returned to Ibrox, Adam has found himself out of favour and a move to England could be an ideal way to get his career back on track.

Adam, despite reports that he was due to sign for the tangerines last week has not agreed personal terms and Ian Holloway is beginning to lose his patience with the Scot, saying
“Charlie is a good player, who did very well for us, but if a player thinks he can go on to something bigger and better, then I don’t want him.”

Derby County continue to pursue Blackpool defender Shaun Barker although reports from around the net suggest Forest are leading the chase for his signature.

So the Rams have landed their main target of the closed season. Shaun Barker has signed a three year deal with the club. RamBalls has provided you with a short profile of the former Blackpool defender.

Shaun Barker, 27, (DOB: 19/09/1981) began his professional career at Rotherham where he started out as in the youth team back in 2000. Shaun broke into the Rotherham first team in March 2003 and collected the young player of the year award at the end of the season. Throughout his time at Rotherham, Shaun played at right back, a position he is comfortable playing, but his preferred position is in central defence. Barker played 140 games for the Millers before moving on a free transfer to Blackpool in 2006.

Barkers first season with the tangerines was a successful one as they clinched promotion to the Coca-Cola Championship after beating Yeovil 2-0 in the play off final at Wembley. In the following season Barker missed only one game for the seasiders (due to suspension) as the tangerines maintained their Championship status. This season also saw Barker given the vice-captaincy.

The 2008/09 season saw Reggie, as he is known by the Blackpool faithful, promoted to club captain as well as retaining the on-field vice captain status. Reggie also moved from the right back position, where he had been playing for Blackpool until this time, into the centre of defence. After another successful season, which saw him start 42 league games, Barker won the accolade of players’ player of the year.

How time flies? Ramballs was born one week ago today and already I’ve had some fanastic feedback, plus an amazing number of hits, so first of all I’d like to say thank you for reading the blog. It’s pretty time consuming, even though I haven’t added any huge articles or created a stunning design, but it’s good to see you guys coming back to check my updates. We even made it into the top 100 wordpress blogs of the day on July 4th.

DCFC News

This week saw the completion of two outgoings from Pride Park as Tito Villa and Tyrone Mears finally said goodbye.

News had been circulating for a number of weeks regarding Mears’ move away from the East Midlands. Portsmouth, Marseilles and Burnley were all touted as possible destinations for the right-back with the Turf Moor outfit finally sealing the deal on Wednesday. Derby fans were not surprised by the sale given the previous allegations made against Tye regarding his dash through a window to escape to France during Paul Jewells ill-fated reign. Burnley are reported to have paid £500,000 plus add-ons for the energetic defender.

Tito Villa has been sold to Cruz Azul, a Mexican club, for £1.7m. This represents a loss of £300,000 on the striker but most fans think this is a fantastic piece of business by Adam Pearson and the club. While Tito may have been a fan favourite, it was clear that he was not going to feature regularly for the rams and it was in the interests of both parties for him to move on.

Regarding his time at Derby County, Tito said “The most beautiful thing I’ll take with me is the love of the fans, I’ll remember how wonderful they have been to me and how well they treated me all the time.” I’m sure you’ll join Ramballs in wishing Villa the best of luck in the future.

The first batch of Coca-Cola Championship television dates were announced by Sky and BBC. You can find the details here and here. Derby County V QPR on October 24th will be shown live on BBC 2 at 5:30pm. Newcastle, on the other hand, have six of their first nine games being screened on either Sky or the Beeb.

The official DCFC site this week announced the continuation of the black and white half season ticket scheme. All tickets include 12 home league fixtures including a guaranteed ticket for the home tie against Forest. Prices start from £220 for adults and £84 for juveniles.

The 2009/10 home strip has been launchd. Ramballs was at the event in Derby market place and managed to bring you a exclusive photos along with some pictures from the event being held in Quad afterwards. The day was glorious, the entertainment was good, Rammie has had a revamp and the kit is, well, the kit is exactly the same design as most other Adidas strips for this coming season.Find Ramballs coverage here.

From the forums…

www.dcfcfans.co.uk has had a lot of discussion regarding the kit launch. DerbyDan seemed to enjoy one picture in particular, so much so that he made it his avatar. The picture in question was the model from the kit launch. In case you missed it, I’ve stuck her in again.

www.popside.com have been discussing their drinking habits on the “I’m so p*ssed I can’t actually speak” thread which has clocked up a rather impressive 1800 posts. DSB this week announced “I got utterly utterly tw*tmonged last night had a cracking time, was GREAT”. Keep up the good work DSB.

Ramzone featured news this week that Martin Albrechtsen has been told he can find a new club. The forum also discussed the recent closure by Sky of the rivals.net website which came out of the blue after the huge corporation realised that it wasn’t likely to turn a profit unless they paid it some attention and listened to it’s member.

And finally, there was much deliberation on the TheRams.co.uk forum about the design of the latest kit. The best mock up that I saw was from Cliffy who clearly put a lot of effort into his designs and managed to churn out quite a number of them, including the one below, my favourite.

If he hadn’t put the collar on it he’d have had it pretty much nailed on. Well done Cliffy.

The top news today is that Derby have rejected bids for striker Liam Dickinson from Norwich and Blackpool. Norwich have had “two small bids” rejected which are likely to have fallen short of the £500,000 that Ramballs reported on Wednesday. Blackpool are likely to be the preferred choice for Dickinson as he is familiar with the Bloomfield Road outfit having spent time on loan there last season and they would provide him with the chance to show what he can do in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Tito Villas move to Cruz Azul has been completed. The hard working striker, who cost Derby £2m back in January 2008, has returned to Central America in a deal reportedly worth £1.7m which represents good business by Adam Pearson.

And finally, it would appear that Derby County have once again changed their logo by dropping the gold from the club crest. The badge, which appears to be plain black and white, can be seen on the new training tops worn at the first day back in training and in the banner across the top of the official site. Already there has been discussion on the message boards about this and it seems to be a 50/50 split as to whether fans like this or not.

Today sees the launch of the new kit in Derby Market place at 5:30pm. I noticed last night, as I walked past the market place, a huge inflatable Adidas tent thing (sorry I can’t be more descriptive) as well as black and white bunting up Irongate. As long as it stops raining, it should be a good evening. I will be at the launch and will be reporting back this evening with photos and a write up of the event.