To the Premier League and Beyond - A Rams Story

  • Thread starter Thread starter samillyroy
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 47
  • Views Views 13K
Reading 0 - 1 Derby County
Championship Play-Off Semi-Final, 2nd Leg
Hughes
It's almost not fair how good Will Hughes is. We were dominated in this game but two special players made the difference as we made our way into the play-off final. Will Hughes came back from injury to score a stunning free kick (see below) but from then on we were completely under the cosh and it was only thanks to a stunning performance from Jonathon Bond in goal that we managed the win. Onto the final!
View attachment 355404

[video=youtube;jEH3J7yH8h0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEH3J7yH8h0[/video]

 
Derby County 1 - 3 Blackburn Rovers (AET)
Championship Play-Off Final
Vaughan
The cruellest of ways to lose. We went 1-0 up with half an hour to go thanks to David Vaughan's excellent team goal, but Scott Dann's header in the 86th minute took the game to extra time and having been forced in to two substitutions in normal time we just didn't have the legs to compete as Rhodes and Goodwillie picked us off. I am so gutted to have been that close to promotion but I have nothing but praise for the players for getting so far in the first place. Of course we must now aim even higher and go for the automatic spots next campaign. This is a vital lesson and will not cloud an excellent season.​
 
Hard luck but this is a great story so far really enjoying it, keep up the good work and get us back in the PL pronto!
 
cheers pal! it's pretty difficult competing with some of the budgets in this division and I may even have to look to sell this summer if I want to get the right quality in. But I think if I keep mason and will for this season we can challenge for the automatic spots now. Hopefully post-season update and pre-season will come by next week!
 
SEASON REVIEW

To finish 5th this season was a great achievement considering the amount of money we spent (a net total of £-3.35m) and considering our average age was an incredible 23.3, the lowest in the Championship. We put together a squad of players who worked hard for each other and were so close to getting their rewards. I'm sure that with some tweaks we can maintain that push for promotion.

Goalkeepers
View attachment 355463View attachment 355464
Jonathon Bond was brought in as backup last season after Legzdins departed but the 20 year old surprised everyone by becoming our number one and putting in some exceptional performances. Has recently been called up to the Welsh squad. Fielding on the other hand played plenty but now has real competition. Should sign a new contract this month.

Defenders
View attachment 355465View attachment 355466View attachment 355467View attachment 355468View attachment 355469View attachment 355470View attachment 355471View attachment 355472View attachment 355473
Losing Brayford in January was a big blow but Saunders did help to cover that somewhat. We are excited by Freeman's performances towards the end of the season and whilst we will bolster right back we think he can push on and claim it as his own. Danny Potts did a great job at left back and we'd love to get him in permanently but it may not be a possibility. Shaun Barker and Jake Buxton put in shifts this season but will both probably leave. Credit must go to our first choice back pairing of Keogh and O'Brien and we hope they kick on again next season.
View attachment 355474View attachment 355475View attachment 355476View attachment 355477View attachment 355478View attachment 355479View attachment 355480View attachment 355481View attachment 355482View attachment 355483View attachment 355484

Our midfield put in some fine shifts this campaign, most notably Will Hughes and Alan Judge. Alan joined us on a free last summer and put in some wonderful performances, pairing up well with Hughes behind Sammon. Hoepfully he can kick on from there. Hendrick had a phenomonal season and was shortlisted for Chmapionship player of the year so well done to him. We will look to bolster our wing options as it looks likely that Jamie Ward will depart but it's been a great season for these lot nonetheless.

Strikers
View attachment 355485View attachment 355486View attachment 355487View attachment 355473
It looked like we had good depth in this position but loss in form and injuries at key times meant we weren't always firing on all cylinders despite making many opportunities. That said, Connor had another great season and we saw the potential of Callum Ball.
________

So that is the squad of 2013/2014 in which we just missed out on promotion to the Premier League thanks to Scott ****** Dann. Never mind, we move on to next year as this young squad is only going to get better!​
 
PRE-SEASON 2014

View attachment 356752

So with the dissapointment of missing out on promotion last season behind us, we move on to the next campaign and challenging for automatic promotion! I am delighted with managing to secure the top players on my shortlist and I shall announce them soon. But first the players that leave us this year.

[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]Player[/TD]
[TD]To[/TD]
[TD]Fee[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Cyril Hennion[/TD]
[TD]Amiens[/TD]
[TD]£230k[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jake Buxton[/TD]
[TD]-[/TD]
[TD]Free[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jamie Ward[/TD]
[TD]-[/TD]
[TD]Free[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Josh Nash[/TD]
[TD]-[/TD]
[TD]Free[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Simon Church[/TD]
[TD]-[/TD]
[TD]Fee Loan[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Adam Wixted[/TD]
[TD]Port Vale[/TD]
[TD]Loan[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jakub Spiriak[/TD]
[TD]Kidderminster[/TD]
[TD]Loan[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Dylan Hayes[/TD]
[TD]Gillingham[/TD]
[TD]Loan[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

So we say goodbye to Hennion who failed to settle in after suffering a couple of injury set backs and he returns back to his home country (on a profit I might add). Jake Buxton also leaves after rejecting a new contract whilst Jamie Ward is released on account of numerous injury problems last season. He was a great player for us though and we wish him all the best. Meanwhile Church's form dipped at the end of the last campaign so he moves out on loan to Hull until the end of next season.

Meanwhile, incoming players:

Joe Thompson (Free Transfer from Tranmere Rovers)
Joe-Thompson_2840611.jpg

Joe is one of a talented group of players who saw out their contracts with Tranmere this summer. A pacy winger but with intelligence, he replaces the outgoing Jamie Ward.

Andrew Keogh (Free Transfer from Millwall)
images


Perhaps our stellar signing, Andy Keogh moves on a free from Millwall to boost our attacking line-up and also brings international experience. We had tracked him from January and beat off Premier League interest to get our man.

Anthony Pilkington (Free Transfer from Norwich)
republic-of-ireland-midfielder-anthony-pilkington-gets-his-new-passport-6-310x415.jpg


Yet another Irish international, Anthony brings an abundance of talent and bolsters our left wing position. He decided to join us back in March after hearing of our interest so I'm delighted to have him with us.

Miquel Nelom (£350k from Feyenoord)
1213_nelom.jpg


Miquel was my first signing as Derby manager when I brought him in on loan from Feyenoord and he impressed mightily. Potts filled his void last season but we are delighted to have Miquel back full time and hope he continues to progress.

So four excellent signings, I'm sure you'll agree, and I think we're ready to now challenge the big teams in this division. We managed to sign Will Hughes, Jeff Hendrick, Valentin Gjokaj down to new contracts so it's time we showed them why it's worth staying at the club. Here are our pre-season results:

Mansfield 2 - 1 Derby County
A. Keogh
Woking 1 - 4 Derby County
Jacobs, Sammon (2), Ball
Burton 2 - 3 Derby County
Hughes, Adeyemi, Keogh
Derby County 2 - 1 Lille LOSC
Jacobs, Ball
Derby County 1 - 3 Newcastle United
Judge

The players are fit and raring to go, so here's onto the new campaign! COME ON YOU RAMS

 
Last edited:
Ouch! Really unlucky there in the the PO Final. Made me want to attempt another Hull save (I've done loads now!). Hopefully you can repeat last season and have another punt at the play-offs!
 
AUGUST 2014

View attachment 357531
Well I have to say my optimism for the season has been dashed a little by performances this month but I'm sure we will improve with time. The bonus is that we have progressed well in the Capital One Cup but league performances really need to improve.

Watford 0 - 1 Derby County
Championship
Hughes
In what was a very even game overall we came out well as winners thanks to Will Hughes' fine early finish. Wolves pushed on second half but we held on with some good defending to start the campaign with a win.

Mansfield 0 - 1 Derby County
Capital One Cup 1st Round
Pilkington
A game against our feeder club Mansfield in the Capital One Cup was next and although we lost to them in pre-season that never looked likely again here. Anthony Pilkington bagged his first goal for us just before half time and we had many more chances to increase the lead but were unable to. Through to the next round.

Derby County 2 - 0 Tranmere Rovers
Championship
A. Keogh (2)
2 league wins on the trot and no goals conceded. Tranmere were last year's surprise package but they didn't really put on a show here tonight as Andy Keogh, the summer signing from Millwall, bagged two excellent finishes to send County joint top of the table.

Wolves 1 - 0 Derby County
Championship
Wolves always seem to be a bit of a tough team for us and so it proved again this evening as we went down to a 1-0 defeat, although we were more than in this game. We failed to show a cutting edge though and were punished by Jake Cassidy's early goal.

Derby County 2 - 2 Barnsley
Championship
Sammon, Jacobs
We were twice pegged back by Barnsley and thus held to a dissapointing draw at home. Connor Sammon started and bagged his first of the campaign only to see it cancelled out. Michael Jacobs then turned in Thompson's far post cross but Barnsley went up the other end and scored instantly. Infuriating.

Derby County 2 - 0 Charlton Athletic
Capital One Cup 2nd Round
Thompson, Judge
Two early goals set us on our way against the Addicks, with Thompson bagging his first Derby goal with a lovely low drive before Judge turned in Pilkington's cut back. Charlton rarely threatened save for a speculative Kerkar free kick which slammed the crossbar, and we sailed into the next round.

Derby County 0 - 2 Reading
Championship
Not the best end to the month and although we didn't really deserve it, this game showed us where we might be lacking still. Reading have that Premier League quality that we lack at times and while we are an impressive young side, we have much work to do to be real promotion contenders.

__________

So not a disastrous month by any means, and with several new players coming into the first team there was bound to be some bedding in but I have to be a little bit dissapointed with the losses against Wolves and Reading as I felt we could have Given them more of a game, especially at home to the Royals.

That said, I've enjoyed seeing some of our new faces put on decent performances and well done to Pilkington, Keogh and Thompson for all bagging in their first month.

That said, it's an old face who has shot onto the scene this month. Michael Jacobs had a quiet first two seasons really as understudy to a number of other players but this could be his breakthrough season. Influential this month and kept Pilkington out of the side in the league at least.

View attachment 357530

END OF MONTH POSITION: 12th

[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]Name[/TD]
[TD]G[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Andy Keogh[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Connor Sammon[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Will Hughes[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Michael Jacobs[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Anthony Pilkington[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 
Back
Top