Agreed. It must be a pretty miserable place to ply your trade at the moment. All your mates have left, any decent players and managers have left, others are blatantly leaving, no new contracts for performing players. etc. etc. Two stand out to me. Firstly, a severe lack of Championship experience throughout the squad. These new boys are going to be like fish out of water in a dog fight IMO. And secondly, Travis aside, two of our key players are 100% going next summer (if not before). Put yourselves in their shoes - they both probably have one good move left in them to set themselves up for the immediate years after football. Will they be giving 100%, going into the 50/50s with the same conviction as before? I highly doubt so. Trying not to be reactionary following two poor performances (and results), but I will be stunned if we're not in and around the bottom 5 come Christmas.

What exactly are Rudy’s credentials to be in charge of spending for a Championship side that finished 7th last season? There’s a reason Middlesbrough and Derby are willing to pay millions for our players - they recognise proven quality. Overseas investment can work when you add one or two signings to a strong, established squad. That’s a calculated risk. But trying to replace almost all of our Championship-proven experience with bargain European options? That’s gambling the entire season. If this is the club’s new ethos, we’re in real trouble. And then there’s the Travis deal - which, in my opinion, is far worse. Technically, he might not be at the same level as a Tronstad or others in the squad. But what he offers in leadership, dressing-room presence, fan connection, on-pitch gamesmanship, and influence over referees is priceless at this level. We’ve all heard him say in post-match interviews: “I love this club.” If that’s true, why not fight for his teammates and the badge for one more year and then leave on a free? Selling him now feels like a betrayal of the spirit he’s shown and erases much of his previous good work. One thing’s certain - this is going to be a long, difficult season. All we can do as fans is stay motivated and keep backing the lads on the pitch. But there’s only so much we can take. The sooner these owners, and their yes-men in the boardroom, are gone, the better.

After the disastrous start, I thought we actually started playing some good stuff, in a rusty kind of way, and created plenty of chances. I know subs have to be made, particularly so early in the season, but we definitely got worse after the changes.

After watching Montgomery last night I’d take his squad number off him

So that's on top of our 6 (?) in and 7 (?) out already? Stability, hmm. Who profits?

Can’t forget that “he isn’t athletic enough”

because to me your earlier posts, made it sound like you where supportive of the situation.

I don't disagree. At the minute he still appears to have kudos with the fan base so his words are being taken at face value rather than ridiculed. He is a good platform for the club to spin their narrative. I doubt we will start seeing the frustration in interviews we saw from the previous managers. I really hope I'm wrong because in the past 10 years we've always felt like there has been some good fighting a lost cause within the club and usually it has been the manager.

Of course he's in on it. All these cheap foreign imports from inferior Leagues are allegedly the right profile of player to suit him and the exciting high intensity pressing football he is claimed to favour. And of which there is absolutely no sign. I think they're all taking us for mugs - including the manager.

Why are you telling that to me?

Sell your best players. Re-invest the bare minimum in cheap Euro fodder. Eustace surprisingly had us solid and over-performing last year until injuries hit and the squad depth was shown up. Despite being in the top 5 we refused to invest anything proper in January (although the club said investment was 'significant') which saw us fall away. We also refused to discuss contracts all year with key players whose current deals were expiring in July 2026. Frustrated, and recognising it could only go one way, Eustace walked. Ismael came in. We plummeted, then rallied. Now we are selling the players who only have 1 year left and re-inveting in more cheap Euro-fodder, so the squad is weaker again. A major struggle looks to be on the cards. Add in owners that now only send the bare minimum to keep us afloat (possibly due to an ongoing Indian court case), everyone can clearly see we are running out of golden geese to sell, so where do we go from here? Even if we stop up, when the remaining out of contract players walk next summer and the taps remain turned off, it will be a grim situation - at the very least on the pitch. It's like we are now hitting a new period in Venky-run decline and it's happening in slow motion.

Having a squad bulked out with sub-standard players is not a good position to be in.

That's beside the point because we will still have academy products making the matchday squad in Michalski, Wharton, Carter, Tyjon, Montgomery and Leonard. Buckley is still in the squad, so is Travis for the time being. From the U21's Atcheson and Mullarkey-Matthews will probably make a few md squads as well,

But they shouldn't be.

Didn’t realise he was injured but torp is and has been an ever present when fit he chips in with more goal contributions whilst grimes will do the holding role - Travis doesn’t get in ahead of torp for me - Travis much more aligned to grimes and he doesn’t get ahead of him either imo

Yeah, Ismael like loads of managers on the market just needed a job and he would have gone along with what was laid out as the plan. As time passes he'll either 1) do well, attract attention and find a new job and be off same as JDT and Eustace; 2) do badly and be stuck with us in a hate spiral as we cant afford to sack him

Apart from Wharton and Carter nobody comes close to being championship standard. i'd argue both Wharton and Carter are top end L1.. So it does make you question.. the only way it stays in tact is the sheer lack of quality elsewhere and having to throw 17year olds who last played on loan at Blue Star and Darwen Rangers.

I think Wharton needs to be that guy, local lad, old school enforcer CB

Streak will remain intact, for sure. Several academy products still in the squad.

Big worry for me is the “togetherness” weve had top managers over the years, we’ve had a squad over the last few years who would die for each other, that is what made us playoff contenders. Now we have a squad full of strangers, no connections, nobody who the fans can call their own, get behind etc. There aren’t any players left in that squad that I think “he will win this for us” he’ll bang the lads heads together. There isn’t even a real captain left tbh. rough year ahead.

How do you know that either has a "ceiling" that is higher than a player that a player who has repeatedly proven to be a very good Championship midfielder. Baradji should be a non starter anyway if he needs an operation. And likely will be anyway for work permit reasons. Also, you say that Tavares is very highly rated. By who? I liked the look of him admittedly against a League 1 second string. But he WAS highly rated by Leicester years ago, then went to Porto and stayed with the B team aside from a brief and unsuccessful MLS loan, then was in and out at Moirinense. If he is better than Travis or even on par then its a hell of a signing.

We had five guilt edged chances four in the first half, one in the second, we scored one of them. They had four, two in each half and scored two of them.

So basically the Sam Szmodics sale last year wipes out the difference and then some. Luckily for us we've also got billionaire owners to support us, unlike Derby.

Is it true that @Herbie6590 and @4000Holes are entering the competition again this season.....but representing Derby? Have heard rumblings.... ITKer 😆 Great effort guys. Niall from Wanderers was too strong