Derby 1-0 Bolton

One of biggest games of this season is away to Derby.

Having had a few poor results like our two draws against Barnsley and then Exeter very recently, injuries etc have twisted Evatt's hand to change the squad selection.

After our thrilling 5 nil win against Oxford last night which has restored some faith back in the lads, how do we all feel we will play against Derby?

Will Evatt stick to last nights starting 11 or will he try to go back somewhat to his previous game plan?

Anyone anxious?

I think he will change it up. Derby are a totally different proposition than that Oxford side that seemingly didn’t show up yesterday. It’s an away game too so unless he’s confident enough that we can blow them away too then changes will be made. I think he’ll see this as a must not lose game.
Anxious? Yes. Always. Our run in is much worse than Derby’s and Brentford’s which looks to be the easiest of all.

*Correction: I meant Barnet, not Brentford 

Brentford's???



Christ you must be really, really anxious then!!!

It’s a must win. 

Derby are not going to lose more than one game. 

We have pompey Stevenage and Peterborough all to play. 

All those games will be loses. 

We also have a tough away trip to Bristol which screams defeat.

Not sure it's a must win just yet, it's definitely a must not lose as at least a draw leaves us in the same position. I'm sure there will be a few more ups and downs and shock results before the season ends.

Sluffy wrote:Brentford's???



Christ you must be really, really anxious then!!!

Fin must mean Barnsley I think.

Norpig wrote:Not sure it's a must win just yet, it's definitely a must not lose as at least a draw leaves us in the same position. I'm sure there will be a few more ups and downs and shock results before the season ends.

Yes, I’m thinking like this now after last nights game.

I think Evatt will be going for a draw to be honest away from home.

Must win for me. We have the toughest run in of the lot so we have to take the opportunity to hurt our rivals when we can. We really should have started doing that against Barnsley seeing as we'd already blown our games in hand advantage. If we'd not played so badly for the ten games before Oxford we would have been cruising to the title and these games against our close rivals would have been "must not lose" games or even "it doesn't matter if we lose" games, but we slipped up week after week so now we've got to win them.

Another perspective of the same issue is that if we really are good enough for automatic promotion, what's the problem? We've heard the hype, we've not blown the rest of the league away so we've got to the point where it's time to put up or shut up.

If we're actually as good as the hype, let's just beat then all from here on in and have done with it.

Just been talking to a Derby fan at work and he's as nervous as i am about tomorrow 

Norpig wrote:Just been talking to a Derby fan at work and he's as nervous as i am about tomorrow 

Is he leaving brown streaks everywhere? If so it must be a good sign!

If we draw at Derby, some fans will probably be OK about it at first.
"We're still in it"
"Still another 7 games to go"
"Derby are sure to drop points at some stage" etc etc

But we'll be still a point behind them then and also behind Posh on GD if they win their game in hand so there will be 3 teams ahead of us - and only 7 games from the end of the regular season.
Pompey are probably too far ahead to be caught - but we'd still have to beat them whilst the others have theoretically easier games.
Posh we can do something about when we play them at their place and we'd still have to beat them.
But we wouldn't be able to lay a glove on Derby - it would be in their hands and out of ours.

There is no doubt in my mind that a draw would suit them far better than it would suit us.
We need to get into the box seat and stay there rather than banking on our rivals dropping points.
Must win.

Ever thought it's all a plan NOT to get promoted because FV don't have the money to pay the bond holders the half million bonus that they would receive if we did...?




Jesus, it's just a GAME of football ffs!!!

Sluffy wrote:Ever thought it's all a plan NOT to get promoted because FV don't have the money to pay the bond holders the half million bonus that they would receive if we did...?




Jesus, it's just a GAME of football ffs!!!

Wouldn't they just pay it off out of the £10 million or so they get for becoming a Championship club?

wanderlust wrote:

Sluffy wrote:Ever thought it's all a plan NOT to get promoted because FV don't have the money to pay the bond holders the half million bonus that they would receive if we did...?




Jesus, it's just a GAME of football ffs!!!

Wouldn't they just pay it off out of the £10 million or so they get for becoming a Championship club?

How do you know its £10 Million?

As far as I was aware, the club got pretty much feck all in prize money etc?

wanderlust wrote:

Sluffy wrote:Ever thought it's all a plan NOT to get promoted because FV don't have the money to pay the bond holders the half million bonus that they would receive if we did...?




Jesus, it's just a GAME of football ffs!!!

Wouldn't they just pay it off out of the £10 million or so they get for becoming a Championship club?

Unlikely, they could as the £10m is not paid in one instalment and the timings of the pay out to bondholders may be contractually before they receive the first instalment from the Championship.

Also we don't know if the sum they get really is £10m - Anderson stated it was £6m when he was in charge, so the £10m amount might well be a reasonable figure - so lets assume it is - but we don't know what FV have budgeted to use that money for if we really do get promoted.

It is almost certain FV will declare another trading loss for this season - we've spent the bond money on transfers and 'home improvements' around the stadium and training ground - but we also will no doubt trigger bonuses and pay rises to players for promotion plus the so called loyalty bonus paid to players at the end of each season/

We also know the pitch needs replacement and no doubt we need to strengthen the squad if we don't want to get relegated back down again after the first season back.

Of course FV could rob Peter to pay Paul if we did go up - and the 'Swiss' may want to put their hands in their pockets even more.

To be honest I was only joking about a conspiracy theory not to go up - but I didn't think even you would be that daft enough to fall for it!

The general point stands though, the club isn't self financing and the costs will go up even more if we do get to the Championship - and clubs really aren't that easy to sell and that's why we had Holdsworth and Anderson and many other clubs ending up with worse.

That's why the FA have had to bring in financial controls even to the Premier League to protect clubs from themselves!!!

As long as Sharon et al and the Swiss want to pour money in we will be fine but over the last year or so it is noticeable that Sharon et al haven't bought any more shares in FV and it now is coming only from the Swiss!

So let's hope FV's cashflow can afford a £450,000 pay out if we do go up!

Financially it will make us more money if we do go up via the play-offs - maybe that is the real plan!!!

Sluffy wrote:
So let's up FV's cashflow can afford a £450,000 pay out if we do go up!

Finacially it will make us more money if we do go up via the play-offs - maybe that is the real plan!!!

If they were planning on this route and highly doubt it as it would be such a risky situation.

I know you are just playing here though!

As this is a business. Perhaps Sharon is planning on making a profit on the club if we do go up or looking for some serious investors!

karlypants wrote:

Sluffy wrote:
So let's up FV's cashflow can afford a £450,000 pay out if we do go up!

Finacially it will make us more money if we do go up via the play-offs - maybe that is the real plan!!!

If they were planning on this route and highly doubt it as it would be such a risky situation.

I know you are just playing here though!

As this is a business. Perhaps Sharon is planning on making a profit on the club if we do go up!

Shussssh, don't let Wanderlust in on my little joke!


Anyway it really would make us more money doing it that way.

Woke up to the beautiful sunshine this morning.

I hope it's a bit of a blessing for the lads and it's going to be a great day today football wise!

Off to Derby now so I will be geeing the lads on!

PS: The Mrs will be putting Radio Nuts on just before 3PM!