[FM21] Derby County - Why manage the Rams? / How are you getting on?

[karanhsingh]

6 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

Oh no, @karanhsingh add Blackburn Rovers to the list that includes Leicester City, Q.P.R. and Aston Villa.

At least you’ll have the summer and pre-season to prepare Derby County for the 2021/22 season.

Will you be signing players or keeping faith with the youth policy?

Have you decided what to do about Wayne Rooney who’ll be out of contract, I believe, but with a one year extension option?

I’ll be very interested to see what you do in the summer and look forward to your updates on the coming season.

As always, good luck 🍀

Thank you.

I think I will renew Rooney's contract, he was quite good before his injury. Also I currently have him mentoring Bird, Knight & Sibley, so I hope another year with him would rub off on them.

100% keeping the faith with the youth - that's the point of managing Derby - but one or two reinforcements will be required. I suspect we need a better striker to take over from Waghorn, and we may also need another defender depending on what happens with Matt Clarke.

[Stuniverse]

27 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

For some odd reason we have been given a crazy budget for next season. Not that I intend to spend any of it.

Derby County have a healthy bank balance at the start of FM21, plus if you’ve made money this season, which I think you have through player sales and a reduced wage budget, this doesn’t entirely surprise me.

27 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

New club vision has some interesting additions.

Interesting, indeed. Not signing players over 30 should fit in with your youth policy. Do the others reflect the way your Derby County played this season or are they more random? Are you happy with the additions?
 

27 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Also, just got this alert. Not sure whether to bring him back or not.

Now that is an interesting dilemma. Max Lowe will always be a Rams Academy graduate but, if you bring him back, will he hold back the development of Lee Buchanan and Archie Brown who, it looks like, you gave some good playing time to off the bench this season?

Edited December 10, 2020 by Stuniverse

[karanhsingh]

7 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

Derby County have a healthy bank balance at the start of FM21, plus if you’ve made money this season, which I think you have through player sales and a reduced wage budget, this doesn’t entirely surprise me.

Interesting, indeed. Not signing players over 30 should fit in with your youth policy. Do the others reflect the way your Derby County played this season or are they more random? Are you happy with the additions?
 

Now that is an interesting dilemma. Max Lowe will always be a Rams Academy graduate but, if you bring him back, will he hold back the development of Lee Buchanan and Archie Brown who, it looks like, you gave some good playing time to off the bench this season?

It's still a LOT of money for a Championship club and they are only asking for top half. Anyway, guess I shouldn't complain too much!

The other objectives are probably based off how we have been playing this season, yes.

I am in two minds about Max Lowe for exactly the reason you mention. Here is Archie Brown now, notwithstanding the mistake in the play-off final, he seems to be improving a fair bit.

[JaytheGreat]

@karanhsingh What a heart breaking way to end the season, but it was still a very impressive season! Good luck next season I'm sure you'll have the Rams back in the Premier League in no time. 

[karanhsingh]

Summer of 2021

It's been a fairly satisfying summer. We didn't bring in Lowe, but as you see we did bring in not one but two former Derby academy players.

INS:

OUTS:

So the major moves IN:

Matt Clarke (not in screenshot) - managed to renew his loan deal for another season. He actually won player of the year last season so hoping for more of the same.

Ethan Laid (not in screenshot) - same, we managed to renew his loan deal from Man Utd. He should be first choice RB again.

Liam Delap - a one year loan for the former academy player from Man City. He should give us some pace up front and a very different option to Waghorn. I am also hoping to develop him with a view to bringing him back to the club permanently at some point.

Max O'Leary - the most recommended player by the DOF and the scouts for the GK position. We needed someone to compete with the ageing David Marshall. He seems to be quite solid and also young.

Luke Woolfenden - with te Wierik leaving for France we needed another CB and I wanted someone with pace. My DOF probably could have negotiated a better deal but I am fairly happy with this one. We could have got Tanganga on loan instead and he is much better, but I didn't want so many loan deals.

Will Hughes - when he got transfer listed I just couldn't turn down the opportunity to bring him back to Derby. Its a rather expensive loan deal, but he is in the final year of his contract, so I am hoping that we can try to sign him up permanently next summer.

I reckon the squad looks pretty good now for a proper promotion push this year. Although there are some pretty big clubs in the Championship with Leeds, Newcastle and Burnley dropping in. 

Also, this was nice to see.

[karanhsingh]

Just beat Swansea 4-0 with a starting line-up featuring 7 academy boys, including the entire midfield and front-line! 

[Stuniverse]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

It's been a fairly satisfying summer. We didn't bring in Lowe, but as you see we did bring in not one but two former Derby academy players.

That’s fantastic news, @karanhsingh. Will Hughes never wanted to leave Derby County, Gary Rowett forced him out, so to see my late mum’s favourite player, who she called ‘blondie’, back at Pride Park is amazing!

We also never got the opportunity to see Liam Delap as he opted to do his scholarship at Man City, not Derby County, so it’s good to see him back.

Was it a hard decision not to go in for Max Lowe?

Nice to see Matt Clarke rejoining for another season.

11 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Just beat Swansea 4-0 with a starting line-up featuring 7 academy boys, including the entire midfield and front-line

Excellent news and a great result. Congratulations! Owner Mel Morris will be so proud of he’s still the owner on your save.

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Stuniverse said:

That’s fantastic news, @karanhsingh. Will Hughes never wanted to leave Derby County, Gary Rowett forced him out, so to see my late mum’s favourite player, who she called ‘blondie’, back at Pride Park is amazing!

We also never got the opportunity to see Liam Delap as he opted to do his scholarship at Man City, not Derby County, so it’s good to see him back.

Was it a hard decision not to go in for Max Lowe?

Nice to see Matt Clarke rejoining for another season.

Excellent news and a great result. Congratulations! Owner Mel Morris will be so proud of he’s still the owner on your save.

Blondie is a great nick-name for him! I'll be using that  and that's a neat little story too, good to know.

Max Lowe - well I did think about it but decided against it purely due to having Buchanan & Brown in the squad, both young, both from the academy. So it just didn't make sense. At some point definitely want to bring back Bogle though.

Mel Morris is still there yes but it says he's looking to leave, and we just had a failed consortium takeover.

[karanhsingh]

August 2021 

An early season update:

Can't complain much so far, we have navigated a tough opening set of fixtures save the home defeat to Newcastle in an even game. What was shocking though was the Cup exit at the hands of Port Vale on penalties at home  The rotated squad obviously didn't work out too well.

Here is the early table - I suspect the likes of Leeds, Newcastle and Watford are going to be tough competition for the automatic slots.

[Stuniverse]

Great start, @karanhsingh. Shame about the cup loss to Port Vale, but that's typical Derby too.

Looks like Whittaker, Delap and even Hughes have been in the goals for you.

Keep up the great work!

[Scott_Gooner]

On 03/12/2020 at 23:34, Stuniverse said:

Making a Derby save more difficult / realistic

I have to tell you, it's not much fun being a Derby County supporter right now.

I was really looking forward to the release of FM21 so that I could put research stuff on the back-burner and get stuck into a Derby County save for fun rather than research...

...but you know what, I've been struggling to find the motivation to start it.

Having said that, earlier in the thread, I've decided the only way to approach a Derby County save at the moment is to go into it with a Can I do better? attitude and, well, see if I can...

That means I've used the Pre-game Editor to reflect those mitigating factors which I'll put in a spoiler wrapper so that you don't have to look at them if you don't want to. Before the spoiler, here's a couple of other things I did:

1. When setting-up the save, I disabled the first transfer window.

2. As the Rams are clearly devoid of any confidence right now, I used the pre-game editor to set the football club's morale to 1 (one).

  Reveal hidden contents

My biggest complaint about Derby County this season is that they just weren't ready for the start of the season. With injuries to key players, the Rams started the season with an unbalanced squad that was short of natural strikers and remained short of natural strikers when the window closed. They also signed free agents who weren't fit enough to play and took an inordinate amount of time to get fit.

To replicate this, I used the pre-game editor to set the following bans to make players Derby signed during the transfer window unavailable (personal reasons) until the date they signed in real-life or unavailable (medical reasons) until approximately the date they were fit enough to play.

• David Marshall - personal reasons until 19/08
• Emmanuel Idem - personal reasons until 28/08
• Nathan Byrne - personal reasons until 10/09
• Kamil Jozwiak - personal reasons until 16/09
• Isaac Hutchinson - personal reasons until 02/10
• George Sykes-Kenworthy - personal reasons until 15/10
• Louie Watson - personal reasons until 15/10
• Colin Kazim-Richards - medical reasons until 16/10
• Bobby Duncan - medical reasons until 26/10
• Jordon Ibe - medical reasons until 30/11

 

After reading this thread and never played Derby, it makes some sense to give them and go and it might be an interesting save.

Just a quick question. I've never used the editor, but I'd like to add the injury/personal dates, to the players you mentioned. So how do I go about that?

Edited December 11, 2020 by Scott_Gooner

[Stuniverse]

28 minutes ago, Scott_Gooner said:

After reading this thread and never played Derby, it makes some sense to give them and go and it might be an interesting save.

Just a quick question. I've never used the editor, but I'd like to add the injury/personal dates, to the players you mentioned. So how do I go about that?

Hi @Scott_Gooner, I think you’ll find it an interesting save (I’m biased, though) but @karanhsingh and @Paggioram seem to be having fun with Derby County on FM21.

You’ll need to download the pre-game Editor for FM21 if you haven’t already. In Steam, it’s under Tools (I think).

Right, this is from memory, but if you’re still struggling I should be able to do a step-by-step for you with screenshots tomorrow (I don’t think I’ll get to fire up FM21 tonight).

I always start by taking a copy of the Editor data so that I don’t mess up the default database. I think it’s File > Save Editor Data As... and give it a name you can easily remember as you’ll need to select it before you start your save in FM21. Once saved, the name of your database will appear in the top right-hand corner of the pre-game editor.

In the pre-game Editor, search for the player and then double-click on his name to open up his details. There is an injury section, but I found it easier and more reliable to use the bans.

Towards the bottom of the index for the player, down the left-hand side of the menu, you’ll find ‘bans’. Select bans.

You then need to add a row.

You’ll be required to enter a start date, and end date, and the reason for the ban. For the free agents that took some time to get fit enough to play (Colin Kazim-Richards, Jordon Ibe, Bobby Duncan) I used ‘medical reasons’ as the reason. For the others, to make them unavailable until the date they actually signed for Derby, I used ‘personal reasons’ as the reason.

Remember to save your changes.

When you start a new save in FM21, at the point where you’re selecting Nations / League, there’ll be a database button at the top right somewhere which says Football Manager 21 (I think). Click on that, and you should see the name you gave your custom database listed. Select the checkbox for your database and then start your new save as normal.

That should do it.

Good luck. Let me know if you need more detailed instructions and I’ll try and provide them tomorrow (or Sunday).

Edited December 11, 2020 by Stuniverse

[Scott_Gooner]

14 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

Hi @Scott_Gooner, I think you’ll find it an interesting save (I’m biased, though) but @karanhsingh and @Paggioram seem to be having fun with Derby County on FM21.

Right, this is from memory, but if you’re still struggling I should be able to do a step-by-step for you with screenshots tomorrow (I don’t think I’ll get to fire up FM21 tonight).

I always start by taking a copy of the Editor data so that I don’t mess up the default database. I think it’s File > Save Editor Data As... and give it a name you can easily remember as you’ll need to select it before you start your save in FM21. Once saved, the name of your database will appear in the top right-hand corner of the pre-game editor.

In the pre-game Editor, search for the player and then double-click on his name to open up his details). There is an injury section, but I found it easier and more reliable to use the bans.

Towards the bottom of the index for the player, down the left-hand side of the menu, you’ll find ‘bans’. Select bans.

You then need to add a row.

You’ll be required to enter a start date, and end date, and the reason for the ban. For the free agents that took some time to get fit enough to play (Colin Kazim-Richards, Jordon Ibe, Bobby Duncan) I used ‘medical reasons’ as the reason. For the others, to make them unavailable until the date they actually signed for Derby, I used ‘personal reasons’ as the reason.

Remember to save your changes.

When you start a new save in FM21, at the point where you’re selecting Nations / League, there’ll be a database button at the top right somewhere which says Football Manager 21 (I think). Click on that, and you should see the name you gave your custom database listed. Select the checkbox for your database and then start your new save as normal.

That should do it.

Good luck. Let me know if you need more detailed instructions and I’ll try and provide them tomorrow (or Sunday).

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I've added those dates and also changed the team morale to 1.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Scott_Gooner

[Stuniverse]

3 minutes ago, Scott_Gooner said:

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I've added those dates and also changed the team morale to 1.

You’re welcome, @Scott_Gooner. Good luck 🍀

Let us know how you get on...

[Scott_Gooner]

6 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

You’re welcome, @Scott_Gooner. Good luck 🍀

Let us know how you get on...

I will. Now regardless of how much I/we suck, as long as we beat F*rest is all that matters, right?

Edited December 11, 2020 by Scott_Gooner

[Stuniverse]

26 minutes ago, Scott_Gooner said:

I will. Now regardless of how much I/we suck, as long as we beat F*rest is all that matters, right?

Oh yes 😄.  There’s quite a history in recent seasons of the manager who loses a Brian Clough Trophy game (aka The A52 derby) between Derby County and Nottingham Forest getting the sack. Come on you, 🐏s!

Edited December 11, 2020 by Stuniverse

[karanhsingh]

Derby County - Sept & Oct 2021

Two solid months. Good to see the goals quite spread out as well.

Top of the table. Need to ensure the gap between us and 3rd remains substantial.

Also signed a new contract, and agreed extensions for a number of key players including Knight, Sibley, Buchanan, Jozwiak and Shinnie.

[Stuniverse]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Two solid months. Good to see the goals quite spread out as well.

A brilliant run of form in September and October. Forget Will Grigg, Liam Delap is on fire, but what have you put in Graeme Shinnie’s pre-match drink? Goals in three consecutive games for Shinniesta. Wow!

And a win over Forest is always nice to see.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Top of the table. Need to ensure the gap between us and 3rd remains substantial.

Good luck 🍀. Current form looks very impressive, hopefully you can stay clear of injuries.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Also signed a new contract, and agreed extensions for a number of key players including Knight, Sibley, Buchanan, Jozwiak and Shinnie.

Congratulations on the new contract and some good business there with player contract extensions.

[karanhsingh]

5 hours ago, Stuniverse said:

A brilliant run of form in September and October. Forget Will Grigg, Liam Delap is on fire, but what have you put in Graeme Shinnie’s pre-match drink? Goals in three consecutive games for Shinniesta. Wow!

And a win over Forest is always nice to see.

Good luck 🍀. Current form looks very impressive, hopefully you can stay clear of injuries.

Congratulations on the new contract and some good business there with player contract extensions.

Shinniesta  that's the best one yet! He's been so good it was really hard to drop him when knight came back from injury. 

Thanks should have some more updates up very soon 

[karanhsingh]

Derby County - Nov 2021 to Feb 2022

Lot of updates coming up!

The facilities improvement was completed in November. We now have superb training & youth facilities, and exceptional junior coaching & academy recruitment. Looking good on this front.

Also, Mel Morris is gone. We have new owners, but nothing really has changed.

I am excited about the GK because that is a position I would really like an academy boy in. Let's see how he is, sounds like we stole him off Forest as well!

Finally the fixtures -

Can't complain there. We have been the dominant force in the league. Which means,

We are comfortably topping the table. Delap leads the scoring charts, Laird is top for assists, and Clarke top on ratings.

Also some big news from the Jan window:

Had the chance to bring him back permanently, and had to go for it.

This is a really expensive deal for us, but he has been absolutely brilliant, and since promotion is pretty much secured I decided to go for it. 

Also the loan deals for Laird & Delap have been extended through next season as well. I plan to keep pretty much the same squad once we go up.

Also turned down an offer from Arsenal for Jason Knight - good thing is he didn't complain at all.

[Stuniverse]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

The facilities improvement was completed in November. We now have superb training & youth facilities, and exceptional junior coaching & academy recruitment. Looking good on this front.

That’s great news, @karanhsingh and will really help your youth development philosophy.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Also, Mel Morris is gone. We have new owners, but nothing really has changed.

It’s happened quicker on your save than in real-life... it’s taking forever. Be interesting to see how Natalie Christopher runs the club compared to Mel Morris.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

I am excited about the GK because that is a position I would really like an academy boy in. Let's see how he is, sounds like we stole him off Forest as well!

Fingers crossed 🤞 but does sound very promising.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

means,

We are comfortably topping the table. Delap leads the scoring charts, Laird is top for assists, and Clarke top on ratings.

We’re top of the league,

We’re top of the league,

We’re Derby County, we’re top of the league.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Also some big news from the Jan window:

Will Hughes and Matt Clarke in on permanent deals. That’s fantastic news! Even if Clarke was expensive.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Also the loan deals for Laird & Delap have been extended through next season as well. I plan to keep pretty much the same squad once we go up.

The transfer news just gets better and better.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Also turned down an offer from Arsenal for Jason Knight - good thing is he didn't complain at all.

£8.25M (£9.5M) would be daylight robbery. I think you made a good decision turning the bid down.

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

since promotion is pretty much secured I decided to go for it. 

Not wanting to tempt fate, but how confident in the squad are you for next season in the Premier League? To what extent will you be looking to strengthen?

[karanhsingh]

THIS just happened.

[Stuniverse]

Morgan Whittaker! And at Anfield too. You must be ecstatic, @karanhsingh!

Not a fluke either, looking at the match stats.

Byrne at left-back?

Edited December 13, 2020 by Stuniverse

[karanhsingh]

12 hours ago, Stuniverse said:

Morgan Whittaker! And at Anfield too. You must be ecstatic, @karanhsingh!

Not a fluke either, looking at the match stats.

Byrne at left-back?

Absolutely !! 

Byrne came on actually for Buchanan who was exhausted, just towards the end. We finished with 10 men too, as Sibley was sent off.

On 12/12/2020 at 21:41, Stuniverse said:

That’s great news, @karanhsingh and will really help your youth development philosophy.

It’s happened quicker on your save than in real-life... it’s taking forever. Be interesting to see how Natalie Christopher runs the club compared to Mel Morris.

Fingers crossed 🤞 but does sound very promising.

We’re top of the league,

We’re top of the league,

We’re Derby County, we’re top of the league.

Will Hughes and Matt Clarke in on permanent deals. That’s fantastic news! Even if Clarke was expensive.

The transfer news just gets better and better.

£8.25M (£9.5M) would be daylight robbery. I think you made a good decision turning the bid down.

Not wanting to tempt fate, but how confident in the squad are you for next season in the Premier League? To what extent will you be looking to strengthen?

Thank you for all the kind words! I think the squad is ready for the challenge and as you will see I have gone and spent most of my budget on a luxury signing 

[karanhsingh]

Derby County 2021-22 End of Season Update

First, the FA Cup. Quarter final draw.

After already playing Arsenal and Liverpool, I felt this was a bit harsh! Especially when you see the other teams left. What made it worse is that we would not be able to play our top scorer Delap who was contracted to Man City.

We fought hard, but ultimately fell short. No dream trip to Wembley this season. Still, a great run!

Now the remaining fixtures:

We were not as consistent after we won promotion but still the best team in the league. Highlight being that 8-0 thrashing of poor Reading.

We got promoted on 12th March - that must be some sort of record.

The final table makes for great reading. We also smashed the record for most points in the Championship - the previous best was 106 by Reading in 2006-07.

As you can see, Delap finished top scorer with a whopping 34 goals (so glad we get to keep him another year), while Whittaker & Laird led the assist charts. Clarke was fantastic at the back again. 

Squad stats ordered by appearance. Its difficult to pick a few players out because they were all phenomenal. I will be reviewing the Derby youth academy players in a bit separately.

[Stuniverse]

15 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Absolutely !! 

Byrne came on actually for Buchanan who was exhausted, just towards the end. We finished with 10 men too, as Sibley was sent off.

Thank you for all the kind words! I think the squad is ready for the challenge and as you will see I have gone and spent most of my budget on a luxury signing 

Ooooh! A luxury signing...?

9 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

After already playing Arsenal and Liverpool, I felt this was a bit harsh! Especially when you see the other teams left. What made it worse is that we would not be able to play our top scorer Delap who was contracted to Man City. We fought hard, but ultimately fell short. No dream trip to Wembley this season. Still, a great run!

A brave fight, none-the-less.

9 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

We got promoted on 12th March - that must be some sort of record.

With a whopping 112 points! Fantastic. Congratulations ⚽️ 🏆 🍾🐏

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by Stuniverse

[karanhsingh]

Club Updates

We got a very solid intake this season - great in terms of potential but not so much in terms of current ability. We may have to wait some time, but I reckon a fair few can break into the first team in the future.

I will post individual screenshots in the following post.

Can't complain much about the budget, but notably it is less than we got for staying in the Championship 

Very happy to see the Board continuing to invest in the facilities, they should be up to a world class level by next season.

Even happier that we are expanding Pride Park as well, with an average attendance of approx. 30k it was consistently over 90% full last season and the 2nd highest average in the division after Leeds. I wonder if this will now be at full capacity. Guess @Stuniversemay know.

New club vision is here as well, and all looks good.

Finally, we have already decided to spend 60% of our entire budget on a player we probably didn't really need...

But I couldn't resist the chance to bring him back. My thinking is that we surely can't keep Laird here long-term so we will need a new RB sooner or later.

I can now put out a fairly solid outfield 10 of only Derby academy players.

RB - Bogle
DC - J. Brown
DC - Buchanan
DL - A. Brown
DM - Bird
MC - Knight
MC - Sibley
AMR - Hughes
AML - Whittaker
SC - Delap

[karanhsingh]

Player Review:

First, the academy boys who are ripping it up in the first team already.

What a season from the young striker. I am really hoping that we can somehow get him to join permanently. As you can see, he is also now rated as a wonderkid.

Morgan Whittaker goes from strength to strength. Great output in terms of goals & assists, and he has shown solid development in attributes as well.

Similarly with Louie Sibley who seems perfect for that Mezzala role and has really been developing well.

Jason Knight had a solid if unspectacular season - I am hoping he can add a few more goals to his game.

Max Bird has really developed well - with a focus on quickness his pace & acceleration have gone up by 2 each. He's now the club vice-captain too and the heart beat of the team.

Lee Buchanan has been very solid at LB and again has been developing very well in training too.

Archie would have played more if not for 2 bad injuries this season, but he has still managed good development.

His namesake Jordan has also improved and probably should have got more games in all honesty.

Bobby had a good season out on loan in League One, however I am not sure he is ready for the EPL so next season may be another loan deal for him, hopefully this time in the Championship.

Olamide made his awaited first team debut and also looks a talent - he again may be a loan candidate next season.

[karanhsingh]

The youth prospects

Kemp came in during the first intake and has been developing well, save for a 2 month injury. He got his first team debut in the final league game.

Watson also came through last year but I remain unconvinced that he has the pace to play RB or the jumping to play CB.

The rest are all from this year's intake.

Dent is the keeper that was promised - I believe he can develop into a very solid back up for us.

Lloyd is a very promising right winger - need to work on that personality though.

McClary I am really excited about - and planning to convert him into a CB.

Rui is another promising winger but again with a poor personality.

David is a good young CB but not convinced about his physicals.

Kearney is another young winger not as good on the ball, but a better personality.

[Stuniverse]

23 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Even happier that we are expanding Pride Park as well, with an average attendance of approx. 30k it was consistently over 90% full last season and the 2nd highest average in the division after Leeds. I wonder if this will now be at full capacity. Guess @Stuniversemay know.

The official capacity of Pride Park Stadium is 33,597 seats.

Source: The official Derby County site https://www.dcfc.co.uk/page/pride-park-stadium.

In FM21 we have set the used capacity at 32,983 due to seats being lost to provide segregation between home and away fans.

If there is a maximum expansion capacity set in the FM database (which would make sense) I don't know what that has been to set to. Sports Interactive would know, obviously, but I doubt it's something they'd make public.

[Stuniverse]

30 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Can't complain much about the budget, but notably it is less than we got for staying in the Championship 

Come back, Mel Morris!

31 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Finally, we have already decided to spend 60% of our entire budget on a player we probably didn't really need... But I couldn't resist the chance to bring him back. My thinking is that we surely can't keep Laird here long-term so we will need a new RB sooner or later.

Wow! Bogle's back.

33 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

I can now put out a fairly solid outfield 10 of only Derby academy players.

RB - Bogle
DC - J. Brown
DC - Buchanan
DL - A. Brown
DM - Bird
MC - Knight
MC - Sibley
AMR - Hughes
AML - Whittaker
SC - Delap

Now that is impressive, @karanhsingh. I'm proud of you. I think you'll need to develop your own goalkeeper though as the best Rams Academy graduates I can suggest would be Lee Grant and Lee Camp.

Is Henrich Ravas still on the books? If he is, did his loan at Hartlepool United in 2020/21 help his development at all?

[Stuniverse]

38 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Player Review:

First, the academy boys who are ripping it up in the first team already.

It's fantastic to see the development of the young Academy players and read your comments about their progress, @karanhsingh. I know on your save you've made a commitment to developing the young players and have invested heavily in them with playing time. Great to see you reaping the benefits of that philosophy. It will be interesting to see how they get on in the Premier League.

Good luck 🍀 now the Rams are Back In The Big Time!

Edited December 14, 2020 by Stuniverse

[karanhsingh]

6 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

Come back, Mel Morris!

Wow! Bogle's back.

Now that is impressive, @karanhsingh. I'm proud of you. I think you'll need to develop your own goalkeeper though as the best Rams Academy graduates I can suggest would be Lee Grant and Lee Camp.

Is Henrich Ravas still on the books? If he is, did his loan at Hartlepool United in 2020/21 help his development at all?

Yes Bogle is back indeed! My plan the next season is to rotate him with Laird and also give him some game time as back up for Jozwiak at AMR.

Ravas is gone, at Stevenage now, and looks fairly average. Camp & Grant both too old. 

Just now, Stuniverse said:

It's fantastic to see the development of the young Academy players and read your comments about their progress, @karanhsingh. I know on your save you've made a commitment to developing the young players and have invested heavily in them with laying time. Great to see you reaping the benefits of that philosophy. It will be interesting to see how they get on in the Premier League.

Thank you! And yes absolutely, that has been the plan. Hopefully they can all make the step up to the Premier League as well.

[Stuniverse]

31 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Dent is the keeper that was promised - I believe he can develop into a very solid back up for us.

No pressure on young Ryan Dent, but goalkeeper is the only position still needing an Academy graduate to complete your All-Academy-XI.

[karanhsingh]

Just now, Stuniverse said:

No pressure on young Ryan Dent, but goalkeeper is the only position still needing an Academy graduate to complete your All-Academy-XI.

Haha yes. No pressure indeed.

Actually we also do need a CB, as neither Brown nor Buchanan is natural there. I am hoping that young McClary can be the one. He seems to have the potential for it.

[Stuniverse]

9 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Haha yes. No pressure indeed.

Actually we also do need a CB, as neither Brown nor Buchanan is natural there. I am hoping that young McClary can be the one. He seems to have the potential for it.

That's interesting @karanhsingh because current owner, Mel Morris, commented at one point last season, when talking about the real-life commitment to the Academy and the production line of current graduates breaking into the first-team squad, that centre-back was the one position where he saw Derby County continuing to sign players from other clubs. His explanation was (and I'm paraphrasing) that due to the physical demands of the position, centre-backs were more likely to develop and reach Championship level at a slightly older age.

In recent years, Farrend Rawson and Max Hunt were the closest we've got at centre-back, but both were released and signed for lower league clubs.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Stuniverse

[karanhsingh]

1 minute ago, Stuniverse said:

That's interesting because current owner, Mel Morris, commented at one point last season when talking about the real-life commitment to the Academy and the production line of current graduates breaking into the first-team squad, that centre-back was the one position where he saw Derby County continuing to sign players from other clubs. His explanation was (and I'm paraphrasing) that due to the physical demands of the position, centre-backs were more likely to develop and reach Championship level at a slightly older age.

It's a fair point but other clubs have managed it - Fry at Boro, Rodon at Swansea, and I am sure there are more that aren't coming to mind right now.

I am firmly in the - if you're good enough you're old enough camp.

[karanhsingh]

I think that's us done for the summer. 3 big signings. Budget pretty much exhausted.

Point to note - we've had our revenge on Blackburn  They got relegated on the final day and we've now taken their best player off them as he had a relegation clause in his contract. 

In other news, Rooney retired and has signed a new contract as a coach at just 3k/week.

[Stuniverse]

25 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Point to note - we've had our revenge on Blackburn  They got relegated on the final day and we've now taken their best player off them as he had a relegation clause in his contract. 

Hehehehehe 🤣. How did Armstrong get on in the EPL last season?

I know it must’ve been gutting to lose the Playoff final but, given how Blackburn fared in getting relegated straight back down, do you think you’re actually better equipped for EPL survival going up as Champions this season now your young players have had another season to develop, rather than as Playoff winners last season?

Edited December 14, 2020 by Stuniverse

[karanhsingh]

1 minute ago, Stuniverse said:

Hehehehehe 🤣. How did Armstrong get on in the EPL last season?

I know it must’ve been gutting to lose the Playoff final but, given how Blackburn fared in getting relegated straight back down, do you think you’re actually better equipped for EPL survival going up as Champions this season now your young players have had another season to develop, rather than as Playoff winners last season?

Yes we definitely are. The players have come on a lot in the space of a season.

Armstrong scored 9 goals and had 3 assists which is decent, but interestingly he had an xG of 17! 

I now have Armstrong, Delap and Whittaker between the AML & SC positions so that's some decent quality to have (hopefully).

[Stuniverse]

On 05/12/2020 at 00:58, JaytheGreat said:

 

Well lets give this thing a shot, can't do worse then the Rams in real life.

I hope your save is going well, @JaytheGreat. How are you getting on?

[Stuniverse]

On 07/12/2020 at 12:18, serg__23 said:

Only started yesterday and sorted our first team coaching staff, my choise was James Beattie. Reason is he has 4 star attacking tactical rating (rare thing) and good tactical knowledge. 

I hope your save is going well, @serg__23. How are you getting on?

[Stuniverse]

On 11/12/2020 at 20:49, Scott_Gooner said:

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I've added those dates and also changed the team morale to 1.

Well that plan certainly makes things harder. On my save, I’m only up to Championship game 2 so I’ll update here when I get a bit further in, I had 15 players unavailable for the season opening Carabao Cup tie either through injuries set in FM21, injuries picked up in friendlies, players away on international duty, and the players I made unavailable in the pre-game Editor until the date they actually signed for Derby in real life.

How are you getting on with your save, @Scott_Gooner?

[Stuniverse]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

It's a fair point but other clubs have managed it - Fry at Boro, Rodon at Swansea, and I am sure there are more that aren't coming to mind right now.

I am firmly in the - if you're good enough you're old enough camp.

How is Harrison Solomon doing for you?

[JaytheGreat]

@StuniverseImpeccible timing as I was just getting ready to make an update. Progress has been slow has I've been worn out by work but I think we've finally hit our stride.

 

   

 

 

 

So at the summer deadline I picked up Liverpool winger Curtis Jones he has came right in and took over the left wing and hasn't given it up, even had a goal and his assist on his debut. In other transfer news Waghorn got pissy about playing time so now he's going on a move to a retirement home I mean the MLS for around 750k with bonus that should make the deal worth 1 mil. Tom Lawernce is off to Middlesbourgh on loan that becomes permanent after 5 games played with 1.3 mil coming our way, and we get 8k a month for the duration of the loan.  

The youth have been fantastic, Whittaker has locked down the striker role with Sibley and Knight are my 2 starting CMs and Bird rotates with Rooney, Knight, and Sibley all over the midfield. Buchanan is our starting LB taking it over from Forsyth. Sibley and Knight are a very dynamic in the midfield and Whittaker has solved our striker problems for this season atleast. Unfortunately Jozwiak has failed to really fit in here so far even with a lot of chances and Bieiek has been disappointing since coming back from injury. Haven't really found a consistent right winger has Ibe and Holmes have been good a times but at other times have been a non factor. Shinnie brings a lot of energy and grinta (as my fellow Juventus fans would call it) off the bench and Wisdom is a solid off the bench player as well. 

 

 

Very happy to see this but I'm very suspicious as well , usually a real golden generation would have a lot more +. But I'm very interesting to see the young Italian winger and makes me wonder why him and his family made the journey to Derbyshire. I wish I had a goalkeeper but I suppose I won't complain.

 

Try and guess after which game I started using a different tactic. The defense is starting to harden up and we are currently the top goal scoring team in the league. The race to the Prem is in full force and the Rams are right in the thick of it. A little stress is good for a manger, right?

[karanhsingh]

40 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

How is Harrison Solomon doing for you?

Not much sadly, he was on loan at Oxford for the season but only played around 10 odd games and doesn't seem to have really kicked on.

24 minutes ago, JaytheGreat said:

@StuniverseImpeccible timing as I was just getting ready to make an update. Progress has been slow has I've been worn out by work but I think we've finally hit our stride.

 

   

 

 

 

So at the summer deadline I picked up Liverpool winger Curtis Jones he has came right in and took over the left wing and hasn't given it up, even had a goal and his assist on his debut. In other transfer news Waghorn got pissy about playing time so now he's going on a move to a retirement home I mean the MLS for around 750k with bonus that should make the deal worth 1 mil. Tom Lawernce is off to Middlesbourgh on loan that becomes permanent after 5 games played with 1.3 mil coming our way, and we get 8k a month for the duration of the loan.  

The youth have been fantastic, Whittaker has locked down the striker role with Sibley and Knight are my 2 starting CMs and Bird rotates with Rooney, Knight, and Sibley all over the midfield. Buchanan is our starting LB taking it over from Forsyth. Sibley and Knight are a very dynamic in the midfield and Whittaker has solved our striker problems for this season atleast. Unfortunately Jozwiak has failed to really fit in here so far even with a lot of chances and Bieiek has been disappointing since coming back from injury. Haven't really found a consistent right winger has Ibe and Holmes have been good a times but at other times have been a non factor. Shinnie brings a lot of energy and grinta (as my fellow Juventus fans would call it) off the bench and Wisdom is a solid off the bench player as well. 

 

 

Very happy to see this but I'm very suspicious as well , usually a real golden generation would have a lot more +. But I'm very interesting to see the young Italian winger and makes me wonder why him and his family made the journey to Derbyshire. I wish I had a goalkeeper but I suppose I won't complain.

 

Try and guess after which game I started using a different tactic. The defense is starting to harden up and we are currently the top goal scoring team in the league. The race to the Prem is in full force and the Rams are right in the thick of it. A little stress is good for a manger, right?

Good going! Glad to see that you're doing well too.

[Scott_Gooner]

5 hours ago, Stuniverse said:

Well that plan certainly makes things harder. On my save, I’m only up to Championship game 2 so I’ll update here when I get a bit further in, I had 15 players unavailable for the season opening Carabao Cup tie either through injuries set in FM21, injuries picked up in friendlies, players away on international duty, and the players I made unavailable in the pre-game Editor until the date they actually signed for Derby in real life.

How are you getting on with your save, @Scott_Gooner?

Almost finished preseason. Been playing the the games on full match, so I can look at how the players are playing in their roles. Also playing a lot of the U-23s and U-18s as there are a few guys from the first team who are unavailable. Added some staff to bolster the ranks. Hopefully I’ll be able to start the season this evening and start the long march to the promised land!!  

[Stuniverse]

6 hours ago, JaytheGreat said:

So at the summer deadline I picked up Liverpool winger Curtis Jones he has came right in and took over the left wing and hasn't given it up, even had a goal and his assist on his debut. In other transfer news Waghorn got pissy about playing time so now he's going on a move to a retirement home I mean the MLS for around 750k with bonus that should make the deal worth 1 mil. Tom Lawernce is off to Middlesbourgh on loan that becomes permanent after 5 games played with 1.3 mil coming our way, and we get 8k a month for the duration of the loan.  

Some good business there, @JaytheGreat. Lawrence and Waghorn combined must’ve saved you a lot in wages.

6 hours ago, JaytheGreat said:

The youth have been fantastic, Whittaker has locked down the striker role with Sibley and Knight are my 2 starting CMs and Bird rotates with Rooney, Knight, and Sibley all over the midfield. Buchanan is our starting LB taking it over from Forsyth. Sibley and Knight are a very dynamic in the midfield and Whittaker has solved our striker problems for this season atleast.

That’s great news about the young players who established / started to establish themselves last season, kicking on into genuine first-team players on your save.

6 hours ago, JaytheGreat said:

Unfortunately Jozwiak has failed to really fit in here so far even with a lot of chances and Bieiek has been disappointing since coming back from injury. Haven't really found a consistent right winger has Ibe and Holmes have been good a times but at other times have been a non factor. Shinnie brings a lot of energy and grinta (as my fellow Juventus fans would call it) off the bench and Wisdom is a solid off the bench player as well. 

What formation are you playing? Looks like the wide men are struggling to make a significant impact for you.

Midfield definitely has a lot of players who can play there. Are you using Bielik in midfield or defence?

6 hours ago, JaytheGreat said:

Very happy to see this but I'm very suspicious as well , usually a real golden generation would have a lot more +. But I'm very interesting to see the young Italian winger and makes me wonder why him and his family made the journey to Derbyshire. I wish I had a goalkeeper but I suppose I won't complain.

A few seasons back, Derby did have an Italian in their Academy, Matteo Capitani.

6 hours ago, JaytheGreat said:

Try and guess after which game I started using a different tactic. The defense is starting to harden up and we are currently the top goal scoring team in the league. The race to the Prem is in full force and the Rams are right in the thick of it. A little stress is good for a manger, right?

After the Middlesbrough game?

2nd after 22 games is great going, @JaytheGreat, although it does look very tight up there at the top of the league.

Good luck 🍀 for the rest of the season!

Edited December 14, 2020 by Stuniverse

[Stuniverse]

2 hours ago, Scott_Gooner said:

Almost finished preseason. Been playing the the games on full match, so I can look at how the players are playing in their roles. Also playing a lot of the U-23s and U-18s as there are a few guys from the first team who are unavailable. Added some staff to bolster the ranks. Hopefully I’ll be able to start the season this evening and start the long march to the promised land!!  

Thanks for the update. Good luck 🍀 @Scott_Gooner

[JaytheGreat]

Quote

What formation are you playing? Looks like the wide men are struggling to make a significant impact for you.

@Stuniverse

Been playing a 4-1-2-3 all year, it started out as a fluid counter attack but after the Middlesbough game I kept the formation but changed to vertical tika taka.

Quote

Midfield definitely has a lot of players who can play there. Are you using Bielik in midfield or defence?

Mostly at CB but has come off the bench and have played some minutes at DM.

Quote

After the Middlesbrough game?

Yep that would be the one 

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by JaytheGreat