Look I think we’ll win the league by the end of March but I’m not going to go public on it.
People would think I’m nuts.

'Think'?

Have a bet Rameses, you can still get 16 to 1 on us winning the league. Strangely Leeds and Forest are shorter odds. I can't see either of those teams challenging.

Sheff Wednesday an outside bet for promotion. Very good odds and now they have ditched Rhodes they must improve.

Speaking of odds and predictions, what exactly have Leeds done to be one of the favourites? They have appointed some guy and missed out on most of their transfer targets?

I think you will find most Leeds fans agree with you tommo.

comment by tommo_dcfc (U1583)
posted 12 minutes ago
Speaking of odds and predictions, what exactly have Leeds done to be one of the favourites? They have appointed some guy and missed out on most of their transfer targets?
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It only takes one misguided fool to lump a fair whack on them and the odds will shorten.

I hate to say it on these boards but I'm afraid Forest have quite a strong chance of doing something. They have a proper manager and a good squad and they've had a very good pre-season. I think we will pip them but they will be a force to be reckoned with. Sad to say.

Have you been on the shandy Ramdini?

Karwanka is too boring to get the best out of the undoubted flair players that Forest have brought

He’s too defensively minded and that will compromise them going forward.

With the right manager they could do something but not with this one.

We should not judge how good players are based on the fact that only two Clubs have registered speculative interest in our illustrious former captain in 5 seasons.

I won't say he's terrible, but he is average. Successful because he tries. Ability wise, he is a league one player.
I don't think he fits in with this new Derby set up.

He does how to bore his way out of this league though.

I'd say their biggest worry is the number of new players brought in, will they gel before they play catch up, will they be toping the league while the sun shines but crumbled when the need to wear gloves when it hits 10 degrees or maybe they'll resort to type and be crap and keep us amused for another season.

I see the Forest academy is educating players to the standard of it's owner.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-nottinghamshire-44306716/ex-footballer-jumps-from-moving-van-to-escape-police

If Keogh is League 1 level that doesn't tie in with our having challenged at the top end of the Championship for most of the past few years, or that successive managers have not managed to find or to want a replacement despite having huge amounts of money to spend. They must all see something in him.

You’re flogging a dead horse.

Some will not have there opinion changed despite quite obvious evidence placed before them.

So he has mad eyes but Keogh fits right into that hard work and commitment ethic that Frank prizes so highly so anyone hoping for Keogh to be sidelined is going to be disappointed.

As I said, successful because he tries. I can't see any 'obvious evidence' to say otherwise. Some Derby fans love a trier even if their attainment is poor. Weimann, Titto Villa, are examples. Yet those same fans criticise actual footballers who produce something like Darren Bent and Tom Ince.
Keogh's goal scoring record is shockingly bad, but because he has a lame looping header placed in the arms of an opposition goalkeeper once every 9 games, he's a hero. Don't understand it.
He makes some good challenges and puts his body on the line. But that is equaled by his poor challenges, misplaced passing, lack of skill, poor judgement and distribution.
Fans back him more than Curtis Davies, yet Davies is twice the player. Its a mystery to me.

Two really bad defensive errors last season. One by Richard Keogh against Sunderland, one by Curtis Davies against Reading. The one that is brought up the most is the Keogh error. I think you are incorrect in your assertion about how fans see Davies and Keogh.

Keogh has saved us far more times than he has cost us. He is also has more pace than Davies and more confident about passing the ball out of defence.

I never thought Bent produced much and in the end his main talent for goal poaching deserted him

When something appears to be a mystery, and when the vast majority of other people, particularly those who job it is to know about these things, think differently to you, then maybe the time has come to question your own judgment rather than to condemn everybody else's. Just a thought.

666 - A couple of quotes from above. They are all you need to know. Question attitude and change your mind - If you can!

"So he has mad eyes but Keogh fits right into that hard work and commitment ethic that Frank prizes so highly so anyone hoping for Keogh to be sidelined is going to be disappointed".

"When something appears to be a mystery, and when the vast majority of other people, particularly those who job it is to know about these things, think differently to you, then maybe the time has come to question your own judgment rather than to condemn everybody else's. Just a thought".

I've just deleted a fairly lengthy reply to some of the above. But really, what's the point, when some people quite clearly think they're the f***ing Messiah when it comes to posting on JA606.

I'm not the one passing off my opinion as fact, AJ. "Ability wise, he is a League 1 player". "Davies is twice the player", etc. Don't you find it at least a LITTLE surprising that all of Derby's recent managers have such a different opinion to you about Keogh? Why do you think that is? Are they actually all a bit stupid? I'm genuinely interested to know what you think.

I'm not the messiah, I'm a very naughty boy. But I think Keogh is OK for the team, we would need to replace him if/when we get promoted.

Everyone has their own opinions and you praise Ince and Bent. If you look at Derby's recent history our rot set in when these two players joined us. Bent was well past his best and didn't fit into our system and Ince just plays for himself and isn't good enough. Ask a Huddersfield supporter.

I think we will do well this season.

I actually am the messiah.

One thing we could probably agree on is that we would all be content to see Keogh replaced by a better player.

I have expressed my opinion and been told to change my attitude and have a re-think on my thoughts because they're wrong.
Keogh has been through five or six managers and they all keep him in the side - this is true. But they have had little choice. Nobody wants to buy Keogh, so no Manager has been forced to find a replacement. No other player has put pressure on Keogh to threaten his seemingly un-challengable place in the side.
Look, we could all argue this all day. Even if Keogh contributed 6 goals a season, which for a centre half should be infinitely achievable, my opinion would be a little different. But he possesses no threat from set pieces and I wince whenever I see him on one of those 'charging runs', as it rarely, if ever, creates anything.
I don't doubt Lampard will like Keoghs passion. I do doubt he will like his ability.

Some people have VERY short memories. Bent didn't come to Derby at the peak of his career. He came because he knows where the net is and at the point we signed him, he'd been very successful.
Darren Bent scored some incredibly important goals for Derby and he was one of the best finishers I'd seen for a long time.
He at least had ability - same as Ince, who also scored a lot of important goals. Just because he wasn't gritting his teeth to the south stand every week didn't make him a waste of space.

Colin stated in his autobiography he wanted to buy Richard Keogh so that contradicts your argument AJ. Name better central defenders who could have replaced him over the time he has played for us. I have seen Shackell, Pearce and Albentosa play along side him and all have looked vastly inferior.

Bent was successful at finding the net but we didn't seem to win many games. We were set up for much of the time for a target man not a goal poacher.

I thought Ince in his final season with us looked good in both attack and the nitty gritty of tracking back after we ditched the loony manager. He went off the boil when Rowett was appointed though.