Bill's Take: Your Derby County May Be Very Different Than Mine Thursday, 11th Dec 2014 09:36 by Bill Riordan Just west of Lake Michigan, almost on the Illinois state line, lies the small town of Beloit, Wisconsin. Beloit has a university, named with commendable simplicity - Beloit University. There is no reason why the vast majority of the world’s population would ever hear of Beloit University, except for this: at the beginning of each academic year since 1996 the university has published its Mindset List; a collection of factoids regarding the year’s incoming class of eighteen year olds to try and explain why they are the way they are. As the list makes its way around the internet, far from explaining anything, it makes the rest of us feel old and out of touch.
Here is an example from this year’s list: 4. When they see wire-rimmed glasses, they think Harry Potter, not John Lennon. 30. There has always been “TV” designed to be watched exclusively on the web. 53. “Good feedback” means getting 30 likes on your last Facebook post in a single afternoon. If you would like to read more - here is a link to the full list: Beloit Mindset List”
Reading the list a while back, I was struck by the thought that we could perhaps do something similar with Rams fans. After all, while fans have many shared experiences, much of what we think about the club passes through the filters of our age, and how long we have been following the club. A Rams fan of fifty years standing; is in many respects, following a different club to the person who has been a fan for ten years.
Keeping that in mind, I offer you the ‘Bill’s Take - Rams Fan Mindset List’: Rams fans under the age of fourteen cannot remember the Rams in the Premier League (It could be that they are the fortunate ones…). Rams fans under the age of twenty cannot remember the Derby Evening Telegraph Football Special, otherwise the Green ‘un (In truth, I can’t remember exactly when the Green ‘Un ceased publication, but I’m guessing about 10 or twelve years). Fans under twenty will also remember The Three Amigos, and the shenanigans which surrounded their dealings with the club. Rams fans younger than their early 20’s, cannot remember the club competing successfully in the Premier League; which would have been the 2000/2001 season. Rams fans under twenty probably never attended a match at the Baseball Ground (This realisation was sobering for me). Rams fans under twenty will also not remember Steve McClaren’s previous stint at Derby as assistant to Jim Smith. Rams fans under about thirty-five will not have experienced the Robert Maxwell years at Derby, with all of their attendant trials and tribulations. Rams fans under about thirty-five also have never seen the club play lower than the second tier. Rams fans under about forty will have little memory of such Baseball Ground staples as matches being postponed — or even abandoned — because of fog. Rams fans under forty-five cannot remember our 3rd Round FA Cup opponents Southport as a Football League club — they were replaced by Wigan after the 1977/1978 season. Rams fans under fifty will struggle to remember the Brian Clough era at Derby, which ended in 1973. Rams fans under 60 will not remember the harsh winter of 1962-63, and the often postponed 3rd Round FA Cup tie against Peterborough; it was eventually played in early February. Rams fans under eighty will remember little of the club’s FA cup win in 1946.
Of course, there are many other events, places and people that colour all of our experiences of supporting the club. So, perhaps we should remember when we read or hear an opinion very different from our own - that their Derby County may be very different from mine.
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