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RamsWeek 22 - The Leader of the Pack
RamsWeek 22 - The Leader of the Pack
Monday, 30th May 2011 01:18 by Paul Mortimer

Derby County’s search for new players continued, albeit without much headway being made due to intervening factors at club and international level.

The ‘Transfer Gossip’ column on the official DCFC website is over 4 months out of date but reports and speculation elsewhere in the media show that the club is beavering away, still trying to land ‘early’ targets even before the transfer roundabout gets into full swing in the summertime.

Manager Nigel Clough has made no secret of his desire to strengthen Derby’s striking options and the chase is on for several forwards. Aberdeen striker Chris Maguire appears keen to finalise a move to Derby, even though The Dons want £400k for compensation for the 22-year old Scottish international.

Maguire was not allowed to travel to Derby for a medical by Scotland boss Craig Levein. I’m not sure why Derby would want to disrupt his international commitments (perhaps to make sure they won the race for the player) but things could be settled next week.

Maguire is one of several striking talents that Nigel Clough is pursuing. Clough has declared that an established centre-forward is top of his shopping list, words that will bring merciful relief to Rams fans that saw their team struggle to penetrate opposing defences during most of last season. Derby sold Rob Hulse last August; he won a Championship title medal with QPR but the Rams never replaced him on a permanent basis.

Loanee Shefki Kuqi briefly showed the value of a target man as the Rams hit their ‘purple patch’ in the autumn. They scored goals galore, won a record six games on the bounce at Pride Park Stadium, and left the dizzy and fatigued opposition defenders glad to get off the pitch after 90 minutes. An effective target man is an essential component of a successful team.

Regardless of who captains the side, the centre forward is ‘the leader of the pack’ as the attack focuses around him. By receiving and holding up the ball to lay off to other team members, and in soaking up the battering from defenders (and dishing out a bit of that himself), he provides the springboard for colleagues to penetrate opposition ranks.

If the ball doesn’t ‘stick’ up front, it returns quickly into your own half and the defence is perpetually under pressure. Making do by deploying Chris Porter, Steve Davies or Theo Robinson as the role failed to work for Derby after Kuqi left in early December and goals became hard to come by, especially in away games.

Target men come in all shapes and sizes but they must have a physical presence that can occupy defenders and help to direct the team’s pattern of play. Nigel Clough will remember great centre-forwards from his own playing days and often played as a deep-lying central striker himself.

A bigger, bustling leader can play well alongside a nippy, alert striker in a ‘little and large’ combination. Whatever mix of forwards, styles of play or team formation, there needs to be a blend of skill and strength. That holds true whether it is Barcelona or Bolton Wanderers, Aldershot or Arsenal.

Derby County has had many highly effective target men of different moulds that brought success to the team in their day.  John O’Hare, and later Paul Goddard were each thought of as a ‘player’s player’ in that their skill and deft touches as well as their compact robustness, provided their strike partners, Kevin Hector and Dean Saunders respectively, with chances to score freely.

Roger ‘Stretch’ Davies was more of a ‘bustler’ who bashed defenders, as were Stevie Howard and Rob Hulse. Ronnie Willems, a clever target man in Jim Smith’s mid-1990s promotion side, was always in the right position and set off the pace of fellow forwards like Dean Sturridge to devastating effect. He was a subtle, under-rated player without whom it is unlikely that Derby would have had the focus and blend to win games and collect the points.

Later, the flamboyant and unpredictable Paulo Wanchope bemused defenders and helped himself and his team to a hatful of memorable goals. “Choppy” confused opposition defenders and sometimes himself and his teammates - but his tricky magic unlocked defences and destroyed some very good opponents on a regular basis!

So…now Jamie Ward needs a good ‘hit man’ to play off and Rams fans will look forward to seeing another enterprising partnership blossoming next season. If Derby gets that one wrong, then in my opinion the team won’t challenge at the top of the table in 2011-12 as the club anticipates.

Build a solid ‘spine’ in a team and you won’t go far wrong - as successful managers including Brian Clough have espoused.

Derby is endeavouring to do the same in their modern era, with a formidable goalkeeper now recruited in Frank Fielding. A strong centre-half is being sought to partner Sean Barker in central defence (with Barnsley captain Jason Shackell on the radar), and a search is now under way for an effective centre-forward.

Clough’s goalkeeping review continues; with Stephen Bywater displaced by Fielding as Derby’s No. 1, ex-Burton ‘keeper Saul Deeney - an unconvincing deputy - looks set to be superseded by the Brewer’s new goalkeeping find and their Player of the Season, Adam Legzdins. He has starred for them and probably made the difference between League Two survival and relegation in a difficult season which was beset by a late fixture congestion debacle.

The Rams have apparently made an offer to Burton for Adam; meanwhile, another non-league capture of Clough’s, midfielder Ben Pringle, has been made available for transfer and though Burton Albion would like to recruit him, it seems Ben will have several other offers to consider.

Frank Fielding is the current England Under-21 goalkeeper and is in the national squad for the European Championships in Denmark in June. Other international involvement by Rams players includes Conor Doyle finding the net for the USA Under-20s side and midfielder Jeff Hendrick starring in the Republic of Ireland’s Under-19s European Championships qualifying games.

Jeff headed the winner in the 1-0 victory over Poland on Tuesday and played in the 0-0 draw with Ukraine on Thursday. Conor has scored four goals in five games for the USA, notching goals this week against Suriname, and also in each of two friendlies with France.

There is uproar among fans of newly-promoted Queens Park Rangers as the club have jacked up ticket prices to an exorbitant level. The cheapest tickets work out at £47 per game! There are no price concessions for season tickets and no ‘early bird’ loyalty discount, which is a diabolically exploitative commercial policy.

QPR’s Loftus Road ground is small, with an 18,000 capacity so the super-rich owners are making supporters pay a premium price for the privilege of seeing Premier League football.

A QPR ownership tussle is developing between factions of their board that have different views on club strategy. On one side are the Mittals, on the other there is the Formula One entrepreneur Barrie Ecclestone and his allies, with a price tag of up to £100m for the club being mooted.

With a ticketing policy like that, it seems that fans would be best served by another consortium with some concept of what the average fan can afford in these economically stretched times.

With such an incredibly large increase in TV and reward revenues for QPR in the Premier League and the comparatively low revenue percentage coming from gate receipts as an income stream, one wonders why the Loftus Road board has decided on such a punitive price structure.

The policy will price many loyal long-term fans out of the ground; the owners may not worry about that because they presumably calculate that casual ‘bandwagon’ fans will jump into their places to see some Premier League action. It’s a poor way to reward fans who have stuck by the club through thick and thin. These are the times when fans have to speak up and fight for what is fair.

Quote of the week on the QPR pricing fiasco came from a Hoops’ fan on another forum: 'Ecclestone and Briatore really are slugs. They wouldn't give away the steam off their wee if they could figure out how to sell it.'

If Derby wins promotion in the near future, a price rise may be anticipated after several seasons of price ‘freezes’ - but anything more than a reasonable increase would alienate fans, as is clearly the case at QPR with long-time fans threatening to vote with their feet.

A big increase would price many Derby fans out of the stadium, including your writer. The Rams have yet to put together a team that can reach the Premier League but the owners might prefer to confront such decisions about pricing and supporter retention rather than deal with disaffection and opposition after another campaign of under-achievement.

World football’s so-called leaders, including Mohammed Bin Hamman and Jack Warner have been impelled to submit new testimonies to a FIFA Ethics Committee commission that will investigate renewed fraud allegations.

The latest ‘World Cup votes for cash’ scandal has blighted the forthcoming FIFA presidential election; Bin Hamman subsequently withdrew his nomination to stand against President Blatter, who himself faced investigation but now seems set to retain power in a one-horse election.

Suggestions of fraud and bribery from the highest level down have seldom been absent from analysis of the credibility and integrity of football’s governing body over the last decade or so.  Accusations of corruption and unethical behaviour have yet again beset the game.

Vice-President Warner and the Asian federation chief, Bin Hamman face scrutiny and various members of the World Cup voting committee have been freshly implicated in seeking gain, undertaking cover-ups for misdemeanours by other officials, or other wrong-doings.

FIFA’s Ethics Committee - if that is not a contradiction in terms - has suspended VPs Warner and Bin Hamman whilst a full inquiry is held, though has decided that President Sepp Blatter has no case to answer.. Will matters be swept under the carpet yet again?

Football doesn’t belong to aloof, complacent figures like Sepp Blatter & Co - it belongs to the fans, and it is time that the game’s governance - both internationally and domestically - was reformed. Chickens seem to be coming home to roost and their droppings are proving corrosive!

Perhaps Blatter won’t be leader of the pack for much longer. His tenure as President has been mired in allegations of corruption for years and he and some of his colleagues are under the microscope again.

The administration is increasingly regarded with suspicion and its personnel have become anachronistic obstacles to transparency and accountability. The insular, self-regarding edifice in FIFA’s hierarchy has become increasingly removed from the grass roots fans of the game and could well be crumbling.

At club level, Barcelona underlined their position as leaders of the pack with a comprehensive Champions League Final victory, beating Manchester United 3-1 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night. The Catalan crusaders proved irresistible, untouchable.

England’s best ran out a well-beaten second best to the formidable Barca in a highly entertaining game, with even Sir Alex Ferguson, usually grudging or surly about opponents in defeat, labelled the Catalans as the best side he’d ever faced as he admitted that the Red Devils had a ‘hiding’.

Fergie had cause to smile a day later however, as on Sunday afternoon, Peterborough United - managed once again by his son Darren - won the League One play-off final (ironically at Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground) when they beat Huddersfield Town 3-0.

The Posh join promoted Brighton & Hove Albion and Southampton in the Championship. Bank Holiday Monday sees the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium which will decide whether it is to be Reading or Swansea that wins the third promotion spot to the Premier League. We will then know all of Derby County’s opponents for the 2011-12 season.

Derby County were light years away from play-offs' glory this year but fans of five-ton trucks clumping around a mud circuit and ramped obstacle course watched the Monster Jam event on Saturday and Sunday at Pride Park Stadium. It’s a big scene in the USA and the club declared the truck-crashing extravaganza a great success, with some 20,000 fans watching the action.

Next weekend, England tackles Switzerland in a vital European Championship qualifier. Let’s hope Capello’s men are on their game for that one!

______________________________________________________________________________

It was a ‘Green Day’ in RamsWeek 22 last year as midfielder Paul Green scored on his full debut for the Republic of Ireland in their 3-0 win over Algeria.

England had victories in World Cup warm-up friendlies, beating Mexico 3-1 at Wembley (with ex-Ram Tom Huddlestone making his full debut) and Japan 2-1. Sadly, they couldn’t carry that forward when it came to the meaningful games.

Polish forward Tomasz Cywka signed a two-year contract with Derby; we thought that Scunthorpe’s prolific Gary Hooper was also a Derby target. We still await that 20-goal striker…

Meanwhile, promoted Leeds United was eyeing Rams’ centre-forward Rob Hulse, and Stoke City put Rams’ loanee Michael Tonge on offer to other clubs. Has the price dropped this year, Mr Pulis? He’d be better off somewhere else, by the looks of his opportunities in 2010-11.

FIFA announced that there was ‘no foundation’ to allegations about betting scandals involving the former FA chief Lord Triesman in his ‘entrapment’ scandal.

Now, a year later, several FIFA officials must defend themselves about far-reaching allegations and a variety of indiscretions. And the needle returns to the start of the song, and we all carry on like before…

 

Photo: Action Images



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