Mutual Consent

[mrtoad]

Davies parts company with Derby

Source: BBC

Derby manager Billy Davies has left the Premier League strugglers following talks with chairman Adam Pearson.

The club are two points adrift at the foot of the table following a 2-0 defeat by Chelsea on Saturday.

"We have decided mutually in the best interest of both parties that to go our separate ways is the correct decision at this time," said Pearson.

Got to feel a little sorry for the guy, got Derby up last season on a shoestring, and has been given hardly any money to keep them up. It's no wonder they haven't got man points whne you look with what he has got to work with.

I think this may have been going on for a whiole as there seems to have been an uneasy relationship between him and the chairman. Sure he won't be out of work for too long. Maybe Plymouth next stop.

[Sunderland]

Davies parts company with Derby

Source: BBC

Derby manager Billy Davies has left the Premier League strugglers following talks with chairman Adam Pearson.

The club are two points adrift at the foot of the table following a 2-0 defeat by Chelsea on Saturday.

What kind of talks? I thought Billy Davies was somewhat limited in his vocabulary.

AP: Come in and sit down, Billy.

BD: So, what the ####'s up ya wee #####er? Are we gonna discuss the ####in' January transfer window?

AP: No, Billy. I'm afraid to tell you that we are going to have to terminate your employment as of now.

BD: What the ####!!! Why the #### do you want to do that? We're ####in' only 4 ####in' points behind ####in' Sunderland, just like last ####in' season.

AP: I know Billy, but we only have 6 points this season, Billy.

BD: Are you ####in' saying that we're ####in' <deleted> this ####in' season?

AP: Mmmmm ... not exactly Billy. But we feel it's time for a change.

BD: Go #### yourself you ####in' mother ####er. I've been ####in' your wife on the side too. You daft English ####in' ####er!! #### off and die!! For ####'s sake!

AP: .............?

"We have decided mutually in the best interest of both parties that to go our separate ways is the correct decision at this time," said Pearson.

Got to feel a little sorry for the guy, got Derby up last season on a shoestring, and has been given hardly any money to keep them up. It's no wonder they haven't got man points whne you look with what he has got to work with.

Not really. Lost respect for him last season. Talks complete and utter <deleted>, not unlike myself, but got paid to do it.

I think this may have been going on for a whiole as there seems to have been an uneasy relationship between him and the chairman. Sure he won't be out of work for too long. Maybe Plymouth next stop.

[mrtoad]

So you don't like him then?

[delboy]

The Chelsea jinx strikes again.

Valencia lose to Chelsea at home - Valencia manager leaves.

Bolton lose to Chelsea at home - Sammy Lee leaves

Wigan lose to Chelsea at home - Chris Hutchins leaves.

Derby lose to Chelsea at home - Billy Davies leaves.

Edited November 26, 2007 by delboy

[mrtoad]

Adam Pearson intending to make Derby a big fish

New chairman backing himself to navigate bottom club through dangerous waters

Peter Lansley - The Times

There are as many executive goldfish in Adam Pearson’s office at Pride Park as there are vainglorious promises of what Derby County can achieve this season.

But the new chairman of the Barclays Premier League’s bottom side is adamant that he has joined a club fully equipped to compete in the top ten of English football within three years; indeed, that it takes “mismanagement” to fall back into the Coca-Cola Championship once a club have sustained two seasons of Premier League existence.

There may be no overt criticism of Leeds United, where Pearson, as commercial director, helped to raise the club’s turnover from £16 million to £80 million before they crashed and burnt via a Champions League semi-final and an outlandish bill for boardroom pond life, but the former Hull City chairman has seen the books at both ends of football’s financial spectrum and understands fiscal prudence.

He has bought into Derby, succeeding Peter Gadsby as chairman for a reported £3.5 million investment, not so much for his money as his ability to attract it. He is surprised that Peter Ridsdale, the former Leeds chairman, is bringing out a book on the trials and tribulations from their time in charge at Elland Road but has lessons enough of his own from that era to be able to offer wisdom as well as finance in Derby’s mid-season attempt to secure Premier League stability. Rebuilding Hull from top to bottom suggests he knows what he’s doing.

“This club can sustain a top-ten place in the Premier League,” he said. “It has the fan-base, the traditions, the facilities, the stadium, the training ground - everything is in place and with the right manager and the right board, I would back myself to deliver a team that sustains that kind of performance.”

Play-offs winners often have to go back down before they return strong enough to compete, but, while the issue of whether Derby are as good as relegated before the first fireworks is deferred, Pearson looks beyond that horizon. “I do not believe [the gap between the top divisions] is insurmountable,” he said. “There are lessons that can be learnt in a first [Premier League] season that, if implemented successfully in a second season at the top level, mean there is every reason you can survive. That two-year period in the Premier League is crucial because after that it does become rather a straightforward task.

“It requires mismanagement to fall out of the Premier League. Everything is set – the wage structures, the revenues, the playing squad needs tweaking rather than overhauling. You’d have to be doing your job poorly not to ensure that the two or three players you are targeting are not significantly better than those in your team. So, unless you have an unbelievable injury crisis or encounter unprecedented off-field problems, you will survive in the Premier League, if you’ve been in there for two years, by doing your job adequately.”

“Unprecedented off-field problems” sounds like a natural link to talk about Leeds. Pearson, who still lives in the city, recalls flying Lee Bowyer in by helicopter from the courtroom to the pitch to score twice at Goodison Park, but it was a more wholesale change of strategy that made him leave Leeds in the spring of 2001, the time in which they played Valencia in the last four of the Champions League. An ephemeral chase for glory supplanted sustainability. “Why did I get out?” Pearson said, laughter preceding pause for thought. “The culture of the club had changed.

“We had enormous plans with regards to stadium redevelopment, a conference centre, a Leeds sporting village. When that model changed and investment was aimed purely on the football side, at players and their requirements, I thought my time there was up.

“The European adventures were great. As Peter [Ridsdale] says, he didn’t hear many Leeds supporters complaining when we were in the San Siro or the Nou Camp. But supporters automatically expect the board are looking after their football club. Fiscal prudence may be tedious to fans but, unfortunately, it’s an important part of the game. Of course it’s fair to say Leeds overreached themselves.”

So instead of a £16 million redevelopment of Elland Road’s West Stand, David O’Leary bought Rio Ferdinand. Why plan for tomorrow when today is so exciting?

“You learn lessons all the time, from every aspect of your life,” Pearson added diplomatically. “I must have picked things up from my mistakes in 12 years in football and that’s why I think industry specialists in football are key because they’ve been through the mill.

“There are key ratios, as in any business, that you have to follow. A lot of wealthy, successful businessmen coming into football suddenly lose their business acumen because they get seduced by the excitement of the game. Then you’re in trouble.”

Pearson, who has a doctorate in business administration that he deems “irrelevant” compared with “common football sense”, got laughed at for leaving Leeds for Hull. “Hull had enormous potential and, at rock bottom, it was a cheap option,” he said. “So when Peter Taylor lifted us from the bottom division into the Championship, as we left a ramshackle old ground for a spanking new stadium, it was quite a breakthrough.”

Hull, their turnover increasing from £2 million to £13 million, also made a profit for four consecutive seasons – as Leeds slid down past them.

Pearson, 42, sold the debt-free club for £12 million in March and, linked with Notts County, Huddersfield Town and even Leeds, has been negotiating with “significant investors” in advance of his arrival at Pride Park. He has watched with fascination as Thaksin Shinawatra has taken over Manchester City; Birmingham City are within a missed handshake of a Chinese buyout. “We’re in a very sexy period where international investors are attracted to the Premier League, with the media values coming into the game getting ever higher, but that will disappear as well,” he said.

So prudence will determine how Derby approach the January transfer window. “It’s my job to ensure the club can compete on a level footing,” he said. “I intend to bring significant investment in by Christmas to give us the option of deciding whether to spend big in January or June. If we’re in touch of retaining our Premier League status as the window opens, we will back Billy Davies significantly. If we’re in a difficult position, we may decide to wait until June, when it could make a massive difference to another promotion bid. Billy needs an environment where he is supported financially and emotionally. I’m going to give him both.” And there will not be a penny wasted on goldfish.

Yes, he backed his manager pretty well, all the way out of the door.

Pearson has an interesting pedigree, was at Leeds during the "living the dream times" and then went to Hull, where he did a pretty good job. I'm wondering which magaer is going to be linked with this vacancy.

Souness for sure.

[mrtoad]

The Chelsea jinx strikes again.

Valencia lose to Chelsea at home - Valencia manager leaves.

Bolton lose to Chelsea at home - Sammy Lee leaves

Wigan lose to Chelsea at home - Chris Hutchins leaves.

Derby lose to Chelsea at home - Billy Davies leaves.

Delboy, they are the kiss of death for managers this season.

Couple of forthcoming games that may continue this

Dec 8th Chelsea v Sunderland. Keane to walk out in a huff, after another defeat?

Ded 29th CHelsea v Newcastle. The only doubt on this one is, will Big Sam still be at St James by then?

[ThaiPauly]

Personally, I would like to see someone do better on what he had to work with.

Big mistake to sack hi I reckon,,

But then again McClown is lookinng for work and maybee Derby dont want to miss out

[mrbojangles]

But then again McClown is lookinng for work and maybee Derby dont want to miss out

In that case they are definately doomed. He has trouble keeping a brolly up, never mind a football team

Edited November 26, 2007 by mrbojangles

[ThaiPauly]

Souness has to be in the frame...I hope he gets it

Davis should go back to Preston...he would be welcomed with open arms I reckon

[mrtoad]

But then again McClown is lookinng for work and maybee Derby dont want to miss out

In that case they are definately doomed. He has trouble keeping a brolly up, never mind a football team

The McClown idea isn't far fetched, before he went to Manchester United he was the assistant at Derby. Adam Pearson has a history of being involved with the appointment of ex-England managers; Vegetables (Not sure if he was still at Leeds), Peter Taylor (Hull), so maybe it's a Taxi for McClown to Derby.

Edited November 26, 2007 by mrtoad

[chavy]

The Forest forum I'm on are having a field day today , what with Davies being sacked & in talks with Disney have given a whole new meaning to the term "mickey mouse club"

[chavy]

Davies now favourite for the Scotland post.......got to be better than the sheep sh*****s

[mrtoad]

Davies now favourite for the Scotland post.......got to be better than the sheep sh*****s

McClown now the favourite for Derby from the rumours I have heard back home.

[mrtoad]

well maybe not then.....

Derby hand the reins to Jewell as Pride Park cools on Ince

Daniel Taylor

Wednesday November 28, 2007

The Guardian

Paul Jewell has been offered the chance to save Derby County from relegation after the club rejected the idea of replacing Billy Davies with Paul Ince. Jewell is expected to be given a 3½-year contract worth around £1.5m which would be halved if the club was relegated. He will be named as the Premier League bottom club's manager at Pride Park this morning.

Adam Pearson, the Derby chairman, spent yesterday speaking to candi- dates and, though impressed by Ince, Jewell's experience gave him the edge. Iain Dowie, the Coventry manager, and Geraint Williams, a former Rams player now in charge of Colchester, had also come under consideration but it was a two-man contest. Chris Hutchings, sacked by Wigan this month, is expected to be Jewell's No2 and there may be a role for the former Burnley manager Stan Ternent.

Jewell's appointment represents a coup for Pearson after the sacking of Davies was criticised yesterday by the club captain, Matt Oakley. Ince will be dismayed after missing out on the chance to leave Milton Keynes Dons to join the Premier League club, believing he was the favourite for the job.

That was certainly the case after Pearson summoned Davies to his final meeting at the club on Monday - but primarily because Derby's directors were unconvinced at the time that they would be able to persuade Jewell to move to Pride Park and they knew prising Ince away would have been relatively straightforward.

Extensive talks yesterday revealed that Jewell was more inclined to accept the position than Pearson had initially believed. Derby believe the appointment would appease their fans when many support Oakley's view that Davies was treated unfairly. "I'm a big Billy Davies fan and I think he should have stayed," said Oakley. "Billy knows the results aren't good enough. As captain I know they're not good enough but sometimes you need to give people time."

[chavy]

Just halve his money now then & save Pearson a bit.

[PREM-R]

Former Wigan boss Paul Jewell has been named manager of struggling Derby on a three-and-a-half-year contract.

Full Story:BBC website