After what seems like months of indecision, the new manager for Derby County FC was announced on Friday as Billy Davies.

The ex-Preston North End manager had been one of the key favourites although it wasn’t without turmoil and speculation. There was much controversy over the meetings where Preston were not allowing Davies to even have talks with Derby until later on in the process. Eventually, according to BBC Sports, Preston chairman Derek Shaw allowed Davies to begin words with Derby and also agreed a compensation package that is expected to include nearly two years worth of Davies’ salary.

The decision to take on Billy Davies has had fans split down the middle. Some aren’t sure whether he is the best man for the job but on paper, we could do a lot worse. In the last two seasons, Billy has taken Preston NE into the Championship Playoffs in 2 consecutive years. He is also looking into signing some new players, potentially from his old club to reinforce the current Derby squad. With some of our on-loan players returning to their clubs in the last month, there are opportunities for some good players to join Derby and build on our current setup.

Only time (and the new season) will tell. Billy - its in your hands. Now do Derby good!

Filed by Si at 12:41 pm under Football
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Yesterday, I released another football-related project called World Cup KickOff.

It’s probably easier to just go visit the website to see what its all about as you’ll figure it out within seconds but basically its a website that lists the entire schedule for World Cup 2006 which you can download and import into your personal organiser. You can personalise the listings to individual teams/countries or groups, even change the timezone so you know the kick off times for where you’re from.

Anyway, go visit the website and download the matches to your Outlook calendar. At least then, when you’re down the pub organising where you’re watching it you will know when England are playing through the miracles of your mobile phone.

Filed by Si at 8:52 am under Football
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I’ve just received an email about the Football League’s Supporters Survey 2006 which I recommend all Rams supporters should take part in.

Each season more people watch matches in The Football League than any other sporting competition in Europe. This survey provides the opportunity for you, the supporter, to give your views on the games you watch, the club you support and the competition they play in.

Completing this survey will also give you the opportunity to win tickets to one of the first games at the all-new Wembley Stadium. Five pairs of match tickets are up for grabs to watch your choice of the Coca-Cola Football League Play-Offs, Carling Cup Final or LDV Vans Trophy Final.

You can have your say on the league plus other hot-topics such as:

• the introduction of Sin Bins
• goal-line technology
• the role of player’s agents
• ticket prices
• the standards of refereeing

So what you waiting for? Fill in the survey now and shape the Football League the way you want it.

Filed by Si at 10:25 pm under Football
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The fixture lists were released yesterday for the majority of the English leagues (the Conference are holding out for a bit while they decide the fate of Cambridge United). With that, I have taken the liberty of bringing you the upcoming matches for Derby and created an entirely different page for them. I suggest you bookmark it for your own pleasure.

Derby County FC fixture list for 2005-2006

The one match that I will probably remember is the Plymouth away match as kick off is half an hour after I am married. Hopefully, I won’t miss much but at the same time a good result will make the day all the more memorable for me.

Filed by Si at 7:11 pm under Football, Website
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