Following another poor performance and a loss at home to Millwall, the Derby fans have voiced their opinions again on manager Phillip Cocu.

Whether you are Cocu in or Cocu out, it is extremely tough being a fan at this moment in time. The Rams sit in 16th, a position which is unfamiliar to them.

Their away form is utterly woeful, having not picked up any points on the road since the start of October in a 2-2 draw against Barnsley.

The only saving grace was that there was consistency at Pride Park. Unbeaten in 9 games, 5 wins in a row and 4 clean sheets in a row. However in the last 3 home games they have only amassed 2 points and suffered a 1-0 defeat today.

On to the owner Mel Morris then. He first brought in to the club in 2014 before becoming the sole owner in 2015.

A local man with a lot of money, it all sounded like a match made in heaven. He pumped many millions in to the club, trying to get the Rams in to the Premier League. He helped improved the facilities at Moor Farm all in aid to make sure Derby were ready to step up to the top flight of English football.

5 years later and the Rams are still in The Championship. Since Mel brought in to the club the Rams have made the playoffs 3 times but have failed on every occasion.

He did all he could to try and help the Rams reach the promise land, but splashed out millions on players who were experienced Championship players and would never resell for any value.

Derby have had 7 managers in those 5 years with Mel seemingly eager to pull the trigger if things weren’t going right on the pitch. Although the 2 latest managers, Rowett and Lampard were both poached from the Rams.

Mel brought hope and expectation to the Rams following 4 years of Nigel Clough stabilising the club after their failed premier league season and the Steve McClaren taking them to a play off final.

Money talks in football but continuing to spend on failure will eventually catch up with you. Couple that with trying to comply with FFP and all of a sudden things start to get tough.

Mel had to sell Pride Park stadium in order to comply with FFP. He sold it to one of his companies but having to sell your stadium can start to cast doubts in the minds of fans.

Now Mel is trying to get an investor to help and looks to have found billionaire Henry Gabay.

This leads me to where Derby are now. A new manager, 13 players that left in the summer, 16 including the 3 loanees. 8 (including loanees) were part of the Frank Lampard squad that made it to Wembley but lost 2-1 to Aston Villa

In the summer, Derby only signed 7 players to replace those who left. This includes Wayne Rooney who can’t play until January. The squad has become depleted. Add to this the sacking of Richard Keogh and long term injuries to Clarke, Shinnie, Huddlestone and Bennett there is no wonder Cocu is struggling to get a consistent side together.

Mel brought Phillip Cocu in to build his squad from academy players and the senior players he has available to him. Cocu hasn’t got the backing from Mel that previous managers did to go and spend money. Simple fact is Mel can’t afford it.

Cocu needs to stabilise the squad much like Nigel Clough did. He needs to use the loan market and if he is going to buy players, it will have to be players who aren’t expensive and don’t demand high wages.

He will need a couple of transfer windows to do this, to bring his own players in, who he feels can adapt to his style of play.

He is currently set to lose 10 players at the end of the season. This includes the loanees from this season and Martin, Davies, Huddlestone, Forsyth and Anya, all that are in the final year of their contract.

Again the squad will be diminished even more. There is no wonder Mel is seeking investment! Cocu needs time to build his team and I think Mel will have certainly learnt from past mistakes of buying average championship players for inflated prices.

Whether you are Cocu in or Cocu out, Mel has to take some of the blame for past mistakes but he is keeping his faith in Cocu and is also looking to help get this club back on its feet again.

The Ramswriter