Hi Derby fans! My name is Owen and I’m 20 years old. I was actually born in Derby, but moved to Perth, Australia with my family when I was 7! It’s great here, the weather is beautiful (well, when it isn’t winter - like it is now) and the lifestyle is amazing too!
I properly started supporting The Rams when I was about 13, as my father was also a big Derby fan, however around that time on match days, we didn’t have RamsTV, so I used to just keep refreshing the DCFC Twitter account over and over waiting to see if we had scored.
I’ve been back to Derby a few times over the years, and watched them play a handful of home games, against Rotherham, QPR, Forest, Bristol, Middlesborough and Southampton. Never been to watch Derby away yet so that’s definitely on my bucket list!
My personal all time favourite Derby player has to be Craig Bryson, the passion he played with and that hat trick against Forest is unforgettable.
My current favourite player is Jayden Bogle, he’s great with his feet, also very young still and fearless on that wing!
I’m in an Australian Derby Supporters group on Facebook which has only 161 members, so I’d say there is a very small following of Derby County in Australia.
The A-League in my personal opinion isn’t as entertaining as the Championship, I’d say the quality is varied throughout the squads as I believe there is some different rules over here for signings and wages etc. so the A-League wont have the same pull as an English team for these players, on a side note, I believe that if there was a second division in Australia the competition would be increased drastically with a promotion/relegation system involved.
I think there's a couple talented players which could be/are good championship level players, Daniel Arzani, Massimo Luongo and Jackson Irvine.
I love Philip Cocu, I think he is without a doubt the right man for the job at hand, he just needs more time to develop the younger players and get his style and playing philosophies embedded deep within the club, this is a marathon not a sprint, there is a bigger picture that needs to be focused on in this day an age!
So last season was definitely unforgettable for the sheer amount of unusual things that have happened, all from the car crash to the signing of Wazza, to the breakthrough of Sibley, Bird, Knight etc! All puts us in good stead for the upcoming season.. which is a nice segway into that now.. I think with some positive additions to the side, I trust Cocu to find the right men that he’ll need to bring this side together, we could defintely challenge for top 6 again and maybe even top 2.
Generally I’m quite optimistic however thats never been a bad thing right?
Football is integral to my life, I am an aspiring football coach, and I also study a Bachelors degree in Sports Science full time where I want to expand my knowledge to be able to one day work in the professional game with the athletes behind the scenes, as a sport scientist or as a coach!
The environment here is very diverse however football is definitely still played a lot here behind AFL, which is the main sport as well as cricket, rugby, basketball etc!