It's generally accepted that new, wealthy foreign owners usually like to get in their own man as manager that will make a big impact on the fans when they take over a football club...
The latest example is Watford, where the new owners (already owners of two other football clubs) have unceremoniously wellied out Sean Dyche and installed Gianfranco Zola as their main man:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18722107
Didn't Watford finish up about the same as the Rams last season, as Derby finally avoided another relegation scrap?
GSE initially got it a bit wrong at Derby when they appointed Jewell, but once they were familiar with the territory and psyche of the Rams fans, got in Clough to do the necessary sorting out. It seems to be a never ending process of make do and mend, now.
Clough has sworn his loyalty to DCFC (but so did Glick - "we'll see the job through", "here for the long haul" etc), but arguably the one club he'd be tempted to leave Derby for, at least in the short term, would be F*rest, where - despite some muppet fans there slagging him off for being the Rams manager - they would surely see Nigel as a better bet for success than Steve Cotterpin.
Clough isn't really going to get anywhere beyond where we got to last season at Derby, regardless of his ability to squeeze maximum effort & energy out of his scavenged selection of generally ordinary players and the kids with potential - and he probably realises this.
Perhaps realising that he had to sell Shackell (surely the sort of player any manager at our level would build a team around - ask Eddie Howe - to get in any players worthy of the shirt) - might just tip Clough's thoughts towards looking for greener (or redder) grass elsewhere, for his own career & his family.
So would the new F*rest moguls be committed to sorting out that Trentside financial mess, then tempt Clough with real money and so get in a former Reds hero as their figurehead? No upheaval necessary for Nigel & family, either.
How many Rams fans on here would be (even more) revolting if that happened? As Shackell - departed hero - said himself after signing for Super Burnley, nothing surprises us anymore in football.
It'd be a bigger faux pas by GSE than Villa managed with McLeish....
Meanwhile, will Glick just fiddle about before he soon rides on out of Derby to his new pardners, or will he actually do his job and help Clough to get some decent players in that will give fans some hope for future success?
Discuss! [Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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