Early this season, I remarked in this column that the success or failure of then-manager Nigel Pearson would depend in large part on his ability to produce value from a group of players I referred to as the Clement/Rush Six.

These were players signed during the Paul Clement era for large fees, and who were handed long-term contracts, but had yet to really succeed at Derby.

Tom Ince, Bradley Johnson, Jacob Butterfield, Andreas Weimann, Nick Blackman and Abdoul Camara were probably no worse than most other Rams players during the Pearson days, but the club’s investment in them looked to me to be hobbling the club for some time to come — unless they could turn around their performances.

Pearson, of course, flamed out in spectacular fashion due to factors well beyond the performances of these six players. But what was true of Pearson also must hold true for his successor Steve McClaren; if the Rams were to achieve success, these six players had to be a contributing part of it.

Complicating matters even further for our Steve was the club’s further transfer market largesse in the waning days of the Pearson reign by signing Matej Vydra and Ikechi Anya.

It might be helpful at this point to recap the Rams’ respective fortunes under Pearson and McClaren. Under Pearson, the Rams played nine league matches; winning one, drawing three and losing five. Three goals were scored and nine conceded in amassing just six points.

In the last nine league games under McClaren, the Rams have won seven, drawn one and lost one; scoring sixteen against five conceded, and amassing twenty-two points. We have moved from the relegation places to the edge of the playoff places. This represents a massive turnaround, indeed.

Have the Clement/Rush Six played a part in the revival?

In the nine matches under Pearson, the Six could in theory have combined for fifty-four starts. They actually started only fifteen games between them, Butterfield’s seven being almost half the total. Ince started five; Weimann, Johnson, Camara and Blackman all added together started three matches.

Needless to say, the Six did not manage a goal during this miserable time. It is no exaggeration to say that at the time Pearson left the club, the Rams’ investment of around £20 million and many years of expensive contracts was in danger of complete failure.

In the thirteen matches (two with Chris Powell in charge) since Pearson left, Tom Ince has started all of them and scored eight goals. Ince still blows hot and cold, and will never be mentioned in the same breath with the Rams legends, but his raising of his game has played a huge part in the Rams revival. He is starting to look like the player the Rams paid all that money for; his eight league goals are equal to the Rams’ next four leading scorers combined.

Bradley Johnson is another who has started every match since Pearson left. From being an unhappy-looking figure on the bench, Johnson has done a good job filling the new (to him) job of defensive midfielder, and has chipped in with two match-winning goals against Norwich and Wigan.

Jacob Butterfield has also started every league match since Pearson left. He has shown himself to be a player of considerable skill capable of influencing games, though he still makes occasional bad decisions and can fade frustratingly out of games. A return to his goal scoring form of last season would be most welcome.

Andreas Weimann remains a peripheral figure: he has made one start and seven substitute appearances since Pearson left, and has a long way to go to justify the Rams’ faith in him.

Abdoul Camara has also made little impact, but his appearances as a sub in the last two matches suggest that the manager may have seen something in his play that could be of use to the Rams.

Nick Blackman has yet to appear in the first team since McClaren became manager, though some of that may well be due to his time missed through injury.

So out of seventy-eight possible league starts since Pearson left, they have combined for forty; thirty-nine for three of them, and one for the other three.

So, we see three players out of the Six who have contributed significantly to the Rams revival, and three who have not.

There still may be some hope for the latter three; certainly, if anyone can encourage performances from them it would be McClaren.

On the down side, Anya and Vydra have made little impact since the new manager’s arrival. Whether they are to play any part in his plans, only time will tell.

It could well be said that Steve McClaren was handed something of a sow’s ear when he took over the Derby squad. If so, he is striving valiantly to make a silk purse of it.

Photo: Action Images

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