Rams supporters were still digesting the latest reality check from the Everton defeat, when news broke of major changes at the top of the club.

On Monday 29th October, Huddersfield Town fan and ex-Hull City Chairman Adam Pearson (43) was announced at a press conference as Derby County’s new Executive Chairman as Peter Gadsby stepped aside to give Pearson day-to-day control of the club.

By so doing, Mr Pearson has ostensibly stepped into a controlling role vacated very rapidly by Peter Birch as well as taking the chairmanship from Peter Gadsby himself and thus has the mantle of executive focal point to steer the club onwards and upwards towards re-establishing themselves as a top-flight club.

It also ensures that off-field matters surrounding Derby County seems set to dominate the stories and speculation once again for the immediate future! Both Gadsby and Pearson are united in the principle that it is conditional that any new investors must have the club's best interests at heart. Pearson says that Derby’s ability to attract such major investment would compare very favourably with competing clubs.

Pearson has acquired Mr Gadsby’s shareholding (which PG points out, for the same value as Gadsby himself paid for it, even though some fans lazily first chose to moan that he’s sold on for a profit or accused PG of abandoning the club).

Whilst Pearson isn’t stumping up his own personal fortune, his primary objective is to attract major domestic or foreign investment to enable Derby to compete at the top level. Gadsby said that the club could not run properly and expand without more full-time executive control.

It’s reasonable to observe that Mr Gadsby, from his retained seat on the DCFC board may still have considerable interest and influence on behalf both on the club’s progress and in his own personal business interests in the forthcoming Pride Plaza project and stadium development plans.

Mr Gadsby admitted that impatient and irrational criticism and abuse from some fans had been a factor in his decision to relinquish control. He also realises that the considerable demands of his own business interests and his family were being neglected and that he could do neither role full justice.

He remains on the Derby County board as a non-executive director, with the existing board otherwise unchanged as Mr Pearson moves into the full time Executive Chairman’s role.

Rams fans should acknowledge and thank Peter Gadsby (along with his fellow board members) for the tenacious and dedicated commitment they applied to wresting control of the club from the disgraced Sleightholme regime. Mr Gadsby, as Chairman, can rightly be referred to in perpetuity as the man who saved Derby County from oblivion in 2005. He has been a responsible and diligent custodian of our club.

He oversaw a complex transition, which included solving the conundrum of the punitive ABC loan and stranglehold on the stadium ownership and the horrendous £54m debt they inherited, marshalling a £25 rescue plan to remove the club from the temporary control of the Co-operative Bank before recruiting and funding Billy Davies to catapult us into the Premier League.
 
Asked why he left Hull City rather than mastermind an attempt to take them into the top flight for the first time in their history, Adam Pearson stated that Hull needed new blood and he had handed over to a new regime their who would pursue that ambition.

The new Executive Chairman declared that Derby were “planning on staying in the Premier League” and that he had an open-ended view of how much new investment was required to take the club to the next level. This wasn’t essential in time for the January transfer window, he said, as money would be available to the manager - though should that investment be achieved promptly, then it would accelerate the process of growing the club.

There was a vote of confidence (eeek!) from the new Executive Chairman for manager Billy Davies and expected friendly platitudes in return, as well as tributes regarding Mr Pearson from others in the game that enjoyed working with him, such as ex-Hull boss Peter Taylor.

Mr Pearson appears to be well thought of by Hull City fans and his ex-colleagues and he moved that club forward very considerably over several years of service.  He and Peter Gadsby have been friends for some years and Pearson helped the Derby chairman with his advice during the dark period in Derby’s history when the Amigos had to be routed and PG was assembling his takeover consortium.

Adam should be given due respect and a fair chance by Rams fans and he will know from recent observations that this football city is historically capable of both acknowledging good servants and banishing those who would condemn the reputation and well-being of our club into decline and its fans into disrespect.

The litmus test is whether the coming financial reconstruction of Derby County can turn the heads of prospective players and their agents and see substantial new blood join the playing squad in January 2008. We’ll be either mounting a bold Premier League survival bid or overhauling the squad in readiness for an assault on the Coca Cola Championship title in 2008-09.

In the meantime, Billy Davies has stressed how he must soldier on with what he currently has at his disposal. Initially, this came in the form of another test against an established and aspirant side, the away game at Aston Villa on Saturday 3rd November.

Team changes followed the Everton defeat; Miller missed out through a hamstring strain, Fagan replaced Eddie Lewis and Mears lost his place to Andy Griffin. Leacock was the midfield ‘monitor’ at the start of the game and Steve Howard was restored to the team but record signing Rob Earnshaw still had his backside glued to the sub’s bench.

For the present, the Rams must approach every game as an opportunity to improve and to stay in touch with several teams at the foot of the League who are doing little better. It didn’t happen at Aston Villa on Saturday and again it was a case of ifs, buts and maybes as the game went away from us in the second half.

Easy goals taken by Villa through Derby’s trademark unprofessional defending enabled Martin O’Neill’s unspectacular team to win comfortably.

After a bright start in a compact and resilient first-half display, I’m of the opinion that the inclusion of (injured) Kenny Miller or Rob Earnshaw to the starting line-up (leaving Fagan on the bench) would have posed more genuine attacking problems for Villa and Derby might well have shaded the game and had something to protect. For all his energy, Fagan is neither striker nor winger.

Instead, schoolboy defending and unforgivable lapses of concentration soon after the interval presented Villa with two quick goals. The welcome half-time 0-0 was ultimately turned into a mountain to climb as Villa players were left unattended to score and it is a brave man indeed that predicts that the present Rams’ team can score two or three goals at all, let alone from a sudden 0-2 deficit away from home.

It was an effete and punchless second half display that characterised a team low in confidence, again showing too much respect for the opposition. Substitute Rob Earnshaw did show some threat later on with two half-chances and many fans now want to see him regularly paired with Howard or Miller to provide more thrust and threat than is currently apparent.

3,000 travelling Derby fans in the 41,000 Villa Park crowd were again disappointed not to see an away goal and could only witness their side handing the game to unexceptional opposition.

The Rams will take on West Ham at home next week and must look to picking up points and goals so as to stay in touch with the half-dozen clubs in the Premier League basement who are doing little better themselves.

In RamsWeek 44 last year, the Rams were riding with lady luck. Lowly Barnsley surprised the Rams who were dreadful in the first half of this home game. Whatever Davies said at the break had an effect, as substitutes perked up the team and Giles Barnes delivered two winning goals.

Then, fancied West Brom played some football at Pride Park and strode into the lead but then showed the complacency that dogged them right until their fateful Wembley defeat last May at the hands of the Premier League Rams!

Matt Oakley strode half the length of the pitch to blast in a strike of the season from 25 yards and then Giles Barnes careered around the bemused Baggies defence for a brilliant solo goal to knock the rest of the stuffing out of them. 2-1 to Derby again and we’re on our way...

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