The euphoria from Carling Cup victory over Stoke brought the prospect of a glamourous semi-final against Manchester United, and the club’s 125th anniversary plans added to the goodwill.

Nonetheless, the Rams commenced the week 16th in the Championship after a disappointing home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace.

The post-match post-mortem saw Paul Jewell replace his pre-season promise of promotion with a reiteration that the rebuilding task at hand. Messageboards and phone-ins had fans expressing dissatisfaction with progress so far, pointing at continual ‘back to basics’ declarations from the club after poor performances. At present, a moribund mid-table slot looks rather more likely that a top-six finish. 

Injuries to key players are a factor; Paul Green’s industry was badly missed against Palace and Jewell needs to find an energetic player to work alongside Miles Addison. Kaz is now showing strength and solidity as well as dead-ball and shooting skills, but a willing hustler like Green complements the powerful Miles Addison, providing the balance in the engine room of the team.

If the strikers aren’t prolific, midfield disjointed and the defence dozy and generous - frustrating characteristics of too many Derby performances this season - then good results will evade us.

To rub salt in the wound, Liam Dickinson scored twice again for Blackpool last week. That’s 4 in 1 game and 1 sub appearance; this at Championship level where Paul Jewell had declared Liam could not yet operate. Calls from supporters for an explanation of the ‘other factors’ surrounding Liam’s loan-outs were renewed - with the player amassing 10 goals so far this season - just as the club revealed it had yet another discipline problem to contend with.

Goalkeeper Roy Carroll, often observed to berate his defenders, has been suspended for a fortnight by the manager and excluded from training because of a dressing-room bust-up with Jewell after the home defeat by Palace. Carroll had gone ‘too far’, Director of Football Operations Adam Pearson explained, saying that the goalie needed a ‘cooling off’ spell.

With Stephen Bywater there to take the jersey and Welsh international Lewis Price as an experienced understudy, it’s not impossible to see Carroll moving in January, or being in demand on loan.

Carroll has a contract until 2011 at Derby but won’t want to be third choice or get displaced by bad relations at this stage in his career. That may be a way of saving wages or easing the purse if another outfield player is available to bring into the squad, notwithstanding the long list of out-of-favour signings and injury cases.

The Savage, Dickinson and Carroll disturbances with their consequent exclusion from appearances have damaged Jewell’s squad complement; the retirement of Alan Stubbs also dented Jewell’s plans for a meaningful assault on the top six of the Championship so far this season.

There was welcome further publicity for the long-awaited stadium memorial to Steve Bloomer, to be unveiled on January 17th 2009 before the Rams’ home game against QPR. Not unexpectedly, a new replica DCFC top was released, this one echoing back to Derby’s original 1880’s chocolate, amber and claret strip.

Most non-ticket, non-corporate income is measured in garment sales at football clubs these days - and I’d be very surprised if Derby waited until the close season to issue today’s replica Adidas kit sporting the commemorative 125 anniversary logo!

Giles Barnes' comeback is progressing after a 90-minute outing at Moor Farm in a private match against Leeds, though it still looks like a January return, months later than anticipated.

The Youth Team exited the FA Youth Cup with a 3-1 extra-time defeat at Southampton. Better luck next season, boys.

Paul Jewell took his squad to leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday with club and fans wanting to see more of the tenacity, work rate, teamwork and productivity that Derby can on occasions display - as at the Britannia Stadium the week before.

Jewel rang the changes after the Palace debacle. Apart from Bywater replacing Carroll, Martin Albrechtsen returned to partner Powell in defence, Zadkovich came into midfield with Hulse and Villa upfront and Luke Varney in a wide right role. Almost before the game had started, Derby went 1-0 behind. Darren Powell was adjudged to have handled in the area and Ebanks-Blake scored from the penalty spot with just over one minute gone.

Derby held their own with plenty of possession without converting a few half-chances; indeed, chances were scarce for either side. Wolves extended their lead on 39 minutes when Dave Edwards put a half-cleared Kightly centre straight back to goal past Stephen Bywater.

The second half saw the Rams make little progress, failing to put much constructive football together and Wolves playing largely within themselves to wrap up the points comfortably.

Wolves notched another goal before the hour mark was reached as Ebanks-Blake capitalised again on slow defending. Substitutes Ellington and Commons failed to turn the tide Derby’s way to any great degree as Wolves ran out easy 3-0 winners.

They have amassed more than twice as many points as Derby County so far this season and even if a squad containing 21 signings made by Paul Jewell in the past year is having injury disruptions at the moment, there is little pattern or cohesion to convince fans of a bright future.

There’s an unconvincing pallor falling over our season - players struggling to find their feet for weeks early on as the manager searched for a blend, a period of improvement with the welcome bonus of a rare Cup run, then the recent lapses into patchy form, loose play and regular defeats that seems to have blighted the club for almost a season and a half. Injuries have added to the manager’s woes.

At Molineux, Derby recovered a little from the ineptitude of their Burnley display and the poor showing against Palace - but Championship teams still often seem quicker in thought and execution than we do -and frequently show more ability to exploit the opposition (us!) and take their chances. The Rams need to be ‘hungry like the Wolf’ if they are to make a serious impact this season.

Wolves set about Derby and knew their weaknesses; a suspect central defence, open flanks and a patchy midfield. It’s pretty common knowledge from our displays, though we don’t often expose the opposition to a similar degree. Even if the instant penalty was harsh on the Rams, we were just too lightweight and loose to seriously threaten to take the game away from Mick McCarthy’s determined and consistent side.

True, he has now had three seasons to build his squad but the Rams should reap the benefit of greater backing, both in terms of support and resource, to be able to recruit and organise a team befitting the best attendance and one of the biggest wage bills in the division. Success, and value-for-money both evade us; let’s hope for further progress in the 2nd half of the season. If not, another upheaval might well beckon.

There’s interest on the horizon however, away from the moribund League form with ticket details announced regarding the upcoming cup-ties against very diverse opposition. There’s the Carling Cup two-leg semi-final clash with Champions League winners Manchester United on 7th & 20th January, preceded by the away FA Cup 3rd Round tie at Forest Green Rovers.

Let’s hope Derby rise to the challenge of playing United, as they did against Stoke, and also prove too strong for non-League Rovers.

Speculation in some press sources variously have Paul Jewell’s job under threat during the Rams’ latest disappointing run of poor form - and Miles Addison being sold on the cheap in the January transfer window, implying that the club is not as rich as could be believed from the alleged influx of worldwide funding.

Some hacks might know more than us, or think they do - or have perhaps already had an excellent office Christmas party and the headline writers among them are still benefiting from an alcoholic haze!

Monday night will see Derby hope to regain some form and take points from bottom club Charlton Athletic. A poor show down in London won’t help Paul Jewell’s cause one bit.

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RamsWeek 50 last year noted that it was ‘the same old song’ as Derby lost again, this time 0-1 at home to Middlesbrough with almost 33,000 in attendance. It was a tighter and grittier performance by the Rams though, even if they couldn’t find a goal to share the points and cheer the home faithful.

Chairman Adam Pearson was close to clinching new finance for the club, mooted to be an American deal, and Paul Jewell signed a new fitness coach, former Wigan colleague Nigel Ashby-Jones.

Paul Jewell was still assessing his squad and hoped that fresh funding would be available in the January transfer window in order to improve the squad to see it playing for its pride and producing a more competitive edge.

Photo: Action Images

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