Whilst the footballing cliffhangers in the title, promotion and relegation issues unfolded elsewhere around the U.K., Derby County continued their squad and staff redevelopment activity.

Manager Nigel Clough and new Academy coach Darren Wassall formed a panel with host Matt McCann at a Rams Club members’ forum last Monday and were quite forthright about what they were looking for in players and how the club and manager viewed the recent transfer policy of Derby County.

The club don’t have to sell players - and Mr Clough named one or two misfits that he’d be surprised if Derby could even get a fee for! Derby will take the money if fees are offered for certain players that don’t seem to want to play for Derby or have no future at the club but will resist any approaches for players deemed to be the building blocks of the Clough team.

“Every player has his price, here, or Manchester United, or anywhere,” Clough said, regarding any possible interest in such as Commons, Addison and others. But they would only move on for ‘silly money’ and he is hoping to keep his favoured nucleus together.

Transfer expenditure came under scrutiny and the manager declared that the dishing out the £40m spent on players and wages over the last two years won’t be repeated - ‘ because it hasn’t worked’.

There would be a new prudence at Pride Park Stadium (yes, there had to be a reason for this week’s title using that dreadful Beatles’ pun!) Well…. some of the deals done by the two previous managers were costing Derby dear, that’s for sure.

Clough assured the fans present that newcomers would add quality, with him choosing players that could actually do the job when stepping in and who were always ready and able to play.

Clough allayed fears that DCFC would field a team of Conference or lower league improvers. “There will be 3 or 4 of them, that’s all”, he said. These could include Jake Buxton, and others linked to the club like Ilkeston Town midfielder Ben Pringle, Grimsby’s centre-back Ryan Bennett. They may be as much to assist the development of the (largely) under-21 reserve ‘development’ side as well as giving a chance to some hungry, promising players.

The era of costly players on their contract hopping, mercenary and seemingly carefree jaunt through the club appears to be over and a new air of reality and pragmatism is blowing around Derby County.

Paul Jewell did unearth some promising players that have made the step up, Green and Connolly being good examples; though he did ‘cock up’ on numerous other signings and policies, we were told and players are no longer surprised to have to train and play when they report to Moor Farm!

Clough is endeavouring to reinforce that developmental aspect of player recruitment in chasing such as Blackpool’s Shaun Barker (with the Rams reportedly having an initial £400k bid rejected for him) and Exeter’s Dean Moxey, as well as having talent scouts in Derby and the Midlands and such as Eire, as opposed to a variegated collection of international scouts everywhere but home.

There won’t be a transfer frenzy with fee after fee paid; the likes of £3m on Claude Davis, £3.5 on Earnshaw, and several big fee/no performance misfits have underlined that a philosophy of building a blend and cultivating a compact squad mentality must replace the destabilising activity of adding dozens of players to then see which ones fit and which ones sit it out.

Clough isn’t chasing household names or ex-Premier League ‘stars’ on their last lucrative go round but does hope to spice up the squad through the loan system and also hopes to land established Championship winger Lee Croft from relegated Norwich City. Statistics show that Croft put in the most crosses last season of all Championship players, and the service to Hulse and Porter, or whichever strike pair Clough deploys, is paramount to improving the club’s points’ haul and position.

Another interesting statistic was that we have a centre half who played in 42 games and wasn’t booked once…Clough let the audience name him, but if you can’t guess his identity, I’d be amazed! Defenders not giving and getting bruises and bookings were a major factor in our soft-centred rearguard, that’s been clear. The attitude and application have to be radically improved in defence, and that is Clough’s priority.

Players who really want a Derby shirt are what the manager is determined to find and field. Given Derby’s huge squad but worryingly threadbare end to the season through an alarming injury rate, concerns were expressed about the fitness and injury levels, which Clough acknowledged. Straight away, he has added (you guessed it, ex-Burton Albion) physiotherapist Matt Brown to his backroom team.

Brown chalked up 17 years at the Brewers - and it’s hoped that the leaner, fitter Rams squad of 2009-10 will see fewer injuries. Clough also has concerns about the players' footwear in regard to the spate of broken feet and toes. Hr mentioned that there is a new in-sock that he is interested in trialling, so that there is more protection than with the flimsy football boots that players wear these days.

In the boardroom, Tom Glick and GSE colleagues have stabilised the club’s operation and finances with Derby County expecting to show a small operating profit. Sponsorship income has doubled - quite an achievement after such an emphatic relegation and very poor fayre on the field of play and of course, in the light of the current economic climate.

Season ticket sales are expected to at least maintain the level of business from 2008-09 and circa 23,000 fans will buy in. The Rams topped the home attendance averages by a country mile at 29,400 and it won’t worry Messrs Glick and co to finish in a lower position in the 2009-10 attendance table due to the size of some relegated clubs, if Pride Park stadium is sold out again on a dozen occasions and sustains that astounding level of support.

Building for long-term success is the key phrase with the current board; the commercial and operational aspects of the club are geared to filling the stadium and maximising interest in the club from the whole community.

“It’s not about annual profits and dividends, it is about running a better business and building the business and investing that back in the asset. That for us means back into the playing side and back into our stadium”, said Glick. Good stuff; if the team perform better, it bodes well for a brighter future.

The Championship will certainly be even more competitive next season; apart from one or two North-East giants who will be expected to be front-runners if relegated, West Brom or Hull could be well equipped to acclimatise and prosper more readily in the second tier, having players and managers that know precisely how to succeed at this level.

It will be interesting to preview the whole of the Championship make-up before the new season starts, as there seem very few automatic candidates for the bottom three - and few predicted the relegation victims this season when previewing 2008-09! Nearly every club thinks they have a top-six place to work for…

Dirty Leeds are staying put in the third division (yay!) and with Charlton, Norwich and the Saints keeping them company, promotion won’t be a cake-walk for them yet again. ‘Mighty’ Newcastle United may well join us in the Championship next season, Shearer, Kinnear, Keegan or whoever; Leicester are back, the Trees are always there to be cut down - hey, we’re getting hungry for the fixture lists already!

The Crown Court fraud trial of ex-Rams’ directors and associates continued in Northampton; ex-Finance Director Andrew McKenzie was accused of repeatedly lying to the police and deliberately defrauding Derby County FC, by the prosecuting QC. The five defendants deny all charges.

RamsWeek 20 last year had manager Paul Jewell declaring that his players were ‘pitiful’ in the repetitive manner in which he publicly berated the team without applying any formula to organise and motivate them to perform in the next fixture.

Transfer speculation saw Rob Earnshaw on his way to Nothingham Forest and midfielder David Jones linked with Preston and Wolves.

Plymouth’s Paul Connolly joined the Rams and Kris Commons, Jordan Stewart and Lee Carsley were linked with the Rams. What a different season it might have been if qwe could have landed Carsley…. uh-oh, I was forgetting that Jewell was still in charge!

It was the end of an era lasting 102 years as the Derby Evening Telegraph sporting ‘Green ‘Un’ was published for the very last time.

Photo: Action Images

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