There was no tangible movement to report upon at Derby County in terms of player ‘ins and outs’ as the manager was on holiday and any potential transfer deals were still in abeyance.

As Dan has reported, the Rams are watching and waiting regarding the two transfer targets of John Brayford from Crewe Alexandra and Dean Moxey from Exeter City.

Adam Pearson said that ‘it’s going slowly’ on all transfer fronts; the Moxey deal looks most likely to go through and was set to progress onto discussing personal terms for the player at the time of writing.

Crewe might be waiting for increased bids from Derby or elsewhere before parting with Brayford and the Blackpool defender, Shaun Barker, is no nearer a move to either Derby or elsewhere. It’s all gone quiet over there, as the Tangerines want to keep hold of their star player. Other reports persist that Derby are bidding for Southampton striker Dave McGoldrick.

Stray full-back Tyrone Mears is finding the transfer market slow, too; he’s been on loan at Marseille and had his five minutes of fame in scoring the goal that took the French club into the UEFA Cup quarter finals.

They don’t want to sign Mears on a permanent basis however and at present neither does any club, Premier League or elsewhere. He’s now been capped by Jamaica, so the England ambitions he voiced some time back have been surrendered - but hey, at least he gets to play alongside Claude Davis.

Mears, like want-away Giles Barnes, could make a future contribution to the Rams to repay the loyalty shown by their current club through respective prolonged injury sagas. Unless things change on the transfer front, both will report back to Moor Farm in July as part of Nigel Clough’s 2009-10 squad.

Regardless of the slowness of the transfer market, there are a lot of changes a-ringing out loud amongst the other Championship clubs. I suppose it’s pretty small beer in terms of the political and economic turmoil that the nation (or perhaps the whole world!) is currently enduring but there’s plenty happening in football and a very active close season is unfolding.

Managerial change is imminent at several of Derby’s competing clubs, and some ownership issues are also unfolding. Some of this current activity now makes Derby County look relatively stable!

Newcastle United is of course the high-profile example and huge changes are afoot at St James Park with an ownership change imminent if chairman Mike Ashley can hive off his expensive, flawed plaything. That scenario impacts upon whether Alan Shearer will continue as Toon manager on a permanent basis.

Relegated West Bromwich Albion may lose manager Tony Mowbray to Glasgow Celtic. Reports remain confused as the West Midlands club repeatedly insisted that the Bhoys have not approached them officially to obtain permission to talk to Mowbray; the various parties are angry that news had broken too soon.

Reading FC have replaced the departed Steve Coppell with Watford’s Brendan Rogers, so the Hornets are shopping for a manager again after only 6 months with Rogers in charge.

Swansea’s Roberto Martinez is moving to Wigan Athletic to replace Steve Bruce. Martinez’ high-quality football style has propelled him through the UK football management ranks, and the Latics will have beaten Celtic to his signature. Promoted Burnley are finding that Owen Coyle is now a hot managerial prospect with big clubs allegedly eyeing him up, though he says he’s staying put at the moment.

QPR have appointed their latest manager in Jim Magilton, sacked recently by Ipswich Town; promoted Peterborough’s boss Darren Ferguson is also being linked with various new jobs. Roy Keane is just getting his feet under the desk at Ipswich Town; Sheffield Wednesday will undergo ownership changes with American investors poised to take over, whilst a Japanese magnate is ready to acquire Plymouth Argyle.

Blackpool FC has taken on the well-travelled Ian “Olly” Holloway as manager and Coventry have appointed the experienced ex-England and Watford coach Steve Harrison as assistant manager to Chris Coleman. Barnsley have elected to stick with Simon Davey as manager and play-off final loser Kevin Blackwell has decided to remain in charge at Sheffield United.

So, although Nigel Clough’s Rams’ regime will soon commence its first full season at Derby County, the club has acquired an established managerial and coaching ‘unit’, mostly forged over the last decade at the Pirelli Stadium.

Elsewhere, it’s apparent that about half of the rest of the Championship clubs will be undergoing significant managerial or ownership changes (or both!) during this close season.

Closer to home, Notts County are set to be taken over by a Middle-Eastern investment group called Munto Finance Ltd. The deal has been recommended and unanimously agreed to shareholders and the Notts County Trust, who have operated the club for several years. I thus hope that fans will still have real influence at Meadow Lane after their heroic input. It is likely that a Nottingham-born finance specialist, ex-Everton commercial director Peter Trembling could become the Magpies’ Chief Executive.

Perhaps there is a romantic attraction for the consortium to revive the fortunes of the world’s oldest League club. It’s hoped (by me, at least!) that County can overtake the Trees as the primary Nottingham team - they’ll probably be richer than F*rest within weeks anyway, if the takeover goes through!

Talking of fantasy football, Derby fans voted Roy McFarland and Igor Stimac into Derby’s ‘all-time greatest team’ this month as part of the 125th anniversary celebrations. Roy Mac is arguably the greatest defender is the Rams’ history and as imperious and brilliant as Igor was, I’d personally have great difficulty displacing Colin Todd or Dave Mackay from being Mac’s partner in the team, because of the honours they won in the 70s glory days.

Roy and Igor were rightly proud to have been voted in to the team by the fans and of course they both hold Derby County very dearly to their hearts.

The Rams have had some fantastic players in their ranks down the years and we’ve been luckier than many other supporters in seeing such pure class and quality. Whatever the line-up of the ‘125th team’ in the final analysis, we will have a fantasy team containing many highly respected world-class players.

Whoever Nigel buys and picks to play, they should always be mindful of our great heritage but go out to express themselves and celebrate being a Derby County player, proud to be following in the footsteps of so many footballing greats.

They should never carry a burden of pressure in wearing the shirt or being watched by the large and loyal following that Derby County attracts. The Rams’ players should also make sure that they enjoy playing on one of the best pitches in the land too, as they will have a brand-new pitch in August after the Pride Park Stadium surface has been completely re-laid.

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In RamsWeek 23 last year I reported, “Everybody’s talkin’” with the transfer activity in full swing. Kenny Miller was moving to Rangers for £2m, Lee Holmes moved on to Southampton. Swansea’s Ferrie Bodde put in a transfer request but his chairman rejected Derby’s 2nd bid of around £1m.

Derby put a bid in for Sheffield United striker Rob Hulse and made an offer to Tranmere for their young forward Steve Davies.

Dirty Leeds were reported to be interested in Gary Teale, and the Rams’ tweaked the DCFC logo in readiness for a year of 125th anniversary celebrations, taking the Ram badge and enclosing it in a golden double-circle, in the first update since the early 1970s.

Photo: Action Images

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