Most people would think of stewards as people who have taken the place of Policemen.

But the business think tank ‘Tomorrow’s Company’, use the word in a very different fashion.  For example, they have assessed Premier clubs for their “stewardship”. 

Aston Villa is top of the league, while Manure languishes in thirteenth place well below clubs like Stoke (6th place).  Liverpool unsurprisingly is in second to last place while West Ham is bottom.

Frustratingly, they don’t seem to have a kind of league table for stewardship of the Championship clubs as that would inform us of how this business think tank assess the current owners of our club.

Certainly, I would be surprised if QPR were placed anywhere near the top with the likes of Briatore and Ecclestone in their boardroom – but let’s just see what tomorrow’s Company mean by ‘stewardship’?

They “focus on management continuity, youth development, improved facilities, and the club giving something back to the community."

The five criteria are as follows:
• Do the Board put the club first by ensuring that it prospers in the future or do they just see it as a money-making vehicle?
• Is there a concept of “long-termism” with investment in the stadium, youth development and the debt level manageable?
• Is there clarity of purpose in terms of decision-making processes and is the Board trusted not to meddle in team affairs?
• Does the club listen to the community and respects its fans?
• Is the Board obsessive about doing the right thing for the club and football more generally?

The third purpose – that of being clear who makes what decision and not meddling in team affairs is why I suspect QPR would be low down in the Championship league if there were one.

These five criteria are what make Arsenal the second place team – the only one of the so called “big four” to be so highly regarded by this think tank.

But let’s focus on Derby County for now – and what follows is just my opinion.  There will no doubt be those out there who will disagree, which of course is part of the beauty of being a football fan.

On the first criterion – I would say that our current Board does put the club first by reducing the debt, encouraging local people to visit by handing out free tickets, and generally seeking to enhance its long-term prosperity by building bridges with other companies.

Which leads me to the second criterion – by working on making the debt manageable for Championship levels, adding the Bloomer statue and Pickering Entrance which enhances the stadium, and backing the introduction of the reserves or “development squad”, again I would say yes, our Board does meet this criterion.

On the third, this seems pretty much a no-brainer – we know that Adam Pearson manages the financial side of player contracts while Nigel Clough gets on with the business running the team.  There doesn’t seem to be any doubt who does what and who makes what decisions.

Does it listen to the fans?  Well, this is the most open Board I have ever encountered – people are able to email the likes of Tom Glick, Adam Pearson and get replies to their emails.  They are now in the process of sorting out a statue for Taylor and Clough – again, something that delights many fans.

Finally – does the Board do the right thing by the club and football generally? 

This is a difficult one – but so far, I would say yes.  They are trying to support the World Cup bid by canvassing for Pride Park which would be good for football generally as opposed to having it down the road where massive investment would be needed and the only people who would benefit would be a few fans sitting in an empty stadium while ours would always be near full.

This template of “stewardship” avoids looking at a simplistic balance sheet of players in and out, alongside current league positions.  This is where many fans naturally focus their attentions on.  But that does not always lead to sustainability, as we all know to our cost.

To be honest, I tried to think of some negatives and couldn’t.  And to top it all, Andy Appleby made it clear that the model that they seek to emulate was that of Randy Lerner – Aston Villa, the top club in this assessment of “stewardship” and not that of Hicks and Gillett whose reign at Anfield has made Benitez’s job that much more difficult.

They have repeatedly stated that they are here for the long haul – which also means that no matter how fierce the criticism of Nigel Clough, they are likely to stand by him while he learns on the job – something that didn’t happen to John Barnes at Tranmere for example.

So from escaping the clutches of one of the most rapacious set of carpet-baggers ever into the arms of our current Board who have shown themselves to be capable custodians of Derby County as a club so far, it seems in my opinion that we are indeed incredibly lucky.

Photo: Action Images

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