Entertainment... a release... the chance to bask in reflected glory. Football's supposed to be all of these but supporting the Rams just gets worse week by week.

The Carling Cup win at Preston led us to believe we might just be turning the corner but Saturday's loss at Oakwell just indicates we haven't even reached it yet. On top of all that, the news of Tyrone Mears' trip to Marseille for an unauthorised trial just about takes the biscuit. You could be forgiven for thinking you'd only ever read a story like that in one of the tabloid football cartoons but at Derby County, it seems truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

I can only speak for myself but all I'm really looking for is for this season to be enjoyable; I've already said the same several times in these columns. It doesn't need me to say that last season was just a nightmare from the first kick to the last and personally, I'm in no hurry to repeat the experience and for me at least, a season of mid-table mediocrity holds a certain attraction just for once.

And a position in mid-table would certainly be attractive right now as we find ourselves rock bottom of the table with only a single point from four games and football fans of whatever persuasion wondering what the heck is going on at our club. You have to wonder what we've all done to deserve this club of ours.

With the season only four games old I'm certainly not panicking yet but I'd just like us to win a league game every now and again - I'm tired of all these defeats. Football's supposed to be one of the things that makes you look forward to the weekend but for me at least, it just brings a sense of forboding in anticipation of another defeat.

Obviously, confidence throughout the club and supporters is still extremely fragile and personally, my sentiments are pretty confused. Long term, I'm still optimistic about the future of the club but yet right now, I have little confidence in the team's ability to pull off a result. Confidence is one of those strange things which once lost requires something undefinable to break the circle and get it back.

With regard to Mears - well I'm almost speechless! If what Adam Pearson and Paul Jewell say is to be believed (and I sincerely hope it is) Mears must have been absolutely desperate to get away from Pride Park (or maybe his agent holds little regard for how things should be done). And yet at the end of last season when Paul Jewell asked each player if they wanted to leave the Rams or stay and try to get the club back on the road again Mears must have indicated the latter or Jewell would have made sure he was amongst the ranks who've departed since May.

Now it looks like he's played his last game for the club. Good job! The last thing we need with confidence low at the club is to have a discontented player brooding on the sidelines. In the end, all sides got what they wanted. The club offloaded another player who's underperformed and who carries with him the stigma of last season's failures, he gets his wish to play in Ligue 1 and Marselille get their man. I'm just glad we managed to use the loan system to get him away before he could damage the club further.

Living for the weekend... Heck! When you're a Rams fan it makes you wonder why.

Derby County News 24/7

Steve Tickle

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