After a mixed week for Derby County in which Championship safety was within touching distance, the Rams faced in-form Norwich City and then fellow strugglers Bristol City.

As well the ongoing Bank Holiday season with the Easter break now passed, it was a week of landmark events and anniversaries on a local and national scale. Of course, a certain girl called Catherine married a royal prince called William, watched by a worldwide audience of billions.

The depressing reality of modern times was momentarily displaced with a dream-like helping of traditional English pageantry, and people at home and abroad smiled again for a couple of hours.

It was Radio Derby’s 40th anniversary and the station marked the event with open days, as well as broadcasts featuring retrospective archive trawlings from the station’s recorded history of our city. Epoch-making sound bites were replayed; the Rolls-Royce crash, the miner’s strike, The Queen opening the Assembly Rooms and Pride Park Stadium and many more events of note.

It was some 39 years since Brian Clough’s Derby County side lifted the League Championship for the first time; Stuart Webb’s High Court drama registered the oft-troubled governance of our club. The station also marked Clough’s passing as well as promotions and relegations over past decades. What will the next 40 years bring for our city and our club?

Promotion contenders Norwich City thumped local rivals Ipswich Town 5-1 at Portman Road last Thursday; the Canaries won 2-1 at Pride Park Stadium last December and have challenged at the top virtually all season, after adapting immediately to Championship life upon promotion from League One last May. Derby’s Easter Monday task was a formidable one.

Norwich represents another club that make a mockery of Derby’s turgid stop-start-stop, cut-price ‘building responsibly’ philosophy - because they have recruited better players or moulded a better blend to sustain their momentum and mount a promotion challenge.

Manager Nigel Clough had an enforced team change from the home defeat against Burnley due to Jamie Ward’s suspension, so Alberto Bueno returned to action. Gareth Roberts was fit to resume at left back to put Russell Anderson out of his misery and it was to be Sean Barker’s final game of the season, with his knee operation booked for later this week.

It was another sweltering day, the 26,000 Easter Monday crowd at Carrow Road hoped to see their team maintain the push for automatic promotion as they stood in 2nd place in the Championship table.

There was a tremendous build-up to kick-off from the home fans with a resounding crowd chant answering back the PA announcer. It was far removed from the ear-splitting, all-consuming but false atmosphere produced at Pride Park Stadium, where the PA cranks out stadium rock anthems at illegal levels. DCFC should take note and liaise with Rams fans more closely and attempt to create their own fortress ‘wall of sound’.

Within minutes of the start, Ayala received treatment after a clash of heads, which at least broke up City’s initial momentum. The game settled down with Norwich probing away and Derby looking to play on the break, holding their own without worrying the Canaries’ goalkeeper.

All went according to plan for Derby, as in their last away game when the Rams were stubborn ‘underdogs’ at QPR - that is, right up until the break, when Derby conceded another late, late sloppy goal as the game moved into first-half stoppage time.

Simeon Jackson made it 6 goals in his last 6 games for Norwich when he nodded home after a quick throw-in, with Derby’s centre-halves taking and Easter holiday and switching off.

Norwich resumed the initiative on the restart and it looked to be a rearguard action for Derby to achieve a respectable result. Scunthorpe and Preston’s reversals in their Easter Monday games vs. Millwall and Cardiff respectively would still mean that those clubs were relegated and Derby County were safe, regardless of the result at Carrow Road.

Suddenly, Derby snatched an equaliser, as Steve Davies headed in a classy Bueno cross to stun the home crowd. It was more than the Rams expected, as they had been ineffectual in attack - but clawing back to 1-1 showed their fighting spirit. Davies then curled a free kick narrowly wide.

Derby’s joy was short-lived however, as Jackson bagged yet another goal when he chipped a cute shot over the exposed Brad Jones to restore Norwich’s lead on the hour. Before the Carrow Road crowd stopped crowing in celebration though, Alberto Bueno flashed a shot into the Norwich net to make it 2-2! The Rams had been much more positive in the second half and Norwich lapsed, as they were twice surprisingly pegged back.

The mercurial Spaniard had a good game and his performance was very timely against such in-form opponents. Then, Brad Jones superbly clawed away a close-range Rob Edwards header. Savage earned a booking for a foul as a tense last quarter unfolded.

Derby were proving good value for their draw, matching City in a fine 2nd-half performance far improved from the Burnley collapse. Youngsters Ball and Hendrick again got a taste of the action in the last 10 minutes as the Rams hoped to close down the game.

Another excellent away point looked likely - until an injury-time corner bounced into the net off Simeon Jackson. He knew precious little about it but could claim a hat-trick from the touch, as Derby attempted to clear the danger some 6 minutes into stoppage time only for an attempted clearance to hit Jackson and cross the line. 

The Rams management queried the amount of added time (9 minutes or whatever) and Stephen Pearson was booked in a heated exchange with officials at the final whistle - but Derby could only bemoan their bad luck once more. You make your own luck in football, guys.

The curse of the late goal had struck yet again as Derby succumbed 3-2. It was cruel, and Carrow Road exploded in joy. Delia Smith may have cooked up a promotion-winning recipe for Norwich but Derby must now look to next season, when their self-declared objective is to be where Norwich City are today - in the thick of the promotion shake-up.

The Rams just cannot avoid conceding late, decisive goals and that is something the management must fix if the club is to make progress. Though defeated, Derby’s safety from relegation was thankfully confirmed on Easter Monday, with Scunthorpe United and Preston North End losing.

Manager Clough was disappointed that his team failed to see out the game and also resigned to acknowledge that referees will have their own mind on how to apply stoppage time. He was happy that the most important outcome on Easter Monday was attaining Championship safety.

The Rams remained 19th, on 49 points and 8 points clear of the bottom three - but without the worry than any of the relegation sides could catch them. Derby County could not now match last season’s ‘achievement’ of 56 points by winning their final two matches. Whatever meagre tally the club manages after 46 games, real progress is required next term or major changes top to bottom will be demanded.

At the top of the table, QPR *still* hadn’t quite secured automatic promotion after a home draw with Hull on Easter Monday whilst Forest, Millwall, Leeds and Burnley were still scrapping to qualify for the play-offs.

Rangers finally became champions (notwithstanding a possible points’ deduction pending a forthcoming ruling on their rule-breaking) by winning at Watford on Saturday. The Trees are now odds-on to secure a play-off spot at the expense of DirtyLeeds.

Rams fans yet again looked on as their club provided just a footnote to the 2010-11 season. Derby had to leave the prize-chasers to their glory - or glorious failure - and accept that for them, survival was again the only target achieved on the field. It could have been worse, we’ll no doubt be told; are we supposed to be grateful? Does anybody at Derby County ‘dream big’ anymore?

Proud Preston North End got relegated on Monday; On Saturday, Scunthorpe and Sheffield United also failed to escape the clutches of League One in suffering defeats. Derby escaped relegation due to the even greater failings of three other clubs. That - and the goals scored by Kris Commons prior to January 2011. He could be considered Derby’s Player of the Year in absentia!

He scored goals that beat Leeds (away on opening day), against Middlesbrough and Doncaster at home, and Ipswich away - I make it that twelve vital points were secured by seven goals, which Commons scored in those games for Derby. Without those pre-Christmas goals and points, Derby County would now be relegated, rock-bottom of the Championship table.

Make no mistake; the moves that Messrs Glick & Clough make in the transfer market over the next 3 months will shape Derby County for the next few years. Just for good measure, one tabloid reports that Clough is disillusioned and set to quit Derby to return to Burton Albion!

Whoever runs Derby County, it’s clear that a make-do-and-mend cut-price philosophy is no longer adequate or acceptable. The squad needs a total overhaul, as only a handful of players are fit to wear the shirt in the opinion of a growing number of fans. Investment and improvement are essential and the team must come out of the traps ready to compete in August.

On those sober thoughts, after a week of national celebration at the royal wedding and joy for clubs like QPR, Chesterfield and Brighton at gaining promotion it was time to turn thoughts to the weekend - and back to the moribund football fayre on offer at Derby, with Bristol City the visitors.

The final home game of the 2010-11 season was upon us with mixed memories from another campaign of under-achievement and stalled progress. Robbie Savage was to play his final home game for Derby County against Bristol City - and next week he will retire from playing at the end of the current season, with a career of over 600 games to his credit. 

Manager Clough made one change to the team that succumbed in added time at Norwich on Monday, Russell Anderson replacing captain-elect Shaun Barker at centre half. The ex-Blackpool defender received a warm welcome from the sun-baked 25,750 crowd when he appeared on the pitch just two days after his knee operation.

Sean made it to the centre circle on crutches, to hand over the fans’ Player of the Season Award to full-back John Brayford. It was a well-deserved accolade for the ever-present Brayford, who has had an excellent first season at Derby.

He and Barker represent two of the handful of building blocks upon which Derby can build a better team for the future. James Bailey took the Young Player of the Year; I thought it a little curious that a Derby-reared Academy graduate like Callum Ball or Jeff Hendrick didn’t win this award - but here’s to good things from all three youngsters next term.

The hope was that the Rams could give their fans some solace to take home at the end of the season, a final home win to atone for recent disappointments. Derby fans have yet again been left to hang on to a dream. Low investment, glib promises and assertions about strategy and progress, disappointments and inconsistent performances from a patched-up squad leave us well short of the mark with no tangible progress in terms of results and achievements this season.

A good performance against Bristol City in the final Pride Park Stadium fixture of the season was one thing that Clough and his players could give back to loyal fans, with a suitable send-off to the retiring captain Robbie Savage.

We might have known, though; it wasn’t to be and the fans were let down once again, left to dream about next season, if they had the stomach (or funds) to renew season tickets and anticipate better things to come.

An utterly mediocre performance by Derby saw them lose 0-2 and they suffered their 11th home defeat of the season. The wins over Swansea and DirtyLeeds recalled the all-too-brief purple patch in the autumn, when a Derby team won six in a row for the first time in the history of Pride Park Stadium but supporters had to cherish what few good memories they had of this season.

Performances like the one against the Robins banished such memories and any goodwill as Derby sent their fans home dejected after a weak, gutless performance in an ultimately feeble effort during 2010-11.

They gave away a goal after just 5 minutes, when ex-Ram John Stead was allowed to receive a thrown-in, attack the area and then turn Ayala to shunt in a weak shot that Brad Jones fluffed totally.

If Derby had a top 20 of soft goals conceded this season (or should that be a top 40?) that would be one of the softest. A bad goal set the tone for a bad afternoon. Bristol then bossed the game as Derby huffed and puffed; when the Rams did create clear-cut chances, the best ones fell to Theo Robinson - one in each half - which a decent striker would have buried.

For me, these were turning points in the game. If you do not score when on top or have a clear goalscoring opportunity, you don’t get anything from the match. City goalkeeper Dean Gerken proved a competent barrier all afternoon but in those situations, a goalkeeper should be left with no chance.

Theo has pace and presence but if he cannot finish, he could be another disappointing, inadequate acquisition. Derby seems keen enough to push a contract under his nose as soon as the season ends, so his improvement will have to be rapid and substantial.

Cole Skuse scored the Robins’ second goal after 66 minutes after a comedy of errors in the Derby defence. Bristol City had the comfort goal they needed and that was all the ex-skuse that thousands of Derby fans needed to begin streaming away early after another dispiriting afternoon.

The simple art of clearing the ball decisively still evades current Derby players and after some unnecessary penalty-area tip-tap and pinball, Skuse happily stroked the ball through the clutter of scrabbling bodies and beyond Brad Jones into the net. Two stupid goals were conceded, so another home defeat was suffered.

As I watched, bored and annoyed in equally generous measures, I think I wanted the season to end almost as much as the Derby players did. Their minds are firmly ‘on the beach’ judging by this sorry showing and we sorely need players that will do more than make up the numbers.

Robbie Savage left the pitch when substituted after 85 minutes to an ovation on his last appearance in a Derby shirt at Pride Park Stadium; the task of management is to replace him in terms of his spirit, commitment and example - whilst adding more quality, mobility and purpose.

The tedious, meaningless and futile annual pitch invasion of the easily excitable elements in the crowd prevented captain Robbie Savage or the players from filing out, to show their appreciation to supporters close up on the pitch as events came to an underwhelming conclusion.

Derby end their season next Saturday in the curiously-rearranged final fixture at Reading, who are safely confirmed in the play-offs and merely jockeying positions to see which club they will face in their bid to reach the Wembley final.

Little is expected of Derby at the Madejski Stadium next weekend; Clough may ring the changes and blood some youngsters. They will dream of a first team place next season, as fans must still hang on to their dream that the club can emulate the likes of Reading, Norwich and QPR in 2012.

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RamsWeek 18 last season saw the team close out their fixtures with a welcome 1-0 home win over play-off contenders Cardiff City in front of a crowd of over 31,000. The Welsh club rested players and seem to be perpetual residents of the top six these days, as their investment signifies a bid for Premier League status.

Defender Jay McEveley headed Derby into the lead just after the restart and loan winger David Martin (who?) slotted in the second goal in a tidy display. Soon after, Clough signed him on a permanent contract. By Christmas he was out on loan from Derby and wingers were a thing of the past. My RamsWeek title a year ago of ‘Get It Right Next Time’ proved to be wishful thinking, only a dream…

Before the Cardiff game, Sean Barker was presented with the Player of the Year award with Ben Pringle named Young Player of the Year. Barker continues to strive for fitness yet leads by example as one of Derby’s few quality players; Pringle, making his full debut against the Bluebirds, has since rather slipped down Clough’s pecking order.

For Derby County, a lower mid-table finish was declared as progress over the previous season as the club’s owners stuck to their low-cost, high patience philosophy. A fat lot of good that’s done us this season, eh? GSE - invest, succeed, or ship out, was the clear message from fans in 2011.

Nigel Clough anticipated signing half a dozen players during the summer for his team to kick on up the table in 2010-11. Loanees Cywka, Martin, and Anderson were soon snapped up and Crewe prospects Bailey and Brayford were being lined up as further signings.

Fans waited in vain for the ‘marquee’ signing of a proven Championship goalscorer, with Gary Hooper and Billy Sharp mentioned in media stories.

We will certainly need one (or two) strikers next season.

There is no-one like Kris Commons on the books to help secure the goals for basic survival before Christmas next time around! 2010-11 went thoroughly flat without such quality for the last 6 months of the campaign - and lessons must be learned.

Photo: Action Images

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