When I wrote my last article, Rams fans were still contemplating last season’s eighth place finish and wondering whether Steve McClaren would stick around or leave for Newcastle.

Since then we received an emphatic answer to that question. McClaren played games, the club ended the farce and Steve was gone. In a matter of months we had a totally new coaching staff and more than half of a new team.

But when DCFC history is reflected on, where will Steve McClaren fit among Rams managers of the Past?

There can be no question that McClaren inherited an underperforming team and within his first season took it to a playoff final. But then last season’s eighth place finish was only two places higher than the tenth we achieved in Nigel Clough’s last full season.

Already McClaren’s influence is fading. Saturday’s starting team at Bolton included only two permanent McClaren signings; Warnock and Thorne, two players who featured little last season.

Perhaps McClaren’s time at Derby would last longer in ones memory if the money he spent on Albentosa, Dawkins and Shotton had proven to be a shrewder investment.

I realise that most football club managers have to consider leaving their club while at the peak of their success; if they do not, then such is the lack of loyalty in the game that they will surely be sacked when results decline.

That said, Steve McClaren’s situation at Derby was different than that of most managers. He had previously been part of a popular and extremely successful managerial partnership with Jim Smith at Derby before going on to scale the heights of coaching success while also tasting failure before once again joining the Rams.

The return to DCFC allowed McClaren to restore not only his damaged reputation but no doubt his finances. There was little reason before the Newcastle rumours began to surface that McClaren’s tenure could not have become a long and successful one. Steve McClaren owed Derby County and its supporters better than the ending to the relationship that he delivered by allowing his eye to wander.

Before I finally leave last season behind and move on to the present, there is one more thing to touch on. Last season, a particular thought occurred to me for the first time in many decades of following the Rams; are our key players being targeted for injury by opposing teams?

The injury to George Thorne, while tragic seems to have been innocent enough, as it occurred in a pre-season friendly overseas. But then Craig Bryson seemed unable to capture any form with a series of injuries.

The team’s form was impeccable with John Eustace in the side, but his Rams career ended with an injury in January. In early February Chris Martin — the one player many agreed we could not do without — ended his season early with injury.

Last Saturday during the Bolton match, the same thought came back to me with both Bryson and Hughes off the pitch with serious injuries with barely even half an hour of the new season elapsed.

During the Rams’ playoff season I observed in this column that we could probably not expect to be as fortunate with injuries as we were in that season and we certainly have not been as lucky since.

It has always the case for supporters that there is little we can do but accept the situation and get used to it. Probably I’m being paranoid. But when its one key player after another, you do wonder.

As I write this column I can only that hope during our second outing of the season tomorrow against Charlton, that everybody comes through it unscathed!

Photo: Action Images

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