All of a sudden another football season is drawing to a close. The Rams started the season under an inexperienced but highly touted head coach in Paul Clement, fresh from his time as a number 2 with Real Madrid.

Under Mr. Clement’s watch, Derby made a disappointing start to the season, then became unbeatable for quite a while before becoming unable to win at all.

Clement was replaced by the even less experienced Darren Wassall, who after a while was handed some assistance when the massively experienced Harry Redknapp was brought in as a sounding board.

In the present the team is stumbling along, winning some and losing some, towards a probable playoff position.

The Rams currently sit in sixth place with 67 points from 40 matches and we still could finish as high as fourth as both Hull and Sheffield Wednesday, despite being ahead of us, are passable with only two points separating us and them.

Taking the glass half empty approach is what the Rams need to do to ensure a playoff place is to stay ahead of Cardiff, who are four points behind us, also with six to play. A much better goal difference for the Rams means that Cardiff need to amass five points more than the Rams to steal their spot.

The Rams could have gone a long way towards ensuring a playoff place with a win at Cardiff last Saturday but defeat in a thoroughly limp performance meant that we were looking anxiously over our shoulders going in to the match against fourth placed Hull on Tuesday.

The Rams then produced probably our best win of the season so far, a gorgeous performance that sets us up for an intriguing last six matches.

The Rams’ next three matches are all eminently winnable: bottom club Bolton at home on the ninth; second bottom Charlton away on the sixteenth; and twentieth place — but playing much better lately — Bristol City away on the nineteenth.

We then finish up with three much tougher matches; fifth place Sheffield Wednesday at home on the 23rd; third place Brighton away on the 2nd of May and finishing with eighth place Ipswich at home on May 7th. Certainly we will be expecting to finish with a win, should one be necessary.

I also took a look at how many points have been necessary for a sixth place finish in recent seasons. The highest was Ipswich’s 78 last season, and the lowest was 68 by Leicester in 2012/2013; the average over six seasons has been 73. The Rams should be expecting to be above the top end of that range and as noted earlier, may well be capable of finishing higher than sixth.

The next month should be interesting for Rams fans, and it begins on Saturday with a match that on paper could hardly be more of a nailed on Rams win. Bottom placed Bolton are a young side and have only two draws to show for their last ten league matches. They do not score all that many goals and they let them in consistently.

A win, as expected would set us up nicely for the playoff run so more of Tuesday’s form would be very welcome.

While I want the Rams to do well in the remaining games and make the playoffs, what happens after that is a different matter altogether. We all have to play the hand we are dealt, but I am not sure that I would want to see the Rams in the Premier League next season.

The club has a largely untested head coach and have not shown the greatest judgement to bring in the right person. The club also has a talented squad of players, but one that has not consistently performed to the standard required this season; that’s why we are hoping for the playoffs, rather than the earlier expected top two places.

There are too few players who are automatic choices and too many that the club does not know what to do with. We do not know what the clubs strongest line up is and we do not know which positions are most in need of strengthening.

Furthermore, we should not expect that this summer will bring a large influx of new players as last summer did.

In many respects the situation is not so very different from a year ago but I do expect a happier outcome from this regular season compared to our last.

Photo: Action Images

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