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Bill's Take: Derby Will Not Find Salvation In The Transfer Market
Friday, 20th Jan 2017 08:28 by Bill Riordan

I should probably begin this week’s article by acknowledging a gaffe in last week’s article.

Call it hubris if you like, but coming just after the cup win at West Brom, I made this prediction about the Leeds game; “It will not be an easy game, but after Saturday the Rams will fear nobody in this division.”

I certainly got the first part right, but the second? Perhaps the Rams need to fear other Championship teams a little more, because after the Leeds match few of them will fear us.

I was thinking about the Leeds match, and about how impressed I was with one of their wingers; a lad named Kemar Roofe. They signed him last summer from Oxford for three million pounds; quite a risk to take on a lower league player, but he seemed to me to be at the centre of pretty much everything Leeds did.

I was wondering why it is that our big money signings do not seem to work out like that. So, I thought of an interesting test: let’s go back to 29th September, 2013; the first day after Nigel Clough was sacked as Rams manager.

Imagine that all of the Rams signings since then — I do not include those who have been and gone, such as Ryan Shotton and Simon Dawkins — could be sent back. The only choice is they all stay, or they all go. That means we are talking about Christie, Thorne, Carson, Baird, Shackell, Pearce, Olsson, Ince, Weimann, Butterfield, Johnson, Camara, Bent, Blackman, Anya, Vydra and Nugent.

They all stay, or they all go? If the club could get back the £30 million or so spent on them, I think it would be a very easy decision. If the club could get back the Clough-era players who have left, such as Hendrick, Martin, Grant, Buxton; even Sammon and the injured Forsyth, then it would be a very easy decision.

But even without the £30 million and the return of the players who have left, I would still let them all go. I would do it to have the club freed of the long-term contracts and the players who are not performing. It would require some slick work in the January loan market, but it would be worth it.

So, am I just pining for the bygone Clough days? No, I’m not; not at all. Brian, certainly, but not Nigel. But what that little test does illustrate is this; if somebody had told you back in September, 2013 that the Rams were about to spend almost £30 million on transfer fees to achieve a squad little better than what we had, you would find it incredible.

The Rams were underperforming and placed 14th when Nigel left, and now we have risen to the dizzying heights of 7th. A poor return, indeed for the club’s money.

Is there anything to be learned from this?

Absolutely.

Everybody at Derby — fans, management, ownership — need to recognize that we, of all clubs, are not going to find salvation in the transfer market any time soon. Two of the club’s most significant players of recent years came through the junior ranks; Will Hughes and Jeff Hendrick.

Those are exceptions, perhaps, but players such as Jamie Hanson, Max Lowe, Farrend Rawson (on loan at Coventry), Charles Vernam (perhaps to go on loan to Coventry) and Callum Guy (on loan at Port Vale) need to get more first team playing time.

Ownership needs to learn that building an effective team is a complex process that goes way beyond signing expensive players. Perhaps this lesson has been learned, at great cost. They also need to learn that responsibility for deciding which players should come in rests with the manager, who will be held responsible for the success or failure of signings.

Perhaps the remainder of the January window period will see some astute signings coming to Derby. I hope so, but based on signings from the past few years, I will not be holding my breath.



Photo: Action Images



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