There was widespread shock when Nigel Clough was sacked as Derby manager earlier this season, but a promotion push under his replacement Steve McClaren has justified the decision so far.

Overview

Football managers always were in a precarious position, simply because it’s easier to sack one man than a squad of 25, but as the money has increased in the sport, and the power has shifted almost entirely to the players and their agents, so the sackings have increased. Teams cannot afford to be relegated from the Premier League, or stay out of it for too long, and so these days you see a club like Swansea sacking a manager like Michael Laudrup — who fitted their ethos perfectly and, until very recently, was said to be doing a fine job — after just 11 matches without a win, while sitting twelfth in the league.

Managers are usually seen as the innocent victims in this. Players stop playing for them, chairmen undermine them, they don’t have enough money to spend, they aren’t given enough time — the excuses poor forth and the sympathy is plentiful and we lament what a horrible sport we follow these days. When you see how Cardiff treated Malky Mackay, and their results since he left, it’s all fully justified.

Only in the very, very extreme cases — Mark Hughes at QPR last season — do people actually nod and say “yeh, he deserved that.” Usually any sacking is seen as a bad thing: a knee jerk reaction by a club, a panicky move, an unfair decision. The sacked managers queue up to sit on the Goals on Sunday sofa and have their career highlights played over generic classic rock while Chris Kamara and GMTV’s Ben Shepherd nod sagely at their stories of just how hard done to they were in their last job and how they’d definitely go back in for the right opportunity. When Peter ‘Reidy’ Reid or Bryan Robson have to go as far afield as Thailand to find somebody stupid enough to give them said opportunity, Alan ‘Curbs’ Curbishley or ‘Big’ Sam Allardyce will sit alongside them and say something like “Reidy shouldn’t have to go to Thailand for a job” despite the fact that since leaving Sunderland “Reidy” has done nothing other than conclusively prove he is a luddite, with outdated coaching ideas, who tries to get by with angry, screamed team talks that have failed at Leeds, Coventry and Plymouth.

Derby County could, potentially, stand as a shining example of why a sacking isn’t always a travesty foisted upon a club by a clueless board of businessmen who aren’t “football people” and don’t “understand the game”. Because when Nigel Clough was dismissed at Pride Park at the end of September, following a 1-0 defeat at bitter near neighbours Nottingham Forest, the decision was universally seen to be harsh.

Clough had inherited the shuttle disaster left behind at Derby following their last botched attempt to return to the Premier League. Promoted just one year into Billy Davies’ three year plan, the Rams were totally ill-equipped for the top flight and spent 12 months under first Davies and later Paul Jewell, frantically thrashing around trying to amass enough quality to avoid a total humiliation — in the end they won a record low one of their 38 games and finished rock bottom. They brought in 26 players in 18 months, on top of the promotion winning team, to try and scramble up the cliff face but when they crashed and burned it left Clough taking over a squad of more than 40 players, charged with not only arresting the decline but also reducing the squad size and wage bill at the same time. Making financial cuts while trying to improve a team is not an easy task, and at first Clough had to stage two training sessions a day just to give all the players at his disposal a daily run out.

Given the mess he inherited, to prevent the Rams from sinking into the division below — as QPR, Bradford, Leeds, Southampton, Forest and others have all done before after similar fools’ missions — was an achievement. Not only that but he did indeed hack into the wage bill, reduce the size of the squad, built a stellar academy set up which has recently produced the talented Will Hughes among others, and get Derby to the point, earlier this season, where some might consider them an outside bet for the Championship play offs. They won 5-1 at Millwall, 3-0 at Yeovil and 2-1 at Brighton earlier this season and fans of all three clubs said they were the best side they’d seen so far when asked by LFW for this column.

But after that Forest match — a third straight defeat and fourth game without a win — if you’d said Derby would be fourth in the table going into February I think most would have been surprised. Clough specialises in slow, steady builds — he spent ten years at Burton Albion, eventually helping them achieve Football League status in a new stadium, and Derby looked like another decade-long job when he took it. It’s not in Clough’s make up to suddenly lead Derby on a promotion charge five years into a job — but that’s exactly what they’re on now he’s left.

The fact is, and has been proven since, that this Derby team is plenty good enough to push for the play offs this season. Steve McClaren, who coached here when Jim Smith managed an exciting Premier League Rams side spearheaded by QPR nearly man Paolo Wanchope in the mid 1990s, had rebuilt his reputation during an impressive coaching spell at Loftus Road and was available. Looking back with hindsight the ideal man for the job was available for free, and the signs were that Derby’s progress was crawling under Clough when it should have at least been walking purposefully in a forward direction. Sometimes a managerial sacking is the right thing.

The problem Derby face now of course is that McClaren, like Davies, might promote them to the Premier League before they’re really ready, potentially setting them up for the same crash-and-burn exercise as before. Mind you, given the money Premier League teams now earn even for a one-win-in-38 season, and the subsequent parachute payments they now bring into a Championship which has imposed FFP rules on its members, even if they did do as badly again, the effects wouldn't be nearly as cataclysmic as last time.

Interview

This week we found Joe who runs the @DerbyCountyTalk feed on The Twitter and forced him to talk about The Rams against his will through prolonged waterboarding sessions. Cheers Joe.

What was your opinion on the sacking of Nigel Clough at the time it happened? How do you rate the job he did at Derby?

I think I speak for the majority of Derby fans to say shocked was an understatement upon hearing that Nigel sacked by the club.

When he came into the job from Burton Albion in January 2009, the club was pretty much rock bottom. He inherited a side in the lower reaches of the Championship after relegation from that dreadful Premier League campaign, an overinflated wage bill, an ageing squad and no structured academy in place which the club could look to bring through young, local talent to the first team.

In the short, he did a fantastic job rebuilding the club. He, along with his back room-staff built up an academy which has produced and chances to young talent over the years in the form of Will Hughes, Mason Bennett and Jeff Hendrick, each one playing a part in Derby's successful season thus far. This is the achievement that I feel Clough will be most remembered for during his time at the club, and deservedly so.

I think this season was always going to be Clough's 'make or break' season so to speak. If we were to challenge at the right end of the table, and not hovering about mid-table, it'd have to be now.

In the end, GSE (the ownership group) and chief executive Sam Rush decided to pull the plug on Nigel, only hours after our 1-0 defeat to fierce rivals Nottingham Forest. The timing wasn't the best given the circumstances, but is there ever a good time to sack your manager who had been here for almost five years?

Given what's happened since have you changed your opinion on that decision?

Personally no. I was beginning to lose the passion of watching the inconsistent displays by Derby at the start of the season and as much as I liked Nigel, I thought a change would be needed to be made sooner rather than later to push us on by challenging for the play-offs/automatic spaces.

The appointment of Steve McClaren so far appears to back this theory up. I now, like many others go to games feeling like we can beat anyone on our day. The buzz around the club and the city is back.

What did you make of the Steve McClaren appointment at the time, and how do you rate the job he's done so far?

To be honest, when I first heard McClaren's name mentioned, I was sceptical. Many football supporters around the country/Europe remember him from his time as England manager, the whole 'Wally with the Brolly' tag is still mentioned to this day.

When it was announced that he would be bringing in Paul Simpson, an ex-Derby fan favourite and Eric Steele, arguably one of the best goalkeeping coaches in Europe, that was the moment that made me realise that something special could be about to happen at Derby.

The job he's done so far is nothing less than remarkable, when he arrived we were fourteenth and sitting in mid-table, now currently fourth and four points off second. The positive, nothing to lose attitude that he's implemented in the side is brilliant to watch, and long may it continue.

Who have been the stand out performers for Derby this season?

It's difficult to pick out just 1 or 2, as each and every player has just about made a positive impact on where we sit in the table currently. But if I was to pick out the three players who have impressed me the most, it'd be…

Chris Martin: The striker arrived from Norwich City on a free transfer in the summer after impressing on loan in March. He plays in the middle of a front three, bringing Derby's influential midfielders into play with his classy footwork and presence. The target man has so far notched up 17 goals in 33 appearances, with six assists to his name. One comparative which I thought was quite funny and summed him up well was on a fans forum was 'a Fat Berbatov'.

Craig Bryson: Without being biased, the stand-out midfielder in the league this season for me. He was bought in by previous manager Nigel Clough in the summer of 2011 for £350k from SPL side Kilmarnock. He's always guaranteed to give 100% in the games and never stops running - the ground he covers in games is incredible. He's recently added goals to his name, notching 11 for the season so far. It will be difficult to keep hold of him if the Rams don't return to the top flight soon. The complete midfielder and my Player of the Season for Derby.

Andre Wisdom: The Liverpool youngster and current England U21 captain arrived at the club on loan until the end of the season in October 2013 and has shown that he has everything as a defender to play at the very top level. He has been operating at right back for the Rams this season, although his preferred position is at the heart of the defence. He rarely puts a foot wrong and is as strong as an Ox, one to watch out for over the next few years for sure.

Where are the weak links in the team?

I think the biggest downfall which has shown in Derby's game this season is their leaky defence, we've conceded 40 goals so far, the eighth worst in the league.

I think because we have such a young and inexperienced side, we can sometimes be too keen to try and steamroll teams when in a comfortable lead, as shown at Birmingham last week when we conceded two goals in the last 15 minutes to draw 3-3.

How do you see the rest of the season panning out? Can you get promoted and, given what happened last time, is there a risk that it could be too early/before you're ready?

If you were to offer me a Play-Off place at the start of the season, I'd of bitten your hand off. I think we will finish in the top six, but just come short of promotion. We haven't yet beat any of the current top six, which doesn't bode well.

If we were to sneak into a top two place or win promotion via the play-offs, sensible but heavy investment would be needed to build a side capable of challenging in the Premier League. I don't think any side will ever be as bad and unprepared as the Derby side that went up in 2007 - it was a disaster from start to finish. It didn't bode well when the then manager and current Forest boss Billy Davies wouldn't comment on his future at the club, one day after the Play-Off final win against a West Bromwich Albion. The less said about him the better, so let's move on from that.

I'm expecting a tough game on Monday night against two of the best sides in the league, but I think the Rams might just edge it winning 2-1. Good luck for the rest of the season.

Links >>> http://www.dcfc.co.uk/>Official Website >>> http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport>Derby Telegraph local paper >> Ram Zone site and forum >>> Derby County fans forum >>> http://www.derbycounty-mad.co.uk/>Derby Mad site and forum

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isawqpratwcity added 11:29 - Feb 10 It does seem terribly tough on Nigel Clough after the sterling rebuilding job he'd done, but, fair enough to the chairman/board, results do talk and they made a fine appointment in McClaren. I wish he was still with us: he is the bloke who's skills complemented Harry's weak spots, in particular day-to-day training and rapport with the squad.
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TacticalR added 18:21 - Feb 10 Thanks for your oppo report and to the Derby fans. I was a little surprised when McClaren took the Derby job as I had the impression he didn't really like dealing with the hassles of management. However, so far he has done an impressive job. I agree with isawqpratwcity that we seemed to lose something with McClaren's departure, just when we were beginning to look more fluid with the home victory over Middlesbrough.

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