Nigel Clough starts his first full season as Derby County manager with plenty of work to do to rebuild a large squad swimming with mediocre players.

Last Season: 18th in Championship Derby showed just how ridiculous people who back all three relegated sides to go straight back up really are by finishing dangerously close to the bottom three and actually flirting with relegation at various points during the season. LFW does not get to crow about being right too often but we did say that this would be the case in this feature last summer and it wasn’t the most taxing prediction we have ever had to make. With a disastrous one season stay in the Premiership behind them Derby started the season under manager Paul Jewell who was still waiting for his first win six months into his reign when they were beaten on day one at home to Doncaster Rovers. Jewell slapped another layer of new signings, eleven in total, onto an already bloated squad and so when derby finally bit the bullet and parted company with him halfway through the campaign it was left Burton Albion’s Nigel Clough to come in and sort out the considerable mess. Clough started with a 2-0 home defeat by our good selves and hardly tore up any trees through to the end of the season with seven wins between January and May. The malaise and mess at Pride Park is considerable, Clough embarked on a long term project at Burton and has the look and sound of a man who knows he has a similar task on his hands here.

Head to Head: Derby’s fixture at Loftus Road was marred by controversy before it even began. In the run up to the game QPR announced a new pricing structure that would have seen the game categorised as ‘gold’ and the tickets priced at £50, £40, and £30 for adults. Derby sent the tickets back forcing a league ruling which came down, thankfully, against Rangers and as QPR fans we probably owe Derby a debt of gratitude for that. Once the game began a flat and at times nasty atmosphere around the ground helped Derby beat a lacklustre QPR side 2-0 with two goals in the final ten minutes. In Nigel Clough’s first game in charge at Derby the scoreline was reversed as goals from Wayne Routledge and Mikele Leigertwood sealed a comfortable 2-0 win at Pride Park, where the R’s have not lost in four visits.
QPR 0 Derby 2
Derby 2 QPR 0

Odds: Very much middle of the road in the betting – best priced 25/1 for the title with Bet365, BoyleSports, Victor Chandler, Paddy Power, Sky Bet and others, shortest price 18/1 with Tote and Coral.

Manager: Nigel Clough What is there to say that has not already been said? Never before have so many column inches been given over to the appointment of a manager from the Conference by a Championship club. Nigel, in case you have been on the moon, is the son of the legendary Brian who won the league championship with Derby County and European cup twice with Nottingham Forest. Where Clough senior loved the limelight and controversial out bursts Nigel is a quiet, family man who built his managerial reputation in ten years at Burton Albion during which time he promoted them into the Conference, oversaw the move to a new stadium, took Man Utd to a replay in the FA Cup and ultimately built a side that took them into the Football League despite the best efforts of his replacement Roy McFarlane last season. Clough has stressed since his arrival that the job of rebuilding Derby is a massive one that will take time – having inherited a squad so large he had to split training into two sessions to accommodate them all Clough has spent the summer mostly clearing players out rather than adding new ones and I’m sure, if you asked him, he would say it is likely to be three seasons minimum before they are in a position to challenge in this league again. If he thinks Derby County will give him the ten years he had at Burton, or even the three years he needs here, then he may end up being sadly mistaken. May be able to trade on his family name to keep him in the post longer than others may get.
Survival Chances: 7/10

Players: Clough has shifted seven squad members out this summer, and told several others they are not going to be part of his plans such as Martin Albrechtsen and Roy Carroll . The new men incoming are a strange bunch. Clough has returned to Burton to pick up goalkeeper Saul Deeney and centre half Jake Buxton – the former who could not displace 45 year old Kevin Poole from the Albion side under Clough, the latter who was relegated from the Football League altogether with Mansfield 12 months ago and did not look very good doing it. Shaun Barker looks over priced at £1m from Blackpool. Dean Moxey has come in after two good promotion seasons with Exeter, Lee Croft strikes me as being vastly over rated (and over sized) and didn’t really deserve to escape from Norwich’s disaster, Ben Pringle is one for the future from Ilkeston Town. The attack is likely to be led by Rob Hulse and Chris Porter but the whole squad, still massively inflated, is a pretty uninspiring bunch all in all.
Likely Star Player – Kris Commons, rare shining light of quality in a sea of mediocrity.

Transfers
In:
Shaun Barker from Blackpool - £1m
Dean Moxey from Exeter City – Undisclosed
Ben Pringle from Ilkeston Town – Undisclosed
Jake Buxton from Burton Albion – Free
Lee Croft from Norwich City – Free
Out:
Tyrone Mears to Burnley - £500k
Liam Dickinson to Brighton & Hove Albion – Undisclosed
Lewin Nyatanga to Bristol City – Undisclosed
Mile Sterjovski to Perth Glory – Free
Andy Todd to Perth Glory – Free
Emmanuel Villa to Cruz Azul – Free
Lewis Price to Brentford – Loan

Prediction: Having appointed Clough Derby must now settle in for the long haul. There is much work to be done, and Clough was meticulous when doing a lengthy building job at Burton Albion. I doubt they will be willing to give him ten years to get the job done at Pride Park but he’ll need at least three I think and in the meantime mid table mediocrity beckons for this and probably next season.
Verdict: Same as last season.

Photo: Action Images

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