Close season transfer activity and speculation continued at Derby County as familiar faces past and present moved in and out of the local football scene, to commence new chapters in their careers.

Monday saw the surprising but welcome pairing of ex-Rams Paul Peschisolido and Gary Rowett installed as the new management team at Burton Albion. Both have considerable credentials as players and have been advancing their coaching qualifications since ending their playing days.

It’s a bold and interesting move by Burton Chairman Ben Robinson - all good luck to them in their first appointments.

‘Pesky’ is one of football’s nice guys and is fondly remembered by Rams fans for his skill, energy and goals at Derby, even in the twilight of his career. Also, who will ever forget his hilarious ‘cuppy’ goal against The Trees, or the Stern John incident when Tango Man Phil Brown substituted Peschisolido to a resounding chorus of booing and “you don’t know what you’re doing” from the enraged home crowd?

Rowett was a solid defender who slotted well into Jim Smith’s attractive, cosmopolitan Derby team a decade or so ago, and Gary has been involved more recently with the Rams and Burton in coaching capacities, as well as being guest summariser on Radio Derby’s Rams match coverage.

Defender Andy Todd, as expected, moved on from Derby County to join A-League club Perth Glory down under, whilst his father Colin was poised to take on another managerial appointment, this time at Darlington close to his northeast roots.

Another ‘past and present’ link came to fruition as ex-Dutch international Johnny Metgod teamed up with Nigel Clough once more. The past few months have seen so many Rams, Forest and Burton Albion careers intertwined with interesting new strands emerging for the future of all the clubs and individuals.

In this latest linkage, Metgod and Clough were team-mates at Nothingham F*rest and Metgod has been added to Clough’s staff as development director with a brief to get involved in the coaching at all levels and in player scouting. Johnny adds a depth of international experience to Derby’s backroom set-up.

Metgod’s pedigree is unquestionable, with 21 caps, and Real Madrid, Spurs and Feyenoord included in his playing career and has since been involved in youth coaching at Feyenoord and Rotterdam.. He was part of Tony Adams’ backroom team at Pompey.

Derby poaching Kris Commons last summertime and Preston fan Billy Davies emerging from his post-Derby exile to take the reins at the City Ground was only the start of it all - and of course Clough is still securing players from lower leagues whom with he’s been involved with before.

Derby tabled formal bids for several players in the past week or so. Blackpool defender Shaun Barker was chased last week though the initial bid rejected; that situation should be resolved soon after the appointment of Ian ‘Olly’ Holloway as the Seasiders’ new manager last Thursday.

Dean Moxey of Exeter could sign soon; he’s made favourable noises about a possible move to Derby in the media. Crewe Alexandra will let defender John Brayford go ‘for the right’ fee, with the Rams in the frame there too.

Ilkeston Town youngster Ben Pringle signed for the Rams and is excited about being part of the reserve ‘development’ side initially - and may make the step up to Championship football. Barry Bannan, Derby’s Scottish loanee from Aston Villa, was voted Villa’s young Player of the Year. If Martin O’Neill allows Derby to aid Bannan’s development, Nigel Clough will be seeking to renew the loan agreement.

Giles Barnes, whom Fulham aren’t keen to sign for a fee, has (surprise, surprise) had another operation. He didn’t make a senior appearance for Fulham, being in fitness rehab or out injured in-between the odd reserve appearance, so Roy Hodgson’s interest has now cooled. Birmingham City may be interested.

Barnes’ ankle injury requires a month’s recuperation but his recovery should be well timed for taking up pre-season training with Derby County on July 1st. That is, unless another Premier League club puts in an acceptable offer for the mercurial forward. A good fee for him would is probably of more use to Nigel Clough, given the youngster’s wanderlust.

Two of Giles’ contemporaries, defender Lewin Nyatanga and goalie Lewis Price have been selected for Wales’ World Cup clash with Azerbaijan next month.

Director of Football Adam Pearson however says Barnes will be part of Derby’s squad as it stands. Pearson is hardly Barnes’ biggest fan since those ‘want away’ utterances. Like the fugitive fullback Tyrone Mears, Giles has seen the club stand by him through serial injury problems over several seasons.

When loyalty is not returned, club and fans just want to see departures for fees so we can rebuild with genuine players who have a future at the club and empathy with supporters, rather than just their agent.

The Northampton Crown Court fraud trial of ex-Rams directors and associates rumbled on, with Murdo Mackay apparently declaring he'd deservedly earned a commission for helping to arrange finance for the Rams. I thought he'd allegedly denied receiving anything earlier in all the proceedings...

The full line-up for our Championship opponents next season will be known after the Burnley vs. Sheff Utd Wembley play-off final on Monday. West Bromwich Albion, seemingly bottom of the Premier League table for as long as Derby were in 2007-08, were relegated last week and the desperate battle for survival between Sunderland, Hull, Newcastle United and Middlesbrough reached its see-saw climax on the final day of the season.

All the relegation threatened clubs lost on Sunday; Middlesbrough, virtually doomed before kick-off, sealed their drop with defeat at West Ham and Newcastle United were disastrously relegated, beaten 1-0 at Aston Villa so that Hull’s home defeat by Manchester United was rendered academic.

League One Champions Leicester City romped back into the Championship of course, and Peterborough United accompanied them in the automatic runners-up place. 6th-placed Scunthorpe triumphed over Millwall 3-2 at Wembley in the League One play off final; naturally I’m highly delighted to see the unloved Lions and DirtyLeeds staying put in the third division for at least another season!

There will be a large pack of aspirant clubs next season hoping to escape from the Championship. The relegated trio will all be touted as promotion favourites, as we were too, prior to 2008-09.

There’s a RamZone article in itself begging to be written to mull over the chances of at least a dozen Championship clubs (including Derby County) who all feel that they are equipped for top-flight football. It will be as competitive as ever in 2009-10, that is for sure!

Whoever takes charge of the squad at Newcastle has a huge overhaul to perform, with many high-earning flops wanting away or being ditched. I do not fancy the Toon to bounce straight back, regardless of their massive (but rather over-hyped) fanbase. We’ve certainly learned that having the biggest following by a country mile doesn’t actually win you anything!
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RamsWeek 20 in 2008 saw Rams fans ‘waiting for the sun’ as the summer weather failed to materialise as quickly as it’s arriving this year, whilst Derby sought to continue the squad redevelopment.

The club fought off rumours that manager Paul Jewell would be sacked and were also sparring with bumptious Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins, the Rams having had a bid of £500,000 rejected for Swans’ midfielder Ferrie Bodde.

It was a saga that lasted for weeks and Rams fans still wonder how we might have fared with the talented Dutchman in our midfield. Derby also lost out on Blackburn’s Lee Carsley, who joined Brum this time last year in preference to returning to Pride Park Stadium.

Trees’ forward Kris Commons declared he wanted to leave the City Ground, just as Rob Earnshaw negotiated a move in the other direction. Derby were also seeking the services of striker Nathan Ellington from Watford. Many other ‘ins and outs’ rumours were fomenting in the media.

There was some cheer for Derby fans with DirtyLeeds succumbing to Doncaster Rovers in the League One play-off final at Wembley last year. Sadly, the Rovers were poised to spoil Derby’s 2008-09 curtain raiser, by winning 1-0 at Derby on the first day of the season…but at least we did knock Leeds out of a Cup!

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