At last, we are safe from the drop. In mid-March, with nine games to go, I stated that we needed more than 53 points to be absolutely sure of survival for this season.

That meant that we needed two wins and a draw (7 points) at that stage. In the event, we had two draws, followed by a defeat at Cardiff, and then a win at Hillsborough. Then we lost three games on the trot – relegation form – before winning this one against Charlton.

So we can all breathe again, and I suspect Clough and his management team will have gone straight to work on the Sunday, to firm up their planning for next season (and likely listening for updates from Torquay).

From what we know of this management team, there is more attention to detail than the previous regime, probably far more. And a commitment to a style of work and play that indicates clearly who is on the way out. The ethos is clearly based on proving yourself at training and then you are considered for the squad. Hence Clough's comments about Varney, Pearson and McEveley; players who most fans would happily see depart Pride Park, but Clough has made it clear that these are likely to be around next season.

Kazmierczak – for me - is a case in point. I thought he had considerable class, but Clough seemed unwilling to include him until recent weeks. From what Clough implied, it appears that Kaz was not giving his all in training so he was not considered for selection. But then it looked like he had pushed himself back into the reckoning until he suffered his dead leg two weeks ago. My assumption is that that he saw the light and worked much harder in training.

That seems to sums up Clough's attitude – put in the time and effort, and you will get a look in. If you don't, then you're nowhere. This is what Burton centre back Jake Buxton, had to say about Clough: “ "His training sessions were phenomenal. They were one and a half hours but at a high tempo, he never gave you a minute and by the end you were absolutely shattered. Whether you were the youngest or oldest player, you had to give 100% otherwise he would come down on you. As long as you worked the hardest you possibly could, you would have his respect." (see here).

The training is harder and tighter, the attitudes are more clinical and more focused. I also think that the whole club is now being run in a much tighter way; the scouting network being culled, the academy staff overhauled. Clough has also been visiting local schools and the owners have been giving incentives to local groups with the intention of filling up Pride Park.

All this points to Derby County establishing itself firmly as the leading club locally by maximising every opportunity and not missing a trick. One of the early decisions of the Clough regime was to end the pre-season overseas jaunts and to concentrate on local friendlies. The increasing emphasis on local relationships is also about making sure that all the potential talent will automatically gravitate to Pride Park – not just footballers but also people working behind the scenes. This has echoes of when Father Brian was here in Derby; he generated so much excitement and many local people had enormous pride in feeling in some way connected with the club. Inevitably all the local kids in Ripley wanted to play for Derby (including me). But this isn't entirely altruistic - developing the local groundswell of support also ensures that a greater percentage of the fixed costs is covered in sales of tickets or merchandise. It is sound business sense.

The other side of the coin is the continued and steady reduction of the fixed costs (staff) and I very much doubt if we will see any more overseas players or high wage earners for at least two or three seasons. The costs associated with these are too high – and the commitment offered is often mixed.

I suspect the emphasis for the next two seasons will be on recruiting British talent from lower leagues who are willing to work and have physical presence. A major deficiency of our squad this season has been the lack of muscle particularly at the back. For the Championship, we do not lack guile: Teale, Commons, Barazite at times, and Savage with his passing are all players who can outwit the opposition. Bolstering that with some bulk will likely lower the number of goals scored against us.

The injuries in the latter part of this season probably disrupted the work towards next season, and now that we are finally safe, we can expect to see a considerable amount of activity, not all of it transfer related in the next three months.

The future beckons...

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