At the moment - the Championship table is looking pretty good for Rams fans.

Last Saturday’s results leave us sitting at the top with 35 points, three points clear of Bournemouth and Middlesbrough. Our goal difference of plus 18 - makes every other team in the division apart from Bournemouth and Middlesboro look… not very good.

BUT the purpose of this article is certainly not to claim that everything is settled or that the Rams or their supporters should in any way be celebrating and looking forward to Premier League football at the iPro.

There is a great deal of work to be done between now and any celebrations. But there can be no doubt that the table as it stands - does cause us to look at things a little differently than we are accustomed.

First, if the Rams were to be promoted, they have two opportunities to improve the team; firstly during the January transfer window and secondly, next summer following the end of the season.

The January transfer window opens up in just over a month but what should the Rams be looking for — if anyone?

Last January the Rams were fairly active with Patrick Bamford and George Thorne brought in on loan for the rest of the season, Simon Dawkins’ loan was made permanent, while the loans of Whitbread and Keane were extended. On the outgoing side of the ledger, Michael Jacobs’ loan to Wolves was made permanent.

It was not the number of moves that was important, but the emphasis on quality. The problem now with looking forward to January is that it is hard to see weaknesses that need to be plugged.

DCFC has already confirmed that the signing of Ryan Shotton will be made permanent in January but beyond that, for me, the only move that cries out to be made is to return Leon Best to Blackburn, and replace him with someone who is more likely to contribute.

I could also see permanent moves for Kieran Freeman, Tom Naylor and Conor Sammon. Freeman is out of contract at the end of this season, but Naylor and Sammon have another season beyond that. It seems a shame to keep players who are highly unlikely to feature in the future.

The Rams are also reaching a position where signing players better than the ones we have is going to cost a lot of money; far more than in the recent past. We saw that with George Thorne last summer; we may well be seeing it more next summer, but perhaps January will be too early for major signings.

In last week’s article I made the point that survival in the Premier League is common for promoted teams, and a performance well beyond survival is very possible. But how does the current Rams team — without the benefit of any January or end of season improvements — compare to our team which began the Premier League campaign the last time around?

Many of us will remember the home match against Portsmouth in August of 2007; the Rams lined up with Steven Bywater, Ty Mears, Darren Moore, Claude Davis, Andy Griffin, Andy Todd, Matt Oakley, Craig Fagan, Stephen Pearson, Steve Howard and Rob Earnshaw.

It almost brings an involuntary shiver, doesn’t it?

What I find particularly frustrating is that virtually none of these players went on to have significant Premier League careers. We were unprepared, with a team that was not good enough. The current Rams team looks better already in virtually every position; instead of being thrown together as the Billy Davies team was, this one has been assembled carefully over the last several years.

Can the Rams continue with the season’s excellent results so far? Saturday will provide another pretty good test; Leeds away should be a tough match, based on tradition. But Leeds’ recent results suggest that a result is well within reach.

Then by the time the January window opens we will have played Brighton at home, Middlesbrough away, Norwich at home, Middlesbrough away and Leeds at home; and in mid-December there’s the League Cup quarter final against Chelsea.

Within those fixtures alone - there are some more than excellent tests to be negotiated.

Onwards and upwards!

Photo: Action Images

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