The Paul Clement era at Derby County will likely go down in Rams history as a strange and unsatisfactory time for Rams fans.

Clement, of course was appointed in June, 2015 at a time when the Rams were expensively rebuilding the squad; spending big money on the likes of Tom Ince, Andreas Weimann and Jason Shackell, as well as a host of less expensive signings.

He arrived with exceptional coaching credentials, but no management experience; and it remains a mystery as to whether he had any involvement with the Rams’ transfer activities during his time as head coach.

Early injuries to Will Hughes and Craig Bryson prompted loads more money to be spent in the market on Jacob Butterfield and Bradley Johnson. The Rams made a so -so start to the season but picked right up and were in second place when the New Year arrived.

January was a bad month on the pitch, prompting more spending on Blackman, Olsson and Camara. In early February, Clement was gone, replaced by Academy boss Darren Wassall, with Harry Redknapp eventually installed to look over his shoulder.

Some fans muttered darkly that Clement had never been the right man for the job, anyway. I know this because I was one of them.

The remainder of the season was okay-ish as we scraped into the playoffs but nothing more.

Wassall went back to the Academy and the new man chosen for the hot seat was Nigel Pearson who is a well - regarded manager at this level. There can be carping about his personality and interview technique but not about what he has achieved since his time as a player at Heanor Town.

There is one huge difference that seems to have occurred with the Rams since Pearson arrived; the free-spending days look to be over and incoming transfers have to be financed by players leaving.

That was my assumption after our summer transfer window dealings with the arrivals of Wilson, Vydra and Anya were pretty much paid for by the departures of Hendrick, Martin and Grant.

So, what of the Nigel Pearson era, so far? Well, not to put too fine a point on it.., it really has stunk!

The Rams would have to improve quite a bit, even to be described as mediocre. Despite defending fairly well, goals have been extremely hard to come by.

Fixtures have not been all that kind to the Rams and we have had a fairly difficult start but we have not come close to making the best of it.

We sit twentieth in the table after eight matches and in this case certainly the table does not lie. While it is far too early to talk about relegation, there are a couple of points worth making: any team with two goals from eight matches has serious problems and there are not too many obvious relegation candidates this year.

Last season, MK Dons, Bolton and Charlton struggled pretty much all season long, but this season I see only Rotherham as possibly being in that category. This may be a bad season for any team to find themselves on an elongated bad run of form.

The real oddity for Rams fans is that Nigel Pearson inherited the exact same squad that made the playoffs under the guidance of Clement / Wassall. The same team that struggles to pick up a point this season, was cruising at times last season.

Chris Martin will not score fifteen league goals for the Rams this campaign as he did last season. Will Tom Ince score twelve this season? Will Johnny Russell score nine? Will Butterfield and Johnson again score twelve between them? Will George Thorne make a significant contribution?

At the end of last season it did not look as the Rams needed to bring in too much talent in order to again have a competitive team again. Management, we thought, could sit on their hands over the summer and we would still not be bad but here we are, six points from eight games. Relegation form.

Perhaps the Rams did better than we had a right to expect last season? Perhaps the team was not underperforming as we thought for much of the time but in-fact over performing?

Perhaps Paul Clement achieved a small miracle on a big budget in setting up the foundations for the Rams to make the playoffs?

Could it be that Clement didn’t deserve the sack but instead congratulations from ownership?

Saturday’s match against Blackburn is close to being a must-win, even this early in the season. After a putrid start to their campaign, Blackburn will be looking to build on last Saturday’s win at Rotherham and move out of the bottom three at the Rams’ expense.

This is The Big One!

The Rams need to start showing that last season was not a fluke, and despite the enormous amount of money spent assembling this team, that they really can play.

Photo: Action Images

Derby County Polls