Last week two football managers were in the newspapers.

One received widespread coverage and several column inches ad nauseum for his comment that his current squad was the best ever. No prizes for guessing that this was Ferguson of Manchester United.

So, of course, the newspapers fawned over what he had to say but actually when it comes down to it – what have we learned from it?  Nothing.  Anyone can always stand up and say “This is my best squad ever.”  Even Billy D could say that with absolute truth.

Another football manager – Steve Coppell from unfashionable Reading - made a comment about the system and the way that it was run.  He made a case for a quota for English players for the good of the English team as well as airing views about the need to learn from American sport especially about the need for managing competitiveness.

So what happened?  In international week, when all hopes were pinned on Israel to beat Russia, here was a respected football manager, someone who has made a real success of managing a small town club in the Premiership, saying something meaningful.  And that he should be listened to.  Yet his comments barely made a ripple.

We are in a bad way when prominence is given to a football manager who actually says nothing, and much less is given to someone who does say something worth thinking about.  It tells us that the powers that be actually don’t care about our national game.  That those with the most money will have the most power and have the freedom to dictate whatever they like.

And what does that have to do with Derby County?  Quite a lot as it happens.  Because in the same week, we had a story that Rammie might be taken over by Mickey Mouse.  Quickly denied by Pearson, who also went on to say that he was still looking for potential investors, one of which was Shamrock Holdings, a company that have – shall we say – associations with Disney. 

Message boarders seem to fall into one of three categories.  There are those who say that they would take anyone as long it meant that we supped at the top table with the rich regardless of how unethical their money had been obtained – an attitude also shared by some Manchester City fans with regard to Thaksin Shinawatra. 

Then there are those who say – yes, we would like to sup at the top table but not at any price.  As long as the investor is reasonably clean and won’t plunge us into debt, we should accept them.  The last category – much quieter and less vocal are those who will not accept any unethical investment.

What we all have in common is this: we all want Derby County to succeed.  We want to be able to cheer our team when it wins – now and again.  But the truth is that football is now so managed that only a few will only ever do the winning and the rest will have the leavings, things like the Intertoto cup or UEFA cup. 

And it sticks in the craw that we need a mega-rich investor to even give us a sniff of the possibilities of success.  Hands up those who lost quite a bit of enthusiasm when the late Robert Maxwell was using Derby County as a plaything for his own entertainment until he got bored.  I know I did. 

For all their faults, Lionel Pickering and Arthur Cox at least were trying to improve the club.  But you couldn’t say that about Maxwell. 

Yet, when the odds are so stacked against any decent team with an intelligent manager that the possibility of another Ipswich under Ramsey, or Derby under Clough ever winning the premiership again are miniscule, then one has to swallow hard and accept that it has to be someone with financial muscle, not necessarily ethically acquired, who will perhaps make that happen. 

After all, Chelsea were also-rans until they became Chelski and started winning titles and cups.

But, of course, when Coppell says something sensible as opposed to the vacuous comments by Ferguson, the tabloids don’t run with it.  They don’t want to.   They want to perpetuate the system – the system that means that every year, teams that come up from the Championship – like Derby, Watford, West Brom are sent back with a little extra money and no hope of ever winning the Premier League (then First Division) title as we did back in 1972.  And again in 1975.

And that’s why I have mixed feelings about the proposed American investment – I want it for Derby County, but I fear that it’s bad for the long-term future of the game. 

Photo: Action Images

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