Nyatanga hopefully characterised the post-Pompey resolve when he said in an interview: “We've all got to stick together and keep going.”

Pompey have a 20,000 stadium capacity that they can’t even fill, (19,400 were in attendance against the Rams and 1,200 of those were Derby die-hards) so we can only note enviously as they march on towards more European sorties next season with a squad of increasing depth and quality.

It leaves us Rams fans speculating on how our squad could have been beefed up to facilitiate consolidation this season, Derby then being a much more attractive proposition for investors, agents and players to follow up if they fancied playing in front of a possible 44,000 at Pride Park. Perhaps that could be the true scenario by about 2012?

Jewell dismissed rumours that defender Darren Moore would depart to Leicester or Coventry City.

Paul Jewell went public on the Rob Earnshaw debate ahead of the Sheffield Wednesday FA Cup replay, with fans and club still waiting for a payback and expecting him to justify his record Derby transfer tag: “He has to look at himself…. he needs to ask a bit more of himself,” the manager declared. Rob could certainly do himself some belated justice by turning on a performance if selected to play against the Owls.

The insinuations that Earnshaw hasn’t put in enough effort to force his way into the first team are worrying given the cost and wages that Derby have laid out to put their faith in him and supporters will join the manager in demanding the maximum and when selected, expect (demand!) that he performs like a record signing! As Jewell has said, players are playing for their future at Derby County.

Kenny Miller - at under a third of the transfer cost - has scored goals and shown great willingness, endeavour and skill in fighting the cause for a struggling team. Newcomer ‘Tito’ Villa will get stronger and is trying to show purpose as he acclimatises to the English game.

Earnshaw has thus been pushed down the pecking order with the likes of Barnes and Fagan used as attackers, so he has to shape up soon because Derby need goals and don’t want journeymen millionaire contract-hoppers wasting precious time, funds and fans’ hopes.

On the eve of the FA Cup replay at Hillsborough on Tuesday Adam Pearson stated that negotiations with American investors could be concluded shortly. “We have agreed a proposal that the club's shareholders are happy with and the American Consortium has been informed. We expect things to happen very quickly one way or another.  The shareholders want to proceed with the proposed arrangement and hopefully a positive conclusion will be reached by the back end of this week," he declared.

At Hillsborough, with the pitch passed fit to play at 11.00 am on Tuesday it was game on and Jewell made six changes to the team that capitulated at Fratton Park on Saturday. Stephen Pearson returned to midfield, Edworthy took the right back slot and fit-again Dean Leacock joined Claude Davis in central defence. Rob Earnshaw, under the critical spotlight, only earned a place on the bench. Teale and Barnes returned to the starting line-up with Andy Todd (captain) sitting in the defensive midfield role.

After a brisk attacking start and the Rams peppering the Owls’ goal, the Derby defence duly parted obligingly as soon as Sheffield Wednesday attacked and it leaked a soft goal from bad marking. Watson had given the Owls the lead after only 8 minutes. Derby reverted to type with a fragmented inconfident first half effort and after half an hour, the manager was already warming up substitutes.

Quite how or why Derby players on Premier wages with superior training facilities get the run-around so badly as to provoke radio commentator Dean Sturridge to say: “I don’t know what’s going on” and “this is easily the worst performance of the season”, is totally lost on me - but that’s what Deano was reduced to saying, well before half-time. Lewis replaced Giles Barnes, who was unwell, and uninvolved, on 42 minutes.

Jewell’s scathing ‘hair-dryer treatment’ team-talk worked at the interval; Pearson sweetly released Miller, who instantly lashed the ball home after just two minutes of the restart. Derby started to play and began to boss the game. However, it was still 1-1 at full time and remained that way in extra time. Rob Earnshaw had replaced Teale in extra time and although there was to be no famous return for the anonymous striker, he did score one of the Rams’ shoot-out penalties as the Rams won through 4-2 in the shoot-out.

Young goalie Lewis Price excelled by saving the Owls’ first two penalties; Derby missed none and Craig Fagan slotted home their fourth spot kick and it wasn’t even necessary for the Rams to take all five of their penalties to clinch the tie. A victory (of sorts!) at last! Next, it was to be lowly Preston at Derby on Saturday in the 4th Round. A winnable tie presenting something to salvage from this season, a Cup run….

Jewell spent Wednesday in London for Mile Sterjovski’s work permit appeal. Some clubs have recruited international players with fewer caps than Jewell’s intended signing and suffered no rejection leading to appeal because they have been labelled as ‘special talent’, whatever that is. So their new managers were spared the need to waste the day away from their club’s training & match preparations.

The appeal was duly successful and Sterjovski was able to join Derby County on an 18-month contract, though Mile will not be with the Rams until next week sometime.

As the week drew to a close, there were further disclosures about the impending American takeover. Chairman Adam Pearson was enthusing about it on Friday and in the RAM Preston matchday programme. In interviews, he said: "The takeover details have been completed. Monday is going to be a very, very important day for the club. It augurs well for the future and underpins the club financially going forward for a long time."

There are suggestions that the club will be run more along the benign Randy Lerner style of the Aston Villa rejuvenation rather than Man Utd’s greedy Glazers or Liverpool’s acrimonious Hicks/Gillette axis – time will tell.  A press conference is scheduled for 2.00 pm on Monday, January 28th.

Pearson insists that the club will not forget their roots despite the foreign investment. “It is American money coming in but the heart and soul of the club will remain here in Derby," he said.

It’s anticipated that Pearson will remain on the board, along with Peter Gadsby and possibly Mel Morris and it will be important to some fans, after the deceptions, trauma and remoteness of the Sleightholme era that control of the club is not wholly removed from its community.

Up for t’Cup then, (well, the fans were!) and Jewell was able to include Ghaly and Savage, and Todd and Davis formed the errmmm…. ‘central defence’. Giles Barnes and Rob Earnshaw warmed the bench and all hoped for refreshing relief from the dispiriting traumas of the regular Premier League reversals.

The 16,000-odd Derby die-hards in the 17,300 crowd, yours truly included, that elected to attend the Preston match suffered yet another forlorn, disappointing afternoon with a wretched Rams’ display and a comprehensive 1-4 humiliation by a troubled team in the relegation zone of the Championship.

Preston ran rings around Derby all game all over the pitch and even though goals were gift-wrapped as usual by Derby’s utterly useless defence, North End could easily have won even more handsomely.

Just like Lewis Price’s gaffe to gift the Owls a goal at Derby in the Third Round, or Darren Moore’s brainless, weak back-header that enabled them to double their lead, Derby’s ‘defenders’ quickly got into their groove to present Preston with first-half goals that they could scarcely believe they would take from a Premier League team.

This time, Andy Todd was especially culpable and the performance enraged the home crowd as Preston took advantage. At Pride Park, like so many teams before, they quickly realised that you CAN look a gift horse in the mouth. Take all the time you want, opponents; help yourself – again and again!

Three-nil down at half time, booed off the pitch and reaching a modern nadir even for this season, the team improved marginally after the break and Earnshaw rapped in his first goal (yes, first - after 6 months with the club!) but Derby never really looked like climbing the mountain they had put in front of themselves. Savage was virtually ineffective as a captain, player or clogger and Preston won how they liked.

Paul Jewell admitted he was ‘on the floor’ after such an appalling display It’s embarrassing for the manager, for the fans, for the club. It’s eight home defeats in a row, so many of them self-inflicted through defensive incompetence - like Mark Ronson sings: “You just do it to yourself, you do, and that’s what really hurts!” Nyatanga topped off a vapid afternoon right at the end by getting sent off in conceding the penalty that led to Preston’s fourth goal.

All of the fans’ tentative hopes for the future and expectation of FA Cup progress and with anticipation of the new American investment, to be announced after the weekend, have disappeared. The players made it all evaporate in an unacceptable Rams display that evoked frustration, anger and outright disgust from the fanbase.

Organisation, leadership, communication, teamwork – there was none of that in evidence yet again. It was cold, windy and utterly dispiriting as another season of inept Cup displays was meekly terminated.

When will these players give a reaction that befits the shirt? Can they give a reaction at all? Why are they so consistently unprofessional and perform so badly below their capabilities? Can they find their backbones and overcome their individual and collective lack of confidence?

When will they return to the basics of simple teamwork, concentrate on what they are doing, communicate with each other and finally grind out some results? Perhaps they need a team of hypnotists and psychologists to straighten them out.

I suspect that very few of these players can justifiably expect to be part of Jewell’s rebuilding plans and the way I feel about their recent performances is that I’m suggesting that they give their inflated wages and pay-offs straight to charity - others deserve the money far more than they do, in my book.

So, it’s on to the next Premier League match, another chance to salvage some pride, with a home game to Manchester City next Wednesday. They themselves fell foul of Championship opponents in tumbling out of the F A Cup to Sheffield United and are no great shakes on their travels - but still have plenty of qualities.

In RamsWeek 4 of 2007, Derby removed Bristol Rovers from their FA Cup trail with a 1-0 win courtesy of Paul Peschisolido. Derby were on another winning run and had started the New Year in rampaging fashion. Apart from sustaining their Cup run, all the Championship statistics pointed towards automatic promotion as Billy’s men rolled remorselessly onwards.

Photo: Action Images

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