If all other Rams fans are anything like me, the Cardiff match being postponed added suspense to the past week that has become almost unbearable.

It seem like months now since Nigel was appointed with every day after the Manchester United game feeling more like a week rather than just 24 hours. The excitement of seeing the new gaffer clapping and cheering in the stands enthusiastically was a fabulous pre-cursor to him taking the reins full time.

Prior to P.J walking out the door I got to the point where I didn’t have the energy or desire to sit up till 1am in OZ to listen to the game, something I have done religiously for a decade. It seemed futile to add disappointment to my guaranteed tired disposition the next morning.

Even the darkest days of the Premiership capitulation hadn’t deterred me sitting up to cheer on my team fearing I may miss a dramatic turn around if I dared miss a single game. In comparison, this season had a feeling that I can’t define but the way things were unfolding made the whole process seem like it was an unpleasant experience eating away at my time.

When I dragged myself out of bed to watch the utter debacle that was the Charlton game, I considered what it must be like for those fans attending each and every match and having shelled out for a season ticket, what it must feel like to watch your hard earned graft being spent on football that makes the often used description ‘the beautiful game’, seem more like a sarcasm.

I of course should know what it feels like having followed an Aussie Rules team all of my life that have inflicted very similar seasons of vitriol, politics and controversy on me. Thousands spent on flights, tickets, motels and sitting in the rain drinking coffee that tasted more like it was ground from… umm…. the ground.

Then when you think that all is lost and another year could only result in only more pain to your heart and pocket, every now and again something magical happens. It can be the signing of an exciting player, new financial investment promising prosperous times or in the case of Derby County Football Club, a new manager.

With his debut immanent at Cardiff, I was like a cat on a hot tin roof and literally danced back and forth to my computer on game day waiting for the announcement of the teams. Then the irony crashed down around my eyes as they digested the information that the game was cancelled due to a frozen pitch.

Could it have been punishment for me daring to have slowly lost the will to brave the early hours to support my team, for questioning a Rams manager in such a public way in my articles or even the small part of my brain that thought in the dying moments of the Charlton game that a loss may be good because it may help in removing P.J.
For the last one I am deeply ashamed but in the end I decided perhaps it’s just bloody cold in Cardiff… that seemed the most likely of the options.

As Nigel was reportedly wandering back to the Hotel to inform the players of the referee’s decision I pondered whether this was in fact a good thing. I also pondered whether Robbie Savage and the rest of the team would find it ironic considering many of them had been frozen out of the team for most of the year and now after being granted a second chance, they had been frozen out again.

This delay meant that Nigel would marshall his troops for the first time in front of a rabid home ground on a day that the clubs 125 year celebrations kicked off which includes the unveiling of a bust of Steve Bloomer. The sculpture will permanently look across the Pride Park pitch from right in front of the home dug out. With the bust supported by bricks taken from the Baseball Ground they could not have found a better person to welcome them to their new home than someone by the name of ‘Clough’.

These celebrations may put a little more pressure on Nigel but with an extra week to prepare and such a massive week still to follow, I think the new number one will know exactly what he is in for and be ready to take on the challenge. His demeanour may be different to his father but one thing seems to have transferred between father and son is the determination to meet a challenge head on.    

Whatever the results over the next week, fans will appreciate the magnitude of the job he has undertaken and not get carried away win, loss or draw. Actually strike that…. each and every one of us will get carried away with any win (especially against teams wearing red) and I am sure Nigel wouldn’t want us to greet it any other way.

C’mon Ewe Rams!

Photo: Action Images

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