The news round commenced with Derby declaring that the alleged takeover bid led by ex-Hull chief Adam Pearson was ‘absolute nonsense’.

Pearson himself called it ‘just ridiculous’. Whilst the Rams are seeking funding from various funding sources for the £20m Pride Plaza project, the takeover talk was rubbished – and this included another rumour about an American consortium.

Despite his formidable Gunners Arsenal side disposing of the Rams without undue bother last Saturday, Arsene Wenger praised Derby and said that Billy Davies deserved credit for what he’d done so far at Pride Park Stadium from where they were when he arrived and that showed that he has ‘something special’.

Davies himself issued an initial rallying call regarding the weekend’s crunch game at home to Bolton Wanderers and echoed Wenger’s sentiments that Derby need to concentrate on gaining points from home games. The Rams can be a match for anyone at home he felt and said that there were going to be occasions - like the Anfield and Emirates trips - where the enormous gap in finance and squad quality would be exposed.

An employment tribunal in Nottingham was due to hear the case of former Rams’ Finance Director Andrew Mackenzie this week but the matter was resolved out of court. Neither party could comment. There are ongoing investigations into financial irregularities at the club, which occurred during the previous regime led by John Sleightholme; five men have been arrested and bailed so far in this inquiry.

Mr Mackenzie was FD in the regime that let the club’s debts soar to £52m, until Peter Gadsby’s consortium took over the club in April 2006.

Remarkably, the disgrace and incompetence shown from the two years of ‘governance’ at Pride Park Stadium may not have dissuaded some of that regime from nosing in on other clubs; a report alleging that some of the ex-Derby regime were involved in a possible takeover of Coventry City attracted the attention of respective supporters’ trusts at both clubs and the Sky Blues’ trust is monitoring the situation.

In midweek, Billy Davies said that he was keen to win the upcoming Bolton home match but denied it was a ‘must win’ game. He stressed that the second half of the season would confirm if Derby could survive or not; he was expecting to augment the squad in the next (January 2008) transfer window... just a week or two back, he was glad to see the back of transfer activity!

Beforehand, the manager pointed towards another cameo appearance from fit-again Giles Barnes and repeated his expectation that Rob Earnshaw’s time would come. It didn’t, as it happened, though many fans thought that ‘Earnie’ might have made a difference in the closing stages of the hard-fought 1-1 draw.

Derby battled back from recent heavy reversals and the 31,500 crowd appreciated the team’s spirit. The Rams showed commitment and resolve though didn’t quite have the cutting edge to put Bolton down; Wanderers have some very experienced campaigners who have played together for several years – and they’ve ‘toughed it out’ in games just like the one at Derby on Saturday for several Premier League seasons. They were much more ‘savvy’ than Newcastle in this kind of battle and gave as good as they got.

Kenny Miller maintained his exciting start to his Derby career with the Rams’ goal and a couple of other close things; Claude Davis and Stephen Pearson were the pick of the Rams’ team and there was a good all-round effort, even if the result was disappointing in the end. Giles Barnes came on to a great ovation but wasn’t able to turn the game the Rams’ way. His time will come, no doubt.

The overall performance can give us hope for the upcoming games with Reading, Fulham, Everton and Villa, as the Rams continue to climb the ‘earning curve. Derby are adapting to life in the Premier League, though if the failure to wrest maximum points from Bolton is an indication of how tough life is at the top table, the upcoming matches against teams outside of the top 6 will give the true measure of our progress.

In RamsWeek 39 of 2006, fans breathe a sigh of relief as the duck departs – that is, the Rams won their first home game of the season! The Rams stuffed Southend 3-0 with Lupoli scoring twice as the Rams moved into the top 10 of the Championship table.

The highly rated Freddy Eastwood had little chance to shine and Davies told reporters to ignore the League table until January. In fact, Billy put the Rams top when the New Year came around, Freddy is peddling his skills with Wolves and it's hoped that January 2008 will see Derby County away from the foot of the table at the highest level!

Photo: Action Images

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