Derby County gave themselves a little breathing space last week in collecting 4 points to pull away from the relegation zone. They had a full week’s preparation before another important all-Midlands’ clash at Coventry City on Saturday.

Goalkeeper Stephen Bywater and forward Chris Porter were included in the Coca-Cola Championship ‘Team of the Week; that’s a welcome acknowledgement of their recent form - although there must some ruddy good centre halves around in our League for the excellent Shaun Barker to have been overlooked!

He is regularly Derby’s star performer and if he can retain his fitness and form then the Rams should secure their Championship safety before long.

Derby’s table-topping reserves’ side suffered a rare defeat, going down 4-1 to Port Vale. Manager Clough was impressed with young loanee forward Tomasz Cywka. He might be a striking option soon and also a target on Clough’s shopping list if the terms are right.

Defender Russell Anderson has impressed Clough with his attitude and performances and he is forming a solid bond in the centre of defence with Shaun Barker. The manager is keen to propose a long-term deal and is certainly looking for a settled partnership in readiness for next season.

Derby County’s 2008-09 accounts were published this week and as expected, it shows a club now in a low(ish) debt situation and a healthier situation than many other clubs.

Derby posted a loss of £14.9m for the period to June 2009 with an overall debt figure of £23m; Tom Glick asserts that the debt has since been reduced to £15m, saying that the club ‘has kicked on since then’. Current debt is effectively just the £15m mortgage on Pride Park Stadium.

Derby had received over £22m in two parachute payments since relegation, which was significant in both debt reduction and in paying off useless players that Davies and Jewell signed. The player wage bill reduced from £23m to £15m in the period reported - and now stands at £11.5m, we’re told, with the target being a spend of £10m on player wages for season 2010-11.

Player wages will then have been more than halved since the club was relegated from the Premier League - that’s just as well, as the current players haven’t exactly given us value for money at Championship level, either. “New equity” coming into the club from owners GSE was said to be £16m.

Tom Glick said that some fans will be ‘very curious’ about the accounts and that anyone was welcome to ‘delve deep’. No doubt some will do so; with previous boardroom regimes taking the club to unprecedented debts and near-extinction in recent years, supporter consciousness has been raised and directors nowadays should anticipate such curiosity from fans about the governance of their club.

The club paid almost £750,000 in director salaries (but no dividend to the shareholders); with a significant spend on player agent and loan fees incurred from a high level of loan and transfer activity, the next accounts will also post a debt, Glick stated, but the major reductions and payments necessary since the takeover will have been accommodated.

The club is healthy and generating more income than almost all Championship clubs. With such a large, expectant fanbase, impatience will grow within another year, should the on-field under-achievement continue. The financial results indicate that Derby County look ready to go forward.

The figures underline the need for the club to progress on the field, attain Premier League income levels whilst sustaining the increased levels of corporate and sponsorship income, so moving to a higher level of operation.

Mr Glick is optimistic and has (at last) started talking of a “play-offs or even promotion’ next season. He may have taken in the message from fans (and perhaps a nudge from a certain Mr Gadsby) that a perpetual reference to their being no time scale on progress was wearing increasingly thin with Derby fans.

The Government recently announced proposals to facilitate a 25% fans’ shareholding in their club (though in our case, non-corporate shareholdings sit very uneasily with the American owners!) In reality, much financial and legal reform would be necessary to enable that access.

It is the ‘business end’ of the season on the pitch too - and apart from Derby’s leisurely jaunt towards their usual minimum points’ survival target that we are becoming habituated to, all the trophies are up for grabs and the promotion and relegation places still in play.

The European competitions are bubbling up tastily, with English sides striving for trophies. Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool take narrow defeats into their 2nd leg games; Fulham battle on in the Europa thing.

Of course, we all want updates on the latest injuries to Rooney and Fabregas every 10 minutes, don’t we? Chelsea beat United (minus Rooney) and now look favourites for the EPL title.

At the foot of the Premier League, West Ham amazed many - including their own fans - by lodging a complaint to the FA about Fulham’s weakened side that lost at Hull. Fulham left out 5 players (replacing them with several other full internationals!) The Hammers - currently getting hammered weekly and facing the ‘Armageddon’ of relegation - think that Fulham should be punished.

Given the rule-bending that West Ham contrived over the use of Carlos Tevez to help them escape relegation, that’s pretty rich I’d say! If West Ham go down, it will be because they are rubbish on the pitch, and showed a desperate attitude to initiate their complaint about Fulham.

Newcastle are close to attaining the Championship title whilst Dirty Leeds are falling apart in the ‘third division’. Shame! It was a bad day lower down the League pyramid for ex-Ram Geraint Williams, who was sacked by struggling Leyton Orient.

The Rams’ nine-point advantage was whittled down to six points in midweek when Crystal Palace won their game in hand, winning 3-1 at Watford. Scunthorpe lost at home to Blackpool on Easter Friday, though, which prevented The Iron from overtaking Derby in the Championship table.

Saturday's game at the Ricoh Stadium, Coventry saw the Sky Blues desperate to get back on track after a poor run and Derby keen to maintain their unbeaten run and take points to climb closer to Championship safety.

Dean Leacock kept his place at right back and Porter and Hulse led Derby's attack. New loanee Tomasz Cywka was among the substitutes.

Coventry forced the pace and Rams’ keeper Stephen Bywater was busy in the opening minutes. Ex-Ram Jon Stead and Clinton Morison were putting themselves about and Derby had to ride the Sky Blue’s early storm.

Derby ventured forward eventually and took the lead after 20 minutes from their 2nd corner of the game. Stephen Pearson won a corner and Tonge’s corner was forced home by Shaun Barker. The Rams consolidated their lead but Dean Leacock was booked and injured his knee in a clash with Sammy Clingan.

The Rams held their own up to the break but Leacock could not continue and substitute Nicky Hunt went into his right-back position.

City came out of the traps in the second half looking for a leveller with Bywater and the centre backs earning their corn as Derby endured 15 minutes of pressure. The Rams needed more attacking presence to avoid being dominated - though they had kept their defensive composure very well.

Coventry rang the changes with attacking substitutes but Derby mustered chances through Hulse, including a scary chase for Coventry ‘keeper Westwood in a race for the ball.

The Rams began to win corners, and some free kicks in dangerous areas as the Sky Blues were forced to defend more as the half wore on. Shaun Barker then had a second goal ruled out for mysterious reasons.

Steve Davies replaced Rob Hulse as the minutes ticked away and within seconds he burst clear to shoot just wide for Derby. Winger Gary Teale replaced Tonge for a rare cameo appearance as Derby held out, despite a scare with Morison having a goal disallowed in stoppage time for offside.

The Ricoh PA system even announced the goal initially, the Sky Blues’ players surrounded the officials at the final whistle and manager Chris Coleman went off on his usual dour post-match moan-in - but who cares? Not us!

Nudging past a mere 50 points at Easter or later (this season and last year) is hardly nirvana in terms of achievements. However, manager, players and fans could have been forgiven had they broken into song at the final whistle - with a rendition on “My Blue Heaven” being most appropriate for the afternoon, the Rams scavenging a valuable three points from the Sky Blues!

The Ricoh Arena had an attendance of 17,630 on Saturday, with 1,821 away fans present. City’s attendances are well below what they need to sustain such a stadium and it goes to show what terrific support the Rams command at home in comparison, the Pride Park Stadium average again exceeding 29,000 this season.

It was a crucial 1-0 win for Derby - 51 points on the board, now 8 points clear of the bottom three meant that Derby could breathe more easily, with Championship safety all but mathematically certain. Derby moved up to 15th in the table, with a Bank Holiday home game vs. Ipswich to come.

The Rams obtained 54 points from last season’s 46 games - so this year, they have 5 games left to surpass that ‘achievement’. It will be a poor show now if the players can’t deliver Clough’s desired ‘improvement’ with 15 more points available, from a position only 3 points behind 2008-09’s final total.

At the end of October 2009, Derby handed Ipswich Town manager Roy Keane his first win of the season after a long, long wait for the Tractor Boys.

Keano’s men haven’t done much better since and have fallen a long way short of their play-off expectations; the Irishman’s imminent departure is regularly predicted.

The return game at Pride Park Stadium on Easter Monday is a great chance for Derby County to secure their safety and increase Keane’s misery in a timely payback.

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RamsWeek 14 in 2009 had the fans humming “You keep me hangin’ on” as their team inched slowly towards Championship safety.

The Rams had a home game against promotion-chasing Burnley and it was attended by a 33,000 sell-out crowd. Stephen Pearson made his first appearance for 6 months after injury and it was a keenly fought 1-1 draw. 

Defender Albrechtsen and goalkeeper Bywater got their wires crossed to let in McCann, who obligingly gave the Clarets the lead. The Rams fought back though, and Paul Connolly notched a rare goal, diving to head in Gary Teale’s pinpoint cross. The Rams were 6 points clear of the relegation zone.

Giles Barnes hoped to stay with Premier League Fulham after his loan spell, ungraciously saying that he would be ‘disappointed’ to go back to the Championship with Derby. They didn’t want you, though Giles... and another season of your stop-start career has ticked away.

Time will tell if he becomes a consistent performer for Premier League-bound West Bromwich Albion.

Photo: Action Images

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