Another defeat after a patchy, inadequate performance by Derby at Middlesbrough last Saturday, pushed open the relegation trapdoor.

Fans wondered if the Rams would win again this season.

Manager, club and fans had an unwanted additional kick where it hurts after a Sunday tabloid featured allegations about manager Paul Jewell’s past private life. Tabloids don’t care who gets hurt in their tawdry search for scandal and newsstand sales and the club’s initial reaction was that PJ was devastated and was spending time sorting things out with his family.

The distractions of the Easter weekend and absence of a Radio Derby phone-in for fans to comment about the situation perhaps lessened the impact of the saga to give Jewell and the club more breathing space.

There was still no website comment from DCFC on Tuesday and Jewell would not discuss the matter. The article was then removed from the tabloid’s website on Wednesday after Mr Jewell instructed lawyers to act on his behalf.

In the final analysis it does harm Jewell’s reputation and also allowed tabloid smut-peddlers an opportunity to degrade the club’s name. Front-page sex scandal plus the usual back page derision has been the Rams fans’ diet from last weekend.

After Rams fans suffered one manager (Billy Davies) imploding in public with outbursts leading to his departure, we now have alleged past skeletons involving the current boss reinforcing Derby’s role as the laughing stock of football. Can it get worse?

The fans could only look to the future and take each match as it comes along to look for some hope and enjoyment in their matchdays before the intriguing summer of rebuilding. Manager and board had to play the healing game in response to the latest unwanted negative publicity.

Subsequent to the initial reparations undertaken to provide support and backing for the manager, the club must now confront the inevitability of relegation and concentrate energies on a prompt recovery from this debacle of a season.

The manager’s reaction to the latest defeat was that the players were testing him to his limit and fans would concur with that. If they and the manager ‘can’t wait for the season to end’ every week then they also need to remember that tickets cost fans the same money for non-events as well as games where the players turn up, too.

He thought that Hossam Ghaly’s 2nd half midfield cameo was praiseworthy and that if the Egyptian sustained that level of performance, then Derby County could be looking to keep him.

By Tuesday, there were only a few hundred single seats left for the Fulham home game on Saturday. Another sell-out then, where loyal, hopeful Rams fans only had the wish to see a performance and result from this team that could at least postpone the mathematical certainty of relegation to another day.

Full back Tyrone Mears has made a rapid recovery from his shin operation and would soon be in contention for a recall. Tye revealed that endured this shin stress fracture for three years and was reduced to being a passenger in games. Amazing that physios at Preston and West Ham, his former clubs, didn’t get a definitive diagnosis and schedule the operation that has now hopefully cured him! Could be that we have a good young right back with potential just when needed for next season - but time will tell.

Late in the week, it seemed that Tyrone might even return more promptly than anticipated, as Jay McEveley had picked up an injury on international duty in midweek.

There were fitness concerns over midfielder Mile Sterjovski, who was substituted at Middlesbrough carrying a groin strain. He was withdrawn from the Australian international squad and Derby won’t be upset about him avoiding a 12,000 mile round trip to play in the Aussies’ midweek World Cup qualifier if it means he is available for the Rams’ upcoming games.

Goalie Roy Carroll too had to withdraw from the Irish squad, so missing his well-earned recall to international duty because of a similar injury. Stephen Pearson missed Scotland’s game with Croatia with his persistent hernia problem, though Jay McEveley and Kenny Miller were on duty alongside Derby’s loaned-out winger Gary Teale. Americans Eddie Lewis and Benny Feilhaber were with the USA squad to face Poland in a friendly in Kracow.

Well, two Rams players scored goals during this week - though the strikes didn’t register on the Rams’ paltry total! Kenny Miller netted an equaliser for Scotland in the 1-1 draw with Croatia at Hampden Park and Eddie Lewis stuck in a 20-yard free kick in the USA’s 3-0 win in Poland.

Both players have netted 11 times for their country and Rams fans will be hoping to see a few more League goals from them, too.

Transfer gossip linked David Jones to a £1m summer move to Wigan Athletic and one media excursion linked Rob Earnshaw to a loan move to the Tricky Trees of Nothingham. Then they signed a goalie! Rams’ youngster Mitch Hanson went on loan until the end of the season last week but there was an extra surprise for Derby fans as the 2007-08 player loan deadline approached.

Given the Rams’ thin squad compliment and number of loanees already playing elsewhere, Derby allowed Stephen Pearson to join Stoke City on Friday - and this is a loan with the option of a permanent move attached. Pearson has made 40 appearances for the Rams and will always be remembered for scoring the Wembley winner against WBA last May. That’s his only goal, however and though Steve has some skill and a good engine, he doesn’t display the tenacity and consistency to be a top-flight player.

Paul Jewell explained that a possible permanent deal to take Pearson to the Potters could be worth up to £2.5m and that all monies would go into Derby’s transfer kitty to rebuild for next season. Pearson hopes he will therefore be staying in the Premier League, as Stoke currently lead the Championship - though to be sure, he would have to prove more effective for them at that level than he has for Derby this season.

That notwithstanding, there aren’t many players left for us to watch and we seem to have given up the ghost on goals, points, wins and entertainment, as everything is geared up for the summer restructuring.

As the Fulham match approached, with another 33,000 gate anticipated, fans were hopeful that the Cottagers wouldn’t push Derby through the wide-open relegation trapdoor so that mathematical relegation (depending upon results elsewhere) could be postponed to another day.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson complained of having a whole team away on international duty, which he declared impeded his preparation for a game that Fulham (like Middlesbrough last week) were desperate to win. Conversely, some of Paul Jewell’s internationals - Roy Carroll and Mile Sterjovski - were fit to play for Derby having stayed home from international duty due to injuries.

The match itself could be added to the handful of games home or away this season which gave some entertainment and value for the price of the ticket - but the 2-2 draw courtesy of a smart brace from Man of the Match Emanuel Villa wasn’t adequate because a good win for Birmingham over Manchester City finally condemned Derby County to the sorry certainty of a very early relegation.

It was an end-to-end game in front of ‘the usual’ 33,000 sell-out crowd as the Rams managed to pick up from the spirited display against Manchester United and the thrust shown in the final section of the Middlesbrough defeat last week.

Roy Carroll (for once) seemed under-employed in the first half as Derby counter-attacked with purpose and bite and the persistent Tito Villa gave them an early lead. True to form defensively, Derby soon conceded a cheap goal as Kamara was given unattended acres to bury his header for Fulham’s equaliser.

The Cottagers sensed the end of a long winless away run when they struck again after 78 minutes as Derby’s defence parted for Kamara to shoot, Carroll to parry and Bouazza to lope up and strike a long return that looped into the net off Dean Leacock.
The effective and determined Villa buried a fine header just moments later, however, to make the bitter pill of relegation a little less sour, as the other full time results arrived.

Fans left the stadium with confused emotions - sadness at relegation - however inevitable it has been; pleasure at Villa’s strikes and the purposeful performances from players that they hope will be key members of a revitalised squad.

There remains frustration that a couple of dozen similarly up tempo and determined performances from Derby might have kept them afloat amidst the likes of Sunderland, Brum, Reading and Wigan who can still tough it out for Premier League survival, whilst the basement no-hopers fade away.

Manager Jewell was resolute and looking towards 2008-09, pushing away his disappointment at Derby’s demise. “If, God willing, we can come back next year or the year after we will be stronger in all departments, both physically and mentally,” he declared.

He knows Derby need a team to take into the Premier League, not to cobble one together as you muddle along at the foot of the table. “You don't grow into the Premier League. You have to take it by the scruff of the neck.” Fans will look forward to the proof of the pudding next time around!

Jewell is finding out which players have the bottle and the loyalty to help the healing that must now take place at Derby if the team is to come out fighting in August.

Despite his wretched week, the manager does have some reasons to be cheerful because Tito Villa signalled that he will be a force in the Rams’ attack, Mile Sterjovski put in a determined and hard-working performance in midfield and Robbie Savage, without any clowning and histrionics, made his presence felt in a good performance which he should have topped off with a goal.

These three players, along with Carroll, Stubbs and a very few others, could make up the basis of Jewell’s own team next season. He will gather more food for thought next Sunday when a tough fixture against Everton at Goodison Park awaits Derby. They are aspiring to that fourth Champions League slot and will engage Derby in just as determined mood as the relegation battlers we’ve faced in the last two fixtures.

A season ago, RamsWeek 13 recorded another away win for the Rams as a huge following took over Oakwell at Barnsley for the day. Derby won 2-1, with Derby breaking free of Barnsley’s stifling game plan as David Jones scored after 11 minutes.

The Tykes huffed and puffed but Derby eased their way to the points and held firmly on to top spot in the Championship.

Matt Oakley scored the decisive 2nd goal soon after the break, though the on-loan debutant Barnsley goalkeeper was prostrate after colliding with Giles Barnes, allowing the ball to run free for Matty’s tap-in. The keeper needed lengthy treatment and was flat out until en route to hospital.

It’s the sort of venue that the Rams will now have to prepare for and master all over again, if they are going to regain the right to compete at Premier League level.

Photo: Action Images

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