Apart from Derby’s current inability to score from the penalty spot, the team still lacks a proven Championship goal scorer - as the frustrating home defeat to Ipswich has just underlined.

When will the club find strikers that can make the grade and propel the club into a challenging position?

The Rams’ annual promotion push – only for season ticket sales, naturally – is presently gathering pace, with the “early bird” renewal deadline less than a week away. The “Sign-Up Sunday” season-ticket event and Sam Rush’s ongoing whistle-stop tour around sponsors’ local pubs are part of the club’s concerted plan to retain support and convince supporters of its genuine ambitions for a successful Derby County.

I’m not alone in wondering when the Rams will actually progress beyond second-tier mid-table status to “make the grade” back in the top flight; can GSE really deliver their initial promises, made after their takeover of Derby County over five years ago now?  

The Championship has become increasingly tight this season, and whilst 8 clubs are now realistically challenging for automatic promotion and the play-offs, many Rams fans will concede that Derby has missed their chance in such an unpredictable season. Derby’s threadbare first-team squad, fashioned from minimal investment and a strong belief in young talent, simply ran out of bodies and steam after Christmas, going eight games without a win.

Saturday’s home defeat by Ipswich, coming after Derby had earned three successive wins (including the traditional victory over DirtyLeeds), deflated the fans’ buoyant mood after Easter. Long-standing questions still remain about why the club has not invested in enough quality and experience to achieve and maintain a challenging position.

When GSE were introduced - then Rams Chairman Adam Pearson advised us that the new owners would provide a “cash injection” rather than a “debt injection”. Upon arrival, GSE’s Chairman Andy Appleby said, “If we can build on its strong foundations, there's no reason why Derby cannot be a perennial Premier League club”. 

Under the team management of the hapless Paul Jewell (appointed two months earlier after the capitulation of Billy Davies), Derby had still won only one of 23 Premier League games and became easily the worst-ever team in top-flight history. By backing Jewell’s transfer foibles, GSE learned about English football the hard way. Big transfers and high wages only delivered rapid relegation, club debts and despair amongst supporters.

The new owners' optimism and ambition quickly became conservatism; their ‘bounce-back’ promise of an immediate return to the Premier League instead floundered and ended in a hard landing in the bottom section of the Championship. Nigel Clough’s appointment in January 2009 was the sea-change.

Previously, Davies and Jewell had no apparent interest or belief in youth development, but Clough has established a top-class Academy structure that has produced several youngsters of outstanding promise, and has demonstrated an ability to recruit and develop young lower-league players.

However, Derby has yet to make an impression on the business end of the Championship during Clough’s tenure, although few (if any) other managers would have stuck to the onerous task of rebuilding a squad from so much inherited deadwood whilst maintaining the club’s status - particularly with the weight of expectation that his name brings. 

Many competing clubs continue to “churn” managers at a remarkable rate in the scramble for success, while GSE has maintained faith in Clough’s “from the roots up” player development methods. This season, the Rams final performance statistics are likely to show only subtle improvement from the 2011-12 campaign. 

Remarkably enough, the Rams have already scored more goals this season than last term’s total - even though fans (& Mr. Clough) can readily recall so many lost points, mainly for want of that “killer” strike to win or save games. So although the defence will probably let in a similar number of goals, an improved scoring rate is likely to preserve the present positive goal difference - a statistic not recorded for several seasons.

But such statistics – goals scored and goal difference – aren’t really significant for the Rams whilst they continue to tread the Championship’s middle waters. Despite the team’s improved performances, the attendance figures at Pride Park Stadium do not back up Sam Rush’s declaration that we finally have some “box office” players.

Rush has also declared that he wants the Rams to achieve promotion “as soon as possible”, but the primary distinguishing feature of challenging and successful teams is the goals and points return from proven strikers. A hero or two would bring back the big crowds and success;  fans are longing for the new Hector or Davison – or even Sturridge or Howard - to push the Rams into challenging for and achieving promotion.

Derby County’s search for a consistent goal scorer – or for a striking partnership that will make the difference – still seems to be foundering. Points simply aren’t awarded for possession percentages or the overall number of strikes on goal; only the converted chances can give any team a real platform for victory.

Does the tight wage & transfer budget obstruct Derby’s progress? As our young team gains experience and cohesion, is it now time for GSE to commit real funds to first-team recruitment that will allow Derby to really “make the grade”?

This season, relatively substantial cash has been invested, initially just to replace the departed Shackell with Keogh, and then for striker Sammon, unproven in English football. Rams fans are divided by his perceived worth to the team; critics point to missed chances and believe that his shins are made of rubber.

I’d say that Sammon is generally seen as more of a tireless “workhorse”, providing openings for others to exploit, but also agree with those who say he won’t be winning win a “Golden Boots” goal-scorer’s trophy with Derby. Last season’s recipient of that award - and the Championship’s Player of the Year, Rickie Lambert - has now hit over 100 goals for Southampton since his £1m move from Bristol Rovers in August 2009.

The Saints had recognised the need to capture a striker well proven at their level and used available funds toward longer-term ambitions for success. The big-money sales of their Academy starlets, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Bale provided financial salvation and allowed significant team investment.

Lambert has repaid that investment many times over – scoring consistently at successively higher levels, with commentators now lobbying for his England call up. After two promotions the club is now earning plaudits for their Premier League exploits, with Lambert as their talisman.

A team for top-flight status has been built around Lambert’s considerable talents, but perhaps the turnover of Rams’ forwards in the same period should be considered alongside the disparity in the progress of the two similarly sized clubs. After all, each has also experienced major fluctuations of their respective fortunes since the turn of the millennium.

A year even before Lambert’s move to Southampton, the Rams signed striker Liam Dickenson for £750k. He never made a first team appearance and was sold to Brighton for £100k in July 2009. Other strikers tried out and then taken out as Clough revamped & reduced his squad included £2m Emanuel Villa, Giles Barnes & Nathan Ellington. Rob Hulse was sold to QPR on the last day of the August 2010 transfer window, and some fans would say that Derby have yet to find a comparable replacement.

Apart from the departure of schemer & goalscorer Kris Commons to Celtic in January 2011 which reduced Derby’s scoring potential still further, the lengthening list of other strikers passing through Derby County in recent seasons is an enduring cause for concern. These players include Porter, Varney, Livermore, Dickov, Sunu, DJ Campbell, Maguire, Cywka, Luke Moore and Steve Davies.

How come so many aren’t retained in Clough’s plans? Is it all about wages, contracts and personal ambitions? True to Derby’s ‘middling’ status, the club may either be a stepping stone or a last resort for strikers – although few (if any) of the above-named have become heroes elsewhere.   

Of the club’s other current strikers, Jamie Ward is our top scorer despite continuing injury issues. New loanee Chris Martin has so far made a positive impact, but Tyson and Robinson have now been exiled. Youngsters Callum Ball and Mason Bennett may graduate to senior status, and then there is Conor Doyle, of whom Clough said last summer, “This is the season where if he's going to do it, he's going to have to blossom." Enough said. 

So far, the manager has simply not found a real ‘diamond’ striker in the ‘bargain-basement’ sector of the transfer and loan market that the club has scoured over the past four seasons. Perhaps Sam Rush and Nigel Clough will soon decide that only the Saints’ route of selling coveted players such as Hughes, Hendrick or Brayford can provide the funds needed for the recruitment of better players to move the club upwards, if the club cannot obtain this from GSE or generate enough hard cash itself by other means.

Sam has said more than once that every player has his price - and that any players now sold will realise their "true" value and leave on DCFC's terms. Our better players, regardless of age,  will also want to recognise that the club does have real ambition, and fans want them to progress their careers at Derby for as long as possible.  We supporters surely crave success and want to be entertained!

Clearly, until at least one striker of proven quality joins Derby County, they will remain perennial also-rans, and the missing fans won’t come back. For next season, the priority must be for a consistently effective strike partnership - and particularly a true goal-snatcher - to regularly provide that spark of inspiration, anticipation or bravery to make things happen that will turn games in the team’s favour. 

Otherwise, the validity of GSE’s mission statement to establish the club back in the top flight will continue to be called into question. Only when that is achieved will fans believe that Derby County, Sam Rush, Nigel Clough et al have truly made the grade.

Photo: Action Images

stevepaling added 13:13 - Apr 11 what a great peice of work,what a great read
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pkay_brum added 17:17 - Apr 14 Sam Rush told me at a forum that (when working for the football agency) he had actually offered Rickie Lambert to DCFC - and the club declined him. Declined financial or football reasons? I think I can guess.
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