After rescuing Derby from relegation last season, John Eustace has set about rebuilding the team into a Championship play-off contender with shrewd management and eye-catching signings – Ollie Wright (@DerbyCountyBlog) is enjoying feeling good about his club again after the meltdown years.

How's the season been for Derby? Good, steady progress...

I’d go further than that and say that our progress since last season has been exceptional. Derby surpassed last season’s points tally by the end of February, the squad has been drastically overhauled - which was absolutely necessary - and in short, the club has been restored to its rightful place in the Championship’s “middle class”, from where a genuine promotion tilt should eventually be possible.

Rams in the league so far…
Stoke 3-1 Derby Baker 70, Thomas 90, Mubama 90 – Morris 60
Derby 3-5 Coventry Elder 12, Morris pen 45, Adams 50 – Thomas 7, Wright pen 25, Thomas-Asante 72, Mason-Clark 75, Torp 79
Derby 1-1 Bristol City Morris 86 – Twine 35
Ipswich 2-2 Derby Greaves 33, Clarke pen 90 – Morris pen 50, Brewster 70
West Brom 0-1 Derby Weimann 84
Derby 0-1 Preston Devine 29
Wrexham 1-1 Derby O’Brien 59 – Brereton 72
Derby 1-1 Charlton Clarke 79 – Bree 37
Derby 1-1 Southampton Agyemang 40 – Armstrong 7
Oxford 1-0 Derby Mills 24
Derby 1-0 Norwich Ozoh 55
Derby 1-0 QPR Morris 10
Sheff Utd 1-3 Derby O’Hare 73 – Morris 24, 46, pen 63
Derby 2-1 Hull Morris 27, Salvesen 83 – Ndala 50
Blackburn 1-2 Derby Ohashi pen 66 – Morris 19, Agyemang 45
Derby 2-3 Watford Sanderson 36, Langas 54 – Kjerrumgaard 61, Kayembe pen 85, 88
Swansea 1-2 Derby Galbraith 90 – Ward 34, Salvesen 53
Boro 2-1 Derby Targett 75, Whittaker 84 – Agyemang 2
Derby 1-3 Leicester Kangas 63 – Reid 8, Skipp 15, James 31
Derby 1-1 Millwall Cooper og 88 – Clarke og 81
Sheff Wed 0-3 Derby Agyemang 32, 62, Thompson 57
Derby 1-1 Portsmouth Matthews og 45 – Lang 6
Birmingham 1-1 Derby Robinson 64 – Agyemang 27
Leicester 2-1 Derby Reid 6, James 41 – Brewster 9
Derby 1-0 Boro Clark 70
Derby 1-2 Wrexham Brereton 34 – Smith 25, James 48
Preston 0-1 Derby Agyemang 82
Charlton 1-2 Derby Campbell 67 – Gillesphey og 17, Clark 60
Derby 1-1 West Brom Agyemang 44 – Mepham 90
Bristol City 0-5 Derby Brewster 13, Brereton 16, Clark 36, Agyemang 66,m Salvsen 88
Derby 1-2 Ipswich Brewster pen 68 – Travis og 8, Davis 77
Derby 2-0 Swansea Brewster 47, Agyemang 67
Watford 2-0 Derby Kjerrumgaard 5, Doumbia 90
Hull 4-2 Derby Elder og 9, McBurnie 39, Egan 75, Koumas 84 – Forsyth 17, Szmodics 42
Derby 3-1 Blackburn Brereton 55, Clarke 74, Brewster 82 – Carter 45
Derby 2-1 Sheff Wed Brereton 11, Clarke 45 – Yates 17
Millwall 1-0 Derby Coburn 43
Portsmouth 0-1 Derby Szmodics 8
Derby 1-0 Birmingham Brewster 43
Coventry 3-2 Derby Onyeka 12, Rudoni 68, 80 – Brereton 38, pen 77
Derby 2-0 Stoke Banel 54, Morris 89
Southampton 2-1 Derby Scienza 62, Harwood-Bellis 69 – Morris 38
Derby 1-0 Oxford Banel 22
Norwich 2-1 Derby Toure 33, Gibbs 60 – Ozoh 54

John Eustace's performance so far?

Very good. He isn’t the most overtly charismatic leader you’ll come across, and he certainly has his quirks, but the most important thing is that he’s continued his career pattern of getting unfancied sides to punch above their weight in the Championship.

Derby started the season with an extremely weak team, but managed to at least grind out a few points before the cavalry of new signings and players returning to fitness finally arrived. Once Eustace’s first choice options were mostly available and up to speed, results turned dramatically, and we’ve been upwardly mobile since the eleventh game of the season (just in time to beat QPR 1-0 at Pride Park, as part of a five-game winning run). The Rams’ forward momentum eventually stalled just shy of the top six, but is no less impressive for that.

Some eye catching signings, how do you rate the recruitment this year?

We’ve seen a huge improvement in the calibre of recruits across the last couple of transfer windows, both domestic and international. Before the season started, I was already writing about a significant ‘vibe shift’, as the profile of the new signings was miles above what we endured when Paul Warne was manager. The budget was obviously (and necessarily) cranked up somewhat by David Clowes to enable that, but we’ve managed to get obvious value out of most of the new recruits. Even those where a question mark remains have clear promise.

The headlines always go to the most expensive signings, and that tag certainly went to Patrick Agyemang (not that one) this summer. Big Pat arrived for around £6m, but his attributes are such that fans were speculating that he could eventually move on for a significant amount more than that. However, that was before he was felled by a freak Achilles tendon injury a couple of weeks ago, with a recovery timeline of around nine months and no guarantees that he comes back the same. We can only hope that he makes a good recovery and gets back to something like his full strength before the end of next season.

At the other end of the spectrum, it’s always nice when you pick up an under-the-radar gem without spending a fortune, and the best recent example of that happening for Derby is the amusingly named Derry Murkin. “Murks” is a left back, and that has been a problem position for Derby more or less since Chris Powell left in the Jim Smith era. We badly needed an upgrade on Callum Elder, and have managed to pluck one from the Eredivisie without paying a fortune.

This is obviously far from unique among seasoned managers, but Eustace has shown a marked trend towards signing players he already knows well - his faithful servant Dion Sanderson follows him everywhere, of course, but also Andreas Weimann, Danny Batth, Lewis Travis, Ben Brereton Diaz and Sam Szmodics rejoined him this season, the latter two initially on loan. The last time we played Blackburn Rovers, our starting line-up had more career appearances for Blackburn in it than theirs.

Travis was immediately installed as club captain at the expense of cult hero Ebou Adams, who was promptly shipped out to Portsmouth. That upset some fans, certainly raised eyebrows and saddled Travis with expectations that he would be an immediate and significant upgrade on Adams (who is an aerobic freak of nature). The bluntness of the move was more clear evidence not just of Eustace’s unsentimental resolve to improve the club from top to bottom, but also his steeliness in backing his judgement to make the changes he deems necessary.

Eustace’s reliance on ‘his boys’ will naturally lead to accusations of certain players being favourites who are picked regardless of form - and that 100 per cent has been the case with Brereton Diaz - but viewed more positively, these guys obviously wouldn’t come back to work with him again if he was a knob behind the scenes (and Brereton Diaz did eventually contribute a few goals). He trusts those players, and they clearly like working for him as well.

The manager is especially fond of having experienced heads around the place to help him with maintaining professional standards. Ex-Blackburn veterans Batth and Weimann were drafted in on short-term deals, and he even gave a two-season deal to Craig Forsyth, a player who originally signed for the Rams in the early 2010s under Nigel Clough - making him a former team-mate of Eustace. Fozzy will be pushing 40 by the time his deal expires, and while it makes no sense to keep him in the squad from an on-field perspective, his continuing presence as a (very) senior professional is presumably more about the kind of culture Eustace wants to promote.

Summer Ins >>> Patrick Agyemang, 24, CF, Charlotte, £5m >>> Max Johnston, 21, RB, Sturm Graz, £2m >>> Carlton Morris, 29, CF, Luton, Undisclosed >>> Rhian Brewster, 25, CF, Sheff Utd, Free >>> Andi Weimann, 33, AM, Blackburn, Free >>> Danny Batth, 34, CB, Blackburn, Free >>> Richard O’Donnell, 36, GK, Blackpool, Free >>> Lewis Travis, 27, DM, Blackburn, Undisclosed >>> Owen Beck, 22, LB, Liverpool, Loan >>> David Ozoh, 20, DM, Palace, Loan >>> Dion Sanderson, 25, CB, Birmingham, Loan >>> Bobby Clark, 20, CM, Red Bull Salzburg, Loan >>> Ben Brereton-Diaz, 26, CF, Southampton, Loan

Winter Outs >>> Ebou Adams, 30, CM, Pompey, £500k >>> Curtis Nelson, 32, CB, MK Dons, Undisclosed >>> Kayden Jackson, 31, CF, Bradford, Undisclosed >>> Ryan Nyambe, 28, RB, Reading, Loan >>> Corey Blackett-Taylor, 28, LW, Bolton, Loan >>> Andi Weimann, 34, CF, Rapid Vienna, Loan >>> Jake Rooney, 22, CB, Boston, Loan >>> Richard O’Donnell, 37, GK, Grimsby, Loan

What needs doing in the summer?

In theory, with everyone fit, we have the makings of a strong team in place. A good back four and goalkeeper are already under contract, Travis will continue in midfield and Morris will lead the line. However, like most Championship teams, we have a raft of five loanees to either re-sign or replace. This season’s crop proved to be important to the team, and Eustace has made it clear that he wants to keep all of them, but that would be expensive - particularly in the case of RB Salzburg’s nifty attacking midfielder, Bobby Clark.

If we assume that Szmodics and Brereton Diaz return permanently from Ipswich and Southampton respectively, there will still be work to do to replace the injured Agyemang, at least with a loan forward. Szmodics’ presence as a number ten creates another problem, in that somebody needs to be able to provide him with chances. If Clark can’t be retained, a number eight to play alongside Travis would be especially helpful, and additional trickery will be required in wide areas.

Player of the year candidates?

The player of the season award is going to centre back Matt Clarke. First and foremost, he has been extremely durable throughout a season where most of our important players missed chunks due to injury. More than that, he has been a defensive rock. He can play when given licence, but has excelled in doing the dirty work of blocking, clearing, crunching and getting his bald pate in the way of countless crosses.

Carlton Morris could well have taken the award though, had he not been nobbled off the ball by a Watford defender and missed three months: 12 goals remains an excellent haul for Big Carlton given the restriction to his total appearances, but it could have been so many more.

Patrick Agyemang would probably be on the podium, if there was such a thing for these awards. He is an atypical striker, and even more atypical when playing wide left, which he often did when Morris was also available. But he is an absolute menace, particularly in the air. When allowed to run, he rinsed pretty much every defender, which is why they constantly held onto his shirt with both hands, then fell over as soon as his arms moved towards them and won free kicks. It was beyond exasperating, but Big Pat dealt with it pretty well, and still hit double figures for goals before suffering that freak Achilles injury the other week.

Play offs gone or still holding out hope?

I think those hopes are gone, realistically. Losing at Southampton from 1-0 up felt like the final nail, but actually it was losing at Norwich in midweek that more or less cemented it.

The reality is that we weren’t quite ready for a play-off challenge. The squad is a million times better than it was last season, but there are still gaps left to be filled, injuries have bitten hard in recent times, and this group lost to nearly all of the top sides on the road - our overall record against the top seven teams is won two drawn four lost eight, so only ten points from those 14 games. We were competitive, to use a Eustace mantra, against the cannon fodder, but we fell short against the genuine promotion contenders.

However, if you’d offered any Derby fan a guaranteed top ten finish this season back in August, I suspect that the vast majority would have been very happy with that. I’m cautiously confident that we can improve on eighth next season when another eighth placed finish would already be good enough to make the extended play-offs.

Links >>> Official Website >>> Derby Telegraph — Local Press >>> Derby County Blog — Contributor’s blog >>> DCFCFans — Forum >>> Ground Guide – Pride Park

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Pictures - Reuters Connect

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