Some news from abroad kicked the week off badly, as transfer target Svento had suffered torn knee ligaments in training and may be out for months.

He played the full 90 minutes at Macclesfield and Davies' imminent hopes of adding him to the squad have now been dashed.

Manager Billy Davies stressed that he is stepping up his search for players - after the defeat at Mansfield, he declared: "This will be an unrecognised team by the time we kick off against Portsmouth." I didn't take that to mean just a large influx of new players because selection, fitness, tactics and performance can also alter radically, judging by the display at Mansfield! Billy was, however, awaiting a response from Pompey defender Andy Griffin after recent talks and maintains his search for squad additions.

Davies chararacteristically scotched any rumours of Naismith being of interest to him and media reports said that the Rams had missed out on another transfer target, Romanian forward Ciprian Marica, who has allegedly opted for German club VfB Stuttgart instead of the Rams. The name of Charlton winger Jerome Thomas has cropped up in other reports, though late in the week, Davies said that Thomas wasn't on his shopping list. On the threshold of their return to the Premiership, the Rams are still looking to add more quality to midfield and attack as they bid to defy the critic's prediction of instant relegation.

The new Adidas home was kit launched for retail on 31/7/07, with Robert Earnshaw and Claude Davis doing the Shopdcfc honours with the meet, greet and shirt signings for the long snake of fans assailing the club shop all day. Some nice men from the Derbyshire Building Society joined the throng to tell them all how wonderful it was to have a building society branch in the middle of their football stadium. The queue into the stadium store still stretched about 100 yds prior to the Forest game and needless to say, Adidas wear was selling like hot cakes with some 6,000 shifted in the first couple of days.

The inaugural Rams vs. Trees Brian Clough Trophy game took place on Tuesday 31 st July and Derby cruised to a 2-0 win thanks to early goals from Jay McEveley and Craig Fagan. The Rams looked bright and compact and played some crisp football, with the tireless and classy Stephen Pearson taking the Man of the Match award. Forest looked lightweight and were brushed aside as Derby controlled the game from start to finish.

Home debuts for Andy Todd saw him looking solid next to Darren Moore and Rob Earnshaw buzzed around up front. Young Jason Beardsley got a run out at right back, too. Some 4,700 Forest fans watched their side's third defeat in a row in recent visits to the East Midlands' biggest club; they had little to cheer, though did initiate one nice moment when they chanted "Stand up for Brian Clough" with both sets of fans uniting in the gesture.

Their ranks were thankfully devoid of idiotic thugs wanting to indulge in the disgraceful stadium misbehaviour and vandalism that tainted their last League visits. After the game, Derby announced that Andy Griffin had signed for Derby on a 3-year deal; the fee was undisclosed, thought to be £500,000. Meanwhile, Former Rams forward Lionel Ainsworth has signed for Hereford United.

Wednesday saw the Rams straight back into action in a friendly at Crewe Alexandra, with Davies taking a mixed squad, though latest signing Andy Griffin was not involved in the action and joined up with the squad on Thursday. Billy gave a trial to Jamie Mullan, an England U-18 midfielder released by Manchester United in June. At the end of the week, however, Davies said that Mullan wouldn't be joining the Rams. Crewe won the game 2-0 and few in a black and white shirt showed up well.

On Thursday Gadsby is progressing the £20m Pride Plaza stadium site development plans, with planning applications formally submitted to the council. At the same time as the club rolled these exciting new plans forward, the recent past was in the headlines, as it was revealed that a 5th man (aged 43) had been arrested on Wednesday and released on police bail in the ongoing investigations about alleged financial irregularities at DCFC from the dark days of the Sleigtholme era.

Hameur Bouazza, Watford's young forward, has been strongly linked with a move back to the Premier League, following his debut campaign in the top flight last season. Portsmouth and West Ham United are also among the clubs believed to want Bouazza, although Fulham head the chase for an anticipated fee of circa £3m. Again, it's a lot of money for a relatively unproven player but the market dictates.

Rivals were still spending money more freely - Sven at Manchester City, for instance, wheeling in a rash of three 'imports' for £16m in a single day - so it's understandable that Rams fans hope for more transfer action soon, especially hoping for some more 'flair' players and forward cover to arrive at Pride Park Stadium as soon as possible.

Off field, Perry Deakin was enrolled as the club's new Commercial Director. He has experience in a similar role at both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Birmingham City. His role is to develop the club's commercial strategies and increase revenues. In week 24 this year, the Rams had appointed Steven Coakley - also as DCFC Commercial Director - and as there was no explanation as to why Mr Deakin had also been recruited so soon, I'd anticipate that things just didn't work out for Mr Coakley.

Photo: Action Images

Southampton Polls