The low point in a season of low points.

Derby County 1-4 Preston North End
Earnshaw 55; Hawley 14, 46, Whaley 33, Mellor (pen) 92

As Paul Jewell mentioned in his post match press conference; I really hope the American deal is signed and sealed because our new owners, whoever they might be, might just be reconsidering if they watched yesterday's horrific performance against Championship strugglers Preston.

That we've played three full games against poor Championship sides and not managed to win a single one of them shows the depth of the task facing Messrs. Jewell and Pearson over the next eighteen months. The money now appears to be there but the club needs a complete rebuilding from top to bottom and it needs to happen quickly if we are to bounce straight back up next year.

It's not impossible and it has been done recently but I'm tending to lean towards it taking more than a season for Jewell to get his squad to where he wants it to be and having seen now what happens when you aren't prepared and stable enough to be promoted, I'll take a couple of seasons outside of the top flight if it means we can come up again stronger and ready for this incredibly difficult task.

Some were already on the back of Jewell yesterday and I really don't see the point of that, as ridiculous as it sounds there has been an improvement since Jewell took over and the new manager has made a couple of decent signings in Ghaly, Savage and Villa although it's taking time for the latter pair to find their feet at the club.

The main problem is at the back as we all know and in Claude Davis and Andy Todd we look badly short-changed on the £3.5million Billy Davies decided to fork out for the pair. Todd looks well past it and his two key errors yesterday put Preston well out of reach and there's nothing I can say about Davis that hasn't already been said – I don't tend to agree with booing individual players but Davis looks outclassed and has done for much of the season.

Dean Leacock sits on the bench and whilst he hasn't totally convinced either this season, I find it unlikely that Todd and Davis are better options so I would expect the number 5 to be trotting out come Wednesday night's visit of Sven's Manchester City.

We need to blow this squad up and start from scratch; the least of departees this summer will probably go along the lines of: Edworthy, Johnson, Moore, Davis, Todd, Camara, Barnes, Mears, Robert, Ghaly, Holmes, Teale, Jones, Lewis, Macken and Earnshaw, who of course scored his first goal for the club yesterday with a fine finish but who appears not to winning over the manager's confidence.

That's a lot of bodies to replace and whilst that may not be the exact list given that Jones and Mears (to name two) could well be vital parts of the squad next season, I would fully expect Jewell to want to start with a fresh piece of paper with the American money behind him and the long term ambitions of the club to be a Premier League force on the mind.

I wonder if you could charge Billy Davies with fraud; if his group of signings can't be classed as rogue trading I don't know what can!

Full-Time: Derby 1-4 Preston

Rams: Price 4; Nyatanga 4; Todd 4 (Earnshaw 6); Davis 3; Edworthy 4; Ghaly 5; Savage 5; Lewis 3 (Teale 6); Pearson 6; Miller 5; Villa 5 (Barnes 5).

Preston: Lonergan; St. Ledger; Mawene; Chilvers; Davidson (Hill); Sedgwick; McKenna; Carter; Whaley (Nicholls); Brown; Hawley (Mellor).

Referee: L. Probert.

Attendance: 17,344.

Photo: Action Images

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