By Simon Long
Derby County still find themselves, without a permanent manager, sat bottom of the table and still awaiting for the takeover from Sheikh Khaled to be completed.
Current Aston Villa assistant manager John Terry is tipped as the bookies favourite to take the helm at the club, despite Wayne Rooney presently being the interim manager. Rooney has expressed his interest to take over as manager permanently.
Much like when Frank Lampard took over, this would be the former Chelsea captain’s first stint in management.
In my opinion this isn’t what the club needs right now. Ok, Lampard did get us to a playoff final but he took the reigns at the start of the season and was heavily backed by owner Mel Morris and he was able to bring in 3 loanees in Wilson, Mount and Tomori. On paper Derby’s current squad should not really be sat at the bottom of the league but the table doesn’t lie.
The squad seems devoid of any confidence and despite a better performance against Wycombe Wanderers at the weekend they still couldn’t find a second goal and still conceded a late equaliser. I believe this can be turned around and The Rams can stay up, I just think they need the right man in charge.
Last season Derby relied heavily on its youngsters and it worked, however this season it is not. They put out a much more experienced side to face Wycombe and it was only when they took those more experienced players off in the second half that they started to look vulnerable.
Arguably their best performance last season was against Stoke City in which the Rams ran out 4-0 winners. In that game former manager Phillip Cocu opted to go with a more experienced squad. Max Bird and Jayden Bogle were the only 2 academy players involved, both who had already had debut seasons under Frank Lampard in the previous year. Bogle had cemented his starting spot in the first team under Lampard so had experience.
An experienced team selection could thrive under an experienced manager. That is what Derby need right now. Names such as Sam Allardyce and Eddie Howe have been banded around, but honestly I can’t see them coming to Derby whilst they are sat at the bottom of the league. I feel they will be awaiting a Premier League club vacancy to come up, which normally happens around this time of year.
Paul Cook would be a really good shout, he totally transformed Wigan’s form last season and had it not been for the heavy points deduction the Latics would still be in this division and not suffering down in League one. He is also someone that is more realistic then a Big Sam type.
I’ll put on my tin hat for this but Steve McClaren would be another man the Rams should be looking towards. Both times he has come to manage the club, they have been when the Rams have be sitting around the bottom three and he has completely changed the the fortunes. Yes I get it, he didn’t get us promoted and then didn’t quash the Newcastle rumours but he knows how to get the best out of this club and he is already here albeit in a technical director role. I believe he is already making an impact and knowing Steve he will be out on the training pitch guiding Rooney.
I am in no doubt that Derby can turn their season on it’s head, they managed it last year. I just think now is not the time for publicity managers, now is the time for the experienced manager. One who will come in and concentrate on the job in hand and get this club marching up the table.
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