Football News: Do Derby County's Owners Expect Too Much

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Derby County are on their third manager in recent years, after the previous two were removed, mainly for their failure to lift the Rams back into the Premier League, but are the owners expecting too much? On the face of it, Derby are not really big enough to expect promotion, though aiming for it is about the right level for the club as it stands.

The appointment of Paul Clement suggests that the owners do understand that long term planning is essential for a club like Derby to make a return to the Prem and stay there for an extended period. They could have gone for a manager like Sam Allardyce, who is likely to assure them of promotion, but always leaves clubs struggling after he is gone.

Instead they have gone for a young, up and coming coach, who will, they hope, look for long term stability and growth from his team on and off the pitch. Even the previous pair of managers, Nigel Clough and Steve McLaren, showed that the owners of Derby are looking at someone to coach improvements into the team, rather than someone to buy their way up.

The only issue I can foresee in the future, with this appointment, is that any success will bring bigger clubs sniffing around the manager, just like Newcastle United did with McLaren, and they have to deal with that better. Clearly the whole club were unsettled by the talks, with it affecting what looked like automatic promotion and ending their hopes with a whimper in the play offs.

Written by Tris Burke June 10 2015 08:09:33