A week to go until the Championship kicks off and much work has been going on in the off season. This being a post about Derby County, I can report that the squad has been ‘freshened up’ (whatever that means!) and several new faces have been brought in to replace those failures from last season. Manager Paul Jewel, who did actually get his first win under his belt in the pre-season – a victory over Burton Albion – has been shopping in the lower leagues for talent, and he thinks he has found some in the likes of Kris Commons, Paul Green and Liam Dickinson. Not too many other teams will be shaking in their boot at those names. But there are also the arrivals of Nathan Ellington and Rob Hulse to add some experience.
If the pre-season is anything to go by, this will be another long and painful season for the Rams, but there is a quiet confidence around Pride Park that Jewel is the man to bring us back up the the Premier League. He has been given time to settle and is now preparing for the might of Doncaster next week. Can Derby bounce straight back??