Derby
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Lest it be forgotten, Derby were a nothing team going nowhere other than down when Billy Davies got hold of them and miraculously took them to the Championship play off finals and then up to the Premiership. Of course from the very start there was no doubt they would go straight back down – but there is no dishonour in that for a little club with modest support. Bolton are the exponents that we think of – jumping up and down between the top two divisions before hitting on the “rotational fouling” strategy which then kept them in the top league for several years under the stewardship of the Fat Slug. We may not like the style – it may indeed be anti-football – but still it worked. Derby could have followed this route – up to the top division, down, back up, repeat a few times, each time using the money to develop the support staff, build up the youth systems, and so on (never forgetting that they already had a very fine stadium that was more than adequate for Premiership football in the midlands). So then on 30 October 2007, two months after their unexpected arrival in the top league, Adam Pearson, who is apparently the chairman of Derby County, says this: “Is Billy Davies safe? Absolutely. He’s done a fantastic job and we’re 100 percent committed to him. IF the worst comes to the worst and we do go down, I can’t think of a better man to get us straight back up. He has passion, he’s shrewd, he’s a good manager.” Some real insights there. Davies had not spent a fortune having got into the top division – he was building the club for the future. Yes they would go down – everyone knew that – but if you wanted a man to manage the system and bring them up, you had him. Derby, you feel, should know the ropes by now – after all they had Brian Clough, they won the league, and then the chairman fell out with him and Clough walked. Surely Derby could not do it again. 26 November 2007. Billy Davies is sacked. Kind of brings a tear to your eye. |
