Written by Luke Fenn

Things are finally looking on the up for Derby County since their relegation from the EFL Championship into League One. They have recently been cleared of administration and have a new owner with local business man, David Clowes, hoping to steady the financial ship at Derby county. One of his first challenges will be looking for a new manager as Manchester United legend ,Wayne Rooney, resigned on the 24th June. Former Hull City and Brighton player ,Liam Rosenior, has taken interim charge which could get extended into a permanent role if he gets off to a good start.

Carlos Corberan recently left Huddersfield Town and has been linked with the job but it does look unlikely considering the position Derby are in and with Corberan steering Huddersfield to the Championship Playoff final last season he should be looking at a higher job. Things are looking solid player wise with only 5 1st team players staying from last season with Krystian Bielik, Max Bird, Jason Knight, Louie Sibley and Jack Stratton making up those 5. The amount of player departures including captain Tom Lawrence means that they have cut down their wage budget and can make more signings which they have been doing. Thus far they have made 7 signings with a lot of big names coming through the door at Derby. All of them bar one loan have arrived on a free transfer with the biggest name being Conor Hourihane who joined on a free from Aston Villa.

Hourihane is a household name in the Championship and can certainly help Derby climb out of League One. Last season he scored once and assisted four times for Playoff semi-finalists Sheffield United on loan from Villa. Other players include premier League experienced Nathaniel Mendez-Lang, David McGoldrick and James Chester. With winger ,Tom Barkhuizen, joining from Championship side Preston and goalkeeper ,Joe Wildsmith, joining from fellow league one side Sheffield Wednesday. A promising young player has also been signed on loan, with 20 year old centre half Hayden Roberts joining from Brighton for the season. Derby fans will certainly be excited to see him play in the coming weeks.

With these signings they are certainly making it clear that they don’t want to end up like Bolton did when they went into administration and suffered back to back relegation. I think Derby will have a good season especially with the signings they have made and hopefully can go up at first time of asking with minimum of fuss wether that be under Liam Rosenior or a proven older manager. We’ll have to wait and see….