From Mid-Table to Play Offs.

There has been a little debate recently amongst tweeters as to would we have finished in third place had Steve McClaren not been appointed as Head Coach.

I myself was engaged in quite a long debate with a fellow Rams fan a few weeks ago that opposed the sacking of Nigel Clough and believes the season would have ended pretty much the same had he not been removed.

Don't get me wrong! I like Nigel Clough! I think he did an excellent job in clearing up the mess he inherited from Billy Davies and Paul Jewell. His team played far better football than theirs and cost a fraction of them too.

However, I feel the time was right for him to move on to a new challenge.

When Steve McClaren was initially appointed I was to be honest a little underwhelmed. I wasn't judging him on his tenure as England boss as only one man has won any silverware whilst in charge of the National team. Nor was I basing it on his short stay at our rivals Nottingham Forest where he took over from Billy Davies who has the knack of getting teams to over perform.

When he was dismissed by Twente I thought that his time as a number one had come to an end. Twente sacked him despite being only six points off the top.

He had been coaching QPR prior to his return to Derby and when he was appointed both Harry Redknapp and Joey Barton stated quite clearly that they were sad to see him go.

I decided after listening to a special phone in on Radio Derby, that maybe just maybe it might work.

The rest is history, but just how did he turn things around?

He brought in Derby people to start with! Paul Simpson was brought in as first team coach and was a fans favourite as a player.

Former goalkeeper Eric Steele joined the line up after finding himself surplus to David Moyes requirements at Manchester United. It's clear for all to see the improvement in Lee Grant since Steele came back as goalkeeping coach.

The Right Back position had been giving us problems. Keiron Freeman had been dropped and publicly lambasted by Nigel Clough after one game and replaced by Adam Smith on loan from Spurs.

Smith looked useful in attack, but lacked a bit in defensive qualities.

Andre Wisdom, a centre half by trade was brought in on a season loan from Liverpool and made the jib his own.

Simon Dawkins was brought in initially on loan from Spurs, but was signed full time in January and has had many good games and brings something different to the table. 

Patrick Bamford has been a useful loanee from Chelsea and George Thorne has impressed Rams fans with his displays.

Craig Forsyth has looked a different player since the return of the Mac too!

All in all a good job has been done!

Obviously time will tell if the positives will remain and if we can move forward from here, but the indications so far are very good.