Pearson in!

Earlier in the season before Paul Clement's team hit a purple patch I had my doubts as to whether he would last as boss. I admit I was one of those who did for that period start to believe that he just might prove my initial fears unfounded. 

However, we all know what happened next. My initial first choice was Nigel Pearson to replace Clement. I have blown hot and cold with regards to his appointment, but will go on record now and say I think that he is the best option available. 

He's not known for his people skills, but he is known for commanding respect and installing discipline into teams. It's discipline that we have lacked as a team. At our best we look very formidable, at worst we look like a disjointed bunch of headless chickens. 

The play off games against Hull showed both the Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde teams. They were a perfect demonstration of our season. 

I cooled on the idea of Nigel Pearson when it became obvious that his back room staff of Steve Walsh and Craig Shakespeare were not going to join him in his next job as they signed new deals at Leicester. 

I decided to speak to a few Leicester fans who said that us appointing Pearson was a 'no brainier'. They stated that he would easily be able to replicate his success at the KP with staff that he trusts. They went on to say that he can take much credit for their clubs march towards the premier league title this season. 

He brings former Derby favourite Chris Powell as his assistant and leaves Kevin Phillips and Pascal Zuberhuler in their current roles. 

Instilling confidence and belief goes a long way in the search for success and Pearson has a good record in this department. 

What is definite is that we will need to offload a few players and bring a couple in. We need to be able to play a 4-4-2 formation and that will require adjustments. 4-3-3 may be pretty, but it has limitations! 

So we open a new chapter on Derby County's efforts to hit the big time again. This time I am cautiously optimistic.