Staying up will represent a good season for Derby.. but don't blame Nigel Clough

By Robbie Savage

Published 23:21 24/09/09

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My Derby County team have lost four straight and we have to accept that staying up in the Championship will represent a good season for us.

So do the moaners and groaners who are calling into phone-in shows and writing on message boards, criticising us and our brilliant boss Nigel Clough.

The gaffer's accepted a hell of a challenge here. He's having to knock the old house done and build a new one from the foundations up. He's had to slash the wage bill by millions, turn the tide after two or three years of struggles and somehow produce a team which will take us back to the Premier League. He will do it, but it's going to take, in my opinion, two or three years.

How can I be so sure? Because despite these recent setbacks, we've got a magnificent team spirit. Because everybody at the club's loves the gaffer's training, which is the best I've ever experienced at any club. Because as a team we're as fit as we've ever been and ran a combined 124km against Barnsley the other day - the most I've ever seen. And because the manager tells us the truth. If we're rubbish, he tells us - and he did when we were poor against Scunthorpe.

But after we lost to the only goal at Palace on Saturday he simply sat us down and said, "It will turn for you."

And it will - for us and for him.

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