Derby County looked toward the Christmas programme to sustain their improved League form, having taken a point at Charlton and three points from the home victory over Watford.

An away match at Preston North End on Boxing Day was followed by a home clash with Ipswich Town on Sunday, 28th December.

Manager Paul Jewell saw his injury worries easing for the Preston match and was able to restore Paul Green to his midfield, with Miles Addison keeping the captain’s armband and the young defensive duo of Nyatanga and Tomkins continuing their partnership. Rob Hulse joined Nathan Ellington in attack.

In the first half the sides cancelled each other out, both showing some attacking intent without causing the goalkeepers undue concern. Neat play with little genuine end product again characterised Derby’s midfield and attack, whilst Mellor looked dangerous for Preston.

The home side took charge of the game after half an hour however, when the ball (from a rather harsh free kick award) travelled across Derby’s area for Preston centre half St Ledger to aim a shot under Stephen Bywater, which he really should have dealt with comfortably; another sloppy goal conceded.

Derby flattered to deceive in response, poor final balls or lacklustre finishing preventing them from getting back into the game. Preston usually looked to have the beating of the Derby defenders and so it was after 65 minutes that Parkin evaded Nyatanga’s attentions to chest down the ball and thump it past Bywater, to effectively settle the game at 2-0. 

Hulse missed an open goal after Green and Commons had combined as yet another game passed Derby by; the Derby manager declared how well his team had played whilst the Rams’ faithful phoning in after leaving Deepdale showed less Christmas cheer and were less complimentary about the performance.

The Rams were losing ground in the Championship table, with the year scudding to a disappointing conclusion, given what had gone before in being unceremoniously dumped out of the Premier League.

If Derby were to take such poor form much further and also fail to improve against Ipswich at home on Sunday, it would indeed have been a ‘Blue Christmas’ with little to cheer us as the season moved towards 2009.

The hopes and aspirations of the fans had been fanned by the flurry of summer transfer activity, there is still a feeling that progress has been marginal and there has been little form or formation to what Jewell and his staff were trying to achieve. A split developed within the fanbase as the tolerance of Jewell’s regime has rapidly diminished.

Injuries and pressure of fixtures add to the pressure on the players and manager to deliver - but with the season approaching half way through, all clubs are experiencing ups and downs with players, form, injuries and suspensions.

For all Derby’s numbers, there seems little continuity, cohesion or genuine quality when week-by-week the team tackles its next opponents.

Prior to the Christmas home game, there was speculation that Emanuel Villa could be moved on in January. The busy but ultimately disappointing striker cost Derby £2m and the club would want their investment back from any alleged South American clubs showing an interest.

Thoughts that Chesterfield marksman Jamie Ward would soon join Derby were not really quashed when Jewell said he “would not be making a cash offer” for the Spireites’ star. That doesn’t preclude Derby taking the lad on a loan, with a view to a permanent deal after they see how Ward shapes up, methinks!

The departure of the Trees’ manager Colin Calderwood after Nothingham’s dreadful Boxing Day home defeat at the hands of lowly Doncaster Rovers did little to raise Rams fans’ spirits, knowing that teams often rally after a failed boss has been shown the door. Yes - of course F*rest won on Sunday!

Jewell made one change for the visit of Ipswich on Sunday, Nacer Barazite replacing Gary Teale. Bad boy goalkeeper Roy Carroll had served his club-imposed fortnight’s suspension but had himself a cushy little Christmas because (having been excluded from Moor Farm) he hadn’t trained and wasn’t ready to resume first team squad duties. Giles Barnes and Tito Villa were omitted from the 16 players on duty.

Almost 28,500 endured a bitterly cold and disappointing afternoon (save for the travelling Ipswich fans, who eventually withdrew their “Magilton Out!” banner as their team cruised to victory). Rams fans had the best banner, with the giant “Super Rams” flag back on display at home but even disgruntled Tractor Boys’ supporters had a better time of it on the pitch this Christmas, whatever they think of their manager.

It was another faltering and ultimately flat performance from Derby, which left fans wondering precisely where we go from here - apart, of course, from any serious notion of top six contention come May 2009. As the evening's events unfolded, it became clear that Jewell was going nowhere as Derby manager.

Ipswich were another team that moved players and ball around more swiftly and productively than Derby (and along the grass, too) and they scored after 13 minutes when Ben Thatcher’s cross was flicked goalwards by Jon Walters’ head. A virtual slow-motion goal drifted in as Bywater fumbled the attempt bemusedly, too little and too late to prevent the ball entering the net.

Nathan Ellington retired early on with a strain, Varney replacing him to spend the next 80 minutes chasing largely forlorn causes of Derby’s skyward hoof ball or misplaced passes from their hasty defence and misfiring midfield. Derby rarely threatened in the first half; a fierce Addison shot went narrowly wide, a penetrating Commons delivery eluded defenders and strikers alike.

Steve Davies returned from injury to replace Rob Hulse and, for the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half, enlivened Derby’s attacked. He was involved in everything although the Rams couldn’t convert their improved approach work into a goal. They had plenty of possession and numerous corners but these were largely wasted as attacks began to peter out from initially promising situations.

To add to the Rams woes, Jordan Stewart received a red card after a wild lunge earned him a 2nd yellow card.

Ipswich took the points comfortably in the end and the Derby manager and players suffered a chorus of booing at both half time and full time, with an audible “Jewell Out!” chorus now getting an airing too.

An early national newspaper report suggests he has resigned, after just a year and 50 games in charge and indeed this was later confirmed by the club.

Derby got the blues for Christmas and the Blues of Ipswich took the points back to Suffolk to ease their own concerns in the lower half of the Championship table. The Tractor Boys climbed to 10th place, 6 points clear of Derby; the Rams are 18th, now just 5 points from the bottom three.

I wish I’d had a productive Christmas (nay, year!) on which to reflect but it has been a thoroughly dispiriting time to be a Derby fan, on top of the abysmal ejection from the Premier League in the early part of the year and the slow and embarrassing start to this Championship campaign in the autumn.

January 2009 will be a testing time for the Rams. The FA Cup trip to Forest Green Rovers and the small matter of a two-leg Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United are sandwiched with Championship trips to Cardiff and Birmingham and the home match with QPR.

Despite recruiting the equivalent of two complete new teams numerically, Jewell did not devise a successful or settled formulation in defence, midfield or attack. Injuries hampered the process but the confidence, consistency, organization and tactics of Derby County going into the New Year indicated that progress was going to be slow and laborious.

More and more fans were voicing the opinion that they'd had enough - and Paul Jewell agreed with them, never surfacing to face the media after the game.

He left assistant Chris Hutchings to conduct the post-match media duties; he gave bland denials that anything untoward should be read into the situation.

The Rams are simply an ordinary team, not difficult for the opposition to work out and defeat and seldom a handful when Derby’s attacking options prove frequently inaccurate, wasteful or ineffectual against most of the defences they face.

Jewell’s promotion promise was superseded by repeated emphasis on recovery and rebuilding and his new players have seemingly failed to wash away a brittle mentality.

There is still a huge sort-out required with many of Jewell's signings only adding to the dead wood. With a large number of new incoming recruits over the past year and the collection of inherited misfits and failures drifting in and out of the squad (or variously out of the buildings to go on loan elsewhere) the player strength is considerable but the quality is not formidable.

In my opinion, there is the equivalent of a full team plus a benchful of subs on the club’s books whose contribution is nil or minimal - and whose presence is therefore entirely superfluous and draining on both resources and patience.

It will be impossible to further overhaul the squad to improve matters for at least two transfer windows and even the philanthropic outlook of GSE’s main investor W. Brett-Wilson probably won’t extend to giving the board several £££millions more with which to recruit flops like Savage, Stubbs, Villa, Sterjovski, Zadkovich to name but a few.

There were 29 Derby squad members named in the Ipswich edition of Ram Magazine and it was just about possible to name a preferred 11 that - with time together in the same team, the tactics to suit them and a full measure of effort and confidence - could become a competitive Championship outfit.

Other passengers (most not listed in the Ipswich squad 29!) still costing us dear include Savage, Todd, Davis, Mears, McEveley and Camara. Derby have paid good money for old rope.

Many of us also cannot fathom the utility of keeping Sterjovski, Zadkovich, Pereplotkins and Teale (and maybe even Barnes, Carroll and Stephen Pearson) at the club - and the disparity between their wages and their contribution is colossal.

Jewell’s troops are also shored up with loanees Tomkins, Nyatanga, Barazite and Powell, (who all may not be around for much longer) so (notwithstanding any January transfer-window newcomers), getting a settled, balanced and well-drilled team out on the park looks nigh on impossible this season.

Adam Pearson certainly wasn’t wrong in declaring (before Sunday's game) that there was “15 - 20% more to come” from the players we have recently recruited. We now know that the DFO will have to find new management and coaching personnel through which to elicit that crucial extra percentage that might haul Derby back into respectable contention.

Who’d be a Derby fan? Hmmm: more folks than would be a fan of any other club in our league (and a fair few in the Premier League), as demonstrated by our phenomenal gates and loyalty, is one answer!

Good riddance to 2008 and the embarrassment and humiliation the team (and management) have brought upon the club’s name and the sheer paucity of the football product on offer.

Thanks and good luck to Jewell, sadly not the first Derby manager recently to arrive with high hopes and a glowing reputation, only to disappear with the club stuttering and stalling where it matters most - on the pitch. You tried, you failed.

The club must turn the corner very soon or they may be sucked into the vortex of decline that has consumed such as F*rest, L**ds, Leicester, Charlton, Watford, Leicester…. these clubs demonstrate that there’s no divine right to bounce back from relegation, or necessarily even stabilise in the second tier of the League.

As I wish you all and the team much better for 2009, let’s hope for a proper FA Cup display at the New Lawn next Saturday and a good crack at the European, Premier League and World Club Champions over the next few weeks. Come on you RAMS!

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The final RamsWeek of 2007 had me forlornly recalling Dylan’s “I Threw It All Away” after seeing Derby hand Blackburn Rovers the points in a televised home game. Having snatched a rare lead in the first half, Derby spurned the chance to make victory a real possibility when Steve Howard missed a penalty.

Soon enough, some calamitous defending (Paul Jewell’s own description) served to give Blackburn two goals and maximum points to send the Christmas crowd home in a silent and sombre mood with only the hope of salvaging a little pride and dignity from the 2nd half of the Premier League season once the manager attempted to revitalise his marooned team during the January 2008 transfer window.

Happy New Year, y'all - and boy, don’t we deserve a Happy Christmas in 2009 after the last two we have had?

Photo: Action Images

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