Nigel Clough seemed to many of us to be a pretty shrewd transfer market operator; but personally, I never picked out any sort of a pattern in his dealings.
In Clough’s time at the Rams — he signed players from the Premier League, from lower divisions, from non-league football and from Scotland; any player deemed good enough was eligible.
There’s nothing wrong with that as far as I’m concerned, but I think there is a very noticeable difference between Clough’s transfer activities and Steve McClaren’s. McClaren seems to draw from a much smaller pool of talent, with rules as to who is eligible and who is not.
To test this theory, let’s take a look at the players Steve Mac has signed for the Rams. I am not addressing here the players that McClaren inherited on joining the club and re-signed; only players he has brought in from the outside.
In addition, I am counting only players who were brought in to be immediate first teamers, either permanently or on loan; not players who were brought in to beef up the development squad such as Ivan Calero, Alefe Santos, Alban Bunjaku Kelle Roos and quite a number of others.
My list consists of Andre Wisdom, Michael Keane, Lee Naylor, Kalifa Cisse, George Thorne, Simon Dawkins, Patrick Bamford, Jack Butland, Cyrus Christie, Ryan Shotton, Omar Mascarell, Jordan Ibe and Leon Best; for a total of thirteen players.
Is there anything we can say about them as a group? First of all, they are tall: nine of the thirteen are six footers, including several — Christie, Thorne and Shotton included — who are well over six feet. The shortest are Lee Naylor and Jordan Ibe at five feet nine; so even they are by no means short blokes. Steve Mac seems to believe that a good big ‘un will beat a good little ‘un.
But more importantly, there looks to be an issue of pedigree. If we define pedigree as having come up through the ranks with a Premier League club (or a top Spanish club in the case of Mascarell); or having played in the Premier League, or having played full international football, then twelve of the thirteen qualify.
The only exception is Cyrus Christie, and he is about to get full international recognition for the Republic of Ireland. There is clearly an expectation that first team players are not going to be drawn from the lower divisions; and certainly not from non-league football. Presumably the time will come when having come through the ranks at Derby will be a qualifier.
If these are Steve Mac’s rules for bringing in players from the outside, what does that mean for the players Steve inherited? It means surprisingly little, probably.
Keogh, Forsyth, Bryson, Hendrick, Ward and Martin are full internationals, and Russell is about to become one while Grant has played Premier League football. I can see only four players in the first team squad who do not meet Mac’s criteria: John Eustace, Paul Coutts, Jake Buxton and Will Hughes.
John Eustace probably does not have a long future with the club, as Mac has signed two replacements for him in Thorne and Mascarell. Paul Coutts made a big impression when he first joined the club, but his injuries last season have left him with a mountain to climb if he is to again become a first team regular.
Jake Buxton made enormous strides last season to become a popular first team stalwart; but he looks to be a long way from McClaren’s ideal candidate. Despite his recent signing of a long-term contract, I can see Jake becoming more of a squad player than a regular first teamer.
But what does this mean for Will Hughes?
Will is obviously one of the most talented players at the club, and he could well become a full England international before too much longer. But with Hughes, Bryson and Hendrick competing for two places in central midfield, might Will have to take a back seat to the more pedigreed players?
Probably for at least ninety per cent of Rams fans the answer would be "No!”.
But of course, our opinion doesn’t count, does it?
Perhaps the answer will become clear over the next few months.