Joe Ward

Right Wingback - Derby County
7 Jan 2028
Friday
Process

Marked for Joe Ward

15 Edition

The Derby County Herald

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jacob Widell Zetterström decides it from twelve yards

2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.

Match

Derby County march on in the cup

Brighton are out and Derby County go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near David Ozoh

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

6 matches without a win for Derby County

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Derby County are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Sheyi Ojo says Derby County went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Player ratings

Marc Guiu, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60

A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Sam Szmodics in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Derby County this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Derby County count the cost of losing Joe Ward

17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Player ratings

The game went through Patrick Agyemang — 6.70

Marked 6.70 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.

In brief

Back issues
5 Edition

The Derby County Herald

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Derby County say no — this time

The offer from Aston Villa for Sondre Langås was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Danny Batth hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Derby County can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jaydon Banel

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Sam Szmodics in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Derby County this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The terraces

Derby County supporters have found a favourite in Max Johnston

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Max Johnston has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Squad

Words at Derby County training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Callum Elder is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market

The Rhian Brewster conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Preston will make the call about Rhian Brewster this week. Derby County have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

Squad

Joe Ward gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Max Johnston was the difference for Derby County

Marked 7.11. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

In brief