Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Red Bull Salzburg is saying, and nobody at Derby County is enjoying the guessing.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bobby Clark will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Derby County asked and Manchester United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer from Grazer AK for Carlton Morris 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.
The name of Jacob Widell Zetterström has come up in conversations Derby County were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Derby County have done the hard part with Manchester City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Kevon Gray was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The offer went to Red Bull Salzburg this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Watford waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Derby County is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Derby County and Rotherham United have settled on $3.9M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The chase for Sverre Sandal ended with $1.6M changing hands and Luton Town out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Isidro Pitta wants continental football; whether Derby County can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Jurriën Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 19 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Derby County have let the market know Jacob Widell Zetterström can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Derby County have gone to Luton Town with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Jurriën Timber and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $853.1K — a club that wants Ben Garrity enough to be asked twice.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Daniel Cox has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mansfield Town have kept their man, and Derby County go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Pritchard will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer went to Northampton Town this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Derby County have gone to Mansfield Town with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
David Ozoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jacob Widell Zetterström has his answer from Derby County; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Chizzy Ezenwata and Derby County agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Derby County they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everybody at Derby County saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Jayden Moore and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chizzy Ezenwata trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isidro Pitta signs something — a contract at Derby County or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dilan Markanday is on it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Derby County are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Jurriën Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Derby County know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dom Ballard is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAdam Davies knocks on the manager’s door
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nathan Bell is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Liam Davis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexander Wood has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Peter Fisher is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Derby County has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adam Davies trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Derby County. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Daniel Russell has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Pritchard will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dayann Methalie was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout8 May 2028
Dilane Bakwa loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Dilane Bakwa's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Nobody at Derby County will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Derby County has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Carlton Morris has written the date down.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 67 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bobby Clark will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Jurriën Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. León Astrada is living that version at Derby County, and it tends to show in the first month.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Derby County can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Daniel Russell to a room that had heard them before.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Jurriën Timber and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daniel Russell after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Allan Nyom is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Pritchard will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dayann Methalie was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Chances created: 10. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Derby County told Dilan Markanday something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Derby County is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Derby County
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Derby County have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Carlton Morris will call it something else in private.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Daniel Russell after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutDom Ballard has become a man the manager trusts
7 goals in 27 games at Torres — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Derby County updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nobody at Derby County will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Leyton Orient next, and one man in the Derby County dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Derby County, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
13 graduates, from a department now rated 11 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
In brief
Looking aheadLooking ahead: the trip to Leyton Orient
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Isidro Pitta
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Derby County know it.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
At 39, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bobby Clark trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Derby County, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Pritchard will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alex Pritchard has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Something was said to Dilane Bakwa and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Derby County is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
22 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Up for the corner, and Oscar Fraulo delivers — 7.70
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Oscar Fraulo scored, was marked 7.70, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 6.79, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Jurriën Timber was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
14 combined actions and 6.79. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
400 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Derby County pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Derby County has been clear about where Corey Blackett-Taylor stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Daniel Russell kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Derby County asked and Sheffield United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Derby County they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Max Johnston to Nottingham Forest has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Derby County with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Derby County ran out of time with Leeds United. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Derby County may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Up for the corner, and Oscar Fraulo delivers — 7.70
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Oscar Fraulo scored, was marked 7.70, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Dayann Methalie and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Derby County asked and Stockport County said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Derby County have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer went to Leeds United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Wolverhampton paid $9.2M and Derby County took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Derby County asked and Burnley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
The offer from Wolverhampton for Bobby Clark 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Dom Ballard scored in the 86th minute, Lincoln City had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Derby County took the lot.
Derby County asked and Leeds United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dayann Methalie did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dion Sanderson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Derby County offered $58.0K; Southampton said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Derby County people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Tondela for Carlton Morris 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.
Derby County have gone to Burnley with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Derby County, and it is not being withdrawn.
West Ham United paid $3.9M and Derby County took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and West Ham United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Derby County is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bobby Clark will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
$72.0K settles it between the clubs for Lee Nicholls
Preston have accepted the money. What Derby County do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$1.1M on the table at Swansea City. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
A 1‑0 win over Sheffield Wednesday, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Dayann Methalie and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The name of Dion Sanderson has come up in conversations Derby County were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 6.76, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Derby County asked and Stevenage said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Derby County has been clear about where Lewis Travis stands, which is more than many ever get.
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Derby County have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Derby County is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.97, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jamie Gittens 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Isidro Pitta. 2‑0 against Blackburn Rovers, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Cardiff City had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Derby County did not stop to explain themselves.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Derby County, and 7 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
3 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad20 Dec 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Derby County man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Isidro Pitta was the best thing in any of them.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bobby Clark will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Two goals and a mark of 8.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
20 combined actions and 6.83. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Isidro Pitta wants continental football; whether Derby County can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Dom Ballard 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.78, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
In brief
Player ratingsIsidro Pitta beats them one at a time
1‑4 against Middlesbrough, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Derby County have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Derby County heard it as anything else.
Dayann Methalie and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stephen Watson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel Atkinson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Derby County is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 7.00, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Jurriën Timber and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bobby Clark will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Derby County know it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Derby County will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Derby County and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
They sit in position 19 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Derby County, and 5 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Daniel Russell to a room that had heard them before.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Derby County have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dion Sanderson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
6 goals in one match, Carlton Morris on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Derby County and Southampton.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Oscar Fraulo 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.
0‑4 against West Ham United, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Something was said to Max Johnston and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Beaten 4 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Derby County they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 7.00 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Derby County, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bobby Clark has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Derry Murkin signs something — a contract at Derby County or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Derby County, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Derby County is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sheraldo Becker and Derby County agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dayann Methalie is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kenzo Goudmijn. 1‑0 against Leicester City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Derby County.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Kenzo Goudmijn was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Derby County will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Derby County is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Derby County can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Lewis Travis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Daniel Russell to a room that had heard them before.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Derby County will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Derby County have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal that would have taken Derry Murkin to Nottingham Forest has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Derby County with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stoke City have kept their man, and Derby County go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Dayann Methalie and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Derby County they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Oscar Fraulo to Crystal Palace has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Derby County with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 21 signed and 37 gone
That is the business done at Derby County until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ipswich Town have kept their man, and Derby County go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The new man at Derby County has worked with Wataru Endo before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Dayann Methalie was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Middlesbrough waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Derby County is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The name of Oscar Fraulo has come up in conversations Derby County were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 new man at Derby County has worked with Wataru Endo before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Derby County asked and Barnsley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Derby County will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” AFC Wimbledon had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Derby County have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Derby County they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Derby County asked and Ipswich Town said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Wataru Endo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
In brief
The dugoutWataru Endo back under a manager who knows him
The chase for Jurriën Timber ended with $44.6M changing hands and Arsenal out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
$1.6M on the table at Ipswich Town. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Derby County had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Manchester United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Dayann Methalie and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$44.6M on the table at Arsenal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Derby County have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Rotherham United pay $4.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Derby County they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ipswich Town have kept their man, and Derby County go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Dayann Methalie was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The new man at Derby County has worked with Wataru Endo before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Derby County offered $44.6M; Arsenal said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Lars-Jørgen Salvesen had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rotherham United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Derby County is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Coventry City paid $10.2M and Derby County took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Derby County have gone to Ipswich Town with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Sondre Langås and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The new man at Derby County has worked with Wataru Endo before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Bragantino did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $14.8M for Isidro Pitta, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Derby County is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Chizzy Ezenwata had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Isidro Pitta and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The new man at Derby County has worked with Wataru Endo before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Derby County asked and Sunderland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Derby County can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
SquadDerby County are still strangers to each other
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Isidro Pitta
The offer from Middlesbrough for Patrick Agyemang 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.
“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.
Dayann Methalie and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The new man at Derby County has worked with Wataru Endo before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Patrick Agyemang trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Derby County asked and Liverpool said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer went to Bragantino this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Crawley Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Derby County is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
The name of Patrick Agyemang has come up in conversations Derby County were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Dayann Methalie was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The new man at Derby County has worked with Wataru Endo before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Derby County will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Manchester United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Wataru Endo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The new man at Derby County has worked with Wataru Endo before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
23 appearances and 2 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Derby County have gone to Chelsea with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Derby County offered $21.8M; Chelsea said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bobby Clark will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Northampton Town had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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.
Derby County and Sheffield United have settled on $380.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
$23.7M settles it between the clubs for Matheus Nunes
Manchester City have accepted the money. What Derby County do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The fee is $16.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Leyton Orient drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Derby County have gone to Ipswich Town with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The name of David Ozoh has come up in conversations Derby County were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Derby County people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$35.7M on the table at Arsenal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$21.8M on the table at Chelsea. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Derby County have paid $3.3M for Karlan Grant, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The deal with Chelsea is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The offer from ADO Den Haag for Lars-Jørgen Salvesen 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.
The name of Patrick Agyemang has come up in conversations Derby County were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Lennon Wheeldon has agreed terms with Gillingham for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
$430.0K on the table at Sheffield United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cardiff City have kept their man, and Derby County go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$16.4M on the table at Leyton Orient. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Derby County have gone to West Bromwich Albion with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The phone has started ringing about Bobby Clark again, and this time the name on the line is Aston Villa. Derby County are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $18.2M — a club that wants Dom Ballard enough to be asked twice.
The deal with Chelsea is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Callum Elder was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
19 appearances and 11 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Squad31 May 2027
5 new faces, and Derby County are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nobody at Derby County will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Derby County would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dion Sanderson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Derby County the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad24 May 2027
Josh Dasilva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is the quietest kind of dressing-room problem and the one that lasts longest, because nobody has done anything anyone can be disciplined for. 2 players sit outside all 3 groups entirely, which is the detail that tends to matter.
11 goals in 19 games at Notts County — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Derby County updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Marcos Rocha is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Derby County know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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.
Wataru Endo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaydon Banel 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Josh Vickers has his answer from Derby County; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Derby County. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Derby County, and it is not being withdrawn.
Estêvão and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 May 2027
Josh Dasilva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Derby County, and 5 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ryan Hedges is on it.
Position 4 on 84 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
20 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Position 4 on 84 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Estêvão was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mateus Fernandes 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.
Match1 May 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Derby County. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mateus Fernandes. 1‑0 against Swansea City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Estêvão did not need any: 8.12, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Derby County they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mateus Fernandes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
19 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Estêvão was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Josh Dasilva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Wataru Endo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mateus Fernandes 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Lewis Travis.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Derby County they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
Something was said to Mateus Fernandes and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Eiran Cashin is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jaydon Banel is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sondre Langås signs something — a contract at Derby County or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Andrey Santos scored in the 86th minute, Middlesbrough had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Derby County took the lot.
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Josh Dasilva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Patrick Agyemang provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Estêvão was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 7.48 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Norwich City scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Jaydon Banel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Queens Park Rangers will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Derby County were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Patrick Agyemang provided it, and the 7.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Derby County and Queens Park Rangers, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sheraldo Becker and Derby County agree another 2 years.
In brief
SquadWords at Derby County training over how hard people work
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Estêvão did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Derby County is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mateus Fernandes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Josh Dasilva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Estêvão 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Add another name to the list: Aktobe have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Adam Brown. The answer from Derby County has not changed — yet.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Matt Clarke.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Jaydon Banel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Sam Szmodics and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad15 Feb 2027
6 new faces, and Derby County are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Sam Szmodics was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Dasilva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Derby County asked and Tottenham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Derby County is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Derby County close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Derby County hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Derby County have done the hard part with Liverpool, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Derby County asked and Chesterfield said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.80 for the rest of it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cheltenham Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Derby County is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Sam Szmodics and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Dasilva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viktoria Plzen have kept their man, and Derby County go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 2‑0 win over Oxford United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Oxford United spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Lewis Travis at his very best
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Rhian Brewster scored in the 88th minute, Sheffield United had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Derby County took the lot.
Derby County asked and Aston Villa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Cheltenham Town have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dion Sanderson. The answer from Derby County has not changed — yet.
Add another name to the list: Notts County have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oscar Fraulo. The answer from Derby County has not changed — yet.
Everything agreed with Manchester United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Marked 7.90. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Max Johnston commits to Derby County for another 5 years.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Sam Szmodics and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Marked 8.51 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Jaydon Banel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Daniel Russell, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Derby County, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Derby County will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
West Ham United ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Derby County has been clear about where Matt Clarke stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Dasilva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Carlton Morris. 1‑0 against Ipswich Town, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” David Ozoh has his answer from Derby County; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sheraldo Becker has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Derby County will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Three points for Derby County, 2‑1 the final word against Norwich City in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Sheraldo Becker was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Bruno Piñatares was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaydon Banel 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rhian Brewster provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Josh Dasilva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Jaydon Banel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Portsmouth had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Derby County told Sheraldo Becker something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Dasilva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jaydon Banel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lars-Jørgen Salvesen is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Matt Clarke’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Derby County needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Rhian Brewster has written the date down.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 111th minute. Blackburn Rovers will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Oscar Fraulo delivers — 7.61
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Oscar Fraulo scored, was marked 7.61, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
6 goals in one match, Sam Szmodics on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Oscar Fraulo 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.
0‑1 to Watford, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Josh Dasilva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Daniel Russell to a room that had heard them before.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratingsThe afternoon ran through Derry Murkin
12Edition
The Derby County Herald
19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Bobby Clark, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.24
A mark of 8.24 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Derby County is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Ozoh, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Jaydon Banel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Derby County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Dasilva 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sondre Langås signs something — a contract at Derby County or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Patrick Agyemang has written the date down.
In brief
SquadOscar Fraulo has seen what the next man earns
The dugoutJoe Ward asks for a word with the manager
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Dasilva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Craig Forsyth and Derby County agree another 1 years.
A 1‑1 draw with Bristol City leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Daniel Russell was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Derby County dressing room was either.
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jaydon Banel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Derby County has been clear about where Callum Elder stands, which is more than many ever get.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad28 Sep 2026
5 new faces, and Derby County are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Daniel Russell on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Derry Murkin
Sam Szmodics was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Dasilva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Henrik Meister trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Daniel Russell after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Derry Murkin reports back to Derby County with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Josh Dasilva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Derby County, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Stoke City for Derry Murkin 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Max Johnston reports back to Derby County with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Derby County close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Carlton Morris and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Derby County asked and Stockport County said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Derby County who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaydon Banel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wolverhampton waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Derby County is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bobby Clark did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bobby Clark. 1‑0 against Oxford United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Dasilva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 6.93 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Derby County are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Derby County have paid $5.1M for Sheraldo Becker, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The offer from Manchester United for Lewis Travis 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Bobby Clark, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.09
A mark of 8.09 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Derby County asked and Stevenage said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Josh Dasilva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Jaydon Banel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
The dugoutMatt Clarke is still being punished for one mistake
The clubs have shaken hands with Mainz 05; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Derby County asked and Burnley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
4 academy players handed senior numbers at Derby County
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samuel Davis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adam Davies is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Adam Brown has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Richard Mitchell has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Southampton had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jaydon Banel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $6.0M has been paid because Josh Dasilva is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Derby County have gone to Mainz 05 with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Porto keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Carlton Morris and Derby County agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Everyone has stopped pretending: AS Saint-Etienne will make the call about Josh Dasilva this week. Derby County have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Josh Dasilva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Jaydon Banel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$6.0M on the table at Brentford. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
474 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Derby County have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutCarlton Morris asks for a word with the manager