Under other circumstances, it would be a compliment to be called the Manchester United of the Championship. Now it is a criticism.
As Derby host Louis van Gaal’s team on Friday, it is with too many common denominators. They are fifth in the second tier and fifth in the top flight respectively, resident big spenders who are not realising ambitions or justifying expenditure. Derby are six points off the automatic promotion places, United five from the Uefa Champions League positions. Each could miss out on a footballing goal and a financial windfall.
The difference lies in the figures. Both are accused of trying to buy success. Yet United have paid out some £285 million (Dh1.5 billion) in fees in Van Gaal’s reign alone. Anthony Martial’s eventual cost could top £60m. In comparison, he makes Derby seem bargain hunters.
The perception in the second tier is very different.
“The numbers Derby are putting around now, if anyone’s throwing money at it, they certainly are,” Burnley manager Sean Dyche said in July. “That can be a different world than even we’re in. Derby have taken that to a whole new level.”
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Dyche had parachute payments, courtesy of Burnley’s season in the Premier League. He found he was being outbid by ambitious rivals. Yet the remarkable element about his comments is that most of Derby’s expenditure has come since then.
When Dyche was speaking, Derby had already signed striker Darren Bent and goalkeeper Scott Carson, both former England internationals. They had raided Aston Villa for Austria attacker Andreas Weimann. They had paid a then club record £4.75m for Thomas Ince, a player who has long seemed too good for the Championship but not quite good enough for the Premier League.
They had taken two former Burnley players, Chris Baird and Jason Shackell, and seeing his captain lured away prompted Dyche’s comments. Second-tier clubs do not tend to pay £3m for centre-backs who are about to turn 32. Derby were the exceptions.
Yet bigger fees were to follow. Suddenly short of fit midfielders, Derby spent £10m on two in a day, the £4m Jacob Butterfield and the £6m promotion specialist Bradley Johnson.
And then, in January, came three more additions, Guinean winger Abdoul Camara, Reading forward Nick Blackman and Blackburn full-back Marcus Olsson. They now have 14 full internationals and 14 players with Premier League experience. Their overall outlay now exceeds £25m. No Championship club has ever spent more in a season.
Derby can afford it. Mel Morris, their owner, is thought to be worth around £400m. “Wealthy backers,” noted Dyche, who said Burnley only spend what they generate themselves. Derby’s determination has been evident in expenditure and recruitment alike.
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Paul Clement is in his first managerial job, but he was Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant at Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid. He was touted as potentially England’s next outstanding manager before he had taken charge of a game.
He did not win any of his first six. From September to December, however, he oversaw a run of 13 victories in 18. January has brought a relapse, however. Derby’s only win of 2016 came against Hartlepool in the FA Cup. They lost 4-1 to Dyche’s Burnley on Monday. A dissatisfaction with the slump has been apparent. Morris went into the dressing room after the draw with Reading to voice his views to the players.
Understandably, given their shared difficulties, Clement has argued that Van Gaal requires support.
“Coaches need time to develop what they want to do,” he said. The Dutchman has had a year more than the Englishman, who is in his first season in charge.
He is scarcely the archetypal lower-league manager, either in his confidantes — he is taking advice from Ancelotti — or his spending. It is why this is a cup tie with a difference. “I am not sure it will quite be a giant-killing if we get a good result,” he said. Because Derby are giants in their own division.
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