Derby County – Thorne in Our Side

Article by e-Derby County Correspondent Ross Lowe

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Wembley. We came, we saw. We played a great game of possession football that silenced the opposition and their fans. But did we ever look like scoring? In truth, apart from one occasion when Johnny Russell was chopped down, no we didn’t. Although stretched out on the rack for the best part of 89 minutes, QPR held firm and their defence were well-marshalled, even when they went down to ten men.

The goal in 89 minutes was crushing – so much so that for a time, #GuttedForDerby was even trending nationally on Twitter. But there we go. That’s football, and that’s why the play-offs are the cruelest but also the most exciting way to tie off a football season.

How QPR fare in the Premier League will be interesting to see. On current evidence they would struggle, and with Financial Fair Play set to bite they may well end up having to plough a huge proportion of their promotion millions into paying their fines for over-spending and increasing their debts. Good luck to them though.

But that’s not our concern. For Derby County, it’s all about looking ahead to the next season and building on the success of this one.

In the immediate aftermath of the Play Off Final defeat, Steve McClaren spoke of how his young squad had matured over the season, of how they should be proud of what they had done. First Team Coach Paul Simpson echoed his thoughts, and the team re-grouped to focus on the positives from the season before breaking up for the summer.

2013-2014 has truly been one to remember. Leading scorers in the division. The first goalscorer to hit over 20 goals in a season since Dean Sturridge back in the mid-90s. Great, entertaining football and of course a Wembley final.

A team to be proud of, and a team that played together and for one another and consistently looked fearless. Among fans, the word has been about building on this and holding onto the squad. Players such as Craig Bryson, Chris Martin and Jeff Hendrick will no doubt be linked with big money moves. Will Hughes has been in and out of the newspaper transfer gossip columns ever since he first pulled on a Rams shirt.

It’s inevitable that there will be talk and of course if silly money gets thrown about, who knows? But this is a different Derby County to the one we have seen in the past. The club has been geared to slow, careful and sensible growth for a number of years now, and it is starting to bear fruit. I’m certain that players will not be sold off for peanuts and not replaced as were the Rasiaks and Huddlestones of the past – and I’m also certain that McClaren will be reticent to let any of his key players go.

We will see. There have already been positive noises from within the iPro in the week since the Wembley heartache. Sam Rush has stated Derby’s intention to buy George Thorne, a move that pretty much 100% of Rams fans would support. Of all the loan signings made this season, Thorne has been by far and above the best. John Eustace was doing a magnificent job of protecting the back four in the holding role from midfield, and when news came through that he would be injured for the Forest game in the last quarter of the season, attention turned to Thorne and what he could do.

He seized that chance by the scruff of the neck and never looked back. Although Bryson scored a famous hat-trick that day, supporters were purring over Thorne’s contribution and he went on to play a huge part in the final push to the end of the season with consistently commanding and assured performances.

At Wembley, he was easily the pick of the bunch. Derby fans will now have to be patient while his parent club West Brom sort out their own situation. Until they install a successor to Pepe Mel, it’s unlikely that anything will occur and as he signed a new three-and-a-half year contract at The Hawthorns back in January he won’t necessarily come cheaply.

But the fact that Derby have already put on record their interest in signing him already shows intent for 2014-2015. The supporters have already shown their intent too: 20,000 season tickets have now been sold for the new season with the newly configured South Stand completely sold out and set to give the Rams the home advantage that was shown when we trialled it against Forest and Brighton earlier this year.

Add to that the return of Mel Morris to the Derby County board and the millions that he’s generated by backing Candy Crush Saga (and no, that still doesn’t mean I’ll be accepting your invites to play it any time soon, thank you all the same) along with the international debuts of Chris Martin, Craig Forsyth and Simon Dawkins and the new deals for John Eustace and Jamie Ward it’s actually been a fairly positive week at the iPro.

Despite the sadness immediately felt after last Saturday’s result, the mood in Derby is chipper to say the least. There’s no time to dwell on things, but the wheels and cogs seem to be moving already.

Bring on the new season, and let’s go for it all over again.

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