Derby County navigated two more pre-season training games against lower-league opposition, whilst the manager maintained his search for further squad strengthening.

First news of the week was rather unwelcome and gave Derby fans a feeling of déjà vu (again!) A trail of injury reports disrupted Derby’s preparation for their training games at Macclesfield and Morecambe.

After it was reported that new Scottish midfielder Craig Bryson had a scan for a hip injury sustained in the win at Burton Albion, the midfielder was ruled out of action for the upcoming pre-season games.

Jason Shackell’s calf strain had ruled him out of the game at the Pirelli Stadium, and his would-be defensive partner Shaun Barker is of course building up fitness after knee surgery.

Captain Shaun Barker looks set to miss the first month of Derby’s season whilst he recovers fully from his long-term knee injury. It looks like fans won’t see the desired central defensive pairing of Shackell and Barker until September, so let’s hope that the gamble with Chris Riggott pays off and the ex-Boro star can add to Clough’s options.

Shackell is reportedly ‘annoyed’ at sitting out games; no doubt Rams fans will be irritated, too - if the summertime recruitment aimed at solving Derby’s defensive frailties is displaced by injuries.

As Webmaster DJ has reported earlier this week, the club’s process of allocating and registering squad numbers at a club can reveal significant information about the manager’s choices in the squad’s current pecking order.

The Rams squad numbering was announced and manager Clough has allocated shirts to 23 players. Some time ago, he declared he wanted to work with between 22 and 30 players, so his numbers are perhaps still a bit light in terms of sufficient cover for all positions.

Notable exclusions in the list were goalkeeper Stephen Bywater and defender Dean Leacock. Both had made important contributions to Derby’s progress in earlier seasons but for various reasons including injury and apparent attitude, have now fallen out of favour.

Winger David Martin was also excluded from the numerical pecking order…and fans still rather wonder why Clough signed him!

Shirt No. 20 has been left unallocated; last season it was owned by Miles Addison - perhaps this season, Derby lad Chris Riggott can earn the shirt - although Rams fans don’t want to see Miles Addison (on loan at Barnsley for the first half of the new season) reaching his potential elsewhere.

New ‘keeper Frank Fielding is now Derby’s No. 1; Craig Bryson has taken the No. 4 shirt from the injured Paul Green, Jason Shackell has (Leacock’s) No. 6 shirt to partner Sean Barker in the centre of defence, and Chris Maguire takes precedence over fellow Scot Stephen Pearson for the traditional left-wing berth of No. 11.

Nathan Tyson is No. 9…but we still don’t have a true centre-forward…and Jamie Ward has the cherished No. 10 shirt. Let’s hope he is (at least in part) today’s ‘little Hector’ to emulate ‘the King’ and other fabled Rams’ forwards of bygone eras, and that Ward will bag the goals and prove a consistent scourge to Championship defences in 2011-12!

Within the new squad identity confirmation at Derby, a number of players - Bywater, Leacock and Martin - are obviously surplus to requirements and are literally ‘living by numbers’.

Who might stump up a figure to buy them and re-ignite their faltering careers, and could they win a first-team squad identity at another club soon? Leacock is apparently attracting the attention of Nothingham Forest and Portsmouth. Good luck with that one, Mr McLaren!

Clough still needs full-back cover as well as filling Robbie Savage’s No. 8 shirt, so there are still significant gaps in his list.

Transfer news from DCFC was again restricted to rumours last week. Media talk mentioned Blackpool’s central striker, Gary Taylor-Fletcher as being of possible interest to the Rams - and in terms of the midfield gaps, ex-Ram Matt Oakley (currently at the furry Foxes) is available. The Rams have played down any speculation linking Matt with a return to Pride Park Stadium.

As with another Foxes’ ex-Ram, Steve Howard, these Leicester players may be available on circulation lists to other clubs. Their club, however, sees them as superfluous to helping it mount a promotion push. If so, why ever should Derby, with similar ambitions, go back in time to recruit former servants that are now well past their best?

We now need to be looking at ‘the new’ Howard or Oakley - younger, fitter, faster - if we really are building a team that grows together, and they will cost money.

Tuesday saw the Rams’ second friendly game in their schedule, at Macclesfield Town. Derby managed a 2-2 draw. Clough had deployed young defenders O’Brien and Chris Jones, with Callum Ball and Theo Robinson leading the attack. Adam Legzdins started in goal.

Injury absences included Lee Croft with a fever, Leacock (he was ill…perhaps an attack of ‘numberitis’ after finding he has no squad number), as well as Bryson, Barker, Buxton, Bailey and Green.

Ben Davies had a lively game and Ball, now signed on a professional contract, struck twice for Derby. He equalised Town’s early goal and then netted again in the second period to level up the game. There was the usual flurry of substitutes to involve as many players as possible. The Rams again exhibited a neat passing game whilst Town contributed much to the midweek work-out.

Rams midfielder Jeff Hendrick has been with the Republic of Ireland Under-19s at the U-19 Championships in Romania. His international involvement means he will miss the start of Derby’s Championship campaign. The R o I beat Greece 2-1 on Wednesday but lost 2-1 to the Czech Republic on Saturday night.

They took a first-half lead but succumbed to a brace of quick Czech goals and lost 1-2. The Republic play hosts Romania next Tuesday night - and they must finish in the top two of their group to progress to the semi-final. The Spanish side are looking irresistible at this stage - with two wins in two games and an 8-1 goal difference they’ve already booked their semi-final place.

Friday saw the Rams move across from Cheshire to Lancashire for the next friendly match, as they took on League Two side Morecambe at their new 6,500 capacity Globe Arena. It was hoped that Riggott could feature in the game but his Derby comeback has been deferred to next week’s friendly at Crewe Alexandra.

Scottish midfielder Craig Bryson wasn’t risked and other absentees (apart from Riggott & Barker) included Dean Leacock (ill again, what a surprise!), Croft (toothache…), James Bailey and Jake Buxton.

Nigel Clough commenced the game with players that had been on the substitute’s bench at Macclesfield. Russell Anderson played the full 90 minutes and young Mark O’Brien played well with him in defence.

Nathan Tyson had a lively first half, though the game remained goalless until the 65th minute. Then, Morecambe defender Nick Fenton diverted a Ben Davies cross into his own net to give Derby the lead. Macclesfield equalised with a penalty 10 minutes later, after Russell Anderson was adjudged to have handled on the goal-line, and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Manager Clough held back any substitutions until the hour mark, so that players are progressively building up longer on-pitch times ready for the big kick-off in August. The Rams have further friendlies against Crewe Alexandra, Exeter City and Aston Villa to complete their pre-season programme.

Amongst the round-up of other news, ex-Rams’ director Adam Pearson has bought rugby Super League side Hull RFC, to go along with his ownership of Hull City Football Club. He’s obviously hedging his bets; perhaps he’ll add a cricket team later!

The No. 5 becomes more significant to Football League managers next season - because the number of substitutes that can be named in a matchday squad has now reverted to only five players, instead of seven.

The change was voted in because many clubs (Derby included) regularly had difficulty in naming 7 substitutes. Premier League clubs can still name 7 substitutes, and the FA Cup and Carling Cup will also still permit 7 subs.

There were allegations of some other large numbers involved in the ongoing international football bribery scandal this weekend, too - namely 26 envelopes stuffed with huge amounts of cash to buy favours and votes among FIFA members.

The FIFA Ethics Committee sat to hear the disciplinary case against Mohamed Bin Hamman, whose fall from grace in world football has been as spectacular as the scandals that continue to dog the game’s governing body. He might well have been voted in as FIFA President recently - but now he’s been banned from football for life. Bin Hamman was unrepentant in claiming his innocence and claimed that his ban was an act of ‘revenge’.

There are now calls for an inquiry into Bin Hamman’s role on the executive committee during the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. I just wish I could believe FIFA member Chuck Blazer when he condemned the alleged vote-buying in saying: "It will send notice to anybody else that might be considering that type of corrupt activity that FIFA is not the place to try it."

Recent revelations centre upon alleged bribes of $40,000 apiece paid to officials of some football associations. Legal cases against Caribbean football leaders involved may now follow.

Ex-FIFA Vice President Jack Warner, who resigned during the stormy scandal in June, took the biscuit for his typically obnoxious rationalisation, stating it wasn’t unusual for ‘gifts’ to have ‘been around throughout the history of FIFA’ and called the investigations ‘hypocrisy’.

People are getting pretty sick of such lofty declarations from those caught deep in the mire through their wrong-doings. Just because it has been a traditional or endemic practice, it does not legitimate the crime whether it involves MPs with their expenses frauds, media monopolies and phone-hacking scandals, or corruption at the top of world football.

Finally, RZ would like to add an acknowledgement that we share the shock and sadness at the Oslo bombing and the subsequent horrendous killing spree that Norway suffered this week at the hands of a fanatical individual.

As you may know, RamZone was created over a decade ago by dedicated Norwegian Derby County fans Einar and Arild Sand, and the unfathomable outrage in Norway last week has brought a deep sense of grief to a friendly and beautiful nation.

We hope that Norway can soon recover fully from this awful and unprecedented episode.

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In RamsWeek 30 last year too, it was a case of ‘editions of you’, as Nigel Clough tried out his player permutations in the pre-season friendly games.

It was something of a surprise that Robbie Savage was handed the captain’s armband for 2010-11 - and I called it a retrograde step, because I felt Barker was his natural successor. With Savage, the midfield had also become pedestrian and lacked creativity; as anticipated, little changed in 2010-11 as far as I could see…

The Rams drew 1-1 at Southend United and 3-3 at Bournemouth. Then there was a goalfest at Chesterfield in a see-saw game with the Spireites that Derby won 5-4. 

There was fleeting mention of strikers Simon Cox (WBA) and James Vaughan (Everton) joining Derby, but nothing materialised.

Neither did the club pursue the excellent Michael Tonge from Sheffield United, even though he had put in a sterling loan stint in midfield to help ensure Derby’s Championship survival.

Photo: Action Images

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