While Paul Jewell could do little about County’s relegation from the Premier League last season, it didn’t seem as though there was much improvement on Billy Davies’ record in the top flight. The former Wigan manager brought in plenty of new faces, but they couldn’t land him a win all season and it still appears as though he’s having problems getting his team to gel.
Saturday’s match against Doncaster was a fairly evenly-matched affair, with the Rams having enough chances to win, but supporters can have few complaints about the visitors taking the spoils. It’s clear that Jewell is under pressure to deliver and, while the knives are starting to be sharpened already, the Daily Mirror reports that the scouser remains confident of turning things around.
He said: “The wolves will be at the door already because of what happened last season. If I’d have taken the job in the summer and put together the team we’ve got today, they’d be saying ‘Oh, it will take time.’ “As I’ve said before, I’ve been in the Championship three years as a manager and won two promotions.
“The other time we finished seventh so I think my record stands up well to scrutiny. But for every manager, you’re only as good as your last game.
“I do feel we are only one game away from getting the monkey off our backs. There’s only one way to do it and that’s to start winning football matches, beginning on Tuesday against Lincoln.”
Wolves at the door? County don’t play Wolverhampton until December! Oh, Jewell is being proverbial, I see. The fact of the matter is that the Derby manager can brag all he likes about his record in this division, although it counts for little when he’s splurging the cash and not achieving results.