Derby County have been rocked by Gary Rowett's departure after he decided to join Championship rivals Stoke City on a three-year deal.

Whilst some fans will be glad to see the back of Rowett and hope to bring in a manager that encourages a new style of play, there's no doubt that his exit will impact the club.

The former Birmingham boss will have drawn up a list of targets for the summer window and plans would have already been underway to get the ball rolling on those deals.

Now though, a new manager will come in and whoever it is will have to get down to work quickly as they look to build a squad that can compete for promotion in 12 months time, even if the budget is restricted.

Here we look at four issues they need to resolve quickly...

We'll start with the obvious one.

Owner Mel Morris needs to appoint a manager as soon as possible so that Derby can get to work on reshaping their squad.

He needs to consider what style of play he wants, whether he wants to go for a young and hungry manager or a more experienced boss and make a decision.

Derby are a big club and an attractive proposition so will interest many.

From there, the new manager must look at players he needs to help the current squad and again work out what he can get with the budget in mind.

The average age of the Derby squad is high so bringing in younger players might be the way to go but either way they can't afford to delay as the better players may be snapped up.

Derby are ready for an 11th consecutive Championship season and Morris is keen on cutting costs and Vydra is without doubt Derby's biggest asset.

If money from his sale is needed to reinvest then they are better selling Vydra early instead of delaying the inevitable.

Obviously, keeping him would be ideal but that seems a long shot.

As mentioned, Derby have a lot of older players in the squad, many who have failed to help take the Rams to the Premier League.

The likes of Richard Keogh, Dave Nugent and Craig Forsyth have played regularly over the years and whilst they've all done okay this seems the perfect opportunity to have a major clear-out and start again, trying to build a new identity.