Paul Jewell has said he hopes that Derby County will be able to put together a play-off challenge next season providing they stay up this year, with the new ownership news in mind, in an exclusive interview with Football League World.

The Rams are firmly up against it at the moment with just a couple of games left to go as they bid to get to safety in the Sky Bet Championship.

Rotherham United are still well placed with their matches in hand but continue to stumble along and the same can be said for the Rams who have not managed to pull away.

It remains to be seen what division they are in for next season, then, and Paul Jewell is just hoping they stay up so they can start afresh with their new ownership in mind.

He admits, though, a promotion challenge will be tough with so many sides having similar plans on a Premier League assault.

He said to Football League World exclusively:

"I hope so because they've been threatening that for a long time.

"There's been so much uncertainty off of the pitch with the ownership and takeover but now it's finally happened. Hopefully, they can stay up this year and have a blank canvas for over the summer and Wayne Rooney can go about building a team that can challenge.

"The problem in the Championship is there are so many teams that think that they should be in the Premier League. I don't know how many teams are in it that have been in the Premier League but I guess it's an awful lot and it's a very difficult league to get out of."

It's going to be a fascinating summer at Derby County and so much depends on the final weeks of the campaign and what division they end up in.

Can they handle the pressure and will Rotherham do them a favour? Time will soon tell.