Former Derby County manager Paul Jewell has suggested that relegation to the third tier could be turned into a positive for the Rams in the sense that it would enable them to instil a winning mentality at the club.

Jewell of course knows all about how it feels to suffer relegation with the Rams, with him having been in charge of the club when they were relegated from the Premier League in that disastrous 2007/08 campaign. On that occasion, he struggled to reverse their fortunes when they dropped back down to the Championship and eventually lost his job, but Derby did make some improvements.

The Rams are now facing the very real prospect of suffering their first relegation since that 2007/08 campaign, but this time the drop would take them into the third tier of English football. However, they still have it within their own hands and know that a win against Sheffield Wednesday this afternoon will be good enough for them to stay up.

Speaking to FootballFanCast, Jewell suggested that relegation might potentially enable Derby to attract the best players at League One level and as a result transform the losing mentality around the club that has crept in this season.

He said: “If they do go down then they will certainly be able to attract the best players at that level and sometimes when you have a losing culture at a Football Club, it can be good to take a step back by going down and getting used to winning again, and it can help you gain momentum.

“They would have the chance to recruit the best players at that level and they certainly would be able to do that so, it could be a blessing in disguise, but I doubt the new owners would agree.”

The verdict

Jewell’s suggestion that Derby would be able to bring in the best crop of players at League One level is probably accurate depending of course on what the state of the club’s finances and what happens with the prospective takeover. The Rams would be a huge club in the third tier and would be expected to start winning games instantly and get themselves straight back into the Championship.

We have seen with Hull City this season that clubs can change around their losing mentality and get promoted back to the Championship swiftly from League One. However, other examples like Sunderland and Portsmouth show how hard it can be to earn promotion from the third division no matter what the size of club you happen to be.

Of course, Derby must give their all on the final day of the season now to try and ensure that they do not need to look on the positives of relegation. At the moment, there will be few fans who will agree that regelation is anything other than a disaster for the Rams. One thing is for sure it never should have come to this for them.