Former Derby County manager Paul Jewell has stated that if the club does fall down into Sky Bet League One, they have to be in a good position to come back up, during an exclusive interview with Football League World.

The Rams are currently being investigated after breaking financial rules and subsequently losing their appeal over potential sanctions to the Football League, meaning that they could well be hit with a penalty in the near future.

There has been talk that a points deduction could well be enforced on the club, meaning that the Midlands outfit could start the 2021/22 campaign with a minus points deficit.

This would arguably heighten the chances of the club being relegated, with Sheffield Wednesday having struggled to come back from their own points deduction last term, whilst Wigan Athletic have also had to learn the hard way after being relegated by a deduction during the 2019/20 season.

Now, Jewell has claimed that if the club did indeed fall into League One, they would have to make sure that they are in a good position to get back up the leagues, as he stated the following to FLW:

"The possibility of going down is never going to beneficial for Derby. But if you do go down, it all depends on how that following season pans out, because if you do have a successful season in the league below, you can get that feel good factor back amongst the supporters.  

"I would never say that going down is a good thing but if you do go down, you have to make sure that you are in a good enough position to be strong in that league because it is a slippery slope and you could be a risk of going down again. 

"I just hope that they can get the ownership situation sorted and those problems over the sanctions, as it feels like to me like there are too many people in the game that don't know how to run a football club properly."