Derby County: The shock David Clowes decision that hit Pride Park jackpot | OneFootball

David Clowes' gamble to replace Liam Rosenior with Paul Warne ultimately paid off

Derby County have enjoyed a strong first full campaign under John Eustace after he took over in February 2025.

The 46-year-old took over in the second half of last season and oversaw their survival in their first year back in the Championship.

It had been a turbulent few years for the club prior to David Clowes taking over as the new owner in 2022.

The Rams were in administration, and suffered relegation to League One as a consequence, but the positive campaign under Eustace has shown how far the club have come.

The team survived the drop back to the third tier by just one point, and they have gone from strength to strength in the 12 months since.

Derby’s sights are now on returning to the Premier League, where they haven’t competed since their historic 11-point campaign in 2008.

Crucial David Clowes decision brought Derby back to the Championship

When Clowes took over as Derby owner in 2022, Wayne Rooney had just departed as head coach after the team’s relegation.

Liam Rosenior was left in charge after taking the step up from his assistant coach role, having earned a reputation as a smart tactician during that spell.

Indeed, he was often regarded as the brains behind the operation, and many Rams fans were not wrong when they predicted him to enjoy a more successful managerial career than Rooney.

However, the new Rams owner made the difficult decision to part ways with the now-41-year-old despite a positive start to life in the third tier.

Derby were seventh in the table after the opening nine games of the campaign, just seven points adrift of leaders Ipswich Town and only outside of the top six due to an inferior goal difference.

Their goal of competing for promotion straight away was ambitious given their difficult financial position, but Rosenior had the team in the mix in the early stages.

But it proved the right decision to appoint Paul Warne in his place, with the 52-year-old making the surprise decision to step down from Rotherham United in the Championship to take over at Pride Park.

While Warne’s side ultimately finished seventh in the table in his first season in charge, missing out on the play-offs by one point, the groundwork was laid for a successful promotion campaign in 2024.

Derby finished second in Warne’s first full term in charge, with the gamble to dump Rosenior paying off.

Derby can now compete for Premier League promotion

While Warne was unable to see out Derby’s first season back in the Championship, he still had the team punching above the relegation zone prior to his dismissal in February 2025.

The chance to appoint Eustace presented itself, and he’s done an excellent job for the club over the last 12 or so months.

But Warne still deserves plenty of credit for putting the Rams in a position where they can now compete for promotion to the Premier League.

Given where Derby were just four years ago, not many would’ve expected them to be fighting for a play-off place this quickly.

We’ll never know now how the team would’ve fared had Rosenior remained in charge, but Clowes will feel vindicated in his decision regardless.

Rosenior went on to manage Hull City to a seventh place finish in the Championship after his exit from Pride Park, before moving to France with Strasbourg.

And his high-profile move to Chelsea didn’t work out, but that was a difficult environment for any coach, and doesn’t reflect what might have occurred if he stayed with the Derbyshire outfit.

The 41-year-old will be remembered fondly by Derby supporters for the work he did at the club, but the Rams have moved on to bigger and better things in the years since Clowes controversially replaced him with Warne.