It was less than four years ago that Derby were just a week away from going out of business. Derbyshire property developer David Clowes bought the club out of administration after the Rams were relegated to League One. Liam Rosenior, who is now manager of Chelsea in the Premier League, was relied on as interim boss to build a squad from scratch – having had only five players on the books at the time – with free agents and loan players. "From our perspective, we're not the biggest payers in the league," Pearce said. We want to be Premier League ready."

Source: BBC February 05, 2026 15:08 UTC