Paul Warne: Derby County boss defiant but concern builds amid dire Rams run

When Derby returned to the Championship this season – a division they dropped out of in 2022 when in administration – the aim was simply to survive.

For Warne, it is a feat he has failed to achieve in management, with his three previous promotions from League One as Rotherham United boss coupled with three Championship relegations with the South Yorkshire club.

Eric Steele, a former Rams goalkeeper, who has worked as a coach at Derby as well as Manchester United, says he fears for Derby’s ability to avoid an immediate return to League One.

“That league table does not lie,” Steele told BBC East Midlands Today.

“Derby fans, and every one associated with the club, will be concerned because at the moment we are on a bit of a spiral and, with the two fixtures coming up [against Sheffield United and Norwich], they have to turn it around really quickly.”

Steele says what happens over the weekend and in the final days of the transfer window – one in which Brighton are pushing hard to sign centre-back Cashin when defensive partner Curtis Nelson has just been ruled out for the season – will be critical.

Centre-back Matt Clarke – a player with previous experiences of surviving a relegation battle at Derby – has been recruited for a third spell with the Rams, while Norwegian striker Lars-Jorgen Salvesen has been quick to make an impression with one goal in two games so far.

“In the next two or three days there is going to be patience and impatience,” Steele said.

“Patience on behalf of owner David Clowes with the manager and what he wants to do, and certainly there is a massive impatience among the fans to Paul Warne’s record in the Championship – which you can understand.

“If in the next two or three days there are more signings made, that means Paul Warne has been entrusted and says, ‘right, we have backed you and you have now got the next four months to keep us in this division’. And that really must be the aim.”

With 17 games remaining, Steele insists “there is still time” for the Rams to escape danger.

They are third from bottom and one place adrift of safety, although the three teams above them in the table – Hull, Stoke and Portsmouth – are just two points better off.