Jewell worried by Barnes blow

Derby boss Paul Jewell has voiced his concerns over Giles Barnes' knee injury.

The midfielder picked up the problem in training last week and sat out the goalless draw with Sunderland on Saturday.

He underwent a scan on Friday that confirmed he had not suffered any damage to his cruciate ligament.

However, Jewell still fears the injury could be serious as he prepares to send Barnes to see another specialist.

Shorter version: Please don't buy him from us! He's our only hope of ever getting back to the Premiership!

And while Jewell's bosses won't appreciate his knocking a few hundred thousand off the final sale price, you can certainly see how it's in Jewell's selfish interest to do so. He'll be judged on results, and those will be better with Barnes than without him.

Jewell pleased with response

Derby County manager Paul Jewell has heard no complaints from his players after imposing a stricter training regime this week.

Jewell was seething with the Rams' performance in last Saturday's 2-0 defeat at former club Wigan Athletic and has vowed to whip the squad into shape.

He confirmed there has been a greater intensity in training in recent days and is looking for a response in this weekend's game against Sunderland.

THIS WEEK? What the hell was he waiting for?

I like Jewell and think he's a good, if limited, manager. But compare him to Juande Ramos. Ramos came in and found an out-of-shape and out-of-sorts side and immediately made changes. He changed their training regime. He changed their diets. He dropped under-performing players and replaced them with square pegs in round holes (THud and Zokora as central defenders, for example) if needed. Now they've won the Carling Cup and are progressing in the UEFA Cup and are moving up the League table.

Meanwhile, Derby are just as bad as they were under Billy Davies. Their new signings haven't made an impact, and if they are just now making changes to the way things are done, well then I'm afraid that speaks very poorly of Jewell and his managerial approach.