Derby County were resigned to relegation from the Barclays Premier League even as they were appointing Paul Jewell as manager in November. Speaking to TheGame Podcast, Adam Pearson, the chairman, said that all realistic hope of escaping the drop had gone by then even though two thirds of the season remained.

“I never envisaged at any point since Paul got there that we would stay up,” Pearson, who joined the club in October, said. “We were well adrift. We both knew it was going to be a Championship club. The team is weak in a lot of areas.”

Pearson agreed that the revelation may surprise Derby fans, but he believes that they support the club's policy of planning for a Coca-Cola Championship campaign next year rather than risking financial ruin by breaking the bank in a desperate effort to remain in the top flight. “I think they [the fans] honestly understand that we are just not good enough,” Pearson said. “So do we waste all our money and put the club in real trouble or do we []plan properly to come straight back up?”

Pearson added that the club were ill-prepared for this season's challenge. “Signings were made late in August, they were [mainly] Championship players, the scouting network [abroad] was poor,” he said. “Yes, mistakes were made, but, to be fair to Billy Davies [Jewell's predecessor], he got the club promoted in the first place, so he obviously did something right.”

The chairman believes that Derby will pay the highest wages in the Championship next season and is confident of an immediate return to the Premier League.