Derby County owner David Clowes backed despite delaying "ruthless" Paul Warne call | OneFootball

FLW's Derby County fan pundit has given his view on whether owner David Clowes should have sacked former manager Paul Warne earlier.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Derby County's hopes of staying in the Championship have been given a huge boost after a significant upturn in form under new head coach John Eustace.

Despite coming under pressure from supporters at various points of the campaign, Paul Warne managed to lead Derby to automatic promotion from League One last season, and his side made a decent start to life back in the Championship this term.

After a 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion on Boxing Day, the Rams sat as high as 14th in the table, and they were eight points clear of the relegation zone, but they dropped into the bottom three after a subsequent run of seven consecutive defeats.

Warne was allowed to bring in four new signings in January - Matt Clarke, Sondre Langas, Harrison Armstrong and Lars-Jorgen Salvesen, but just days after the closure of the window, owner David Clowes decided to part company with the 51-year-old.

Eustace made the shock move from play-off hopefuls Blackburn Rovers to replace Warne at Pride Park, and after losing his first three games, he has inspired an impressive turnaround in Derby's fortunes.

Prior to the 1-0 defeat at Swansea City on Saturday, the Rams had picked up four consecutive victories against Blackburn, Coventry City, Plymouth Argyle and Preston North End, and they are currently outside the relegation zone on goal difference.

Derby County fan pundit on David Clowes, Paul Warne decision

Asked whether the club should have parted company with Warne earlier, FLW's Derby County fan pundit Shaun Woodward admitted that, in hindsight, the managerial change should have been made before the January transfer window, but he insisted that he understands why owner David Clowes decided to be patient.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I do think David Clowes tried to do the right thing by keeping Paul Warne in the job to try and see us safe in the league," Shaun said.

"I think a few of our results papered over the cracks.

"I think our win against West Brom on Boxing Day kept him in his job and maybe made us look better than we were.

"We were mid-table at that time and quite a lot of points ahead of the bottom three, but he really should have gone around that time because then a new manager could have come in and brought in his players in the January window.

"Without doing that, we were left with a very, very thin squad, which John Eustace, to his credit, has done unbelievably with.

"In some ways, it may have helped him because he hasn't had the luxury of 25 players to choose from, the squad and team has almost picked itself.

"The likes of Marcus Harness, Harrison Armstrong and Liam Thompson probably wouldn't have got a game if we had everyone fit, so them coming in and getting a run of games has shown how good they are.

"In some ways, it has helped that we've got a lot of injuries.

"I do believe David Clowes tried to do the right thing in keeping Paul Warne, but maybe he should have been a bit more ruthless and got rid of him at Christmas.

"That win against West Brom probably saved him a lot longer than it should have done, but I'm just glad Eustace is in now."

David Clowes may have made John Eustace call just in time for Derby County

Clowes stuck with Warne last season during periods where supporters were calling for him to be sacked, and he was rewarded for his patience with automatic promotion, so it is easy to see why the Derby chief took a similar approach earlier this campaign.

The Rams' performances were arguably better than the results suggested towards the end of Warne's tenure, so Clowes was right to give him time to turn things around, but as the defeats continued to pile up, his position became increasingly untenable.

The timing of Warne's sacking just days after the closure of the transfer window was questionable, but having arrived in mid-February, Eustace still had plenty of time to save Derby's season, and as things stand, he looks on course to keep the club in the Championship.