Derby County: Ex-manager's Pride Park stint went down as one of worst in Rams history - View | OneFootball

The former Leicester boss left the Rams while they were 20th in the table.

Derby County's failure to get through the Championship play-offs in the 2015/16 season was a huge failure considering the money that had been spent on the team.

The Rams were beaten 3-2 on aggregate by Hull City, after they found themselves 3-0 down heading into the second leg.

Darren Wassall, who took over the team on an interim basis in February 2016 following the sacking of Paul Clement, failed to see out promotion and Derby started looking for a new manager as soon as the season concluded.

At the top of that managerial list was Nigel Pearson. The former Leicester City boss had taken a year away from football after he managed to keep the Foxes in the Premier League in 2014/15 in one of the most daring great escapes in the division's history.

However, he was ready to return to management, and with the Rams local, it seemed the perfect opportunity to add to his two promotions, but it never truly worked out how many expected it to.

Nigel Pearson struggled to win over Derby County fans from the get-go

Pearson's reputation is still one of the strongest in all the EFL, boosted further by taking Leicester to the Premier League in the 2013/14 campaign, but his time at Derby is perhaps still one of his greatest regrets.

The Rams had a relatively quiet transfer window for their standards, bringing in just three players in the summer.

Matej Vydra was the most high profile of those signings, and in turn the most successful, with Mel Morris paying out a reported £8 million for the forward.

However, it took an entire year for the ex-Watford player to get properly firing in black-and-white, something that did not help Pearson during his tenure.

Nevertheless, Derby did not get off to the best of starts under their new manager, failing to score in their opening two matches against Brighton & Hove Albion and Barnsley, losing the latter 2-0 away from home.

The Rams were given some repreive in their next fixture, beating Preston North End 1-0 at Deepdale, but this was as good as it got for Pearson during his time in the black-and-white part of the East Midlands.

The decision to loan out fan favourite and talisman, Chris Martin, on deadline day in 2016 was not one that was well received by supporters, and it was no wonder why the team lacked goals through the first nine games.

Derby proceeded to go on a four-game run without scoring, losing three of them after picking up a point against recently relegated Aston Villa at home. Things were not working out for Pearson.

Nigel Pearson's time at Derby County came to an unceremonious end

The Rams finally found the back of the net on matchday seven, scoring their second goal of the season in a 1-1 draw away to Bristol City.

They even took the lead a week later against Blackburn Rovers. Matej Vydra converted from the spot in the second half to make it 1-0, but just four minutes later, the visitors turned it around, and the Rams were slumped near the bottom of the table.

Just three days later, on September 27, 2016, it was announced that Pearson had been suspended pending an investigation into his behaviour. It was later reported that the now 61-year-old had fallen-out with chairman Mel Morris, following allegations that he was using drones to spy on training.

With Derby 20th, there was not much hope going forward, however, goals from Tom Ince and Nick Blackman handed the team a much needed three points on the road at Cardiff City the very next day, with Chris Powell taking interim charge.

Powell returned to the dugout away at Reading and once again, he took a point back to Pride Park in a 1-1 draw.

During the October international break, the Rams and Pearson came to a mutual agreement to terminate his contract, and he left the club in an unceremonious fashion.

Steve McClaren came back as manager and re-ignited hopes of the play-offs, but a poor February saw him sacked, and Gary Rowett was brought in to take the club forward.

Things have been much worse in recent years for the Rams before they made it through their financial peril and won promotion back to the Championship, but Pearson was a real flop at Pride Park when his past record promised an awful lot.