Derby County: Steve McClaren will always regret 2015 Liverpool decision | OneFootball

The winger spent the start of the 2014/15 campaign on loan at the Rams but was recalled by his parent club in the January.

Derby County's 2014/15 season was one that was full of promise, but ultimately the Rams failed at the final hurdle, eventually leading to the sacking of Steve McClaren.

Not many would have foreseen the former England manager's downfall at Pride Park considering the level of success that he had overseen throughout the 2013/14 campaign. However, a dramatic drop-off in form towards the end of the following season saw him lose his job.

The Rams looked as though they were on course to win promotion back to the Premier League, and return to the top flight for the first time since 2008, but one huge decision taken by Liverpool in January 2015 seemed to have a huge knock-on effect.

Jordon Ibe had been excellent in black-and-white after making the switch to the East Midlands on loan in the summer of 2014, and McClaren must still have regrets about what happened only months after he joined Derby.

Ibe excelled during his time at Pride Park

Not too much was known about the winger when he first made the switch to the Rams in August 2014, but the 18-year-old quickly started to show why there was so much fanfare surrounding him.

It was a deal that his manager was extremely pleased to have made, with McClaren explaining to the club's media why he brought him in on loan: "We’re delighted that Liverpool have again chosen to loan us one of their promising young players.

"Jordon Ibe is someone who we’ve been aware of for quite a while and have been impressed whenever we’ve seen him in action.

"He has a lot of potential and we believe that we can help his career development."

Ibe quickly hit the ground running, scoring in just his third appearance for Derby against Cardiff City at home, as the Welsh club held the Rams to a 2-2 draw.

He went on to score four more goals before the turn of the year, with his final one coming away to Birmingham City in a dominant display on a snowy Boxing Day. The former AFC Bournemouth man also picked up an assist at St. Andrew's as the Rams cruised to a 4-0 victory.

Ibe being recalled by Liverpool perhaps unsettled the team

Derby were enjoying great success with Ibe in the team, and they spent the start of 2015 in the top two, but this positivity at Pride Park was not set to last.

Liverpool recalled the winger half-way through January, with Brendan Rodgers seeing the then 19-year-old as a player with the quality to feature in the Premier League, something that he did do on 12 occasions in 2014/15.

While it may have worked out in the short-term for Ibe, it was a difficult loss for the Rams, and although they found a replacement in Tom Ince, losing the Liverpool youngster proved to unsettle the balance of the team and their results started to change for the worse.

Over the course of the next four months, the Rams dropped from the top two all the way down to 8th in the Championship, winning just seven of their next 21 matches.

McClaren will possibly still look back on that January day when he got the call from the Premier League giants as the turning point in the season, and there will still be a feeling of regret that Derby could not hold on to the talented winger.