Thu 03 Aug - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 3mins
After weeks of hard graft and seven pre-season friendly fixtures, the new Sky Bet Championship campaign is upon us.
One day separates Gary Rowett and his Derby County side away from their highly-anticipated season opener against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Friday night, kick-off: 7:45pm.
Leading up to this point, dcfc.co.uk has been profiling all of the clubs the Rams will come up against over the course of the next 10 months.
Next up, we take a look at the team that has got everyone talking following a high profile summer of recruitment…
Manager: Nuno Espírito Santo
Stadium Capacity: 31,700
Finishing Place Last Season: 15th (58 Points)
Top Scorer (2016/17): Helder Costa (10 Goals)
Promotion Odds (According to Coral): 9/2
Home – Saturday 12th August 2017 (kick-off: 3pm)
Away – Tuesday 10th April 2018 (kick-off: 7:45pm)
Wolves 2-3 Derby County
Derby County 3-1 Wolves
“Our goal is crystal clear: we will do our very best to help take Wolves back to the Premier League as soon as possible and to stay there.”
The aim was clear from the first day Fosun International completed their takeover in July 2016.
Changes were made immediately to try and make this happen.
The first one was a change in head coach. Kenny Jackett, who had guided the club back into the Championship from League 1 was removed from his position before the season began and replaced with former Inter Milan goalkeeper Walter Zenga.
Despite a solid, if not spectacular start, Wolves quickly found themselves having to play catch up as a run of only two wins from 10 matches left them languishing in 18th spot and cost Zenga his job.
Paul Lambert was the next man they turned to.
It was gradual, but Wolves’ league fortunes began to improve. They won half of their games between December and the end of January – drawing a further two – and notably defeated Liverpool in their own backyard in an Emirates FA Cup meeting.
Inconsistency proved to be an issue over the second half of the season.
This was highlighted quite sporadically between February and April when they began with a run of five straight defeats, before bouncing back to record a draw and five consecutive victories.
That was not enough to keep Lambert in his position and following a football review, he departed Molineux.
A high-profile summer, once again, has raised expectations ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.
It started with the arrival of Nuno Espírito Santo, the former Porto boss who was managing in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages last campaign.
That’s been backed up with some impressive player recruitment too.
Ruben Neves is the pick of the bunch. The midfielder is the youngest player to ever captain in the Champions League and his arrival did not only break Wolves’ transfer record, but equal the division’s as well.
They finished 15th last season, but it is easy to see why they are being tipped amongst the frontrunners this time around.
