Matt Hamshaw believes Derby County are making gentle steps in the right direction in the early stages of Paul Warne’s tenure as Head Coach.
Warne joined the Rams in late September, after leaving Sky Bet Championship side Rotherham United to take charge at Pride Park Stadium, and he has overseen two wins and a defeat from his three League One outings so far.
Those victories have come on the road, 2-0 at Cambridge United and 3-0 at Accrington Stanley, and while Derby remain on the fringes of the play-off places in the early months of the campaign Hamshaw is convinced the Rams’ squad have plenty more in their locker.
Hamshaw sat down with RamsTV for his first interview since joining as First Team Coach - alongside Head Coach Warne, Assistant Head Coach Richie Barker and First Team Goalkeeping Coach Andy Warrington - to reflect on life with Derby so far, the win at Accrington Stanley at the weekend and to get his thoughts ahead of Tuesday night’s Papa Johns Trophy meeting with Manchester City Under-21s at Pride Park Stadium (7pm kick-off).
On the win at Accrington Stanley …
It was a great result on Saturday. It is a tough place to go, not because of anything that Accrington do but purely because they’re a good team and they’ve been solid at this level for a good few years now. To come away with a 3-0 win was excellent and on top of that we also had the most random five minutes I’ve ever experienced in football with the two missed penalties for Accrington and then our second goal. I felt we started quite well early on and found ourselves 2-0 up at the break, while we also changed a little bit tactically in the second half. We had chances on the counter and could have got a few more goals to be honest. It was a pleasing day and I’d have taken a 3-0 win if you’d have offered it me beforehand, that’s for sure!
On the players taking the messages from the coaching staff on board…
The lads are taking things on board relatively well. We know there’s still plenty more work to do and they’re aware of that as well. They’re getting to know us and we’re getting to know them too. There will be little tactical changes which we’ll make over the season, based on the fixtures and the opposition, but we will always have our core principles that we believe in. Those tactical changes are what are needed to win games of football. We want to be entertaining and on the front foot, but we also know it can’t be to the detriment of the result we all want.
On his coaching journey with Paul Warne…
I was working in the Academy at Rotherham United when Paul Warne initially took over there. He was the Fitness Coach before becoming the Caretaker Manager and I was the Head of Academy Coaching. I was delighted to have the opportunity to help him through to the end of the season. I don’t think we thought we’d get the job on a full-time basis and to be brutally honest I don’t think we wanted it at that stage. We were doing it for the club more than anything and even though we were relegated, we had a small form of success in that short period. It was always going to be a difficult challenge as we only had seven points going into the Christmas period. Paul got the job full-time at the end of the season and Richie arrived at the same time and he is someone I played with at Mansfield, so I knew him anyway. We had a goalkeeping coach called Mike Pollitt to start off with and when he left, Andy Warrington came in about three years ago. We all have links together in some way and we’re just hard working and down to earth blokes. We want the team to be liked and playing attacking football. More than anything, though, we want to win.
On the roles the coaching staff fulfil…
The roles we’ve got have evolved naturally and we know our own strengths. Paul is the best man-manager I’ve seen. He gets the best out of people and he’s someone you want to hang around with. He is a character who is funny, but one that wants to win games of football. Richie is an unbelievable coach, so he does tactical stuff and I sit somewhere in the middle of that going around the players and seeing if they have any issues or individual work that needs doing. Andy, obviously, works with the goalkeepers. The dynamic works really well; we know what we are doing and when. We do fall out, which is a good thing. If we agreed all the time, it probably wouldn’t be right. Once we decide on something, even if one of us doesn’t agree initially, we always support each other and stick to the plan. In the modern game it is important to be adaptable and we see ourselves as that. The culture comes first with Paul and the badge is important here. We don’t expect every player we have to be a Derby County fan, but they respect the badge.
On the Papa Johns Trophy clash with Manchester City Under-21s…
We know that if we win that we’re through to the next round, it is as simple as that. This will be a good test for us and it is a chance to use the squad again and get the minutes up for some of the lads that need them, especially if they’re needed in the next few weeks. We also want to implement a few more things that we’ve been working on in training. We prepare for each game the same so we are preparing for this one against Manchester City’s Under-21s in the same way we will get ready for Ipswich Town on Friday. We are not disrespectful to competitions or our opponents and we treat every game like it is the players’ last. We have a process here and we don’t want to step away from that, because if you start doing that it devalues competitions. We have done our preparation work and the lads will know what they are up against. Manchester City have a top-class Academy and I am sure whoever they name in their side, they’ll give us a real test. I know their Development Squad Manager Brian Barry-Murphy and he’s a good guy who plays a good style of football. However, we are at home and we want to be on the front foot, so we will look to take the game to them.
