PRE-MATCH INTERVIEW: Batth says Derby are ready to face challenges to build for success

Danny Batth says 'building for success is the goal' as Derby County look forward to the beginning of the 2025/26 season this weekend.

The Rams will kick off their new Sky Bet Championship season on the road against Stoke City on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

Batth will be looking to make his Derby debut against the team that he made 107 appearances for across four seasons in the second tier from 2018 to 2022.

The centre-back was the club’s second addition of the summer window at the start of July, having joined the Rams from Blackburn Rovers, where he was also previously managed by Head Coach John Eustace.

He has since been joined by eight further new signings, with Bobby Clark and Dion Sanderson arriving in the week leading up to the opening game of the new campaign.

RamsTV caught up with Batth ahead of Saturday’s trip to the Potteries to get the campaign started.

On being ready for opening day…

The first game is always a good one to just to get you into the rhythm. You want to set your stall out early on, so you want to get a positive result. We're all looking forward to it. You've done all the preparation and you feel ready, so now it's just a case of getting out there and doing the business.

On settling into the Rams squad…

I’m really enjoying it; there’s a great atmosphere around the club. The environment is brilliant, and there are also new faces coming in - the lads here are working really hard.

On building steadily towards success…

You face lots of different challenges through the season, and we're building here. It's all about the squad. The players that don't feel like they are the first pick might come in and change the season for you, so having that togetherness all the way through will be really important for us.

Improving on last year is the priority. I don't think anyone at the club will have enjoyed the weeks leading up to the end of the season, so let's try and improve on that from the start and then go from there.