INTERVIEW: Gardiner Proud Of Derby Progression

Approaching the one-year anniversary of his time with the club, Derby County Assistant Head Coach Matt Gardiner believes the best is yet to come from the Rams.

Proud of the side’s progression over the past 12 months, Gardiner says the team are still building the foundations to challenge for higher honours but have shown impressive development during the 2025/26 campaign so far.

Gardiner arrived at Pride Park Stadium last February, and, after securing the club’s Championship status alongside Head Coach John Eustace and First Team Coach Keith Downing last term, has helped the Rams continue to climb the table this time around.

Praising the culture of the club, he admits their work was made possible by an immediate sense of belonging – with his focus now shifting to evolving the side in the next building phase.

Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the visit to Charlton Athletic on Tuesday (7:45pm kick-off), Gardiner discussed the squad’s evolution, his close-knit relationship with John Eustace, and his remit on the tactical element of the role.

On Approaching A Year With The Rams:

It's crazy to think it's almost been 12 months. It doesn't feel like that; it feels like 10 minutes. I think what's good is that, from day one, people wanted us to succeed and do well. That really helps.

We're still going, still in that foundation phase. For us, it is all about raising standards and providing clarity, which I think we've got into the training ground and into games.

Then it's that evolvement, which I think we're getting through. It's a big building stage, which we're still in, but is it's been a really good year. We've had a good start, but there's lots more to do.

On An ‘Excellent’ Club Culture:

You can see with the new players the way the gaffer makes people feel welcome. He's setting the culture, and it comes down to us as coaches to make sure we're backing that up.

The quicker we get players up to speed to make them feel comfortable, the quicker supporters see them on the pitch. The benefit for us is they're coming down and hitting the ground running.

We've got an excellent dressing room. The attitude is very good; everyone wants us to win and do well. And every new player, I'd like to think, feels welcome pretty much straight away.

On A Desire To Keep Improving:

I think the main thing is we're learning every day. I'd say that from a football point of view, we don't want to stand still. You're always trying to improve things and it's about looking forward, as well as reflecting.

We review every day, but over longer periods it's about how we can get better. It’s as simple as that.

On ‘Masterminding’ Set-Pieces:

I'm not sure I’m the brains, it's a collaborative effort, but I'm probably delivering the majority of our plans.

You always have to adjust according to the personnel that you've got in the team, that dictates how we set up, how we look for our opportunities, how we're going to hurt teams and then counter their threats. It's quite specialised.

I'd like to think all the players feel prepared going into the game without giving them too much information, so they're comfortable within their roles in both boxes or whatever area of the pitch the restarts are. There's a lot of work that goes in.

We have leaders on the pitch who understand match situations and what we want as coaches. The gaffer's always talking about that leadership and who's the next one to step up. We’ve had some good people organise those details in each game.

On The Quality Of Talent In The Championship:

The game doesn't really change, just the fashions or trends, so you have to be up to speed with that. I look at the players that have come into the Championship in the last five or six seasons that have gone on to have careers at the top level.

A couple of names we worked with at Birmingham, QPR and Blackburn have gone on to have really good careers in the Premier League and broke into international teams, which is fantastic to see.