"Derby is a completely different club to Rotherham" - Rams fan pundit issues Paul Warne claim | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

It has been a disappointing start to the season for Derby County in League One.

The Rams were among the title favourites in the third tier heading into the season, but they currently sit 11th in the table after three wins and three defeats from their opening six league games.

Derby were beaten 2-1 by fellow promotion hopefuls Bolton Wanderers at the Toughsheet Community Stadium on Saturday, increasing the pressure on manager Paul Warne.

The 50-year-old replaced Liam Rosenior at Pride Park last September and despite spending much of last season inside the play-offs, Derby dropped out of the top six on the final day of the campaign.

Warne has won three promotions from League One as a manager with Rotherham United, but some Rams fans are beginning to question whether he is the right man to lead them back to the Championship.

Should Derby County stick with Paul Warne?

FLW's Derby County fan pundit Shaun Woodward is still backing Warne and urged supporters to be patient, but he admits that support for the manager is decreasing.

"I'm in the camp, albeit it's getting smaller, that does think Paul Warne is the man," Shaun said.

"He's done it before multiple times in this league and he does know how to get out of it.

"There's a lot of people saying he's out of his depth, but he's clearly not because he has got Rotherham promoted out of this league a couple of times, so he knows what he's doing at this level.

"Derby is a completely different club to Rotherham, but I still think he's the man. "It's going to take time, we've been in all kinds of embargos and all kinds of restrictions. "It's going to take us a few years possibly. "Some of our fans are terrible, if we lose a game, sack him, if we win a game, he's a genius. "I think we need to be a bit more level-headed, there's going to be ups and downs along the way, but we've got to stick with him.

"We can't keep hiring and firing, it's not going to get us anywhere, so I believe he's the right man, we've just got to have patience."

What next for Derby County?

After their game against Northampton Town was called off due to international call-ups, Derby are next in action against Portsmouth at Fratton Park in just under two weeks time.

It feels a little early to be making judgements on Warne, but after the decline in form towards the end of last season which saw the Rams miss out on the play-offs, he needs to deliver this time around.

Derby played much of the second half against Bolton with 10 men after Joe Wildsmith's dismissal and prior to the defeat to the Trotters, there had been signs of improvement with back-to-back wins over Fleetwood Town and Peterborough United.