Paul Jewell may regret 2007 Derby County move more than the club themselves | OneFootball

The former Rams boss had a torrid time at Pride Park, resulting in his reputation being tarnished.

Derby County's promotion to the Premier League in 2007 came as a bit of a surprise but after an excellent season under Billy Davies, the Rams came out on top against West Bromwich Albion in the play-offs.

Stephen Pearson's second-half goal was the difference between the two sides in the first Championship play-off final at the new Wembley Stadium to bring top-flight football to Pride Park but while there was a lot of excitement for the club's return to the top flight, it ultimately ended in disaster.

After just three months in the division, Davies left with his side bottom of the table, picking up just one win and three draws to that point.

His replacement, Paul Jewell, had spectacularly kept Wigan Athletic in the Premier League on the final day of the 2006/07 season and was hoping that he could recreate something similar with Derby, but it was a task that proved impossible and damaged his reputation.

Paul Jewell's struggles started immediately

The Rams' squad was not one that was ready for the challenges of the top flight, and their lack of points proved that. Jewell entered knowing that he had well over a month to go before being able to make substantial changes to it and he was rocked early, suffering three straight defeats.

Derby went to Newcastle United at the end of December, facing the only team that they had beaten in the league that season, and things were going well. They led 2-1 leading into the final minute before Mark Viduka equalised, breaking the hearts of supporters and halting any potential momentum before it had even started.

Jewell brought in new faces in the January window, but they failed to make an impact and ultimately proved to be mistakes that could not be undone for the next few months. The likes of Emmanuel Villa, Laurent Robert, and Robbie Savage all struggled at Pride Park, and things were starting to look bleaker and bleaker.

The inspirational survival at Wigan was not going to be repeated as Derby fell further and further away from those both outside and inside the relegation zone.

Cup competitions offered little respite either. They beat Sheffield Wednesday on penalties in an FA Cup 3rd round replay before they were beaten 4-1 by Preston North End of the Championship in the very next round.

Paul Jewell's time at Derby had a major impact on the rest of his career

Throughout the season, it was clear that it was a matter of when, not if, Derby would get relegated. They became the first, and to this day only, club to get relegated from the Premier League in March, going back to the Championship with a record low of 11 points.

Planning for the new season was getting underway straight away, with Jewell saying at the end of the campaign that the aim was to go back up at the first time of asking - something that he probably did not even believe himself.

The Rams started slowly in the second tier and it took until September for them to register their first league win, running out 2-1 winners against Sheffield United, just under a year after their last. They tasted victory just six more times before the then 44-year-old resigned following a 1-0 loss to Ipswich Town to bring to an end an embarrassing 2008.

Jewell's stock fell greatly throughout his time at Pride Park and while Derby were always going to be able to recover at some point, the former Wigan manager was never able to.

It took him over two years before he took on another job, this time at Ipswich, ironically facing the Rams in his first game. It was a match that he lost 1-0, and he would struggle to bring any level of consistency with the Tractor Boys.

He left by mutual consent in October 2012, with his final game in management coming against Derby, a club that he will forever be synonymous with, for all the wrong reasons, and to this day he will likely still regret the decision he made 17 years ago to take the job at Pride Park.

It's an appointment that the Rams will regret but it was, perhaps, even more damaging for Jewell, who was a manager on the up after impressing with the Latics but saw an ill-fated spell in the East Midlands change things.