Having taken just 6 points from 14 matches, is there any surprise Billy Davies is no longer managing the Rams? Other than how Davies somehow outlasted Chris Hutchings? From the Guardian’s Paul Doyle :
Their performances in the Premier League so far this season have proved that Derby County do not need a decent manager – they need a miracle worker. And the club’s board today decided that Billy Davies doesn’t fit that bill, so has parted company with the man who guided them to promotion last season.
Davies insisted he could leave Pride Park with his “head held high” and that he had no reason to be ashamed. “What’s quite ironic, on the morning of me parting ways with Derby, is that I’m going to the East Midland [Sports] Awards this evening to pick up the coach of the year award,” he said. “I’ve had a wonderful time here, there’s been lots of ups and lots of downs, but in the main I’m very proud of what has been achieved, and I’m now walking through these gates with my head very much held high.”
Davies did admit, however, that he was sad to be leaving. “Of course, it’s always that way because there are great people here, my family are very settled and there’s lots of good friends here,” he added. “But that’s football, we know what football’s all about, and the situation now is that it’s time to move on to pastures new.”
Bookmakers Coral have since suspended betting on Davies’ successor, following a sustained gamble on the MK Dons manager Paul Ince. “We felt the wheels may have already been put in motion with regard to Ince’s appointment,” said Coral’s David Stevens, after Ince’s price was slashed from 10-1 to 4-9 in a matter of hours.