You would think Derby were a top six Premier League side than a bottom-half Championship one. Take Hughes out of that side and they are mediocre personified
Would think it is a racing certainty Steve McClaren will be their number 1 target. The chairman there has publicly said before that he places more emphasis on the style of football than the actual results and he seemed to be enthused by how they played under McClaren the first time round even though they fell short.
The problem really is that Derby are not as good a team as they were 2-3 seasons ago. A few players have come and gone since then, others have lost form or got injured and their replacements aren't as good.
It was probably always going to end in tears with Pearson when you have a combination of a chairman/owner being excessively hands-on and a loose cannon of a manager with a very short fuse.