Steve McClaren hopes Derby's young stars rise to the occasion at Wembley



Steve McClaren has taken to describing Derby County progress this season as an ‘innocent climb’ but now comes the match where maturity matters.

Wembley and the Championship play-off final will be a new experience for McClaren’s young players and the pressure does not come much bigger when the prize at the end is worth more than £130million.

The Derby head coach does have knowledge of tense occasions at the national stadium, of course. It will be his first time back in the dugout there since England lost 3-2 to Croatia on the infamous ‘Wally with the brolly’ night in November 2007.



Return: Derby boss Steve McClaren is hoping his next trip to Wembley will be a lot happier than his last

Low point: McClaren's last game at Wembley was the 3-2 defeat to Croatia in Euro 2008 qualifying

Brollies have since become such a managerial faux pas that Harry Redknapp chose to get soaked as the heavens opened during QPR’s victory over Wigan in their play-off semi-final.

Youth has flowed through McClaren’s selections and the 10 outfield players in his expected starting line up have an average age of less than 25. That is without 19-year-old Will Hughes, the Football League Player of the Year, who may miss out to a midfield trio of Jeff Hendrick, George Thorne, and Craig Bryson.

The average gate at Derby this season is 24,933 but 90,000 could be at Wembley and McClaren hopes his young charges do not freeze.

Threat: Chris Martin leads a free-flowing Derby side with 25 goals

McClaren, who ‘won’t be taking a bloody brolly’ on Saturday, said: ‘I love working with this group, they play exactly how I want them and it’s wonderful. We’ve excited the fans. The question is can we go one further? It’s a great challenge. Nobody expected this six months ago. It’s the occasion we’ve got to handle.’

The vastly different wage bills reflect the profile of the respective squads. Rangers salaries top £78million, while at Derby that figure is just £12m.



It means that while Rangers lost £65.4m during the 2012-13 campaign, Derby’s losses of £7.1m were within financial fair play rules and the club is virtually debt-free after its American owners converted £22.5m of loans into equity in March.

Disparity: QPR's annual wage bill is a whopping £78m while Derby's is just £12m

McClaren, who was brought in to replace Nigel Clough last September, said: ‘I’m pleased for (chief executive) Sam Rush, he deserves a lot of credit for taking a brave decision on bringing in myself, Paul Simpson and Eric Steele.