The opening weekend of the Sky Bet Championship approaches in just a matter of days. Derby County will begin their campaign by facing Rotherham United at the iPro Stadium as strong promotion contenders.

It has certainly been a mixed pre-season for the Rams. A cloud of bitter disappointment remained after losing in the Play-Off Final to Queens Park Rangers at Wembley. It left Steve McClaren’s squad and the city subdued for weeks, carrying scars that won’t heal until we avenge such misfortune with promotion back to the Premier League. The moment Bobby Zamora’s cruel last-minute winner hit the back of the net still plays over and over in our minds. While a very entertaining World Cup was happening in Brazil which presented another inevitable disappointing England show, fans were warned by Sam Rush and John Vicars to be patient over the chase of influential holding midfielder George Thorne. His time on loan had such a defined impact on our performances not to mention some wondrous strikes. There was angst over Derby as Thorne’s parent club West Bromwich Albion responded to our interest with resolute stubbornness. They were insistent he was part of their club’s future. George’s own desire was to be in the East Midlands where he had clearly enjoyed his time rather than in the West Midlands where he wasn’t guaranteed a first team place.

At the same time another concern was the possibility of losing talismanic players. Will Hughes remained to be the focus of colourful rumours linking him with a move to Liverpool. More worrying was Craig Bryson being in talks with Burnley. The Scot had become a fans’ favourite after an excellent season which saw him score a hat-trick firstly against Millwall at the New Den, an accolade that hadn’t been seen in a Derby County shirt for seventeen years. Then for the first time since the divinely regarded Steve Bloomer did in the nineteenth century, Bryson knocked in another hat-trick in a 5-0 victory over rivals Nottingham Forest. This historic feat helped to accumulate a strong tally of 16 goals. To lose him to a club who had pipped us to automatic promotion would have broken thousands of hearts. The erratic nature of social media led us at one point in early July to think that the worst had come to worst; the Rams number 4 had made a move to Lancashire and George Thorne would reluctantly remain in the Black Country. Speculation even stated we would have to choose between one and the other due to constraints on the wage bill.

Eventually, Will Hughes put pen to paper on a new deal. Concrete was the fact that we wouldn’t lose one of our most talented young players cheaply. Only a day after a fresh new Umbro kit was revealed, Bryson signed a new contract. A huge sigh of relief was heard from those constantly refreshing their Twitter feeds for announcements. Bryson’s commitment to the club even in the light of Premiership interest shows how privileged we are to have a player in this modern age as gracious as this. He clearly loves the club and will remain in black and white. Towards the end of the same week the signing of George Thorne was finally announced. In addition other favourites Jake Buxton, Craig Forsyth and Mason Bennett pledged their future here. The virtue of Rush and Vicars’ humility and business acumen had prevailed.

Less than a week later however, the worst news imaginable was heard. As the Rams squad travelled to Austria on a training tour, an enigmatic match against Zenit St. Petersburg was hosted. This was a team who had made it to the last sixteen of the Champions League and were comprised of big names. The Rams lost the friendly by two goals to nil, with a goal from Axel Witzel quintessential in terms of their edge in quality. During the first half, Thorne had been taken off injured. Most did not think much of it and assumed it was a precautionary measure after taking a knock. But it wasn’t. As had happened eighteen months before, Thorne tore his anterior cruciate ligament. This required prompt surgery and nine months on the side lines. Such horrible luck for a club to lose a player whose signing was made with such excitement.

Devastating: Days after Rams land the man they wanted his ACL is torn.

The devastating news of this injury can barely be described but again it is something we must accept. In my best effort to think positively, Thorne will likely return to the eleven at the business end of the season in similar context to which he arrived on loan last season. His presence will be missed but we do have John Eustace to fill the defensive midfield duties. Realistically though, a player at his age will struggle to meet the required level of running in this central role. This leaves us with a quandary of whether or not our existing players can rise to the occasion or if we need to bring in a player on loan. Jeff Hendrick’s slightly better physique could put him in line but it is more feasible that Will Hughes, with his calm passing and willingness not to shy away from tackles, can complement his attributes into the vacancy we never expected to have. Although as I write this, the signing of Real Madrid’s midfielder Omar Mascerall on loan could either be intended as either a shoehorn into this gap or a replenishment to attacking presence as either Hughes or Hendrick is moved slightly back. The latter is more probable as Hughes played the holding role in the home friendly against Rangers. Many will scrutinise this as it may inhibit Hughes’ liberty to make mazy attacking runs.

In further welcomed press statements, the club were pleased to announce Category 1 Academy status, meaning our youth squads will have the opportunity to face Premiership counterparts. New faces to the reserves include Ivan Calero, Shaquille McDonald and Alefe Santos. By bringing in youngsters from Spain and as far away as Brazil it is clear that our coaching staff want to add some vibrancy to our Rams in waiting and expand our scouting network worldwide just as top flight clubs would.

Both our roster and formation will change this season which means achieving promotion might not be as much of an easy task as the book makers have made a premonition. The loss of loanee Andre Wisdom at right back means new signing Cyrus Christie has big shoes to fill. He is thought to be more of an attacking full-back similar to Craig Forsyth. Patrick Bamford, who contributed both sensational and imperative goals, must return to his parent club Chelsea. This week’s addition of Leon Best from Blackburn gives us a player who can score necessary goals, shown aptly with his late goal against us in the opening game of last season. His drafting in may connote that McLaren is flexible to change our arrangement to 4-4-2 at times. It will also ease pressure off Chris Martin who was so prolific with his 20 goals last season.

Down the A52, Forest appear to be in dire straits yet again, selling ‘keeper Karl Darlow and defender Jamaal Lascelles to Newcastle for a mere £7m in desperation to meet Financial Fair Play parameters. Suspicion would suggest this is a fig leaf as the Reds are believed to be throwing a whopping £5.5m on Peterborough’s Britt Assombalonga and £1.5m on Mikhael Antonio. A frank interview with Stuart Pearce on East Midlands Today revealed the sales were done behind his back. As an organised ownership at Pride Park practises great business it seems there is major a discord behind the scenes at the City Ground, which is rumoured to be renamed.

Shell-shocked: Will Richard Keogh be the same solid centre-back after Wembley heartbreak?

To wrap up the pre-season, it began with much apprehension then moved on to deafening silence with the sombre prospects of losing our best player. Thankfully towards the end Messrs McClaren, Rush and Vicars showed their nous as by not only tying our well-known talents down to contracts. They got the man they always wanted as well as another experienced forward. Those of you who read Twitter and sub-par blog posts like this will know there has been a lot talked about and as much typed but now we simply can’t wait to see a ball being kicked. We prepare to face Rotherham United on Saturday. The Millers are newly promoted and most will expect no difficulty in dispatching the South Yorkshire side. There are questions though. Will promotion be as easy as first estimated given the improvement of strong rival teams such as Wigan Athletic as well as the welcoming of Norwich, Fulham, Cardiff and Wolves? These teams are automatic promotion specialists and could stand in our way. Will centre-back and Captain Richard Keogh recover psychologically after his mistake in front of the 85,000+ crowd at Wembley? He has looked worryingly short of confidence in pre-season. Will our free-flowing formation be worked out by opposition teams? They may use physicality as a cynical stumbling block. These questions will instigate much debate but regardless of whether or not my concerns raised have any legitimacy, getting promotion will be a tough test of our calibre. We will have to show how we can cope in such adversity and outrageous fortune. Steve McClaren is an experienced manager who has the knowledge to achieve our goal though. We will just have to wait and see. Bring on 3pm on Saturday.