Play-Offs - Rams return to top flight

Davies refuses to commit

Platini calls for end to G14

Derby County return to the Premier League after beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0 in the Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley. Stephen Pearson scored the only goal of the game after 61 minutes with his first goal for the club. After failing in the Play-Offs in the last two seasons with Preston North End, victory was a personal triumph for manager Billy Davies:

“It’s not about the money but the success of this club. “The players deserve it. They showed great courage. Now all we can do is go and enjoy it and give it our best. They were magnificent and they deserve all they get.”

West Brom become the only one of the three relegated clubs from last season not to make an immediate return. Manager Tony Mowbray was magnanimous in defeat:

“It is a cruel game sometimes. I thought we did okay, it was a decent performance but you don’t always get what you deserve. Derby took the honours and good luck to them. I wish them all the best for next season. We have to get back to work.”

A shadow is cast over Derby County’s promotion celebrations as victorious manager Billy Davies refused to commit his future to the club. The Rams boss is believed to have been at odds with certain members of the board for some time.
Davies said:

“I thank everyone at the club that has supported us and I thank everyone at the club that has constantly criticised our players and put the boot in at times when it was unnecessary. I thank them for the inspiration. A lot of the players didn’t deserve it. I think there is lots of talking to be done. I’m not saying I don’t want to be the manager of Derby County, I’m just saying that in life there is nothing 100 per cent guaranteed.”

Davies has worked without an assistant in his year at Pride Park and is known to be frustrated by the Rams’ failure to sanction David Kelly’s release from Preston North End.

Despite being billed as football’s richest game, there was over 15,000 empty seats at the new Wembley Stadium for the Championship play off final - despite both Derby and West Brom each selling-out their 33,500 ticket allocations. The problem was that the game failed to attract the interest of Club Wembley members - the largely corporate area of the stadium that is purchased for a 10-year period. The arena’s middle tier was almost empty but Wembley officials say the seats could not be made available for general sale because of crowd safety worries. The Football League’s chief operating officer Andy Williamson said:

“We are hugely disappointed that Wembley has been unable to find a solution to this problem in the time available and that these seats cannot be sold to genuine fans that have not been able to get tickets.”

Speaking at their extraordinary congress in Zurich, new UEFA president Michel Platini called for European football’s elite G14 group to disband. He especially wants the 18-club group to drop its compensation claims for players who are injured on international duty. The former France midfield star believes grievances should be resolved through a new body called the Professional Football Strategy Council:

“We can stop seeing each other before the courts, we can stop making a spectacle of ourselves in front of the whole of Europe. Presidents and heads of the major clubs; let us profit from your great experience and your ideas. Tell us about your convictions. UEFA’s door is wide open. Join us, and I promise you that you will not be disappointed.”