With 10 games remaining in Season 6, the Division 1 title is still very much up for grabs.
No one seems to be able to take charge of the race with the only consistent thing being that the team that are on top don't win their next game. The lead has changed several times in the last few weeks and it would take a brave man to bet on the outcome at the end of the campaign.
The season has provided many surprises and one of them is the fact that Derby County have been in and around the top of the table since the start of the season. Incredibly the Derby manager still has avoiding relegation as the main target for the season. I caught up with boss Gordon 'Gino' Kinnear to ask him a few questions including why he thinks the main aim is still avoiding relegation.
FL: Gordon, or Gino as you are sometimes referred to, you are maintaining that the aim for Derby is to avoid the drop. With ten games to go you are lying 4th and you are 13 points clear of Blackburn who are the team 3rd from bottom. How can you justify your claim?
GK: Listen Fanny, you answered your own question. Ten games to go and thirteen points ahead of the bottom three. 10 games = 30 points. 30 is a bigger number than 13 so we CAN still be relegated. Until it is mathematically impossible then it will remain out target. We are a small fish in a large pond. It is easy in this pond to lose your way and come up against a brick wall and then be plucked by a seagull that was following a trawler until it seen the big pond. If this happens then you are gone. You are swallowed up by this seagull who wants to feed its family. Its not easy being a seagull you know.
FL: Ok, we will move on :/ What are your plans for the future at Derby? You are 52 now and there was rumour of retirement. What do you say to these rumours?
GK: Rumours? Fleetwood Mac that was. That's the only Rumours I know about. Great album that sold millions. Everybody knows somebody that bought that album. I didn't buy it. My retirement is not a rumour. It is a fact. The only question is when. I will definitely be in the manager seat here at Derby at the start of next season and then I will sit down and talk with Mel Morris to discuss what lies ahead for Derby County.
FL: Who has been your MVP this season? Who do you think has held the team together when Derby went through a rough patch?
GK: That's a tough question as every player has played his part. Azevedo Silvio and Felipe Gutierrez have really impressed me. They are both on loan and it would have been easy for them just to go through the motions but they have given their all and they have chipped in with goals. If I have to pick one player then Marvin Commper has been outstanding at the back and has held the defence together under severe pressure. He has only missed one game and for a 30 year old, his fitness is second to none.
FL: Who do you think will be champions come the end of the season and who do you think will go down?
GK: I generally don't answer these kind of questions but I suppose I can't turn down Fanny. To win the title I am going to go for Manchester City. They seem to have the players that can stand the pressure and they can beat anybody on their day. For relegation then at the risk of their managers falling out with me, I am going for the two teams that are currently bottom, Leicester City and Fulham and for that third place, its going to be, just like your fanny Fanny, tight, but I am going for Liverpool. Their form is poor at the moment and the teams around them are picking up points so I think its Division 2 for them next season.
FL: One last question Gordon. Do you envisage changes to your squad for next season or have the players that are here done well enough to be retained?
GK: Well Fanny, I think I have already stated how all the players have played their part. We lie fourth in the table, our youth team won the Crazy Coupe title and are in the last eight of the European Youth Cup. However, we are always trying to improve things on the playing side and if the right player becomes available then we will go for him. Money is not exactly flowing at Derby and therefor if I bring a player in, it usually means I have to sell a player so I don't know who will be here and who will have moved on. Whatever happens, the players can be proud of this season and they know they can compete with the best that this league has to offer.
FL: One last question Gordon. Is there an echo in here? Oh sorry that's not the question. Here is the last question. I promise it's the last one and I know I said the last question was the last one but this definitely is the last one. I wasn't counting the echo question as a question. So the last question for you today is who do you think deserves to be named as Manager of the Season?
GK: No idea
FL: Ok thank you Gordon or may I call you Gino?
GK: Is that another question? I thought the last one was the last question?
FL: Ok I am going. Thank you for the interview. I need to go.
GK: Thank you Fanny.
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