Pride for Warne as Derby are back in business
MANAGER Paul Warne could not hide his pride as Derby clinched promotion back to the Championship, less than two years after the club almost went out of business.
At the final whistle, thousands of jubilant fans poured on to the Pride Park pitch to celebrate.
Max Bird and James Collins scored the goals that saw off Carlisle to secure second place in the table and end a two-year exile in the third tier. ‘Just so proud and so pleased,’ beamed Warne, who was enjoying a fourth promotion from League One, having gone up three times when in charge of Rotherham.
‘Promotion’s never easy. I’m just exhausted. We came into this club to win promotion because this club needed that to happen. This is a really beautiful day.’ It was an emotional afternoon for owner David Clowes, the property developer who bought the Rams in 2022 following relegation and administration, with the former English league champions on the brink of going into liquidation.
One of the first things Clowes did was appoint Warne as manager.
Warne said: ‘With David’s support we’ve changed things up and I’m so pleased for him because I know how much the club means to him. That’s filtered into us — the importance of the club to the city. This is our way of thanking him.’
The magnitude of the triumph was also written on the faces of the players who were at the club in those darkest of times two years ago, like goalscorer Bird.
‘We were there in real low times, so days like this are unbelievable,’ Bird said. ‘It’s how I’d dreamed it.’