Well it's finally here, after five long years the Rams are back to playing Premiership Football

Last updated : 10 August 2007 By Rams Mad Editor

Nail biting time is here again as the Premiership season begins
Yes it has been a long wait but finally the Rams are Back! Back to the top of the English game, where they belong.

The Rams are founder members of the Football League and have one of the longest and proudest histories of any football team and they are rightly back with the elite of English football.

Will they stay there, I hear you ask. Well if you listen to most pundits and the papers, we may as well not bother to take the field. Talk of heavy defeats and even of going through the whole season without a win are on every paper, message board, television station, but who cares? we are here and here on merit after a long and dramatic 2006-07 season and a hard fought Play-off series.

New blood has been added to old and the mix, as yet untried in anger, could be vintage or just a not so cheap table wine.

Striking power is something that looks a bit on the weak side, we know Ernie will get his fair share of goals but you get the feeling he needs a more mobile partner than big Stevie Howard.

The midfield looks to be coming along nicely with speed , power, and the old heads hopefully pulling the strings with the likes of Pearson, Barnes (when fit) benefiting from new signings Benny Feilhaber and Mika Vayrynen.

Billy Davies
Maybe no Cups this season but the prize this time is Premiership survival
Defensively the Rams looked solid last season but the Premiership is another game and another level. Billy Davies has made significant signings over the few short weeks since the Rams Wembley triumph. Claude Davis has Premiership experience, although most of it was a weekly battle to save Sheffield United from Premiership from relegation during last season, a job that was sadly not completed. Hopefully it will be different this season for Claude but somehow I doubt it, even with team mates like Tyrone Mears, Big Darren (Dave ) Moore, Andy Todd and Dean Leacock. All of whom have previous Premiership experience, it will be a season that will depend heavily on the defensive line-up.

The final line of defense has seen a shake-up during the summer (was all that rain a summer?),. Gone are Lee Grant and Lee Camp and in their place come Lewis Price and Ben Hinchcliffe. Stephen Bywater is still number one for the Rams but his place will be contested by Price, a Welsh International keeper.

So the long wait is nearly over. To be honest I think Derby can and will surprise a lot of teams and with a slice of luck, no injuries and possibly a striker or two of note, we will be celebrating again this season, as we stay in the Premiership.

The Premiership starts here