Derby’s dream and desperation to make the lucrative Premier League after years of being one of the almost teams have lead them to appoint recently retired player Frank Lampard as their new manager. As everyone who follows football knows this is a huge risk given he has no coaching or managerial experience and while he will have learnt a lot from his father and under the tutelage of various world class managers, it’s no guarantee he’ll be a successful manager.

For what it’s worth I think they would have been better suited looking for an experienced manager from Europe who has a proven track record of success, an excellent understanding of the game from a managerial perspective and the contacts to bring in experienced European players as well as up and coming younger talent. However, next season will soon reveal if their risk is going to pay dividends and from an English perspective it would be great to see Lampard break the mould and transition from being a world class player to a successful manager.

The build up to this year’s World Cup in Russia, which gets underway in two week’s time, continues tomorrow with a handful of International Friendlies involving mainly European contenders. England are in action at Wembley against Nigeria tomorrow tea-time and we should get to see what manager Southgate’s starting line-up and tactics are going to be at the tournament proper. If we do, it will be informative to see if the players are comfortable with the system and tactics, and if they are it’s important that they deliver a commanding performance in all areas of the team and that any tactical substitutions also have a positive impact.